“Can I help you?”
I stop admiring the shop and look over at the counter. A girl is standing behind it, long dark brown hair pulled up into a high ponytail, leaning her elbow on the counter, her chin resting on her hand, and smiling at me. I walk over, looking down at the display case, and pick up a bottled juice and set it down on the counter. “I’ll just take this.” I give her a smile back as she slowly stands up and rings up my drink.
“You’re new here,” she says, still smiling and watching me instead of the cash register. I start to feel awkward and a bit uncomfortable. She licks her lips, trying to be seductive. Not only am I not interested but I have no feelings at all for her.
I hand her a five and she slowly takes it from me. “Yes. I am.” I didn’t want to offer any more information. She opens the register drawer and as I hold out my hand, she deposits very little change from the very expensive small bottle of juice into it. Just as I start to pull my hand back, she closes it with hers, holding onto it.
“Well, I hope to see more of you – here,” she says with a very obvious double meaning as her eyes scan down my body.
Pulling back my hand, I only give her a smile as I turn around and start walking toward the back door. I hear her sigh as I walk outside and across the deck, suddenly in a hurry to get home. I drink my juice as I walk back down the beach, finishing it long before I reach my deck stairs. Four dollars and fifty-six cents for a small bottle of orange juice. Hell, I can get a case of them for that at the small grocery store across the street. I laugh as I walk inside the house and up the stairs to my apartment. Once inside, I lock the door and head straight for the bathroom off my room and take a much needed shower. I haven’t had sex in such a long time but seeing that girl at the coffee shop only deflated my once hardened cock. I shiver at the memory. Nothing turns me off worse than a girl trying too hard be seductive and trying to come on to me. I had too much of that all through high school. Right now, I don’t want to be with a girl or woman for a very long time.
Still early enough in the evening, I walk out of my bedroom in a white t-shirt and boxers, lean down and take my guitar from its case and sit down on the couch. I spend the rest of my time doing one of my favorite things–working on my newest song.
Chapter 1
Piper
I love where I moved and the junior college is only a ten minute drive from my apartment. It’s been a little bit of a struggle for the last few months, working at the coffee shop, studying and getting to classes but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I couldn’t believe my luck finding a house next to the coffee shop that had an apartment for rent and was furnished too.
My parents hated me leaving but I’m only a couple of hours away. Of course, they’re divorced but I got a call from them separately once I got here, checking on me. I love them but they just don’t love each other anymore, haven’t for several years I guess. They basically stayed together for me. Why? I have no idea. Doesn’t really make sense. It hurt me worse because I always thought they would be together forever. Luckily, they divorced amicably and still talk. It’s like they’re still best friends. I’m glad for that, at least. They’ve always worried about me, thinking I study too much, too hard, never going out and having fun. What they’ve never realized is that the few friends I had really weren’t friends at all, they just used me for what they needed.