Caramel and Black Ties

Where the whole story begins...

As I applied the last line of eyeliner to my eyes, I stared in the mirror and saw a reflection that I wasn't ever too pleased with. I have seen the same reflection for the past 18 years and yet I still disgust myself every time I get a glance. Although, which girl is ever happy with the way she looks? No matter how close to perfect a girl is, there is some insecurity wandering through her head somewhere.

Walking to Starbucks every morning has never been too interesting but I can't resist the lovely smell of coffee and pastries as I wander down the streets of Boston in my spare morning time. A man, obviously an employee because of his crumb covered Starbucks apron, no older than 21 is leaning against the frappuccino machine this morning on his iphone. After at least five minutes of me standing at the counter politely waiting for some service, the man lifts his head, revealing his name tag and asks, "What can I get you this morning?" His name tag says Elijah, I like it.. I can't help but worry about the previous worker named Eddie that used to give me my prized beverage every morning.

"A medium iced caramel macchiato please."

With no reply, the man turns around slowly and starts to make my drink. There is only three people in the entire place this morning for some odd reason. Two girls sitting near the window and one man sitting all alone in the corner, typing up a storm on his macbook. I can't help but stare at the beautiful bone structure of the man sitting in the corner, with large rectangular glasses resting on the small arc of his nose. A wrinkled dress shirt  buttoned all the way to the top button with a crooked black tie connecting to the collar.

The guy finally finished my drink and handed it to me. Wonderful, my hand was now covered in caramel because it was all over the cup and the guy really didn't want to put in the effort  to not miss while pouring the sticky liquid in. Eddie always cleaned it up before handing it to me... Before walking to the back where the mysterious typing man was, I grabbed a s**t ton of napkins and a straw from the counter, making sure the book I had retrieved from the library earlier was still nudged under the material of my warm sweater sleeve.

The wooden chair I sat in was freezing cold under my bare legs. Man, I am such an idiot for wearing only shorts, a tank top and a long droopy sweater today. I took a sip of my sweet and delicious caramel macchiato and lifted the book off the table. I opened up to the correct page and started reading the rest of this tremendous book I've been into lately, written by John Green called Looking for Alaska.

I've always loved reading, ever since I was a little girl. High school consisted of me reading a book a day for weeks on end when I had the time available. Becoming a regular at the school library was pretty embarrassing, having the librarian happily greet me and shove new book suggestions in my face in front of everyone every time I walked in. I spent most of my class time with my eyes rolling along the word filled pages, not paying any attention in classes which didn't exactly put my grades on a good path but f**k it. Books are my life long obsession and if reading was a job, that would be my number one career.

Ten minutes into my peaceful Starbucks morning reading session, the silent man with the crooked tie starts to bang his hand against his flawless macbook. The only thought going through my head at the moment is, why the f**k is this guy slamming a computer I would die to have?

Assuming he noticed that I rested my book down on the table and stared at him for a moment, he slowly stopped smacking the keyboard and looked up. His face started blushing all the way from his perfectly arched nose to the plugs in his ears. He opened his mouth, hesitated to speak and then finally spurted out an explanation.

"Writer's block is a b***h. I've been stuck on the same goddamn sentence all morning and I can't seem to continue this story for my creative writing class. It's all just going downhill very fast and I-"

He spit every word out of his mouth as if they were his last words and only had five seconds left to speak. I had to interrupt and calm the poor guy down.

"Whoa whoa whoa, it's okay. It can't be that bad honestly. Mind if I join you?"

The guy instantly scooted over in the booth, patting the seat and pivoting the laptop outward so I could view the novel in progress. As I was actually getting extremely intrigued with the development of the story, he rolled up his sleeves, revealing a huge collection of tattoos, making him even more attractive in my opinion.

"Oh, I apologize, you were so kind as to sit and read over a stranger's writing assignment and I can't even return the decency of introducing myself. I'm Jared, nice to meet you caramel girl."

"Caramel girl? I guess that's a new one for me. My proper name is Audrey and this story is fantastic.. Everything in this is perfect and the plot is something I would definitely read! Stop worrying so much, it'll come to you, I promise."

Jared's eyes lit up with hope, stared into my eyes as if he was staring straight into my soul and only replied with a small assurance, "Okay Caramel." Then he tapped the table, slid his laptop back toward his vision and said, "Well, if it's okay, i'l be calling you Caramel from now on. It's just a lot more different and I thoroughly enjoy giving out nicknames."

"Um, excuse me, what made you so confident that you're going to see me ever again? I moved into the city a week ago and I haven't seen you in here at all. I have spent every morning reading books in the same seat everyday and haven't spotted you and your little immature laptop slamming methods at all."

I didn't realize how rude my statement actually sounded until his mouth opened in awe and he sat there for a good minute.

"Well, I am aware that I only just met you in a small coffee shop in the heart of Boston but you have actually showed some sign that you give a s**t and man, that doesn't occur often. And yes, I do usually come here every morning as you do but lately I have been sleeping in every morning. Staying up all night trying to finish this novel gets quite exhausting."

I suppose talking with this complete stranger in a coffee shop couldn't be that harmful. So far I was just accepting the fact that he hadn't dragged me out to some van and driven me out to the desert yet. He truly did at least look like a friendly guy.

"I guess writing would be a good reason for sleep deprivation. I spend whole nights up reading all the time just because once I really gain interest in a book, there's no turning back."

"Well, since you love to read so much, once you finish that book of yours, you should highly consider continuing my amateur piece. I need as many reviews as I can get, believe me."

Jared's face immediately turned to the sad puppy dog look and then picked up his steaming coffee from the table to take a sip. As his arm was lifting the styrofoam cup, he caught a glance at his watch and immediately started gathering his things. He saved the document on his computer, slammed it shut and ran out of the store. What the hell just happened? I just kinda sat there for a bit wondering why he was in such a rush that he couldn't even say goodbye or at least give me a copy of his novel. But as I sat there finishing my drink, he returned through the door and yelled, "Oh yeah, sorry, see ya later!" And then made his final exit.

Author's Note

This is a story I have been typing on my iphone during english class while bored so please read and review! I really want to finish this story and have it go somewhere so please give me some ideas too!

Reviews

[SheDreamsInTheSun]

You should finish this book :)

[Ariana H]

Haha, I have had no time to do anything lately, it's really awful.

[SheDreamsInTheSun]

You'll find time you when you get that craving to write again :) happens to everyone!

[Jake Donald Stephens]

My idea: they begin to collaborate on the novel, but one night he has a terrible argument with his mother, and she shoots and kills him. Then Caramel continues the novel alone, finishes it and tries to get it published, but after several rejections, Jared's ghost visits her one night and tells her she got the ending all wrong. She fixes the ending, publishes the book, and it gets made into a movie. But Hollywood totally messes it up, the critics hate it, and nobody takes Caramel seriously as an artist anymore, so she becomes depressed and turns to alcohol. Now it is up to the ghost of Jared to help her turn things back around. But will there ever be any substance to a relationship between an alcoholic and a ghost-- particularly since Jared no longer has any substance in the mortal realm?
Well, that's my idea. I understand if you hate it, though.

[Ariana H]

Hahaha, I love all of this. Maybe not the part when his ghost comes back, seems a tad weird. But the rest of it is great. I was originally thinking of it being a typical romance.

[SheDreamsInTheSun]

I really liked it! You have a great idea! I would just check for spelling and a few awkward sentences. Other than that, keep it up! I'm looking forward to reading the rest.