The Hot Girls Work At Starbucks
Mike was a rookie, but he had a pretty good idea of the class system at work between the video store where he had just started his summer job and the coffee shop next door. Then, he met Elizabeth and he refused to believe what was otherwise totally apparent. James, Mike’s coworker and veteran of this video branch, was brutally honest in his assessment.
“She is way out of your league, kid,” James uttered with his usual encouragement. “Face it, you’re just the geek from the video store.”
It was true, Mike had to admit. The coffee shop was the equivalent of the cool kids’ table in the high school cafeteria, and Mike was sitting with the band fags. Still, he needed to believe it was not a lost cause for a geek from Blockbuster to go out with a hot chick from Starbucks.
“We struck up a decent conversation after work yesterday,” Mike retorted. “She even remembered who I was. She doesn’t seem to care where I work. I mean, don’t be so elitist.”
James scoffed, “Sure, she’s a nice girl, but she’s just being polite. You work right next to each other and are bound to run into each other all the time. There’s no reason for her to be unpleasant. Just don’t get your hopes up that it can be anything more than a circumstantial relationship.”
Mike made sure to show James a confident grin. “Well, I can’t accept that cynical point of view. If we’re going to run into each other every day, there’s always a chance.” And Mike left it on that optimistic note. He tried not to let Jim’s words get to him, but he had to admit there was some truth to what was said.
The trouble, Mike realized, was that he and Elizabeth only knew each other in relation to their respective working environments. Only a few days of work had gone by with Mike going over for coffee or Elizabeth renting something after work. In reality, they had only had one real conversation when they happened to be on break at the same time, and they had absolutely no previous contact socially.
Mike decided this problem could be fixed. If they wouldn’t see each other in social circles, then he would have to find a way for her to see him socially rather than from one side of the counter of the other. However, he was still daunted by the very real divide between those who work at Starbucks and those who were not good enough.
After work that evening, as luck would have it, Mike was able to catch Elizabeth just as she was getting off as well. This was his chance. Getting her attention as the rest of the crew at the coffee house was cleaning up, he made a brilliant attempt at awkwardness.
Elizabeth was not necessarily all giggles, and she did seem happy to talk to Mike. However, they kept up the small talk for so long, Mike barely had a chance to make his move. His “move” being the embarrassing pause between the time Elizabeth’s coworkers invited her out drinking and her leaving with them while Mike stood alone in the parking lot.
During this excruciating period of time, Mike’s brain desperately fought with his mouth to ask her out. Unfortunately, that little buffer zone that controls all his inhibitions had kicked into high gear. This left him with eh even more unfortunate fate of having to explain it to James the next day.
As the events went through his mind over and over, all he could think of was whether he had a chance to begin with. Logic being, if he didn’t, he surely didn’t make it worse, though he had a strange notion that he did. He had to admit, Elizabeth was out of his league. She was definitely too good for a video store. That much was certain. It didn’t matter that they had one great conversation. She was smart enough, pretty enough, and popular enough to work at Starbucks, where only the elite of the summer workers get a job.
Mike had to face the harsh reality: the geeks work at Blockbuster, the beautiful people work at Starbucks. Elizabeth was a Starbucks girl, and never the twain shall meet. The beautiful girls just don’t work at Blockbuster.
All stories by Peter Di Cicco