Baristas

So this is an embarrassing story. My summer of failure was dotted with near moments of coolness punctuated by dismal embarrassment. As was the case here. I came into the Starbucks with Mendoza to ostensibly flirt with my favorite girl, we called her Original Sauce(of course the more I like them the longer it takes for me to get up the nerve to do so) only to end up flirting with another. Original Sauce happened to be working and I talked to her a little, but another beautiful barista ends up sweeping near me. I can't help myself and start talking to her. I notice that this barista is also gorgous and nice. Next thing I know my balls have dropped and I start full on hitting on her. I even resort to old standards like how pretty her eyes are(I was actually being honest and the moment that came out of my mouth I realized how trite and cliche it was). I try to justify it and at the same time hit on her more by telling her I should just paint her eyes onto this picture I'm working on. She laughs and I can't help but do it. I end up hitting on her more, shes really cool about it and it is now just obvious, and finally she knows she needs to tell me the jig is up because the phone number question is about thirty seconds away. She subtely tells me that the guy working complements her eyes. I figure out what that means back off and look down at my drawing of her. I think Mendoza was laughing but I wouldnt even look him in the eye.

I've said many times how bad I am at likenesses so I never was really afraid it would look like her anyway. But, somehow, this one time, it does actually look a hell of a lot like her. I look at her behind the counter just to check if I am wrong about the likeness and if she is really with the guy or I was just imagining things. Of course both things end up true and on top of it I hit on this girl in front of my real crush. I try to pretend it isn't her by changing the hair color but it doesn't change a thing. It is her. On top of all that I'm kind of friends with her boyfriend so it was really humiliating that I was such an idiot.

Anyway, they ended up both being super cool and pretending I wasn't the idiot I am. I saw them a bunch more times after that and hung out with them while they were on break once. They want to buy the painting. She even called it the painting with her eyes which totally made me blush, because again I tried to change it but it was clearly her. I even changed the hair color. Oh well.

And the other barista, Original Sauce, had a boyfriend the whole time so I never had a chance. I don't remember why we called her Original Sauce maybe because she was like the best barbecue sauce(or something stupid like that).

None of them work there anymore. I was sad to see the couple go because they were genuinely cool people. But Original Sauce just broke my heart. She was so fucking cool and hot and sweet and smart. I never painted anything of her. I was that weak. But sometimes I look at things I painted there and I can tell there is something...just something that reminds me of her. And now I probably will never see her again.

It's weird how people pop in and out of life like a few frames of film in your own personal movie. I wish I had a pause button.

Adrian