starstruck | joe keery

chapter one

"Why don't you get a better job, mijita", Juliana's dad persisted every night and maybe he was right, maybe if she'd gone to college for something respectable like science or math she wouldn't be working at the same coffee shop she'd been working at since she was 17, but Juliana was an artist and art was what she was going to do.

Days were spent working, making the same macchiatos and lattes, while nights were spent painting. Huge and small works of art to sell online, sometimes even in small galleries, but nothing big enough for her to get paid enough. She worked and worked and worked some more, but it seemed like the days turned into more coffee and less paint every day.

As she spent her time in that cozy little coffee shop off 2nd street, her motivation faded more and more, but she never gave up, she was determined to get big. She knew she was worth it, she knew she could do it. Her art teachers always said she had so much passion, that she would be able to do whatever with her art and make a good living off it, she wondered what they'd think if they saw her now.

So here she was, on a windy Tuesday afternoon, making an iced almond milk latte for the same blonde girl who'd been coming here since Julia was new. The best part of the shop was the sound, the calm, relaxing music mixed with the bustling sounds of people talking and the bell that hung above the door. It reminded Juliana of warm tones, reds and oranges, maroons and deep yellows, maybe she'd paint it later, but for now, she was stuck making a coffee that costed almost half of her hourly pay.

"Iced almond milk latte for Steph!", she yelled out and the blonde girl immediately came for her drink. Juliana scanned the shop, not many people were here, only two people working on their laptops and another two waiting for drinks. She loved these calm days, where she could stand in the back and just think about everything that came to mind. New music, new paints, new-"JULIA!", her coworker (and best friend), Aaron snapped her out of her daydreaming and back to reality.

"Aaron! What's up?", she asked with a grin on her tan face. Aaron and her were childhood friends, they'd known each other since the 4th grade and had been close ever since Aaron spilled his chocolate milk all over Julia at lunch that same year. "Okay, don't tell Sasha, but rumors have it, a movie's gonna be shooting downtown this week", Aaron whispered. Sasha was their other best friend, but she was a bit loud and trend obsessed, if she knew there was a movie shooting, she'd do anything to find out who, what, where, and when it was and this week Julia was not in the mood to have Sasha at the shop all week, complaining about her boyfriend, Derick for the fiftieth time this month.

"I won't tell", Julia said, "But like, our downtown, like as in, the street our shop is on!?". "What other downtown?", Aaron laughed. "How'd you find out?", she asked. Aaron shrugged, "twitter", was his response.

Fast forward 3 days, Aaron was right (like always). A movie crew had blocked off the streets and their shop was the only one open for the time being, since they sold coffee to the workers. They signed non-disclosure forms not to take photos and only two people worked a shift at a time. People in fancy clothes, looking important with their sunglasses and black face masks came in and out of the shop daily, always ordering something bitter, never anything sweet.

That was, until today, Saturday morning, when a familiar face walked in. Julia didn't know his name, she just knew him as "the boyfriend from Stranger Things". She could barely even recognize him behind the raybands and the mask, but she could tell from the swooped back brown hair. As he walked in, he pushed his hair back along with his sunglasses in such a way you'd only see in movies. To state it plainly, Julia was starstruck.

"Hi, can I get a medium vanilla bean frappuccino with two pumps of raspberry syrup?", he asked, his voice alone making Juliana forget about everything else in the world. It was like the jazz music playing in the background faded and all Julia could focus on was this man standing in front of her, love at first sight. She forgot about her worries and stress, her family, her eyes were set on The Boyfriend From The Show she'd only watched 2 seasons of last summer when she was bored out of her mind.

"Is that good?", she asked, genuinely curious, she was always looking for new combos and she had never heard of this one before. "Well, when done right", his eyes formed into crescents, "it tastes just like cotton candy". "Guess I gotta make it right then", Julia joked and it seemed to fly through because The Boyfriend laughed making Julia's tan face turn more into a deep cherry color.

"That'll be six fifty", she managed to spit out and he handed her a sleek, black card. He paid, "And your name?", she asked. "Joe", he told her.

Joe.

And that was it the only interaction she'll ever have with a person like that. A celebrity, someone so handsome and cool he could sweep her off her feet with one word. She'd probably think about that moment for a while after that day, nothing would ever come out of it.

That was until 8:39am.

"A medium vanilla bean frapp with two pumps of raspberry syrup for Joe!", Julia called out, one hand holding the prettiest frappe she had ever made in her life, the other hand desperately wanting to clutch her heart beating as fast as a metronome on its highest speed.

Joe walked up to the counter, grabbing the frappe from Julia's hands. She could tell he sensed her anxiety, seeing as he chuckled a bit as she let her hand go from the cup with a slight shake in her hands. She blushed even harder than she already was.

"Thanks...", Joe looked down at the name tag on Julia's brown apron, "Juliana".

Her name sounded like angels singing coming out of his mouth. She smiled, "N-no problem!".

And that was that... right?

It almost was, until she looked down at the counter to see the napkin crumpled up, she almost threw it away until she spotted the smallest of numbers scribbled on it. She unfolded and there it was, in sloppy letters, text me, beautiful with a chain of numbers attached.

She looked at the door and there was Joe, standing at the door, sunglasses in hand, staring straight at her. He winked before putting the sunglasses on and leaving the building with the chime of the bell on the door following behind him.

Juliana swore she could faint right there and then.