I spent my entire day at work, slaving away at the register and folding clothes until my hands were numb. Retail is definitely not my forte but I try to save every dime I can. College is right around the corner and my government loans aren't going to magically repay themselves. After ten hours of fake smiles and customer service, I dragged myself down to the food court to stop for a latte at Starbucks for my drive home.
As I walked up to the door, I saw a guy on his way out, holding a tray of four coffees. Rather than continuing my post-work mean streak, I decided to do the nice thing and open the door for him. He yelled "Have a nice day!" to the workers and without seeing me open the door, he shifted his body weight to push the door open by himself. Before I could say anything, he fell right out of the doorway and crashed into me. He dropped the coffees and the hot liquid splashed all over my ankles and feet.
"Oh my god! I am SO SORRY!" he exclaimed as he tried to save what was left of his overpriced beverages.
"It's fine….don't…worry." I slightly hissed as my flesh burned beneath my jeans. He looked up at me and I melted inside. He had the most beautiful brown eyes I had ever seen. They practically glowed. His eyebrows were also perfect, almost triangularly shaped in a way. Our eyes met and I completely forget about my borderline third degree burns.
"I'm so sorry again. Let me pay for you. Please." He stammered nervously, clearly sorry for what he had done.
"It's fine. I swear." I turned my head before I got lost in his eyes again and walked into the store. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I was turned back around again.
"PLEASE." The same guy begged again.
"…If it's going to make you feel better, go right ahead." I said, still refusing to make eye contact. God, he was beautiful.
He walked up to the counter and said "Two caramel macchiatos, a white chocolate raspberry mocha, a grande nonfat soy sugar-free vanilla decaf latte, and…what would you like? Please pick anything you want. I owe it to you."
"I'll have a hot chocolate." I said without even thinking.
He whipped his head around and raised one perfectly shaped eyebrow at me, "REALLY?! That's IT?! You're quite a cheap date! I like you!"
While deciphering whether or not to be offended by being called a "cheap date" by this attractive stranger, I walked away from the register, still slightly in pain, and waited for the order.
"So what's your name anyway, Girl-I-almost-burned-to-death-by-accident?" He walked up and stood next to me while keeping a close eye on the baristas concocting our drinks.
"My name is Kayla." I said, still avoiding eye contact. "What's yours?"
"I'm Darren." He said while offering me his hand for a handshake. I shook it and was slightly taken aback by how tightly he gripped my hand. "Where are you from, Kayla?" he asked.
Throughout my life, I've always hated small talk with strangers…or even with people I know. Talking to people really isn't my thing. Tumblr is my thing.
"I live right around the corner. I work at Old Navy in the next shopping center over."
"Ahhh," he responded, genuinely interested. "That's totally awesome!"
Why does he even care about what I have to say? I think to myself. He just spilled his drinks on me and he'll probably never see me again so…
"I'm from San Francisco. I'm just here for an audition for some new movie with Kristin Wiig. No big deal." He said casually.
I stared at him.
Kristin Wiig? Wait..WHAT? THAT'S AMAZING. Who IS this guy?!
Lost in my own thoughts for a second, Darren stared at me and asked "Are you okay? You look weird." This guy really needed to work on the way he phrases things.
"No, I'm fine." I responded. "I'm going to use the bathroom quick. I'll be right back."
I walked to the bathroom completely perplexed by my life at that current moment. First of all, males don't talk to me, especially attractive ones. Second of all, attractive AND nice? Those guys only exist on TV. I washed my hands in the sink and then returned to the counter. Darren already had the drinks and handed me my hot chocolate.
"Okay, before this becomes awkward again, let's plan this out…who's going to open the door this time?" he asked, giving me a playful smile.
"I'll get it, Darren." I said back, trying to smile back but looking more like an awkward whale.
"Thank you!" he said and we both walked out the door.
"Thanks for the hot chocolate." I said as I began to walk to my car.
"I still owe you more than a hot chocolate for what I did to you. I still feel horrible. I really do apologize again." he said while giving me puppy dog eyes that made me want to curl up in a ball and die inside.
"No really, it's fine! Don't worry. I'm sorry but I have to run, my mom's going to wonder where I've been all this time." I say out loud but in my head I say Excuse me while I run home and type this entire story out in a Tumblr text post that no one is going to read anyway.
"Oh…okay." he said, looking slightly disappointed. "It was nice meeting you!" he yelled back and smiled while walking across the parking lot to his car. "I hope to see you soon!"
Hope to see me soon? Yeah right.
I sat down in my car and put my hot chocolate in the cup holder. As I clicked my seatbelt in, I looked over and noticed a little piece of paper on the side of my cup.
I still owe you. Please text me as soon as you find this. 678-432-5930 –Darren
I re-read the note ten times. What the hell is going on?
I put the note back on the cup. I didn't know what to think about my day today but all I knew for sure was that I was going to text that number as soon as I got home.