I walk through the doors and saunter into the familiar coffee shop. It smells of vanilla beans and chocolate lattes. My favorite. I stop at the counter to order one, not bothering to glance around like I'm expecting someone. Even though I am, I don't act like it. I can't look suspicious.
"Name?" A young girl asks from behind the Starbucks register. I've never seen her in here before, so she must be a new employee. She smacks her bubble gum noisily, and when I don't respond, she pops a bubble obnoxiously. "I said, name."
I smile. "Look, kid, I'm a regular here. So I'm not exactly one of the customers you need to worry about. But I'm warning you, if you act so ignorantly to the wrong person, this new job of yours is going to be a bombshell, quite like yourself. So spit out the gum and talk to me like you should."
At first she just stares at me, then when my smile fades and I begin to glare at her, she slowly pulls the gum out of her mouth and throws it into a trashcan hidden by the counter. "Im sorry ma'am. Can I get your name, please?"
"Macy. M-a-c-y." I tell her, spelling it out.
She writes my name on a cup and passes it back to have my latte made. "Next?" She calls, smiling at the older man behind me. He walks up as I walk away, looking around for a good seat. I pick a table with two large stools set up, one on each side. I sit in one stool, leaving the other one open across from me.
The girl that took my order brings me out my latte. "Oh. I would have came up and gotten it myself, like everyone else." I say, taking my drink gently. She must want something. A tip, probably. "I don't have any extra cash on me, so... "
"That's not why I came over. I brought you your drink so that I could apologize properly. I shouldn't have been such a bitch to you earlier. Its been a long day, and I've been having a hard time finding a good job... one with customers that don't treat me like trash. I get that this isn't an excuse for treating others so terribly, with such an attitude. And I want to say sorry. I'm sorry."
"What's your name?" I ask her, smiling.
"Shayleen. Everyone knows me as Shay." She smiles back. "I'm only fifteen, and this is my third job already. I get so used to people being rude because of my age, especially with me being a waitress, and I guess I was trying to beat people to the bitch-ness." She laughs. "Thanks for talking some sense into me."
"Not a problem. I know how tough it is, starting out like this. If you ever need something, even just to talk, call me." I scribble my name and number down on a napkin with the pen I kept from the cop earlier, and slide it toward her across the table. "You should get back to work."
Shay takes the napkin and smiles, walking away just as I watch the girl im meeting walk in. She is wearing a knee length white dress, her blonde hair in beautiful long curls over her shoulders, with a pair of black sunglasses over her eyes. She slips them down her nose and looks around, trying to find me. I wave at her. She sees me, slips the glasses back on, and walks to me without any kind of 'hello' gesture.
"Hello Abby. Thank you for meeting me here." I say, standing to shake her hand.
She looks at my hand, ignores it, and replies "It sounded urgent."
"Well, yes. Yes, it is." I lower my arm, feeling like an idiot. "Its about Taylor. And your daughter. Why don't you take a seat," I offer, sitting down in my stool.
I take a drink of my latte as she removes her glasses. She slowly folds them up, tucking them into the collar of her dress. "Leta?" She asks. I nod and she sits. "What does she have to do with this?"
"You want Taylor to help you, to get through your daughters mind? That way, you can finally help her? Correct?" I ask, leaning forward toward her.
"Of course. You're correct." She squirms under my stare, straightening her already perfect posture.
"I talked to Taylor about it. He understands you need him, and he knows the risks of getting the proper...treatment, I'll call it..... the proper treatment to be able to help. At first, I will admit, he was reluctant to have anything to do with this. But he knows he needs his.. his old self back. He agreed to do everything that you wish, to go undergo the treatment again, to help your daughter, to get back to being a standard, all for a price, an agreement of his own."
"Okay. Anything. Whatever he wants." Abby responds.
I lean back in the stool, as far as I can without falling off the back, and smirk. I take a drink of my latte, savoring the moment that I make the final shots. Her eyes narrow. I smile wider, showing my teeth. Tapping my fingers on the table, i ask "Did you want anything to drink?"
"Macy, please. I do not need a sugar loaded, raise my blood pressure higher than it already is, coffee from some Starbucks. What I need, is to close this deal with you. Get on with things, please." She scratches her head nervously.
"In order for Taylor to take part in the treatment, he needs my support. My participation." I incline my head to the side and raise my eyebrows.
"He needs you to be there with him? I already figured you would be there." Abby retorts.
I shake my head. "No. I mean," I sigh. "He wants me to.. how do I say this.. undergo the treatment as well?"
"Blake will never allow that. You know its a crazy idea to even propose."
I stand up. Walking to the same side of the table as her, I take Abby's hand. "I have to get some sort of standards power. Its the only way Taylor will do what is needed to be done in order to help your daughter. Don't you want Leta to be pure? To be good? Talk Blake into turning my Standard, and it'll happen." I try to reason with her.
I
Abby looks down at our hands entwined. "I will try. I cannot promise he will like the idea. I cannot promise that he will allow it. But if he doesnt, I'll do it myself. For Leta. For my baby girl." She pulls her hand from mine, takes her glasses from her dress collar and unfolds them, putting them on.
"Thank you, Abby. You won't be sorry." I say as she stands up to leave.
"Oh, my dear, but I already am sorry." She smiles a heartbroken smile, then turns on her heel and leaves me alone in Starbucks among twenty other people. Twenty strangers. Twenty people leading normal lives, with no idea as to the hidden world of Good vs. Evil. Standards vs. Prostands.
I walk away from the table, leaving my latte behind. I head to my car, exhausted. I wish I were one of the oblivious twenty people in the coffee shop. I wish I were someone, anyone, other than the girl I am now. The girl that knows things she shouldn't. The girl making plans to give up her human life to be part of the unknown world. I turn the car on, then lean my head onto the steering wheel. I close my eyes and imagine my life being different. I make up silly visions of how my future would have been. Should be.
But, eventually, I have to face reality. I sit up, blinking the tears from my eyes. I have to get over the fact that I just threw the rest of my life away. I won't know how my future will be now. I don't know if I'll make it through the life of a standard.
All i know is, I just gave up everything. Right in the middle of Starbucks.
