"Jessica you can't just leave!" my father said loudly down the hallway. I cowered in the corner of my room, hugging my knees. I closed my eyes so hard that they crinkled, I wished with all my heart the yelling would stop. "I can do whatever the hell I want Daniel! I can't do this anymore! Having her was a mistake and marrying you was an even bigger one! Let me GO" I heard my mother say harshly as the front door opened and almost immediately slammed closed. Warm tears streamed down my cheeks. That was the last I heard my mothers voice. The memory haunts me.

"Cora.." a voice said pulling me out of my memory. "Sorry Kat. What's up?" I said as I checked for any new drink orders. "Nothing! You were daydreaming...were you thinking about a boooooy?" Katrina said with a huge smile. I rolled my eyes and laughed, "no I was thinking about how I can't wait to get off work already" I said and gave her a goofy look. Katrina was my best and pretty much only friend here in LA, we bonded at work over wanting to be musicians. She recently started dating this kid named Sam, he seemed nice but she spent most of her time off with him.

"What are you doing after work?" I asked as I began to pull a shot of espresso. "I'm going to a party at Sam's." She said and then gasped, "Cora! You should totally come!" Her eyes brightened as she helped me make the drinks coming in. I wasn't much of a party person, occasionally I would go hang out with some coworkers but I do better when I'm alone. I have trained myself to not rely on anyone because they end up leaving eventually. "That sounds sooo fun" I said sarcastically with a little giggle. "Come on! You can come over after work and we can get ready together! Maybe we will find you a cute guy at the party" Kat was always trying to break me out of my shell, and I usually resisted but she was so excited about this that I finally gave in. "Okay, you've convinced me."

Six o'clock finally rolled around and Kat and I clocked out for the day, "Let's go over to target and pick out some new outfits for tonight." Kat said as she linked her arm in mine. "Is there a dress code or something?" I said and chuckled. I usually didn't like to spend money on clothes because I'm living on my own in LA at 20, so I'm on a pretty tight budget. "No silly! You know what they say, if you don't look your best then you won't feel your best." She said which made me laugh. "Plus we don't have time to go to your apartment to get you a change of clothes and I'm NOT letting you go to a party in your Java Cafe uniform." I nodded, "I totally agree, but I definitely need to shower before" I said and looked at my espresso stained hands. "Deal." She said as we walked to the nearest Target.

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