Against My Will

Chapter 1

"A venti skinny vanilla latte for Camille please," I say to the barista at my local Starbucks. The barista smiles and nods. "That'll be four-forty-five." I pull out my wallet and pay, then walked over to a table to sit and wait for my drink. 

 "A skinny? Come on, Camille. You know that you don't need it." 

I turn around to see who was talking and find myself in front of a face that seems all too familiar, but I can't place it. "Who are y–oh my gosh, it's you." 

 "Well duh, who else would it be?" he says as if it is the most obvious thing in the world. 

 "Maybe, like, my friends?" I reply sarcastically.

"Pfft. You have friends?" I frown and cross my arms. Did he just insult my social life? "Hey, I was only joking." He playfully bumped my arm and I shrugged away.

"What are you doing here? I don't even know your name!" I yelled at a normal volume since we were still inside Starbucks. 

He takes a somewhat long time to answer to my question–longer than it should've taken anyway. "Well, I just came to get a coffee and you happened to be here."

"That's bull. You're a horrible liar, you know that?" I hear the barista call out my name and I go grab my drink. I come back only to see him still there.

"So I'm told," he pauses as if he's going to continue but doesn't.

"Then why are you here?" 

"Well, um, I saw you were having a big party and I figured I'd find you here."

"One, how'd you find out about the party? Two, why did you 'figure' you'd find me here."

"There were signs all over a warehouse I run past every morning. They said there was going to be a party there tomorrow night. It had a picture and name of the host. I recognized your picture. And to answer your second question, I just put the pieces together. You said you lived in Glendale, and you visit Santa Monica every weekend. And you're a teenage girl so Starbucks was a no-brainer. Yesterday I checked out all the Starbucks in the Glendale area. Today I happened to get lucky with Santa Monica. It is Saturday, after all."

"Okay. I understand you recognizing me–sort of–but why did you bother remembering all of that about me?"

"Because I thought I might see you again."

"Are you serious?! Dude, it's been two years. TWO. YEARS. And I still don't even know your name!" 

"Carter, William Carter. Call me anything but Will. That's my dad."

"Okay, this is getting weird. Come to the party if you want, but don't make a big scene." I start making my way towards the exit when I feel him grab my arm and spin my around.

"Wait, can I have your number? Just to confirm the details when it gets closer."

"Carter, it's tomorrow night at 7:30. You know where."

"Please? I'd hate to show up late." 

I sigh in defeat and give him my number. As I walk out of the coffee shop, I call out out behind my back, "Goodbye, Will." And I leave the Starbucks with a smirk on my face, not waiting to see his reaction.

{Jul 6. 2015}