Chapter 1-Candace
“One Mocha Frapucchino please?” Candy asked as she tapped the counter impatiently. That was the problem with Starbucks lately. They had exploded nation-wide and now everyone was hooked. School had ended about an hour earlier and she was still waiting in line. But Candy could not walk out now, when she finally got to the front of the line and ordered her favorite drink. She too was apart of the Starbucks craze, but not for the coffee or espressos, but for the lattes and frapucchinos.
“Small, Tall, Grande or Venti?” The perky blonde woman at the register asked energetically, gesturing to the display of the multiple sizes of cups that were neatly placed in front of the cashier.
She already knew what size was perfect for her after coming so many times. “Tall, please.” Candy requested as the energetic blonde behind the counter nodded her head and whizzed over to the machines to make the concoction. She was back shortly, obviously used to moving fast to keep the line moving, and held out the drink with an overload of whip cream and chocolate syrup. Perfect, it was just how she liked it.
“That will be $3.75 ma’am.” The perky blonde stated and peeking over to see if the line had died down a bit.
Candy reached into her front pocket for her favorite black wallet and fished out a crumpled five-dollar bill. She set the money down on the countertop and just as the perky worker was about to ding the cashier for her change Candy shook her head and smiled. “Keep the change.” She said as she grabbed her favorite drink and sat at an outside table with a texting blonde already seated. “Hey Cassie.” She asked cheerfully, clearly over her impatient, foul mood now that she got her drink.
“What did you get?” Cassie asked without looking up from her sidekick, anxiously awaiting for it to buzz and reveal a new message from whoever it was she was texting.
“ A Mocha Frap, it’s delish.” She said as she wiped her finger over the top of it and licked the whip cream.
“I don’t know how you stomach that, that thing is lethal for your stomach.”
“It’s not that bad.” Cassie raised her head and gave her a ‘who-are-you-trying-to-fool’ look before she eyed the drink with disgust. Candy laughed and raised her hands in surrender. “Okay, Okay, I admit. It’s not the best choice for a health conscious eater.”
“I’ll say.” Cassie chuckled as she resumed to her compulsive texting. She typed so fast; she could probably text her entire life story in no time. Candy took a sip of her drink as she tried to get a peek of who it was that she had been texting this whole time. Candy was certain it was a boy; no girl was that anxious for a text unless it was from a boy. This especially applied for Cassandra.
Candy had known Cassandra since the third grade, and they had been best friends ever since. And ever since then Cassie had been obsessed with boys, she was what you would call ‘boy-crazy’. Candy was boy crazy herself, but she had other priorities besides boys. But ever since they had gotten into high school, it felt like she had gotten worse, or it had gotten more noticeable at least. With her pretty blonde hair and hazel eyes, she was the eye candy for the boys. It’s not that Cassie was stupid, or desperate, or one of those head cheerleaders you see on TV shows, but it still worried her.
She failed to catch even the slightest glimpse of the screen which made her sigh in defeat. “Who is he?” Candy asked knowingly, her suspicions about it being about boys were confirmed when Cassie smiled and blushed in response.
“His name is Robert, and he is the dreamiest!” Cassie gushed like a little girl. She was obviously excited with this new boy toy of hers and this one seemed to have her head over heels. Which was not very hard to do to a girl like Cassandra. She was the type of girl to linger on every word a cute guy said, doodle their name in her journal, and daydream about them all day. But that usually only happened with the really cute guys.
“He sounds nice.” Candy giggled, amused by Cassie’s sudden change in personality. It never failed to make her laugh.
“He is!” She continued to gush. “He’s sweet and funny and he says the cutest things! He also—“ She was cut off by the ring of her phone. Puzzled by who was calling her she looked at Caller I.D and the second her eyes widened and she blushed Candy knew just who it was. Robert. Cassie looked up from her phone with a pleading look in her eyes. Candy just waved her hand—she wasn’t going to say no. Cassie smiled widely and pressed the answer button.
Candy faintly heard a deep voice on the other end of the line and Cassie’s constant flirting. So this is what they had been texting each other. Candy rolled her eyes; she knew what was coming up because it never failed to happen. Right on cue Cassie gasped and told Robert to hold on for a second. She looked up at Candy with one of her ‘I’m in love’ grins as she clasped her hands together.
“Oh Candy, Robert just asked if we can meet up. Oh please, oh please can I go? I promise I’ll tell you everything when I get back!” She said excitedly. She gave Candy her infamous puppy dog face and continued to plead with her eyes. Candy simply sighed. Again, what was she supposed to do? A good friend would insist on it, so Candy tried to smile encouragingly.
“Of course, I’m not your mom. I guess I can walk home—it’s not that far from here.”
“I knew you would understand! You see, this is why I love you! Bye!” Cassie said happily as she stood up and gathered her things. She spoke into her phone and told Robert the good news. Cassie waved at Candy before leaving the small shop and looking for her car. Candy sighed once more. She was really going to be happy when this phase of hers was over.
By now, Candy had finished her drink and had no further business here, so she got her jacket which was hanging on the back of the chair and went to throw away the empty cup. Just then her mother called. Ring Ring! Ring Ring! The phone sounded, alerting the whole Starbucks that she had a call. She cursed herself for leaving the volume so high before she finally answered it. It was her mother.
“Hey, mom.” Candy greeted tiredly, she had a feeling she knew why her mother was calling.
“Hello, Candace. I’m running late at work. Could you look after Jamie?”
Jamie was her younger brother. He was ten-years-old and the biggest annoyance in her life. But then again, what little brother wasn’t. He was nosey and a trouble maker, these were things that never seemed to not annoy Candy. But at the same time, she loved her younger brother, like any older sister would. She always tried to play the responsible older sister role, but that didn’t always seem to work out.
“Sure, mom.” Candy reluctantly accepted. It wasn’t like she had anything to do anyways. Throughout this entire conversation Candy had left the small Starbucks and started crossing the street, preoccupied with her phone she didn’t really seem to be paying attention to oncoming traffic.
“I knew I could count on you! I’ll try and not be home late. Bye!”
“Bye.” Candy muttered as she hung up. She wasn’t the happiest person in the world right now. Then, just as she was shoving he phone back in her purse she heard a car honking just in front of her. She felt a pang of fear, that feeling you get when something really bad or life threatening is about to happen. But before Candy even had the chance to freak out even furthershe was slammed to the floor by a strong, masculine figure. She was pushed out of the way and she could faintly hear gasps and people yelling, asking whether to notify the police or not. Candy’s ears were ringing from the impact of her head to the floor and her stomachflopped, she felt like throwing up that Frapucchino she just drank. Cassie was right.
When she opened her eyes she saw a man with dark her and the most beautiful gray-blue eyes she had ever seen. They especially stood out because of his dark hair. He was a young man, somewhere in his mid-twenties and completely gorgeous. He seemed alarmed at first as he tried to sit her up.
“What the hell were you thinking?” He asked, clearly upset and annoyed. Not what she was expecting him to say at all.
“I-I was.” She stammered as she tried to escape his ice cold gaze. “It’s not like I intended on almost getting hit.” She said angrily, it was true. This guy should be asking if she was okay, not if she was suicidal.
He shook his head and stood up, offering his hand to her. “I’m sorry, normally when I get bored, I usually just try my luck with oncoming traffic.” He said sarcastically. He was clearly not the knight in shining armor you read about in fairy tales. Candy took his hand and stood up; she didn’t have any serious injuries, just a few scrapes and bruises.
“Normally, when people get hit the normal questions are: ‘Are you okay?’ ‘Anything I can do for you?’ ‘Need any help?’ They’re usually not bombarded with sarcasm and rhetorical questions.” Candy retorted. This man was so irritating.
The man laughed, his features lighting up a bit. “And normally, when people get saved a certain word is used a lot. Oh what’s that word again? Oh yeah—thank you?”
“Thank you.” Candy muttered. By this time they were surrounded by spectators who were curious to see what it was that happened. The truck that was about to hit her had stopped and the driver was in the group of people that surrounded them, his cowboy hat pressed to his chest.
“Ma’am, are you alright?” The driver asked, sounding sincere. Candy smiled weakly and nodded her head.
“Of course I am, thank you for your –“. She said, and just as she was about to smirk in the direction of the man who saved her, he was gone. She looked around the crowd to see where he had gone to. And in the distance she could see a familiar head full of dark hair walking in the opposite direction.
“—Concern…” She ended, strangely sad that the mysterious stranger had just left like that. He hadn’t even given her his name.
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A/N: I'm not all that great at Romance,
sweatdrop . And yes, this was my sad attempt at one. This is only chapter 1 which is why you don't see a lot of lovey dovey stuff. Sorry about the length, when I start it's fairly hard for me to wrap it up. Please, I love to see comments, suggestions, advice, anything that can be helpful.
The cover can be found
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