Uncontrollable Infatuation

How She Came to be Here

After Cara got to work she dropped her empty travel mug and wet apron in the break room, and began mentally preparing for her eight hour shift without an apron. Luckily, the manager, Greg, had left a cup of stale coffee in the pot at work so she downed it as fast as she could in all it's luke warm and extra bitter glory.

Cara shook her arms out and bounced around like a boxer loosening up, preparing for a fight. She had about thirty minutes before she was scheduled to clock in and she really needed to stay focused and shake off what ever the hell just happened to her.

She just couldn't figure out why and how simple eye contact with a stranger could turn her into an absolutely blubbering mess. She felt full shame for getting caught looking at his ass and completely idiotic for how knowing and cocky his smirk made her feel. He didn't move a muscle after they touched while her entire body was lit on fire. She's never been man crazy. She's had one boyfriend her entire life since she was fourteen years old named Nick. She lost her virginity to him when she was sixteen and she really felt like they would end up together forever. He, on the other hand, didn't have those same plans. Constantly, he cheated and lied, and would push and pull her in all different directions. He was there when her mother and father died and became the only stable thing in her life, but he was never really stable either. Just when she thought everything was fine again, he would get caught cheating again, or start being distant again, or start verbally abusing her again. It was a vicious cycle that just never ended. No matter what he did, she loved him and would take him back the minute he bat her eyes at her and Cara and Nick both knew it. He took advantage of her dependency constantly and drove her absolutely insane.

The last time she saw him was two months ago. They were at a mutual friend's twenty-first birthday and alcohol was pouring freely. Her bestfriend, Daniel was there, aswell as about twenty other friends from high-school and her female ex bestfriend, Jenna. Everything with her and Nick was perfect. They got back together three months prior after he begged for her to forgive him for leaving her for another girl. Eventually she said yes and since then it really seemed like he was putting in the effort and love she always wanted from him.

Cara didn't drink much but will occasionally have a couple shots when her friends wanted to do them. After three shots she was feeling pretty tipsy so stepped outside on the pool deck to sit, get some fresh air, and escape the craziness of loud music, dancing, and beer pong playing. After about thirty minutes of staring up at the stars and just feeling content and overly happy. She returned back to the party and sought out Nick, Jenna, or Daniel.

She walked aimlessly through the bodies until she wound Daniel, staring down the hallway. When he turned to her, she could see pity and sadness all over his face. He immediately pulled her into a tight hug and whispered in her ear that he was so sorry. Cara's heart dropped. When he finally released her, Daniel explained that Jenna and Nick just went in the spare bedroom together.

She acted on autopilot, feeling like a zombie. Jenna was Cara's bestfriend since kindergarten. Their mom's were bestfriends and the four of them were inseparable, constantly at eachothers houses and part of every single thing in eachothers lives. After her parents died, Jenna and her mom took her in and naturally, she felt comfortable. Jenna was already her sister and her mom was already her second mom.

When she reached the door, the music seemed to fade, all she heard was pounding in her ears, she turned the knob and the door didn't budge. It was locked. If her heart could have sank any lower, it would have. Cara paused and slowly raised her hand to knock, when Daniel grabbed it and turned her to him. He handed her the skeleton key he must have grabbed from the host. Without an exchange of words, Cara turned, unlocked door, and slowly opened it.

Nick was standing, completely naked next to the bed, hammering down on a naked Jenna, her legs on his shoulders. He was facing her left leg and away from the door, kissing her ankle so Jenna was the first to see Cara and Daniel in the doorway. She immediately kicked at him and he stumbled back, pulling out of her. As Jenna scrambled to cover her naked body with the disheveled sheets underneath her, Nick and Cara locked gazes. Hers, full of hurt, his like a dog being caught chewing on a shoe. He covered his still hard c**k with his hands and took two steps forward, "I thought you left."

After fleeing the scene, leaving two loves of her lives naked in a room together and Daniel at her tail, she ran and ran until stopping to catch her breath at the park a couple blocks away. Daniel stopped next to her, breathing heavy and wrapping her into a tight embrace as she weeded heavily into his shirt.

They stood like that for what seemed like hours not saying a word, until Cara physically had no more tears to cry. The sun was starting to rise and Daniel said he will take her home. Home was with Jenna though, so she asked to crash on his couch instead.

When they got there, she changed into his baggy shirt and basketball shorts and curled up on the couch, resting her head in his lap while he stroked her side bangs behind her ears.

Just before she fell to exhaustion, his comforting strokes moved to her arm. She tensed, but eventually got back comfortable. Until, his strokes reached to her side and trailed back and forth to her hips and started to feel more intimate. When Cara went to sit up and protest, Daniel grabbed her face firmly and kissed her. She was taken back so hard at first she didn't move, when she tried to pull away from his grip, he attempted to open her lips with his tongue and started pushing his body weight against her, forcing her into the couch.

Cara kept trying to turn her head and get away, finally opening her mouth to mutter for him to stop while he tongue darted around her mouth and he paused. His grip on her face got tighter for a moment, hurting her and he sighed heavily. When he finally released her, he hit the cushion next to her head very hard out of anger and frustration which rattled her head that was pressed against it. She merely closed her eyes tight, let out a yelp, and curled her knees to her chest in the best defensive position she could get in. The pressure from his tight grip on her face was pusling and she felt the wetness of fresh tears on her cheeks.

"I'm tired of waiting for you, Cara. Figure out what you want." Then Daniel walked out and left her on the couch alone, sobbing into her knees again.

After some more time, she changed back into her clothes, leaving his folded nearly on the toliet and looked at herself in the mirror. Her face was puffy from crying, her hair was an absolute mess, and she had two hand prints on both cheeks from how bad Daniel was gripping her. She let herself out.

That night she lost all three of them. She could never forgive Jenna. Daniel physically hurt her and tried to take advantage of her in a time of need. The next day her would leave her a voice-mail saying how much he loves her and wants to be with her, but never apologizing for his forcefulness or bad timing. That day, she returned to Jenna's house, left a note thanking Jenna's mom but it's time she moved on, threw her cell phone in the trash, packed two small bags of belongings, and took off to the other side of the Mississippi River to New Orleans. Luckily, she had a couple grand saved up from working at a Subway since she was sixteen, so she got a hotel room, cried for two days, then went out and found a new job and her first apartment.

Cara scored the job at Boudreaux's, then found two bartending jobs downtown a week later in hopes she can save enough money to move far, far away. She told no one where she was and prayed she could avoid them long enough to make her escape undetected. The money from bartending downtown during Mardi Gras would give her the extra boost she needed to get going.

After Cara came to from her mental pep talk and completely zoning out, she took a deep breath and walked out of the break room to start preparing her side station and section for the first breakfast rush. Gregory, her manager, walked up to her with a red gift box in his hand.

"Hey, Cara. Some dude dropped this off for a clumsy brunette with golden eyes." He air quoted the tag that read exactly that and then added, "Seeing as you're the only Brunette that works here, I'm assuming it's yours." Cara grabbed the red box and looked down at it puzzled.

She brought it to her side station and slowly unraveled the black ribbon tied in a bow around it. When she opened the package, she pulled out a new black apron and stared at it bewildered.

'How in the world?' She thought to herself and flipped the tag to see who it was from. It was blank other than who it was addressed to. She looked back at the box and saw a note at the bottom. After she pulled it out and unfolded it and read, "I felt it too. Now try to keep this one coffee free" under her breathe. The handwriting was in gold ink with beautiful calligraphy.

Immediately Cara looked around frantically to the front to see if the man from earlier was still around. She didn't see him anwhere... Her eyes returned to the note in her hands and she felt dumbstruck.

'How on Earth did buy an apron, wrap it so beautifully, and write out a card so intricate in such little time? And how does he know where I work? Oh, my shirt!' Just as Cara was running through all her crazy thoughts, the bell to the front door rang and it gained her attention again. This time, a man Cara has never seen before walked up to the host stand out of her view holding a coffee cup. She looked back down at the note and put it in the box, stuffed the box in the cabinet below her, and tied on her new apron.

She began to prepare and stock her side station just as the host walked up and said giggling, "Hey, some dude just dropped off some Starbucks for a clumsy Brunette with golden eyes." Cara took the coffee, just as dumbstruck as before, and watched the host walk away.

"What the..."