Nobody Compares
The Party and it's Aftermath
The next two months, Evelyn and I became inseparable. While Madelyn and I stayed friends, I definitely took to her sister more, probably because I spent so much time with her. It was crazy; Evelyn and I were the complete opposite of each other. She was really reserved, and didn’t really care what was going on in the world of celebrities and other famous people. She seemed content to chill out at her flat, mine, or be at work. Madelyn tried to get her to go to some big-shot parties with her, but all of the trying hadn’t paid off yet. I, on the other hand, am a people-person, I love to be around people, though I am also very laid-back and chill, if a person can be that way. We are polar opposites, which I guess is a good thing. We keep each other’s lives interesting.
Through Evelyn’s first month, she didn’t really try and open up to me, it just sort of happened. She told me all about her life back in Georgia. Her dad passed away when she was younger, her mother was in jail on drug-related charges, and the only thing she missed about the states is her best friend, Adrian. I, of course, knew a little bit about her parents, because Madelyn and I were pretty close. Evelyn told me all about her childhood and all about life in the states. I was envious. I had never been, and America seemed to hold so much fun.
Her second month was when we really hit it off. We hung out more and more away from the shop, and while it was mostly at her flat or places like a little park or the movies, it was great. Never in my life could I have dreamed of having a friend like her. While I had indeed had close friends like Jess and Madelyn, I never truly had BEST friends. Nobody really connected with me the way Ev did.
~~~~~~
On a typical Friday, a girl that was 14 or 15 would come in harass Evelyn, asking her for a latte with no coffee in it, and get mad that Evelyn would say that what she was ordering was just milk.
This Friday was no different.
I finally told the girl that it would probably be best if she would stop annoying Evelyn about it every time she came in, and she agreed. She placed a pretty decent sized tip in the jar, and skipped back out to the street after I handed her a carton of milk.
After the girl left and Ev and I joked about it, I decided it was time to close up shop; I said good bye to her as she headed out the front door to walk back to her flat. Then I went around closing up the rest of the shop before heading upstairs to shower and get ready for bed. After I took a shower, I was curled up on my couch with my laptop, reading some of the latest celebrity news. Man, I was a sucker for that stuff. Most people thought it was trash; it probably was, but for me, it was always a good read. My phone buzzed with a new text message.
‘I’m trying again tonight, wish me luck!’ It was from Madelyn. I didn’t even bother texting back – Ev NEVER went to anything Maddie tried to get her to… Ev is more of a sit-in-my-room-reading-a-good-book type of person, rather than a go-out-and-party-with-celebrities person. I doubted her shell could crack any time soon.
I looked around online for awhile, and somehow stumbled across a list of some of the celebrities would be at this even Madelyn was going to. Ed Sheeran, Maddie, and One Direction all made the list. I love all three… They each have such different sounds but they’re all so great at what they do. I would love to be someone’s plus one at an event like that. I couldn’t tell Ev that though, she doesn’t understand my infatuation with famous people. Honestly, I didn’t either. I guess it’s because I am dreaming of a life that I can’t have… I am the main manager of a coffee shop that is literally called The Coffee Shop. I don’t do much at all besides work and hang out with one of my employees. The lives of celebrities are just so, I don’t know, glamorous, I guess.
I made myself a simple dinner of spaghetti and garlic bread. After I ate, I got back on my computer for a little while before finally heading to bed at about 11:30. I slept peacefully for awhile before I heard my phone ring. I grabbed around blindly on my nightstand, before finally finding my phone. I looked at the caller ID.
“Ev… Evelyn, what time is it?” I didn’t even bother to look at the time when I went to see who was calling.
“I’m so sorry, Brooke. It’s one in the morning but this is important news.”
“On a scale of one to ten, how important is it?” Very few things could be as important as waking me up at one in the morning when she knows I go to sleep really early.
“One hundred. One million.”
Well, that definitely got my attention. I shot up in bed, “Spill it. What’s going on?”
She paused for a second before talking again, “I don’t know if you saw anything on the telly or internet about a party at that one club all the fancy people go to, but-“
“DID YOU GET TO GO?!” I felt as if I was going to go into shock. She never went! I made a mental note to ask Madelyn how she finally convinced her to go.
“Calm down, tiger. Maddie made me go with her.”
“Oh my god, Ev. What happened?” I knew that her going wasn’t the big news; she normally would have waited until tomorrow to tell me, and she wouldn’t dwell on it. This had to be super important.
“Well, she introduced me to Harry Styles, and-“
“HOLD THE FUCKING PHONE. You met Harry Styles of One Direction? Evelyn, that’s fucking huge!” I was glad that I didn’t have neighbors; I surely would have woken them up.
“I also slapped him.” Nope. No way. How could she? I was definitely in shock now. My mouth was literally hanging open. I couldn’t form words.
“He said some really rude things to me.”
“Ev, you slapped one of the most famous people in the world!”
“Okay, I’m finishing my story with no interruptions, so listen,” I nodded, though I knew she couldn’t see it. “After I slapped him, I started to walk out because I wanted to go home, and then Niall stops me and offers me a ride home. Then, -“
“YOU MET NIALL HORAN, TOO? WHAT THE HELL?!” This was insanity! I made dinner and sat on the computer for awhile before going to bed, and my best friend was out meeting some of my favorite celebrities!
“I said no interruptions!” Oops.
“I’m sorry, continue please!”
“Well, as we drove home, we just started to talk a lot, and he is one of the most genuine people I have ever met. He listened to everything I said and was just so comforting. When we finally got back to my flat, we just kept talking in his car. Then, he … asked me out on a date.”
The scream I let out probably woke up everyone on the surrounding blocks. “WHEN IS THE DATE? I AM GOING TO HELP YOU GET READY AND I’LL DO YOUR MAKE UP AND YOUR HAIR AND I WILL PICK OUT YOUR CLOTHES AND MAKE SURE YOU LOOK NICE AND I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’RE GOING GO DATE NIALL THIS IS EXCITING AND I JUST-“ and then I heard the line go dead. That bitch.
I sent her a quick text ‘I hate you for hanging up but I’m tired as hell so I’ll just see you at work tomorrow! – B’ and then laid back down, wide awake with no intentions of going back to sleep. I laid awake for what seemed like hours, just thinking of anything and everything. I couldn’t believe my best friend was going on a date with THE Niall Horan! He would be perfect for her; I just knew it. About 3:30 I finally drifted off, falling into a short, dreamless sleep.
~~~~~~
I woke up just two hours later, groggy and exhausted. I had to have the shop opened by 6, so I needed to hurry and get ready for the day. Instead of doing my normal morning routine of taking a shower then making a good breakfast, I just slipped on a pair of jeans and plain color tee shirt, which I could get in trouble for, considering I was supposed to wear khakis and a white shirt, threw my hair up in a ponytail, and headed down to the store. Ev wasn’t supposed to come in until 9, so I made some toast and a cup of coffee to get me energized for the day. I flipped the open sign on, and sat at the counter with my computer in front of me, waiting on my usuals to come in. There weren’t many of them, only about 10 that came in the first hour we were open. They all came in and out quickly, just passing through on their way to work. After they all shuffled through, I sat back down at the counter, with about an hour left until Ev showed up. Nobody came in until about 8:45. Not until I looked up from my computer did I see who was standing in front of me. He was tall, with dark curly hair and a lopsided smile.
Harry Styles was standing in front of me. Harry Styles was in my coffee shop. Harry. Styles. Before he said anything, I pardoned myself to go lock the front door; I couldn’t handle all the little fangirls swarming around the store. I made a good call, too. Somehow, they were all swarmed around in five minutes.
“Hi. I’m Harry Styles. I’m under the impression that an Evelyn Baker works here?” I nodded. “Is there any way I could speak with her? I have to close up some business from last night,”
Oh yeah. I forgot. The slap. Him being rude. “She’s not here yet, she should be here soon, though, if you’d just take a seat anywhere-“ My cell phone rang. Speak of the devil!
“Ev? Where are you?”
“I’m outside, what the hell is going on?”
“Come through the back! I’ll be waiting back there for you, but try not to let anyone see you go back there please!” I couldn’t risk having people find out where the entrance to the back door was… I’d never have any privacy.
I headed to the back of the shop, ready to meet her there and usher her in. Thankfully, it didn’t take her long to get back there.
“What the hell is this shit?” She asked, following me inside after I bolted the door.
“You sort of have a visitor,” I replied, keeping my tone quiet. I glanced back at her, and she had this small smile on her face. It quickly changed when we pushed through the door towards the front of the store; I guess she wasn’t ready to see Harry after whatever happened last night between them.
He had been sitting, but as soon as he saw her, he probably couldn’t have stood up any faster. “Hi, Evelyn…”
“What do you want, Harry?” She seemed rather pissed.
“I want to apologize about last night. I said some really awful stuff and I made the worst first impression of myself.” He kept looking down instead of making eye contact.
“I … I’m sorry for slapping you. I should have just walked away and ignored you, but I let my anger get the best of me.”
He looked up at her and flashed a small grin. “Can I make it up to you?
“I guess so. What did you have in mind?”
He looked to the wall and had a stern thinking face on. He then looked back at Ev. “I’m not really sure yet, but at least come to lunch with the guys and I?”
“I’d appreciate that, Harry, but I’m supposed to work today, and-“
“Evelyn! Go to lunch with Harry, for fuck’s sake! I’m going to just close the shop today,” If she truly thought I would make her work instead of go to lunch with One Direction, then she was sadly mistaken.
“Are you sure? You could probably make loads of money for the store today,” She said, pointing to the bunch of preteens waiting just outside the doors.
“Yes, go! I don’t want to deal with this mob today.” Hopefully after the two of them left, I could head back upstairs and do laundry or something productive that I’ve been putting off.
She mouthed a thank you before turning towards Harry, and gesturing towards her work outfit.
“You want to change, I’m assuming?” he asked her. She laughed before they grabbed hands and headed towards the door. “I’ll drive you home.”
As they were headed home, I heard the crowd yell a mixture of very rude things towards Harry and Evelyn both, and I saw some paparazzi take pictures of them.
I locked up the shop, turned off all the machines, called the owner who said he completely understood, and headed back upstairs.
I ended up painting my nails and watching some lame show on the telly for the rest of the afternoon.
As I was getting out of the shower, my phone rang. It was Madelyn.
“Hey, Maddie!” I felt like I hadn’t talked to her in forever, though at most it had been a couple days.
“Hey, B. I’m bored and lonely and haven’t seen you in forever. Wanna come over?”
“On my way! Where’s Ev?”
“She came home from lunch with the boys, then she called Niall and then she left again. But she’ll be home tonight, I’m sure. The front door’s unlocked so come on in whenever you get here. And bring some brownies from the shop!”
I laughed as I headed down the stairs. Madelyn sure did love The Coffee Shop’s brownies. I grabbed the plate from the display case before heading off towards her flat. I got there, and we sat around talking for awhile. We got back on the topic of Evelyn, when she spilled some huge news to me.
“So she didn’t text you after she left the shop, at all?” Madelyn looked sort of concerned.
“No? Why would she?”
“Well… Apparently, when her and Harry were heading to lunch, they sort of made a detour…”
“What kind of detour can you make when headed to lunch with 1D?”
“B, she got that one D”
Through Evelyn’s first month, she didn’t really try and open up to me, it just sort of happened. She told me all about her life back in Georgia. Her dad passed away when she was younger, her mother was in jail on drug-related charges, and the only thing she missed about the states is her best friend, Adrian. I, of course, knew a little bit about her parents, because Madelyn and I were pretty close. Evelyn told me all about her childhood and all about life in the states. I was envious. I had never been, and America seemed to hold so much fun.
Her second month was when we really hit it off. We hung out more and more away from the shop, and while it was mostly at her flat or places like a little park or the movies, it was great. Never in my life could I have dreamed of having a friend like her. While I had indeed had close friends like Jess and Madelyn, I never truly had BEST friends. Nobody really connected with me the way Ev did.
~~~~~~
On a typical Friday, a girl that was 14 or 15 would come in harass Evelyn, asking her for a latte with no coffee in it, and get mad that Evelyn would say that what she was ordering was just milk.
This Friday was no different.
I finally told the girl that it would probably be best if she would stop annoying Evelyn about it every time she came in, and she agreed. She placed a pretty decent sized tip in the jar, and skipped back out to the street after I handed her a carton of milk.
After the girl left and Ev and I joked about it, I decided it was time to close up shop; I said good bye to her as she headed out the front door to walk back to her flat. Then I went around closing up the rest of the shop before heading upstairs to shower and get ready for bed. After I took a shower, I was curled up on my couch with my laptop, reading some of the latest celebrity news. Man, I was a sucker for that stuff. Most people thought it was trash; it probably was, but for me, it was always a good read. My phone buzzed with a new text message.
‘I’m trying again tonight, wish me luck!’ It was from Madelyn. I didn’t even bother texting back – Ev NEVER went to anything Maddie tried to get her to… Ev is more of a sit-in-my-room-reading-a-good-book type of person, rather than a go-out-and-party-with-celebrities person. I doubted her shell could crack any time soon.
I looked around online for awhile, and somehow stumbled across a list of some of the celebrities would be at this even Madelyn was going to. Ed Sheeran, Maddie, and One Direction all made the list. I love all three… They each have such different sounds but they’re all so great at what they do. I would love to be someone’s plus one at an event like that. I couldn’t tell Ev that though, she doesn’t understand my infatuation with famous people. Honestly, I didn’t either. I guess it’s because I am dreaming of a life that I can’t have… I am the main manager of a coffee shop that is literally called The Coffee Shop. I don’t do much at all besides work and hang out with one of my employees. The lives of celebrities are just so, I don’t know, glamorous, I guess.
I made myself a simple dinner of spaghetti and garlic bread. After I ate, I got back on my computer for a little while before finally heading to bed at about 11:30. I slept peacefully for awhile before I heard my phone ring. I grabbed around blindly on my nightstand, before finally finding my phone. I looked at the caller ID.
“Ev… Evelyn, what time is it?” I didn’t even bother to look at the time when I went to see who was calling.
“I’m so sorry, Brooke. It’s one in the morning but this is important news.”
“On a scale of one to ten, how important is it?” Very few things could be as important as waking me up at one in the morning when she knows I go to sleep really early.
“One hundred. One million.”
Well, that definitely got my attention. I shot up in bed, “Spill it. What’s going on?”
She paused for a second before talking again, “I don’t know if you saw anything on the telly or internet about a party at that one club all the fancy people go to, but-“
“DID YOU GET TO GO?!” I felt as if I was going to go into shock. She never went! I made a mental note to ask Madelyn how she finally convinced her to go.
“Calm down, tiger. Maddie made me go with her.”
“Oh my god, Ev. What happened?” I knew that her going wasn’t the big news; she normally would have waited until tomorrow to tell me, and she wouldn’t dwell on it. This had to be super important.
“Well, she introduced me to Harry Styles, and-“
“HOLD THE FUCKING PHONE. You met Harry Styles of One Direction? Evelyn, that’s fucking huge!” I was glad that I didn’t have neighbors; I surely would have woken them up.
“I also slapped him.” Nope. No way. How could she? I was definitely in shock now. My mouth was literally hanging open. I couldn’t form words.
“He said some really rude things to me.”
“Ev, you slapped one of the most famous people in the world!”
“Okay, I’m finishing my story with no interruptions, so listen,” I nodded, though I knew she couldn’t see it. “After I slapped him, I started to walk out because I wanted to go home, and then Niall stops me and offers me a ride home. Then, -“
“YOU MET NIALL HORAN, TOO? WHAT THE HELL?!” This was insanity! I made dinner and sat on the computer for awhile before going to bed, and my best friend was out meeting some of my favorite celebrities!
“I said no interruptions!” Oops.
“I’m sorry, continue please!”
“Well, as we drove home, we just started to talk a lot, and he is one of the most genuine people I have ever met. He listened to everything I said and was just so comforting. When we finally got back to my flat, we just kept talking in his car. Then, he … asked me out on a date.”
The scream I let out probably woke up everyone on the surrounding blocks. “WHEN IS THE DATE? I AM GOING TO HELP YOU GET READY AND I’LL DO YOUR MAKE UP AND YOUR HAIR AND I WILL PICK OUT YOUR CLOTHES AND MAKE SURE YOU LOOK NICE AND I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’RE GOING GO DATE NIALL THIS IS EXCITING AND I JUST-“ and then I heard the line go dead. That bitch.
I sent her a quick text ‘I hate you for hanging up but I’m tired as hell so I’ll just see you at work tomorrow! – B’ and then laid back down, wide awake with no intentions of going back to sleep. I laid awake for what seemed like hours, just thinking of anything and everything. I couldn’t believe my best friend was going on a date with THE Niall Horan! He would be perfect for her; I just knew it. About 3:30 I finally drifted off, falling into a short, dreamless sleep.
~~~~~~
I woke up just two hours later, groggy and exhausted. I had to have the shop opened by 6, so I needed to hurry and get ready for the day. Instead of doing my normal morning routine of taking a shower then making a good breakfast, I just slipped on a pair of jeans and plain color tee shirt, which I could get in trouble for, considering I was supposed to wear khakis and a white shirt, threw my hair up in a ponytail, and headed down to the store. Ev wasn’t supposed to come in until 9, so I made some toast and a cup of coffee to get me energized for the day. I flipped the open sign on, and sat at the counter with my computer in front of me, waiting on my usuals to come in. There weren’t many of them, only about 10 that came in the first hour we were open. They all came in and out quickly, just passing through on their way to work. After they all shuffled through, I sat back down at the counter, with about an hour left until Ev showed up. Nobody came in until about 8:45. Not until I looked up from my computer did I see who was standing in front of me. He was tall, with dark curly hair and a lopsided smile.
Harry Styles was standing in front of me. Harry Styles was in my coffee shop. Harry. Styles. Before he said anything, I pardoned myself to go lock the front door; I couldn’t handle all the little fangirls swarming around the store. I made a good call, too. Somehow, they were all swarmed around in five minutes.
“Hi. I’m Harry Styles. I’m under the impression that an Evelyn Baker works here?” I nodded. “Is there any way I could speak with her? I have to close up some business from last night,”
Oh yeah. I forgot. The slap. Him being rude. “She’s not here yet, she should be here soon, though, if you’d just take a seat anywhere-“ My cell phone rang. Speak of the devil!
“Ev? Where are you?”
“I’m outside, what the hell is going on?”
“Come through the back! I’ll be waiting back there for you, but try not to let anyone see you go back there please!” I couldn’t risk having people find out where the entrance to the back door was… I’d never have any privacy.
I headed to the back of the shop, ready to meet her there and usher her in. Thankfully, it didn’t take her long to get back there.
“What the hell is this shit?” She asked, following me inside after I bolted the door.
“You sort of have a visitor,” I replied, keeping my tone quiet. I glanced back at her, and she had this small smile on her face. It quickly changed when we pushed through the door towards the front of the store; I guess she wasn’t ready to see Harry after whatever happened last night between them.
He had been sitting, but as soon as he saw her, he probably couldn’t have stood up any faster. “Hi, Evelyn…”
“What do you want, Harry?” She seemed rather pissed.
“I want to apologize about last night. I said some really awful stuff and I made the worst first impression of myself.” He kept looking down instead of making eye contact.
“I … I’m sorry for slapping you. I should have just walked away and ignored you, but I let my anger get the best of me.”
He looked up at her and flashed a small grin. “Can I make it up to you?
“I guess so. What did you have in mind?”
He looked to the wall and had a stern thinking face on. He then looked back at Ev. “I’m not really sure yet, but at least come to lunch with the guys and I?”
“I’d appreciate that, Harry, but I’m supposed to work today, and-“
“Evelyn! Go to lunch with Harry, for fuck’s sake! I’m going to just close the shop today,” If she truly thought I would make her work instead of go to lunch with One Direction, then she was sadly mistaken.
“Are you sure? You could probably make loads of money for the store today,” She said, pointing to the bunch of preteens waiting just outside the doors.
“Yes, go! I don’t want to deal with this mob today.” Hopefully after the two of them left, I could head back upstairs and do laundry or something productive that I’ve been putting off.
She mouthed a thank you before turning towards Harry, and gesturing towards her work outfit.
“You want to change, I’m assuming?” he asked her. She laughed before they grabbed hands and headed towards the door. “I’ll drive you home.”
As they were headed home, I heard the crowd yell a mixture of very rude things towards Harry and Evelyn both, and I saw some paparazzi take pictures of them.
I locked up the shop, turned off all the machines, called the owner who said he completely understood, and headed back upstairs.
I ended up painting my nails and watching some lame show on the telly for the rest of the afternoon.
As I was getting out of the shower, my phone rang. It was Madelyn.
“Hey, Maddie!” I felt like I hadn’t talked to her in forever, though at most it had been a couple days.
“Hey, B. I’m bored and lonely and haven’t seen you in forever. Wanna come over?”
“On my way! Where’s Ev?”
“She came home from lunch with the boys, then she called Niall and then she left again. But she’ll be home tonight, I’m sure. The front door’s unlocked so come on in whenever you get here. And bring some brownies from the shop!”
I laughed as I headed down the stairs. Madelyn sure did love The Coffee Shop’s brownies. I grabbed the plate from the display case before heading off towards her flat. I got there, and we sat around talking for awhile. We got back on the topic of Evelyn, when she spilled some huge news to me.
“So she didn’t text you after she left the shop, at all?” Madelyn looked sort of concerned.
“No? Why would she?”
“Well… Apparently, when her and Harry were heading to lunch, they sort of made a detour…”
“What kind of detour can you make when headed to lunch with 1D?”
“B, she got that one D”
plot twist i hate you
3/27/13