I Am The Answer You Misunderstood.

It was 10 am when I decided to head on out to Starbucks, it was part of my routine before I do anything or go anywhere, I go to Starbucks. I thought about telling my mom I was going to be out and see if she needed anything, but I decided not to. She knows I’ll be gone, I’m hardly home through the day, she’ll call if she needs something. I drove from my parents house, on the outskirts of town of LA, to the inner city. I parked in a close by parking garage as always, and made my way to the Starbucks two blocks away.

I didn’t even have to order, it’s always the same people working, who I have actually became friends with. It was always Janie working the counter, Amanda working the drive through, and it was usually Michael and Cameron actually making the coffee. Sure there were other people sometimes, but these are the only ones I knew. But I waved my hand at Janie and Michael and they knew exactly what was needed. They began fixing my Caramel-Vanilla Frappuccino as I went and sat on the comfortable chair in the back corner, taking out my notebook and pencil. I must have looked horrible, I had my tangled hair knotted back in a messy bun, I was wearing a pair of straight legged jeans that I had worn the day before, a very loose striped tank top with a grey cardigan over top. But I didn’t care, I felt comfortable-oh, and not to mention the dark circles under my eyes from lack of sleep.

I smiled at Janie when she brought me my drink. “I put a few more pumps of coffee in there, you look like you haven’t slept in a while.”

“That’s because I haven’t.” Janie was well aware of my Insomnia.

“Well maybe this will help you feel better and livelier, maybe you’ll end up crashing later.”

“Doubt it, but thanks Janie.”

I took one sip of my drink, and my eyes brightened immediately, I began to wonder how much was just a few pumps. I could taste nothing else but coffee, no matter, I drank it quickly.

I stared down at my notebook once again, having the same feeling of nothingness as I was quite accustomed too. Now, I know people most days use their laptops, cell phones, etc. to write, but that’s only the final draft for me. I need to feel like I’m actually working, by writing, and really being able to feel the paper and pencil in my hand- but that’s just me.

I did have an idea as to what the I was going to be writing about, it was going to be a love story, not one of those romance novel where you can’t read with out learning something new about sex. But a sweet love story that would teens, or girl my age would be attracted too. I thought it would have been no problem for me to write one, seeing as I’ve been in love more than the average person- or so it seems to me. But I knew exactly what I wanted, I just didn’t know how to put it in writing, I had no inspiration….

I laid my pencil and paper down on the small table in front of me, an took a few more sips of my drink. I looked through the larger glass windows seeing the oddest thing outside. There was a man in a wheelbarrow rolling down the sidewalk at a fast speed, he was laughing as screaming. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a large ramp out on the sidewalk, how I missed it when I was coming in? I have no idea. The man in the wheelbarrow went up the ramp, only to fall out of the wheelbarrow on his back, with it coming crashing down on him. I then saw a huge grew of guys running towards him, laughing hysterically. Now, you would think these would be teenage boys, but they definitely weren’t. The man who was in the wheelbarrow stood up from his accident, laughing just as hard as they were.

I honestly had no clue what was going on. Why would people randomly do that on a street, and why would they be allowed to? Also, why did the guy just get right back up and laugh about it? Two more guys came walking down the street laughing, one was clapping his hands, like he was congratulating the guy who had done this stunt. The guy who has clapping nonchalantly looked around the area, I’m guessing to see if anyone else had witnessed his stunt. He looked inside the windows of Starbucks, laying his eyes upon me. He stopped clapping and he stopped laughing. I didn’t know whether to smile, wave, or quickly look away. So, I held his stare. It was only held for a moment when he looked away, I let my eyes wander somewhere else, but then I saw him lay his hand on his friends shoulder, saying something to him. The guy nodded, making it obvious he really didn’t know what he had just said. He then stepped inside. He smiled at Janie, who was eager to take his order, it seemed as if she knew who he was, who everyone outside was- maybe she had been notified of what they were doing? He walked over to the back corner where I was sitting, he sat down in the chair next to mine and just looked at me. It was honestly the strangest thing that had ever happened to me. “Hi.” He began. “I’m Johnny Knoxville.” His voice was loud, and borderline obnoxious. His words seemed as if they were rehearsed, like he said this multiple times in a day.

“Hello.” I said softly. He flashed a wide smile at me. He said nothing else for a few minutes, but just studied me-it was awkward. “Um, does you’re friend need medical attention, that really seemed like it hurt. He might be injured.”

He laughed, loudly. He took his hand, and pointed with his thumb to his friends. “You don’t know who we are, do you?”

I shook my head, “No, should I?”

He smiled, “Nah, it’s probably best if you don’t. We’re…we’re real jackasses. “ He, Janie, Amanda and Michael laughed, as if it were a joke. I wanted to look at them, asking who he really was, and why I should know him. I’m not going to lie, of course he seemed familiar to me. It felt as if I had seen him before, but where? “What’s your name?” He asked, changing his tone of voice and volume.

“Megan.” I answered. He nodded his head, giving me a slight smile.

“You must be thinking, ‘What the hell is this idiot doing?’ But I have to admit to you, I’m not real sure.” By this time, all of his friends were standing outside looking at him with disgust. He started laughing, “I’m not supposed to be in here, I’m supposed to be out there.”

“Maybe you should go?” I suggested.

“That depends…” He started.

“On?”

“You.” I just arched my eyebrow, to ask how it depended on me. “I haven’t asked a girl this in a while, it seems kind of cheesy if you ask me, but can I have your number, Megan?” I laughed a little, and nodded my head. He showed me a wide smile, taking out his phone. I took his phone from him and put my number in. Once I handed him back his phone, he jumped up. “I better get going before I get my ass whipped.” He sprinted towards the door, and looked back at me once more saying, “I’ll talk to you soon?”

“Yeah, okay.” I answered.

“Bye, Megan.” He walked out the door, only to get pushed around jokingly by his friends. He walked past the window, took one last look and winked at me before he disappeared around the corner.