I wrote a short story!
This didn't take too long to finish, although I was stumped at some parts regarding chapters 2 and 3. S'all good now, however. I was going to call this a three-shot plus an epilogue. Though, now that I think about, I'll just call it a short story. There's going to be four parts to this story.
This is a bit different from what I've written. The characters might be a bit OCC. The universe is also a bit AU. Yeah...
Enjoy! I don't own anything you recognize!
"So you'll be there right?" The male voice at the end of the line spoke with a bold voice. Ally Dawson mumbled affirmatively, her phone squished between her ear and her shoulder. She had an unpeeled banana in her mouth; her hands occupied by her keys, purse and songbook.
"Got your hands full?" The voice laughed as Ally huffed, finally slamming the door to her apartment closed. She switched her phone from her left shoulder to her right, locking her door in the process. Ally put her banana in her purse as well as her beloved book. She was breaking into a sweat, albeit she wasn't remarkably late yet. She was almost early, in fact.
At 22, Ally Dawson was an aspiring musical artist; signed under none other than Ramone Records. Being a songwriter for years, Ronnie Ramone finally found her singing at the park one day, just enjoying her time. With her first album out at 18, two world tours completed only sometime last year, she was doing fine.
As Ally left her hotel building, her sunglasses up to cover her face, she licked her lips, feeling the need for her morning coffee. It was after all, only fifteen to eight.
"So remember—"
"Yes, I know! Writing session with Roger at ten—"
"Recording studio at twelve—"
"And then that radio interview with Jett Deely at two! Yes, yes! I know! Stop snapping at me!" Ally huffed into her phone, yet she was the one who was snapping. The voice at the other end of the line mutter a departure before leaving Ally to herself. Sighing, the brunette carefully placed her phone into her purse before keeping her head down, attention unwanted.
Before her fame however, Ally did have some amazing friends. Trish de La Rosa's name showed up on the screen on her phone as Ally swiped at her screen.
"Trish!" Ally smiled into the conversation. Trish was one of the only friends who haven't tried to take advantage of her fame yet. It was scary, letting people in, getting attached, only to realize that all they wanted was a piece of spotlight for themselves. Ally shook her head at the familiar faces rushing into her head at the depressing memories.
"Ally! Are we still on for our girls night tonight?" Trish asked excitedly. Trish knew Ally before her fame, which was a good thing, as everyone nowadays asked if they could come to the Grammys with her. Alas, Trish de La Rosa was still her best friend in the entire world.
"Obviously!" Ally exclaimed. She and Trish continued to talk on the phone as she walked around the streets of Miami going unnoticed for a while. Occasionally, some paparazzi would snap a few pictures, but she ignored them. But with fans however, Ally couldn't say no.
"Alright, I have to go. Dez and Jace are waiting," Trish told her. Ally heard the noise of keys and a door being shut. Ally waited until the noise died down.
"Are you guys going to see a movie again?" She asked wistfully. Before her fame, Dez, Trish and her would see movies nearly every day. They'd watch the one's they loved over and over again; never getting bored of them.
"Yeah! Don't worry, I won't spoil what happens in Jurassic World for you." Ally rolled her eyes at her curly-haired Latina, even though the shorter girl could not see her. The two girls exchanged departures. Ally pressed her lips together, putting away her phone.
Ally walked a few blocks, loving the exercise she was getting. Lately, with her busy schedule, exercise was almost impossible to complete. She knew Ronnie was working on finishing her new album, along with booking yet another tour soon.
Making her way downtown of Miami, Ally pulled the gray beanie she had over her head tighter around her head. Despite the scorching heat, the beanie provided extra protection against being recognized. Pushing her sunglasses up, Ally made her way to her favourite coffee shop in Miami, Cameron's Coffee.
The little bell at the top of the cafe chimed as she pushed open the door. She was a regular customer at the infamous coffee shop. The workers knew her name— obviously— as she knew theirs.
Waiting in line, Ally tapped her foot. She took out her phone, checking her Tweeter. Smiling some funny post, she moved up in the line without looking up. Her day was busy, yet the smell of her favourite coffee shop was comforting. It reminded her that there were lazy days in life. Coffee was just a reminder of that.
Nothing like early mornin' coffee! She read over her post. It had a bout of emojis after it; to express her feelings of course. Ally smiled as she got immediate comments.
She sure loved those mom ones.
Without looking up from her phone, Ally said, "Morning, Dallas. The usual ple—"
"I'm sorry, miss, but my name isn't Dallas," a bold voice interrupted her. Startled, Ally looked up to see a new barista. The guy stood almost a head over her, which was annoying. She didn't need a reminder that she was short. On top of that, he had dirty blonde hair that he looked like he hadn't bothered to comb. Probably done that on purpose too. He looked about her age.
"Oh, I'm sorry," she apologized, her voice void of emotion. She stared into his annoyed brown eyes before shifting her eyes down to where a golden name tag was located, the print in black.
Austin.
"Well, Austin," she said, trying to make up to the boy. "May I please have one decaf iced mocha with half soy milk, half low fat milk with light whip, and caramel drizzle?" Ally asked. She waited for him to say his confirmation, but the blonde just stared back at her. There was a pregnant pause that made it seem like time stopped. She grew nervous.
"Excuse me?" He asked, his mouth hanging agape. Ally furrowed an eyebrow. This cashier must be new; he was horrible.
"I said—"
"No, I know what you said," the blonde— Austin— explained. "I'm just not sure we have that here."
Ally gaped. Was he being serious or sarcastic, although annoying? He just stared back at her; Ally guessing the former. She huffed.
"One decaf iced mocha with half soy milk, half low fat milk with light whip, and caramel drizzle," she repeated slowly for the boy to understand. Austin apparently took the liberty of writing it down, thank god.
"Size?" He asked as he proceeded to copy the order onto a coffee cup. Ally huffed.
"Medium," she replied. Ally yet again took a glance at her phone. 9:10am.
"Name?" He asked, not looking at her. The blonde finally finished writing her order on the clear plastic cup. He quirked an eyebrow at her. Does this guy seriously not know who she was?
"Ally," she replied cautiously, in case he was kidding. Austin, however, was not kidding. He scribbled on the cup, placing it on the counter where the other workers began to attend to her order.
"That'll be—"
Ally gave the exact amount of change for her caffeine. She even memorized the price of her everyday purchase. Austin, being stubborn or just rude, took account by counting her change thoroughly, even though she practically showed him the correct amount.
"You can get out of line now," he told her not-so nicely. Ally huffed again. The blonde cashier being one of the rudest one's she had ever met. Maybe if the guy knew who she was he'd stop being such a jerk.
Trying to be casual, Ally placed her sunglasses to the top of her head. Austin was tending to the next customer, but she knew that he was going to be the one to hand her drink. Waiting patiently, as her extensive order took a while to accomplish, Ally licked her lips.
Ally started to become fidgety as the minutes passed. It took half an hour to get to the studio where she and Rodger and a bunch of other song writers were going to work on her new songs for her upcoming album. She sighed as the person who was behind her in the lineup got their order before hers.
She was growing annoyed, knowing that whatever was wrong with her order was probably Austin's fault.
"One—" there was a pause. "Really long custom order for Ally," Austin said as he picked up her drink. Ally sighed, pushing her way through the forming crowd to grab her caffeine.
"Thank you," she muttered, grabbing a straw. She turned away from the blonde. Ally moved towards a trashcan to throw her straw wrapper away. She grinned happy that she finally got her morning energizer. Taking a sip—
Ally prominently spit out her small mouthful of 'coffee.' She gagged a bit before wiping her mouth, hoping she hadn't caused a scene.
What the fuck is this?
She looked at the sloppy handwriting on her plastic cup of coffee. Mocha, low fat, decaf, heavy whip, chocolate drizzle, there was another thing but I forgot.
Seriously.
Excusing herself to the front of the line, Ally glared at the messy-haired blonde cashier as he turned around, his pen behind his ear. He raised an eyebrow at her, looking generally confused.
"Can I help you?" He asked, clueless.
She resisted the urge to strangle the blonde. "Yes, actually. You got my order wrong," she told him matter-of-factly. Ally wanted to say entire order, but frankly, he did get some things right.
"Actually, I got part of your order wrong," Austin said, grinning cheekily. Ally rolled her eyes, breathing harshly out of her nose. Who hired this guy?
"And now I want you to fix part of my order," she countered back. Austin just stared back with wide eyes. Ally narrowed hers. Where's good ol' Dallas when you need him?
"I'm not sure that's part of the job," Austin mumbled, pretending to busy himself with the cash register. Luckily, there was no crowd behind her as people were hustling about, getting ready for work and whatnot. Also, as there was another line. Maybe she should've gone to that one instead.
"Look, I'm going to be late for a very important meeting," Ally said in a calm voice, even though she was seething with rage on the inside. Her coffee held in one small hand as she pocketed her phone.
"And you're holding up the line," Austin replied. Now, there was a line. Ally wanted to dump her coffee on the stubbornly cocky cashier. Ally tried to regain her composure. This wasn't good for her image.
"Customer's always right," she tried meekly. Austin opened his mouth to reply but was quickly shut up by Gavin, the shop manager.
"Mornin' Ally," the country man said, tipping his head curtly. Ally smiled, returning the welcoming gesture. "Is this guy bothering you?" He asked, playfully towards her, but seriously towards Austin.
"Ah, not as bothersome as stubborn," she replied, choosing her words carefully. Gavin chuckled, though his smile disappeared as he turned towards Austin.
"Get the lady what she wants," he told the blonde before disappearing behind the scenes. "No but's!" He warned as Austin open his mouth, probably for a snappy reply.
"Yes, sir," she heard the brown-eyed boy reply. Smirking with satisfaction, Ally handed over her spoiled coffee to the waiter.
"One medium decaf iced mocha with half soy milk, half low fat milk, light whip and caramel drizzle please," she said in a sugary sweet voice. Austin grumbled as he wrote down her order again on a paper, then on a new plastic cup.
"Name?" He asked again. Ally's jaw dropped. Did he actually forget her name? Or was he playing dumb? She wasn't even sure anymore. And she didn't want to find out.
"Ally," she got out through gritted teeth. Austin scribbled something onto the plastic cup, handing it to the other people; people she actually knew.
Waiting once again for her drink, Ally sighed. Arguing with the new cashier was taking up more of her energy than she thought was possible. Luckily, she knew no one recognized her yet, except for Gavin however, since she was a daily customer.
Checking her phone once again, Ally took in a deep breath. She watched with observant eyes as her drink was being brewed, again.
"One extremely long custom drink for Ally," Austin's voice called out. Ally grabbed her drink, fast as lightning, not bothering to say anything to the annoying cashier.
Taking a sip and sighing with relief, Ally grabbed a straw and left the coffee shop. Only then did she realize that she was late for her writing session with Rodger. Cursing under her breath, she called her regular chauffer.
As she got into her ride, she sipped on her drink, groaning at her hectic morning. She made small talk with her driver, being friendly and ranting all at the same time.
"And then he was all like, 'I got part of your order wrong,'" she mimicked. Ally rolled her eyes and used hand gestures to over-exaggerate the situation. She took another sip of her mocha.
Her driver sped off quickly when she told him she was late. As she made her way into the writing studio, Ally couldn't get the image of the rude blonde barista out of her head. Who did he think he was? All eyes glared at her as she apologetically made her way into the writing room, wasting precious booked time.
"Where were you? You're half an hour late!" Roger hollered at her as she stepped into the room, her hands occupied by her daily devices. She flinched, sighing as it was all the cashier's fault.
"Sorry," she mumbled. "Lots of things happened this morning. I honestly don't even know how to think."
Rodger sighed, sitting down and patted the seat next to him. Ally sat down, placing her bag down, as well as her drink on the table. "Make sure it doesn't happen again," he told her seriously. Ally nodded, confirming that to Rodger and herself.
"Of course," she replied. As they began to write Ally sipped on her morning energizer, feeling refreshed as she downed her drink. She placed it back on the table, as it was still cold. She rubbed her hands together, cursing as she hadn't gt any napkins.
Her eyes shifted to the messy handwriting of the annoying blonde waiter.Low fat, decaf, light whip, caramel drizzle, soy, iced.
Suddenly, her eyes widened. Her blood boiled as her eyes furrowed simultaneously. Huffing again, she turned her half-finished coffee cup towards her. Her eyes met her name.
Allie.
Was this guy serious?
Right! I got this prompt from tumblr where it was like, a rude barista; which was what I was planning to write. But as I wrote, and the ideas flowed around, it kind of changed into its own thing.
Also, the title was the first thing I came up with. I went through a bunch of them, however. Honorable mentions include: Mochas and Misspells, Coffee Shop Flops etc. Yup...
Alright, I'm updating this story every Sunday. So keep an eye out for me! Please leave a review and tell me what you think!