Hate Face

Chapter 1 - Micah

Fuck. Fuck. FUCK.

Maybe it's just me, or my overactive imagination. Or the fact that I have been single for the past 2 goddamn years. Seeing the man behind the counter at the "Starbucks'' has me thinking all kinds of wrong things right now. Here I was plotting in my head that being back in Las Veiyas wasn't going to be exciting.

I'm standing in line, 3rd, directly behind a man who smells of Fritos and stale packing peanuts, who wouldn't know what a shower is if you built him one. I want to cut the line entirely and talk to the guy who has my undivided attention. But moving the big mass in front of me isn't worth it. I don't think much about being single, being in California showed me more reasons why I am still single, but Las Veiyas has the effect on people to make you feel you need one. The line moves up and makes me 2nd in line, eyes still currently locked on the boy with a baby face, making my body react in the same manner as my mind. That is never a good combination for me.

After about a few obnoxious orders placed by the mass in front of me, he moves to the side, which finally brings my attention to full, and undivided. Still. To the tall and gray-eyed barista, whose smile is almost as memorizing as his soft dirty blonde hair, sitting atop his light hue skin, which is even smoother than his hair. It took me a few minutes of wide-eyed staring, to realize that he was asking for my order.

"Uh, sir?" His voice was deep and raspy, definitely not what I was expecting. "You're kinda holding up the line, do you want anything to drink?" He finished off by pointing to the now, out-of-the-door line.

How long was I fucking staring? I have a problem.

"Oh shit, sorry, my bad." I chuckle and wave shyly at the line behind to ease the tension. "I'll take a Frozen Strawberry Acai Lemonade, please." I finally managed to get out, without falling back into the trance he had me in earlier.

He punched at the screen a few times, and picked a cup, only now realizing I didn't mention the size I wanted, but didn't speak up, because I had already embarrassed myself enough. To my surprise he already knew, holding a veinte size cup in his hand, looking up at me asking me for my name.

"Uh. Uh, Micah." I stuttered out, looking up at the ceiling feeling that the universe was out to get me.

He writes it on the cup and gets to work on the drink, I move out of the line, towards the waiting area. I managed to stand somewhere I could watch his every move while making the drink, not because I thought he'd get it wrong, but because I was back in that trance again.

Once a few minutes had gone by, which to me felt like hours, I heard my name being called. I approach the counter and again I'm met with the boy who is now just as stunned as me, and I can't figure out why.

"Th-Th- Thanks, sorry about holding up the line before." I stretch out the apology as if he actually gave a damn.

Before he could make out a response a girl walks out from the backdoor, behind the counter, and starts ordering him to get back to work. He rolls his eyes and turns to walk back to the POS system, with the line seeming only to get longer and longer by the minute. As I'm walking out the door, my stomach drops, as I hear the door burst open behind me, and it's him.

"Hey, sorry about my boss, Lila, she can be a bit of a –

"Bitch?"

"Yea. But I wanted to give you this before you left." He hands me a receipt, and to avoid being rude, I smile at him and place it in my bag.

He shines a bigger smile and walks back into the store. I make my way to the car, hop in, take a sip of my drink, and look at the receipt. I hadn't realized I almost hit the curb when backing out, while I was fumbling to make the call to Brisa about the shit he left on this receipt.