Coffee Shop Blues

by Willow

Disclaimer-Just the regular old brush.Nobody's makin' any money,and I own no one and no one owns me.No offense is intended,its just a thought running loose in my brain,that was resurected for your pure enjoyment and reading pleasure.Feedback and comments are highly appreciated!



      "Lacey!''

      "What Claudia!"Lacey screamed back at her friend.

      "Get up,lazy!"


      Lacey lifted her head from the feather pillow and glanced at the clock. It was 8:30. 'Way too early to get up, head hurts, damn headache! Stomach growling, I'm hungry AGAIN! Life sucks!' She thought to herself. She didn't want to get up, but she knew Claudia's voice never got hoarse and she also knew she wouldnt shut up until she was awake. She wasnt gonna get any sleep ignoring her.

      It was a big effort to get up,considering she hit the sack around 1:00 a.m., but she threw back the warm covers and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She took a deep breath and clasped the bed post and with a big heave she was up. She shook her head groggily as she lumbered into the bathroom.She almost screamed when her feet hit the cold ceramic tiles. She sat on the toilet seat. She had to slap herself then, because she was falling asleep.

      She quickly spread a huge amount of pepsident on her tooth brush,and almost gagged after she began brushing violently. She rinsed her mouth and then the sink,and she filled it up to the brim with semi-warm water and ducked her face in it. She hurredly ducked it out again.

      "Aaaaaaaaaagghhhhh!"She jumped back. That water was freeeeeeeeezzzing! She grabbed a towel and pressed it against her face.

      "Honey, you o.k.?" Claudia asked, completely oblivious to what had happened.

      "Yeah, the water was a little too cold." She said letting the stopper out in the sink.

      "Get dressed girlfriend, breakfasts ready." Claudia said hurrying out of the room.

      'Breakfast? Since when does Claudia come to my house,early, and make ME breakfast?' She thought to herself.

      She walked into her closet looking for something that fit the day. She opened the window, and a cool breeze rushed in. The sun was shining and the birds were chirping their little hearts out.

      Her black sailor skirt caught her eye. She hadnt worn that in months because it was too short. She really didnt want to wear it, because it wasn't good for doing much movement, and last time she checked it came down only five inches from the knee. She thought, 'Well, what the hell, I wont be running in any marathons today!' and she grabbed the skirt and pulled it up over her hips and zipped herself up. She reached for a thin white button up shirt and took off her night shirt and pulled it over her head, and went to look in the mirror.

      "Awwwwww" She groaned. She was wearing a black bra, and it showed through. She stomped back to her closet.

      "Lacey,your eggs are getting cold" said Claudia coming in and standing next to her. "That is the thang! All you gotta do is unbutton it one third of the way so your bra is exposed" She said when she heard Lacey's complaints.

      She let Claudia fix her shirt and then, instead of following her to the kitchen, she went back in the bathroom.She bulled her thick shoulder length brown hair from the scrunchy and brushed it and then bent over and shook her head, so she would get her natural, zig zaggy part.

      Then she went into the kitchen, sat down at the table and tackled some eggs and bacon that Claudia gave her.

      "So," Claudia said "I heard you got back stage passes to the Savage Garden concert next Saturday."

      "Oh, so that's why your cooking me breakfast" Lacey accused.

      "No, I'm cooking you breakfast for a favor today. The concert came up because I was wondering if you really got one."

      "Oh, well, yeah, I got one, but I dont think I'm gonna use it" She said, taking a bite out of her toast.

      "What!?!?!" Claudia screeched "Not use it! Why?"

      "Well, I can't talk to them, I'm way too shy. And besides, what'll they think of me?"

      "Dont worry about what they think. And you are not shy, your talkin' to me aren't you?"

      "Yeah, but I've known you for a decade or so"

      "Your making it sound like we're old. Stop it."

      "Got any asprin?"

      "No, but I go tylenol." Cladia said, slipping Lacey a small yellow packet.

      "I just, I'm scared of talking to them. They're famous, you know?"

      "Actually, I don't, but anyway, I want you to go to the coffee shop on fifth avenue and pay my bill, It was on my tab, and its way over due."

      "No, you know how much bad luck I have with coffee shops. Either I'm pick pocketed, or I'm overcharged, or I'm accused of stealing, or there's a bug floating in my coffee, and maybe one day, out of the rest thats happened to me, I will drink a mug of runny, watery shit, instead of coffee,and after I drink it, the waiter will tell me he is sorry for the wait and he will hand me my real coffee, and I will show him the mug I drank out of and say, 'but I already had my coffee', and he will say,'oh, miss, our manager had the runs and he couldnt get to a toilet,that wasnt coffee,' and then I'll have to pay for the shit mug and the coffee I ordered. Nope, nadda, no way, no how!"

      Claudia chuckled. "You are way over dramatic" hoping that would do the trick. When she realized it wasn't, she put on her sad puppy face.

      "Aww, come on," She pleaded "I even made you pancakes with a smiley face." She held up the pancakes and there was a strawberry nose, grape eyes and a banana mouth and syrup hair.

      Lacey sighed her sigh of defeat. "Alright, but just this once."

      "Here," Claudia said, taking the lucky rabbits foot necklace from her neck and handing it to Lacey. "for good luck."


*******



      Lacey parked her car and took a deep breath and she sauntered into the cafe.

      She walked up to the counter and payed the bill for Claudia's fake identity, Mrs.Selcheva Oreschorvich, and then she heard it. There was screeching tires and she heard busting glass and some crunches and cracks and screams. She had dropped the money on the counter and ran out into the street. It had been a hit and run, and she knew immediately who's car had been hit.

      She completely lost it. "Awwww, Dammmmit! Fuck! I knew it! I just knew something would happen! My fucking car! My fucking Ferrari! Daddy's gonna have a fricken herd!" Her bright yellow ferrari, that her daddy had bought her for her birthday, just two months before, was completely crushed on one side, and her lights were busted and her mirror was dangling from the drivers side door which was completely dented in. All the windows on the left side were busted and the front and back windows were cracked in various places.

      "Geeze!" She said with a sigh of exasperation. She stood akimbo, with one hand on her forehead and she shook her head, flipping her hair out of her eyes. She pulled her cell phone out of her purse and she dialed her home number. The phone made a loud beep. She pulled it back from her ear,in disgust. "Aaaaagh! Low battery! Stupid, stupid, stupid! Lacey! You Idiot! Today of all days, is the day I forget to charge my fricken phone!" She threw the phone at the car and stormed to the alley to use the pay phone.

      Riiiinnnggggg,Riiiinnnggggg!"Hello,this is Lacey Camerons residence, Claudia here"

      "Hey, Claud,this is Lacey, my stinkin' car just got like, halfway totaled."

      "Oh, gosh, you okay?"

      "Yeah, yeah, yeah, fine, but it was right in the fricking parking lot as soon as I paid your bill!"

      "Oh, well I'll be there in a few minutes. Like,were you in the car?"

      Lacey got tapped on the shoulder and she turned around. She saw a wooden plank come at her really fast and a black bag was thrust down upon her head and was tightened at the neck and then all she saw was blackness. The phone hung, dangling from the phone box.

      "Lacey, Lacey, Lacey! You there? LACEY!"


*******


      She awoke but she wasn't sure if she was awake or not, because she was surrounded by total darkness. There were dripping pipes somewhere behind her, and the hum of a refridgerator was somewhere in front, but those sounds were in no comparison to the painful throbbing she heard ringing in her ears and felt in her forehead. There was another awful throbbing beneath her ear on the side of her neck. She felt her sore, tender skin. Swollen and a dark shade of black and blue, no doubt. She felt around her. She was up against a brick wall and beneath her was a cracked, dirty,concrete floor.

      She positioned herself against the brick wall for leverage as she tried to stand. She lifted herself onto her feet,and she stood up, but not for long. Her weak legs were stiff and numb and they gave way beneath her. She landed hard on her bottom. "Oww.." she groaned.

      She leaned against the wall with her legs spread apart and she remembered that she had worn her sailor skirt and she quickly crossed them so as not to expose anything.

"Damn skirt!" This position hurt and finally she gave up trying to be a proper lady. 'Cant see shit in here anyhow' she thought as she uncrossed her legs.

      Since she couldn't walk around she got on all fours and crawled. She crawled until her hand fell on something soft and partially powdered and it made an "aaaaghnugghh" sound. Her hand flung back and she slowly felt what she had touched. "oww" something said.

      It was another person! "Uh,who are y-you"

The person coughed. "I-I was Cheryl Hamm of Time magazine,but I think you may have crushed my face."

      Lacey started to cry. "Thank god" she whispered.

      "What for,been looking for some ones face to crush? Who are you,anyhow?" she asked.

      "I'm not here alone!"

      "Who's I'm?"

      "Oh, sorry. I'm Lacey Cameron"

      "You any kin to Bill and Margery Cameron, you know the multi billionaire law firm and bank owner couple?"

      "Yeah, thats my mom and dad."

      "You serious?" she choked out.

      "Uh-huh"

      "I've been trying to find someone linked to em' for an interview, for months and it takes me bein' kidnapped to do it. Shit!"

      "What?''

      "Oh, it's my diabetes. My blood sugar's low"

      "That can't be good, Cheryl."

      "I know, I know."

      Lacey suddenly felt tired from all the comotion and excitement. "Hey, Cheryl, when we get outta here,if we......." her voice trailed off. Lacey shook her head violently as if disposing of the horrible thought. "when we get outta here, I'll take you to get that interview with my dad in Washington."

      Lacey's eyelids were heavy with exhaustion,and she relaxed and as soon as she closed them,she was sound asleep.


*******



      She awoke to hear what sounded like footsteps, of an overwieght man going up some stairs. She waited until the noises faded and a door closed and a lock was bolted. "Hey,Cheryl? Cheryl? You awake?''

      Then she heard yelling upstairs. Someone was panicking. "One of ems done fuckin' died on us! That wasnt supposed to happen man! What the hell are we gonna do?"

      "Ah,Christ!Which one died?"

      "The red head,man,the red head!"

      "What did you do with the body?"

*whimpering*"I,I put her in the f-f-f-fre-e-ezer"

      "What about the other two?"

      "One was sleeping and I think the other w-was unconscious''

      "You sure one was sleeping"

      "Y-Y-Yeah,boss, I checked her pulse."

      "Good. Write up the ransom note, and no foul ups jimmy, or we're screwed!"


      The voices faded. 'Oh,my god! Cheryl died, and they shoved her in the freezer' She thought as her heart began to pound and she began to cry again.'But wait!' she thought 'they said there was another one! ' She was brought out of her sad state and was suddenly very happy. Then she became angry at herself, because she was happy, when the person she had talked to some time earlier, was dead and was doomed to become a human cadaver popcicle. She decided to crawl around and search for the other person.

      She crawled using the brick wall as her guide and then she bumped her head on something firm and sort of soft and fuzzy. "Ssssttt" It said.

      "Hello" She whispered into the darkness. No one answered.

      "hello?"

She felt like an idiot. She sat back against the wall and cried some more. She felt a hand on her knee and some one said "Its alright."

      She wiped her tears away "Are you a prisoner too?"

      "Yeah" Came a rich australian accent. Obviously male, but very light and feminine.

      "Hey,do you know why we're here?''

      "Ransom money, or we die. My mom and dad would pay it and my best friend would've too, except one of the last things I said to him was that he should go to hell''*sobbing*"we were fighting about our job."

      "Hey, Its alright. My dad would pay mine, maybe. It's kinda funny though. One of the last things I said to my friend was that I wasn't gonna pay her bill at the coffee shop, because I had bad luck with coffee shops. Today, when I went to the coffee shop my ferrari got totaled, and I got kidnapped."

      Her head was pounding even worse than before. Getting hit with a wooden board didnt help any.She reached up to carress her swollen neck and her hand clasped the tiny chain, holding the rabbits foot.

"Some lucky charm" She muttered to herself.

      "Do you know how long we been here?" She asked him.

      "Um,I think a couple of days.Two or three"

      "How long do you think we'll be here?"

      "Well, maybe a week"

      "Shit! Now I wont be able to use my backstage pass even if I want to! I wont even get to go to Savage Garden's concert at all!"

      "Neither will I. What do you mean you wouldn't be able to use your backstage pass even if you wanted to?"

      "You've got tickets to it too?''
      "You could kinda say that, but what do you mean you wont be able to use your pass even if you wanted to? You dont want to meet the almighty Savage Garden Guys?"

      She smiled "Well, it was another thing I said to my friend before I was kidnapped. I was telling her I wouldn't use my backstage pass, because,I know its sounds silly, but I am afraid to talk to famous people, especially when they're one of my favorite bands. It's not that I dont want to meet them,its just I'm afraid they wont like me. I'm too shy and theres not an ounce of confidence in my body. They're famous, you know?"

      "Well, you should at least say 'Hi' to them. The only difference between you and them are that their name is known,and maybe they make more money, but they're just normal people"

      "Yeah, well, I probably wont get to meet them any time soon." She groaned and rubbed her temples. Her headache was getting worse.

      "Whats wrong?"

      "God damn headache."
      "Probably just stress. Relax for a moment and maybe it'll ease up a bit."

      They heard footsteps above and they became very still and the door was flung open and the light was swiched on. There was a heavy man with white skin,and a blonde ponytail. He was wearing a white undershirt that didnt cover even his belly button,and some khaki shorts and some flip flops. He thudded down the stairs. He had a gun and without speaking he threw them some apples and he raced back up the stairs and shut the light off and slammed the door. As soon as the light was off again,she regreted that she had not taken her eyes off the man with the gun and looked at the person who shared her predicament.

      "You sure do have a nice purple bruise on your neck." he said after a few minutes of silence.

      So he had looked at her.Damn,Damn,Damn! He sounded cute, and she had a nasty bruse on her neck!

      "Well,I cant say the same for you,I didnt even take my eyes off the guy."

      "I'm kinda glad you didn't. You wouldnt talk to me If you had"

      "I'm sure you don't look that bad."

      "Has nothing to do with looks"

      She had no idea what he meant. She wondered what Claudia was doing right then. Had her mom gotten the ransom note? Her dad?
      "What are we supposed to do with these apples?" He asked.

      "Use em' as weapons!Soon as they come in and turn on the light, we aim for their gonads!"

      He chuckled "Mine sure would put a dent in their pride, it's huge. Hey, um, I saw you at the cafe. I saw the guy whack you and put a bag over your head, and since it was, you know, April Fools Day, I thought it was a joke. I went to make sure and I got whacked and a bag was put over my head as well."

      "Oh, I'm sorry, you can blame me." She said, feeling bad that she had caused him to get kidnapped too.

      "Nah. It was just a simple twist of fate."

      "Hey, I'm kinda tired, exhausted really. This fricken headache is wearing me out, do you mind if I sleep?''

      "Go ahead, I bet your really tired, I 'm tired too."

      She lay down on the concrete. She lay there quiet and still for a few minutes. She started getting a crick in her neck and she realized that wasnt gonna work. She sat up.

      "Well,so much for that idea."

      "What do you mean?" He asked.

      "The floor is too hard."

      "Well, you can use me as a pillow. If you're kinda squeemish about that idea, then just think of it as desperate measures"

      "You seem nice, but are your intentions honorable?"

      He laughed. "The chances of my intentions being honorable are about as slim as the chances of finding meaning in a Pauly Shore movie" He joked "Not that I don't like Pauly Shore."

      She scooted closer and she lay down, but instead of his lap, she hit her head on the concrete. "Owww!" she wailed rubbing her head. That didn't help her headache any. It doubled instead.Now there was pain on the outside as well as pain on the inside.

      "I heard that one! What was it?"

      "I just hit my head on the ground! Where the hell are you?"

      His hand wandered around until it found hers, and he guided her over to him. She lay her head on his chest and she took a deep breath.

      "I know its dark in here, but you would think that our eyes would eventually get used to it so we could see."

      "Yeah" She said quietly, and she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.



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