Against the Odds

I stormed out of the house slamming the door behind me, not that anyone would hear or care. I walked down the beach surprised by the beach party with a bonfire that my neighbors were having. I quickly walked past the party, complete with people who may have had a little too much to drink, which was not helping my already bad mood. I walked to the bench that was a bit further down the beach from the party and sat down to look out at the water.
Lately the beach had become my sanctuary and the partygoers were ruining it. The beach was my escape from the world and I needed it to be empty, solitary, and relaxing and with music blasting and people yelling it was none of those. For the past month this, for all intents and purposes, was my beach, I rarely ever saw anyone out here when I was, granted that was mostly because it was usually late at night when I came out here. Of all the nights that there had to be people on the beach it had to be tonight, the night I needed it to be my calming sanctuary. Although I shouldn’t be too surprised, that just seems to be how my entire life is going at the moment.
“Hey, why aren’t you enjoying the party?” a guy asked me as he sat down next to me on the bench. I’m really not in the mood to talk to him right now.
“I wasn’t invited,” I simply replied hoping I could convey my annoyance to him and he would leave me alone.
“Why not?” he asked. Guess not.
“I’m not all that friendly with my neighbors,” I replied.
“I find that surprising, they seem nice. Why aren’t you friends with them?” he asked. Does he ever give up?
“Because I’m not okay? Is that a good enough answer for you? And what’s up with the interrogation?” I snapped.
“Sorry, just trying to be friendly that’s all. I’m Joe by the way,” he said introducing himself. Like I care.
“That’s nice,” I replied. So what if he thought I was going to introduce myself to him.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come hang out at the party with me? It’ll be fun, I promise,” Joe told me. He promises? Yeah, okay, whatever.
“I’m really not in the mood and I want to be alone. So you’re really not helping at all and it would be much appreciated if you left,” I snapped.
“And let me guess you don’t want to talk about it right?” Joe said. Isn’t he smart?
“To someone I just met? You got that right,” I said fully annoyed by this point.
“Fine, but if you ever need someone to talk to or just to vent,” Joe started as he took out a piece of paper and a pen from his pocket, “you can call me,” he said handing me the paper with his number on it.
I wasn’t that rude so I reluctantly took the paper from him, but just because I took it doesn’t mean I’m ever going to use it. As Joe walked back to the party I looked back down at the paper. I didn’t like how he happened to have a pen and paper in his pocket. It was like he kept it in there so he could hand his number out to any girl he met. What would even make him think for one second that I would ever call him? Especially after I was a complete bitch to him, not that I care. That also surprised me; the fact that he still gave me his number even though I was nowhere near nice to him. Everything seems to point to him wanting to get every girl he saw, yet in the back of mind I was thinking it might be nice to have someone to vent to, that knew nothing about my situation, just to get things off my chest. It’s not like I could vent to my friends, they were completely oblivious, they never asked me what was wrong, let alone notice I was in a bad mood.
After staring out at the ocean for a while I finally realized that the music had stopped playing and all the partygoers had left. I figured this it meant it was probably time for me to head home. I walked past the area where the party was and saw cups and soda and beer cans laying on the ground. They couldn’t even pick up after themselves? Guess I know what I’ll be doing tomorrow morning. I walked into my house where my mom was waiting for me.
“Where have you been?” she asked.
“Sitting on the beach,” I replied. Not that you care, I added in my head.
“Next time just tell us,” my mom told me. Yeah that would work, aren’t you supposed to notice when your daughter leaves the house? Especially if she walks right by you to leave?
“Okay, well I’m going to bed, I have to work tomorrow,” I said as I walked up to my room before my mom could say anything else and before my dad would realize I was home. The beach had helped a bit, but I still wasn’t in the mood to talk to them, so I quickly went to bed.

I woke up a bit earlier than necessary the next day so that I could clean up the beach before I headed to work. Luckily it didn’t take me long and I left for work before my parents were up, as usual. I worked at a small coffee shop downtown, it wasn’t the best job, but hey, it was a job. I glanced up from where I was working when I heard the bell ring signaling someone had walked in. When I saw who it was I was, actually I don’t know exactly what I was, there were so many different emotions, but what I did know was that I needed to leave for a few minutes.
“Sadie, I’ll be back in 5 minutes, I just need to use the bathroom,” I told the girl I was working with.
“Uh, okay,” she replied probably suspicious of my sudden need to leave. I stalled for as long as I could in the bathroom. Eventually I figured it was safe to go back to work. I noticed there was a table that needed to be cleaned so I was headed in that direction when I bumped into someone. Actually, he may have bumped into me, but that’s besides the point. As long as it wasn’t who I was thinking it was it was fine.
“I didn’t know you worked here,” he said. Why am I never lucky?
“And I didn’t know you came here, see how that works,” I replied.
“I’m Joe, we talked at the party last night,” he reminded me. Like I would forget.
“I know, I remember,” I said. I tried to continue my path to the table that needed to be cleared, but he was blocking my way.
“What’s your name again? I forgot,” Joe asked.
“I never told you,” I replied. If he thought I was going to tell him my name, he thought wrong.
“I see you’re still in a bad mood,” Joe observed.
“And you’re still here. Now that we’re done stating the obvious I need to get back to work,” I said walking past him. Yet again he caught up with me.
“Do you still have my number?” he asked. Can’t he leave me alone already?
“What if I said no?” I asked.
“Then I would give it to you again,” Joe replied.
“Do you ever give up?” I sighed.
“Not usually, my mom taught me that I should never quit or give up on anything,” he answered.
“Well, aren’t I lucky?” I said sarcastically.
“I think I’m the lucky one, meeting you,” Joe replied unfazed by my sarcasm.
“Oh please, save the corny romantic crap for someone who actually cares,” I told him.
“Fine, but will you at least tell me your name?” Joe asked. He really means it when he says he doesn’t give up.
“And give you the satisfaction of winning? I don’t think so,” I said with a small smirk.
“It’s not about winning and losing,” he pointed out. I’m starting to think he’s just naive.
“There’s always a winner and a loser,” I informed him.
“If that’s what you want to think, but I still think you should call me sometime. I think it would be good for you to have someone to vent to, I’m a good listener,” he reminded me.
“Really? I’m supposed to believe you’re a good listener? Nothing’s really proved that so far,” I replied.
“Think whatever you want, but the offer still stands. At least think about it,” Joe told me.
“Whatever, but I wouldn’t hold your breath,” I said finally walking past him to the table that still managed to be needed to be cleaned. As I was clearing the table I saw Joe walk out of the shop out of the corner of my eye and I couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief knowing he had finally left.
“What was that all about?” Sadie asked walking over to me.
“Nothing,” I replied.
“Are you sure? It didn’t really look like nothing. It kinda looked like he wanted to go out with you,” she told me.
“Maybe he does, but do you honestly think I would even consider it?” I asked.
“Knowing you, you’d either ignore him or be completely rude to him, and judging by your last encounter my bet is on option number two,” Sadie said.
“You know me so well,” I laughed. “Yet, he doesn’t seem to give up.”
“How about after our shift is over we can go get some food and you can tell me all about this guy that is not thwarted by your rudeness,” Sadie joked.
“I could always go for food, so I guess I have to say yes,” I replied.
“Smart answer, otherwise I would have to drag you with me,” Sadie smiled.
“You don’t have to threaten me, I’ll go willingly,” I laughed. “There’s a customer,” I pointed out to Sadie. As she left to take the customers order I finished cleaning the table then went to help her behind the counter. Although it had been 15 minutes since my encounter with Joe, I was still thinking about it; his persistence was starting to bother me.