Away: A Prequel

Chapter 1

Outside the Starbucks coffee shop, there were loads of colours - reds, oranges and yellows mostly -. The sight of the fallen leaves were kind of saddening, but also beautiful to see. I loved Autumn time. Especially while at work - the smell of the Cinnamon and Pumpkin Spice Latte, it was to die for. I loved taking hold of some of the cinnamon, meaning the smell of it was on my hands for the rest of the day. The last week had sucked, but I had a feeling today would be... better, at least.

This day I talked about to my friend, Cora. Yeah, it started out fine, but then I actually loved it. It got better due to one small event.

"So, what made this day so good?" Cora would ask me, as she impatiently waited for me to tell her; she was excited to say the least, being my best friend.

I giggled at her excitement, "Well, it kinda started like crap, but.."

The way I acted, she must've been able to tell it was because of a guy that I was so happy; she giggled with excitement, "So it's to do with a guy?"

I nodded, answering her question in more ways than one; she squealed, "OMG! I need details! Tell me, what does he act like? What does he look like? Did you talk? Did he give you a name?"

"Woah!" I held my hands up, waiting for her to calm down, as I giggled, "It was a very brief meeting, but it was... amazing. He's drop-dead gorgeous though, bit of welsh accent..."

I blushed at the mere thought of him. She continued to ask for details, me giving them in return. It was kinda a long process considering she kept stepping in to ask further questions. It felt like an interrogation almost. But, the basic down-low on how it went was like this:

I was serving one of our regulars - a smelly, oldish looking guy who always wanted to order from me and a cappuccino, which the other baristas were capable of making -, when his entrance made me glance up. I did, however, go back to what I was doing, before him moving closer to the counter made me look back at him. His deep brown eyes held on the menu board above my head - his medium length blond/ brown hair flopping back over his head. The regular got grumpy at me being a slight bit distracted by the much better looking customer that was stood behind him.

As my thoughts came back to me, I looked at the customer with an annoyed, yet apologetic expression. I put the lid on the cup of his drink, and went to hand it to him. Unfortunately, my balance betrayed me and I caused the hot drink to go all over his brown shirt. He started shouting and bawling, causing almost everyone in the shop to look our way - including the cute guy; the horrid customer yanked me forward via my blouse, pointing a dirty finger in my face. I'm not gonna lie, I was kinda scared right then. He looked like he would kill me given the chance.

"You fucking whore, watch what you're doing!" The man shouted, adding to my embarrassment.

"S-sorry... I... I tripped on something, and... and." I began, but he grabbed a fistful of my light brown hair, the navy blue tips peeking between his sausage fingers; I could feel my hazel eyes fill with tears from the pain of him yanking on my hair over the counter.

The handsome stranger shoved the rude customer back, standing between the two of us; this was when I heard his accent, "Woah, she said sorry; leave it. The rest of us wanna order."

"Hah, like you really care if she's hurt. Watch, I can do this and you won't... No, you can't do anything about it." The next few moments went rather slow - like time had suddenly stopped almost; his hand reached out - palm toward me - and slapped me hard across the face.

My hands immediately reached for my stinging cheek, which was most likely bruised. The stranger looked at me, angering by the looks of it. I don't know if I was hearing things from the shock, but it sounded like he growled, before grabbing the man's own hair and slamming his head off the counter - gaining a lot gasps and chattering from the other customers. The older man slumped to the floor, his nose bloodied. I looked at the stranger that helped me, immediately more attracted.

"Call the cops, luv. He might be there for a while... Also mind if I take my order now?" He turned to me, a small grin on his face.

I slowly nodded, going to make his order - which happened to be our Cinnamon Spice Frappe; as I handed him his drink, he smiled, "Thanks..." He looked at my name badge, "Kayla. Pretty name."

"T-thank you." I managed a smile, just before he turned on his heels and went out the doors, with his cup in hand; immediately after, I called the cops, telling them a rude customer got into a fight. I never mentioned the nice stranger. I had no need to get him arrested.