My Lucky Day: A Play in Two Parts

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My Lucky Day A Short Story About an a Young Woman's Hectic Day By sigriet ferrer December 30, 2006 Contact me I: The Coffee Shop Violet Eclaire a 22 year old Starbucks barista in JFK Airport , was selfishly lost in her thoughts, daydreaming about that smart, funny, and attractive young man in her British Literature college course named Derek. Derek, If only you knew, how I long to be with you Violet thought dreamily. As she delivered coffee to a customer, the coffee cup suddenly slipped from her grasp and spurts of coffee flew onto the man's business suit. Her clumsy coffee spillage awoke her from her daydream. Good Job, and this is only my first day working here Violet thought to herself. Everyone in the coffee shop directed their attention to Violet and the man in the business suit. A couple of teenage girls sat giggling in a nearby table, for some reason they found this instance amusing. The other employees looked at Violet in utter shock. "Oh my gosh sir, I am so very sorry! Are you okay?" She hastily grabbed some napkins, and handed them to him. There was coffee nearly all over his jacket. "I'm okay. My business suit is drenched in coffee, but it could've been worse. Thank God, I ordered a Frappuchino and not a hot coffee, because had I ordered the latter, I probably would have been hospitalized due to Second or Third degree burns." Violet smiled weakly at his sarcasm, then suddenly went back to keeping a straight face. At least he's got a sense of humor Violet thought "I feel horrible for this. I just ruined your day now. I tend to do that a lot. Ruin people's days I mean. But really I'm sorry for the inconvenience." The man managed a smile, despite the circumstances. "Oh, that's okay. I forgive you, but only because you're cute. You didn't ruin my day. Quite the contrary, I would say seeing such a beautiful face has made my day, despite getting coffee all over myself." Violet turned her face away from the man and looked in another direction. His attempt to be flattering seemed disrespectful. When she turned her eyes back to him, she noticed his long curly black mustache, his bald head, except for a tiny patch of hair on his head, his wrinkled forehead, and his big bulgy black eyes, that seemed to pop out of their sockets. Violet grimaced at the man's attempt to woo her. Their was a huge age gap, she was 22 and he was looking like someone who could be her father. The thought that she could be dating someone old enough to be her father was vomit inducing. "That's awfully sweet of you sir. But really, I apologize again. If there is anything I can do to make this up to you please let me know." A devious smile formed on the man's face. "Well, there is something you can do to make it up to me." He raised his unibrow and grinned. Violet ignored the nasty comment. The man just stood behind the counter ogling her. She wished she could come up with an excuse to go back to work, but the coffee shop was unusually desolate, no customers in line to order. "What's your name?" he asked, "Violet" "My name is Karl. Karl Winesburg." As if I cared. "What nationality are you?" the man inquired "I'm Puerto Rican." she answered "Really. You struck me as someone who is Pakistani, Persian, or some other Middle Eastern nationality." She took this as a compliment. The idea of middle eastern beauty appealed to her. She always found Middle Eastern women beautiful in an exotic way. Despite the compliment, she was horrified by this old pervert's perseverance. "Thanks. I've been told that before" she faked a smile. Thankfully, a few customers began to arrive, and as they walked in, Violet walked away from the man to assist the customers. "Well it was nice meeting you, despite the coffee incident. I will be coming here a lot" Karl said. Nice meeting you too" she forced herself to say. She didn't want to be rude by stating her true feelings. Besides she felt a bit of sympathy for him, because he must face the embarrassment of walking around in a coffee stained suit. II: The Elevator After work Violet walked out of the Coffee shop and gave a deep, long sigh. She walked towards the elevator, ready to leave this place. Her mind went back to Derek. Derek, Violet thought, his name resounding in her head. She was on the third floor and pressed the Down button on the elevator. After a minute, the door opened completely and she walked in. To her amazement, she was shared the elevator with Derek. Violet smiled surprisingly and acknowledged Derek's presence with a brief wave and a "Hi". Derek smiled back and responded "Hi" She motioned to press the number one on the elevator, but noticed it was already lit up. Their eyes met briefly, but Violet turned her eyes away shyly and pretending to be fascinated with the creme colored formica on her side of the elevator. "So you work at Starbucks?"' Derek said as he pointed at the green apron/uniform she wore She was embarrassed to see it was still on, she had forgotten to remove it after work . "Yeah. Just began working there today. Everything was going fine until I accidentally dropped a customer's coffee on his business suit. And then he started hitting on me." Violet said Derek laughed and Violet smiled back at him. Two long minutes passed , and they still hadn't reached their destination, the first floor. Suddenly, the elevator came to an abrupt halt. "Oh my gosh!" Violet blurted out when she noticed the elevator had stopped for nearly three minutes. She looked at the young man nervously, she couldn't believe that this was occurring to them, the elevator had gotten stuck with them in it. "Is it stuck?" Violet questioned, it just felt so unreal to her. "Yeah. I think so." Derek replied. Violet panicked and pressed the red emergency button on the wall several times. "Hey, its okay. Don't worry, we will be fine." the young man said. His words were soothing and comforting to Violet. He picked up the elevator emergency phone and dialed for help. "Hi. We're stuck in the elevator, and we need someone to get us out of here as soon as possible. Derek said calmly, not once looking his cool. "I will get a technician to extract you from the elevator. He should be there within 20-30 minutes." The man answered. Derek hung up the phone. "Violet, the man I spoke to says the elevator technicians should arrive within half hour to get us out of here." Derek decided to lighten up the mood with some small talk"You're in my British Literature class, aren't you?" "Yeah. I am. I remember you from class." Violet smiled as she said this. "You know, I've always been wanting to ask you what nationality you are. I've always admired your looks in our class, you have a sophisticated look to you. Maybe Grecian?." Derek said Violet giggled. "No. I'm Hispanic, actually. But thanks for flattering me. Derek smiled. Violet stared into the deep green of his sparkling eyes. It was hypnotizing in way, she forgot everything for a couple of seconds, her mind went blank. "This is such a scary experience, being stuck in an elevator. But I want to thank you Derek for handing the situation cooly, when I was freaking out." "Oh that was nothing. I just think it's funny that we're in this together. I would have never expected to have been stuck in an elevator with you." Derek said. He moved closer to her and placed his fingers on her hand gently. A rush of blood filled her face. Her cheeks blushed pink with nervousness. "Yeah, we're stuck in an elevator, but at least we have each other to keep company, and hadn't this elevator stopped, we probably would have never had the opportunity to know each other better." Derek said He placed his fingers on her cheekbone and she instinctively directed all her attention toward him, her eyes met his. "You're so beautiful" Derek said. She had heard this phrase directed to her so many times, yet this time is was so vibrant and refreshing. He leaned toward her and pressed his lips against hers. She could smell the cologne he was wearing, she enjoyed the taste of his lips, and the rough, masculine feel of his arms holding her as he kissed her. Holding on to her as if not to let her go, she relished every minute of this experience, but then pulled away gently as she heard the elevator door open. Derek and Violet walked outside, their hands held, fingers intertwined. The elevator technicians stood outside and one of them inquired on their well-being. "We're great" Derek said and Violet nodded her head in agreement. "I'd like to see you again." Derek said "Yeah. I'd really love to." Violet responded. she paused briefly then fumbled through her purse for a pen and paper, she found a napkin and a black eyeliner and scribbled her name and number on it and handed it to Derek. In their direction walked Karl. Oh god no. Violet thought to herself. She couldn't believe he was really here. She hoped he would just turn away and walk in a different direction, but he was heading straight toward them. "Hey Derek. How are you?" Karl asked. "I'm good, and yourself?" Derek responded. "Not too shabby." Karl gave an obnoxious laugh at his own joke. "Karl, meet Violet, she's an interesting girl, she's in my British Literature class. Violet, this is my Uncle Karl." Derek said. "Interesting indeed, but a bit klutzy also." Karl said with a grin on his face. Violet was shocked to see the pervert was related to Derek. Her day just continued to get more interesting. She bowed her head, not daring to look either one of them in the eyes. Derek looked at Karl quizzically, as if he had missed something. "Huh? "I met Violet earlier this morning at Starbucks. She dropped my tall Frappuchino on my suit, accidentally. But we had a nice conversation afterwards, and it was a fun experience, meeting her I mean. Yes, I agree with you she is a very interesti