I decided to join Write Stuff‘s Creative Carnival as a writing exercise. :) Here’s my first contribution. I used this particular idea in an old story that I never finished. This wasn’t written in detail in the story before, but this seemed appropriate for this month’s theme. I don’t think it’s as good as I want it to be because I just wrote this now. :P Here we go. :D
It was Saturday, and Jason could not be more than thankful. School has been pretty rough with him last week, with all the midterm exams he had to study for, but now that it’s all over, he was looking forward to a well-deserved day of rest and relaxation.
It was almost noon, and Jason was sprawled on a bean bag chair in the living room, remote control in hand and a can of Coke on the other. A half-empty bowl of chips sat beside him on the floor, and beside it, their blue cordless phone sat, within immediate answering reach.
After channel surfing for a minute, Jason finally settled with HBO and put the remote control down. He leaned back comfortably, got the chips and was about to put some into his mouth when the phone rang.
“Hello?” Jason said lazily.
“Hello, may I speak to Chris please?” an unfamiliar female voice said.
“Sorry, wrong number,” he replied, clicking off the phone before letting the other person talk again.
Jason put the phone back on the floor. He put a handful of chips in his mouth and went back to the TV. He had just dropped some chips into his mouth again when the phone rang.
“Hello?” He answered, his mouth full of chips.
“Hello, may I speak to Chris please?” It was the same girl who called earlier, her voice sounding annoyed.
Jason reached for his soda and drank before answering. “Sorry, wrong number.”
“Huh? I dialed the right number already. Are you playing games with me Chris?”
Jason sighed. This girl sure is getting into his nerves already. Why can’t she take a hint? This Saturday was supposed to be relaxing, and he was not supposed to be bothered by some random know-it-all girl who is looking for someone he doesn’t know.
“Look, whoever you are, you dialed the wrong number. No one of the name of Chris lives here. Okay? Goodbye.” He was about to reach for the off button of the cordless when he heard the girl speak again:
“Well you don’t have to be rude about it.”
Jason knew he could have just ignored the girl’s comment and hang up the phone, but for some reason, he put the phone back to his ear. “What did you say?”
“I said, you don’t have to be rude about it,” the girl snapped. “There is something called phone ethics you know.”
“What? When was I rude?” Jason asked, bewildered.
“Wow, you’re not only deaf, you’re dense too. The perfect combination,” the girl said sarcastically. “I bet all the girls are running after you.”
“Excuse me, miss, I’m not getting you here. You’re the one who called, and I just told you the truth, so why are you biting my head off over this?”
“Whatever,” the girl said. “I pity the next person who calls you.” Jason opened his mouth to retort but the line was dead. He looked at the phone for a while, frowned and turned it off.
That girl sure has some issues, he thought, still annoyed. Jason looked at his small set up in the living room and found no source of relaxation from it anymore. The girl totally destroyed his afternoon, and he was in no mood to stay at home and receive yet another annoying phone call from whoever she is.
Jason put the phone on the coffee table and stood up, forgetting that the bowl of chips still sat on his lap. The bowl crashed down on the floor, spilling chips all over the rug. He groaned.
“Mom, I’m going out!” he hollered, turning off the television. His mother peered from the top of the stairs and saw the mess on the floor. She gave Jason the look which she always gives to him or his sister to tell them to do something or else they’d get in trouble.
“After I clean this up,” Jason added, sighing. So much for a relaxing Saturday.
* * *
“He was just so rude, Lei,” Kristy said as she and her friend walked to one of the empty tables in the coffee shop. “Okay, I may have made a mistake in calling him, but he doesn’t have to be so annoying.”
Lei looked at her friend and shook her head. “Maybe you just jumped to a concluion about him again. You did insist that he is hiding Chris.”
“But still, Lei, he doesn’t have to be so…condescending!” Kristy’s voice raised a few notches higher as she always did when she’s angry and Lei had to shush her so she wouldn’t disturb the entire coffee shop.
“Relax, Kristy. Don’t think about him anymore,” Lei looked around the store. “Now you just look at the guy who just came from the counter.” Kristy followed her friend’s gaze and saw the guy walking towards an empty seat one table away from them.
“Well, he looks pretty nice,” Kristy said, still quite worked up with the annoying phone conversation she had earlier.
“Nice? Kristy, he’s cute. He’s a hottie. Hello?”
Kristy looked at her friend and rolled her eyes. She never really quite understood how Lei could boy watch like that…it feels wrong to label guys in a snap as they pass by. It felt like they were grading meats or something. Lei, however, could spot and tell if a guy is worthy to be labeled a “hottie” even a mile away.
A small bell rang. Kristy looked up and saw that their drinks were there, so she excused herself and made her way to the counter. On the corner of her eye, she saw the guy stand up as well, and walk the same direction as she was going. They reached the counter at the same time. Kristy started to pick up the tray with their drinks when the guy said, “Excuse me, but the caramel frappucino is mine.”
Kristy looked at the guy and found herself smiling in spite of herself. The guy wore an certain expression of weariness and annoyance, and Kristy couldn’t help but sympathize. “I’m sorry, but this is our order. This caramel frapp is ours.”
“No way, that frapp is mine.”
Something about the guy struck Kristy familiar but she couldn’t put a finger on it. “Excuse me? I believe this is ours. My friend ordered this drink, and the other one is mine. I think they’re still making your frapp. So if you would just quit being rude and excuse me…”
“What? I’m rude? You’re the one who’s getting my order and –”
The guy was cut short as a bell rang again. They turned and saw another caramel frapp sitting on the counter. The guy looked at it then back at Kristy and back at the drink on the counter again. His cheeks started to turn a deep shade of red as he mumbled something unintelligible and walked to the counter to get his drink.
Kristy, however, just stood there, looking at him. He walked back to his table, avoiding her eyes. She started to move back to their table, replaying some parts of the conversation in her head. She put their tray on their table and sat down, eyes fixed at the back of the guy who she talked to earlier.
“Thanks! You okay, Kristy?” Lei asked, noticing the line between Kristy’s eyebrows as she was deep in thought.
“He is so familiar…” Kristy murmured thoughtfully. She gazed at the guy who was back at his table, his back to them. There was something about the way he said something that reminded Kristy of something that had happened to her just recently.
What did he say? “What? I’m rude?” It’s like I’ve heard of that somewhere…
And then it snapped to her. “Oh my God.”“What? What?”
“He was the guy I called earlier!” Kristy exclaimed, feeling her face grow warm.
“Who?”
“That guy! Your…hottie!” Kristy said, lowering her voice. “He was on my case about me getting his caramel frapp while I was on the counter, and he was biting my head off about it, until his real frapp arrived. He’s the guy I called on the phone earlier!”
Lei’s eyes widened. “Really now!” She turned to look at his back. “Well what a coincidence. Why don’t you talk to him?” Her eyes twinkled.
“No way!” Kristy said, her cheeks aflame. “I won’t! It’s embarrassing!”
“So now you’re embarrassed,” Lei said. “Earlier you were ready to kick the guy’s butt, now you’re all scared.”
“I’m not scared! I’m just…shy.” She sank down her seat and hid from the guy’s line of sight, who was making glances at their table every ten seconds.
“Whatever you say,” Lei said, sipping her drink. “I do think it means something that you’d meet him here just a few hours after your first encounter.”
“Right. Now let me hide myself because he’s going our way.” Kristy blushed even deeper as grabbed her bag and pretended to be busy looking at it. The guy had stood up and walked towards their table, smiling at them shyly.
“Uh, excuse me,” he said. “I’d just like apologize for how I acted earlier. I wasn’t in a good mood that’s why I couldn’t really think straight.”
Lei kicked Kristy under the table. Kristy looked up at the guy and said hastily, “It’s okay, don’t worry about it.”
“I’m really sorry. I must have sounded stupid.”
“It’s okay, really. Don’t think about it.” Kristy looked back in her bag and Lei kicked her again. She looked at her friend who mouthed, “Apologize!” Lei made phone call actions to tell Kristy what she meant.
Kristy shook her head and she was rewarded with another kick. She winced and reached down to rub the sore spot on her leg and threw Lei a dirty look. Kristy looked up at the guy, who was smiling hopefully at her.
“I also want to apologize,” Kristy said. The guy raised an eyebrow. “I…recognized your voice earlier, and I…was the one who called you before and told you off because of your rudeness.” Another kick. “I’m sorry about that…saying you’re rude…again.” She added lamely. Kristly looked at him and then looked down again.
The guy didn’t say anything for a while. When Kristy looked up, she saw him taking a seat beside her at their table. “Well what do you know, I didn’t know I’d actually meet the girl who ruined my afternoon here. And that I’d act even more stupid in front of her. Apology accepted. We’re quits now. I’m Jason and you are?” He extended his hand.
Kristy smiled back as she shook his hand. “This is my friend Lei, and I’m Kristy. And I’m very pleased to meet you.”