Name : Undecided
Rating : M from what i read
Pairing : Zac Efron/ himself
summary: Claire is new in the city of Los angeles will a surprise meeting with a famous celebrity help matters
(This is my first ever Fanfic so bare with me...)
This was stupid, she was worrying over absolutely nothing. So what if she just spilt coffee over her first customer at her new job in a new city like Los Angeles so what? She quickly grabbed the towel from under the counter and started to pat down on the stain that had now formed over the mans nice suit infront of her. She apologized a million times before her boss sent her home for the day saying that she can start fresh again tomorrow, hey she thought as she grabbed her things and walked out from behind the counter that was better than being fired and humiliated in front of all the angry customers trying to get their orders to the front counter. Claire walked outside and felt the morning heat hit her as she shielded her eyes from the sun, she thought to herslef great just one hour and already I've screwed up ,thats a record she shook her head talking to herself not paying attention when she felt her body get pushed back and her only reaction was to start waving her arms to catch her balance before almost slamming into the pavement. She felt the hands of someone else grab her arms before she made yet again a fool of herself. regaining her balance she looked up at the man who saved her from falling back. The sun was in her eyes and it took her a second to really focus on the face staring back.
"thanks for that and sorry for running into you I have to get used to this whole watching where i'm going thing"
she laughed at herself a little before the man replied
"no it's alright, this city is crazy your lucky you got someone like me to run into, anybody else you would be on the ground"
she sort of scrunched up her face as she started to see someone really familiar standing there
"yeah i'll have to keep that in mind"
she smiled and paused for a second
"Have I met you before because it's funny I swear I've seen you from somewhere"
he smirked "well if you count television as seeing me somewhere then yes you have seen me".
She felt like an idiot then, she felt as if she just embarressed herself and him for not knowing who he was right away
"Oh i'm sorry I didn't recognize... Zac...Zac Efron right? wow I must be two for two now huh, first i walk into you and now not know that your a big movie star"
he crossed his arms and laughed
"no it's okay, it's better than having a photographer flashing a camera in my face trust me. Well now that you know my nameit would be nice to know yours, you know since I just stopped you from slamming your head and everything".
She nodded her head
"oh right sorry, it's claire I actually just moved hear so congratulations for being the first person i really met".
They both laughed and Claire nodded her head "I uhm...actually just started working at that cafe on the corner and in just one hour have managed to get sent home early, you know with this whole clutz streak i got going"
she looked back at the cafe she just walked out of and took a deep sighed
"listen I really should get going..."
she extened out her hand to meet his as he said "hey it was nice bumping into you" "yeah maybe we should do this again and next time i'll try to hit you a little less harder" he smiled and let go of her hand.
"yeah maybe..." They looked at eachother once more than walked past eachother going their own seperate ways. As she got far enoguh she slapped her hand to her forehead
what an idiot I really need to be a little less awkward in the conversation department...why would he care where I work and how much of a clutz I am, for go sakes I didn't even know he was a celebrity. She kept running over that whole scene until she got back to her apartment. She walked into the room filled with unpacked boxes and a kitchen filled with plastic knives and forks. She walked over to her answering machine seeing that there was a message already waiting for her. She pressed the play button and the whole room was filled with the sound of her bosses voice saying she was due back at work tomorrow morning. "Great" she said as she sat down on her matress that was pushed into the corner of the room "just great"
The next morning didn't go as smoothly as the first. No this morning was insanse, there was money being thrown at claire and donuts being dropped and of course coffee being spilt. Claire was so busy with orders that she even forgot to greet her customers so when she was to her last customer after the morning rush she took it more slowly this time. She started to punch codes into her register when she said
"hello what can I get for you today" "I would like a medium coffee black" without looking up yet she asked "is that all" "yes" the voice replied back.
She turned around and started to pour the coffee. She had just put a lid on when she turned around and bumped inot her boss spilling the coffe all over her shirt and pants. Claire looked up shocked "I am so sorry, really I just wasn't paying attention"
Her boss was pissed and as she dabbed at the coffee she looked up at her
"i'm sorry but this just isn't working out, I'm going to have to let you go" Claire closed her eyes and sighed "right, i knew you were going to say that"
She took off her apron and walked out from behind the counter "excuse me but what about my coffee" said the voice. Claire stopped and turned around to apologize when she realized who it was. "oh I'm sorry about that but i'm sure my lovely boss over there would be happy to get you a cup, unlike me i'm no longer employed"
She turned around and started to walk out when footsteps follwed "if you would like I could maybe take you to this other place I know of and get you some coffee there...on me of course" Claire smiled and turned back around "that would be nice zac thanks but I should really just get home I need to make a fe phone calls and what not and I have this paper to write for school"
He smiled back at her "hey i am the first person you have met hear right, it's my obligation to show you around town, all those things can wait. Besides what looks better you sulking at home by yourself or you sulking with me by your side".
Claire couldn't help but smile and With that he held the door open as she walked past and out onto the sidewalk with him shortly following after. Part of the way to the other cafe Zac was taking Claire they walked in silence because claire was so hung up on being fired . Zac looked over at her with his hand in his pockets shrugging "so do you want to talk about it "
Claire shook her head still upset
"ugh If I wasn't so clumsy, right now i could be making some money to pay my rent...oh no my rent!"
She started to hypervenalate as the reality of her getting kicked out and having no money really hit her hard. Zac saw the expressions on her face and couldn't help but smile to himself. She lightly hit him on the arm "it's not funny I'm in a serious mess right now, if I don't pay my rent then it's back to Boston living with my parents again, I'll have to transfer schools and everything".
He nodded "wow Boston that's a trip and a half" she laughed "tell me about It I spent my whole day getting on and off planes, which I hate by the way" "really?" he said surprised "I love to travel"
she looked up at him before dodging a kid on his bike "well of course you would Mr. Hollywood over there" ignoring her comment he went on "this is LA there are plenty of places who need fresh new employees, you'll be fine" she bit her lip "yeah well do they take in complete idiots who are clumsy and trip easily" Zac laughed " awh c'mon you can't be that bad "
Claire looked at him with raised eyebrows "well then listen to this, once I set my cousins 6th birthday party on fire" zac with a shocked look on his face urged her to go on
"well lets just say placing the lit cake next to the very flammable presents was a bad idea"
For the next 2 minutes Zac couldn't stop laughing and with Claire blushing she didn't notice they had walked almost ten blocks". So where are you taking me anyway" she said curiously "well this coffee place I think is ten times better than your fancy little cafe" "ah she said pointing her finger in his face "ex- fancy cafe "
she said giggling "so does this place have a name?" "of course" he replied "Starbucks". She laughed at his reply "are you serious...thats the place" "of course that's the place, it is the only place I would go" as they walked further she saw the giant Starbucks come in view and as they got closer their conversation and laughing went on.
This is turning out to be a good day Claire thought as Zac went on about a trip to San Francisco hear i am my first week in LA and already I have a famous and very hot celebrity having a conversation with me! inviting me places! wait until i call my friends.
She smiled to herself as she stopped to wait for zac who graciously had opened the door for her. They walked in to the air conditioned cafe as Claire felt the coolness hit her cheeks "that feels nice" she said sideglancing at Zac who was scoping the room for an empty table. He spotted one towards the back and headed towards it as Claire followed. As they got to the table not only 5 seconds after they sat down did a group of frantic girls run up to the table all screaming in Unison "Oh my god Zac Efron!"
they glanced over at me with wide eyes with their hands clutched around some paper "what happened to vanessa, are you guys through or on a break or what?"
these girls were filled with questions and gave little time For Zac to answer. Sick of all the talking and questions Claire interuppted thier interrigation "we are just friends, actually I was talking to him about a movie idea, so if you would kindly let him sign you a few autographs I'd really appreciate it...time is money you know".
Zac smiled at the girls and took their papers side glancing at me and surprised at what I had said. When the girls were satisfied enough they left them alone and walked away back to the table across the room, Claire could feel their eyes on them but she wasn't going to be bothered by a little attention. "That was incredible, I really need to get a few pointers on how to avoid interregation like that" Claire smiled "well when they started talking about Vanessa i felt it was getting a little personal" Zac nodded his head "Vanessa yeah, you know she's over the other side of town promoting her new ecko ad"
he started to fiddle with a straw wrapper. "So what can you recomend here?" Getting his mind back to the present he glanced over at the menu "well their coffee is nice and so are thier Frappes" Claire looked over at the menu practically foaming at the mouth "a frappe sounds so good right now"
he looked back "same here, I'll be right back". He stood up and walked over to the counter to go order. Claire looked back to the tables of girls and noticed that now they weren't only starring but whispering and smirking.
Even the tables around them could hear and started to look over at Claire to see what the big deal was. Claire started to feel uncomfortable and as the cackles got louder the more Claire wanted to get out of there.
She didn't want to be the center of attention or worst on the cover of a magazine with scandal written all over her Face. She side glanced over at Zac who was now paying for thier drinks. She got up feeling her cheeks warm up, she was upset again not just about her job but now about the girls and the whispering it felt like high school to her...it was pure hell.
She walked away from the table and past the counter hoping that Zac wouldn't notice her abrupt exit and thank god he didn't because when she got back outside she started to walk faster and faster with each step. Thos girls faces running through her head, she looked down at her feet the whole time walking she just wanted to be back at her apartment by herself and alone.
She got at least 6 blocks when she heard Zac calling her name but she didn't stop she was too busy trying to get as far away from Starbucks as possible. Zac finally caught up and grabbed her by the arm stopping her from going anywhere. When she turned around she saw him hunched over practically heaving as he caught his breathe "what was that, I just had to chase you 6 blocks...you didn't hear me calling your name"
he gasped between breaths. She crossed her arms and looked around making sure those girls didn't follow "i'm sorry I just couldn't take those girls"
He chuckled "well if you want to hang out with a guy like me then you have to get used to that" Claire shook her head "your a nice guy and everything but how can you hang out with me without worring about all the speculations and rumors".
He placed his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eyes "don't worry so much... i'm not" she looked at him more reasurred "alright but I should really get back home I need to bury my face in those want ads"
Zac nodded in agreement "yeah I need to get back to work myself". They retraced their steps past the cafe shop that Claire was just fired from and towards Sunset Blvd. Claire stopped in front of a white building with a gated garden and a flat top roof "well this is where I say goodbye to you...thanks for the coffee, well atleast for bringing me over there."
"look on the bright side" He said smiling "now you can say you know your way around town" she giggled and stretched out her hand to shake his "it was nice seeing you again, I really needed the company today" He didn't outstretch his hand "how about a hug this time, I mean I don't know about you but I' think we have taken it to that next step" He said jokingly.
Claire dropped her hand feeling like an idiot and walked closer to him. She looked up into his eyes as he looked down. Oh wow she thought as they seemed to lock eyes now Look at those eyes The wind started to blow and some hair had brushed across her face. He smirked and brushed it behind her ears.
She almost melted but tried to keep from fainting even though her knees had practically buckled "we need to do this again some time you know, I can give you my number or we can exchange or you know e-mail is cool too"
She laughed and wrapped her arms around him "how about that hug" He too wrapped his arms around and he was tall enought to rest his chin lightly on her head "do you have a paper and pen?" he asked backing up to look at her. "she stopped herslef from drooling and came back with a sarcastic remark "yeah i have a whole little notebook in my back pocket"
he sort of frowned "well since neither of us have the writing tools to exchange numbers how about we make up a date to meet again"
She nodded "how about Friday" He nodded "I might have to pencil you in" he said jockingly but more serious this time "Friday's good, meet me at Carnards 6:00 I'll be waiting"
and with a smile she backed up into the gated garden and walked up the stairs turning back only to wave goodbye at her door. He waved back up from the side walk and when she was inside he shoved his hands in his pockets and walked back towards Starbucks with a smile on his face...who was this girl he thought and why was he so mesmorized and interested to know more about her. He got further down the street when his cell phone rang he looked at the caller Id and picked up the phone on the third ring, he stopped and sat on a park bench on the sidewalk "hey vanessa..."