Disclaimer: The author of this story does not own Disney, Dream Works and their property.
Get me with those green eyes, baby, as the lights go down
Give me something that'll haunt me when you're not around
A Cup Of Coffee: Part One
"Merida~ Merida! We have a surprise for you~" Rapunzel singsong as she barged in uninvited inside Merida's office.
"You couldn't believe this! Our hard work totally pays off!" Anna said as she too went inside the room, waving a piece of paper and jumping up and down from excitement.
Together, the two grabbed each other's hands and twirled around the room. Their laughter ringing inside the room as they both started to tumble around and lose their footing.
On a normal and typical day, that scene was enough to make Merida laugh her head off, but she wasn't in the mood today. Leaning back in her leather chair, she raised one of her brow in question and wait till one of them was in the right mind to tell her what's happening.
"Geez, don't give us that look," Anna said as she plopped down on a chair.
"Yeah, you don't know how much hard work we put on for our surprise for you," Rapunzel chimed in as she pulled on Merida's check to force a smile on her face. "Hold that smile darling," the brunette said winking at the irritated red head.
"Ugh, so who cares to tell me what's exactly this surprise is all about?" Merida said sarcastically as she massaged her cheeks. She loved her friends but there were times she just wanted to straggle them, like now for example.
Not caring about the red head's sarcasm and the grumpy aura she emitted, Anna clapped her hands together. "Remember the time when we asked you on what you are looking for a guy? Guess what? We totally find him!" she said excitedly then she let out a girly squeal.
Merida look dumbly at her friend, and then she turned to look at Rapunzel who was nodding her head vigorously.
"We also set you up on a date with him," Rapunzel said as she let out a dreamy sigh.
"What!?" Merida screamed.
"We set you up in a blind date," both of them said together, grinning from ear to ear.
Merida face palmed and shook her head. "You're only joking, right?" she asked shakily then she laughed nervously. "Okay guys, you win. It's really rare for you to catch me in a prank. So who's treating who?"
When Anna and Rapunzel look oddly at her, Merida felt all the color leaved her face. "You seriously don't play mom's game on me, right?" she asked helplessly at her friends.
"Oh no, no. Your mom push you on guys you don't like, but we are doing what she doesn't do," Rapunzel explained.
"And that's a really huuuge difference," Anna said exaggeratedly while smiling sweetly at Merida.
Merida groaned and buried her face on her palm.
This is not happening. She told herself again and again. She didn't need any of this shenanigans right now.
"Mer, this is not as bad as you're thinking! As we said a while ago we put a lot of hard work on it," Anna said as she patted the red head's shoulder.
"Yeah, we even have Elsa and Kristoff to help us," Rapunzel said.
That caught Merida's attention. "Elsa helped you two?" she asked disbelieving her ears. She knew deep down that this two hopeless romantics would pull something like this, but Elsa? She taught that she's on the same page as her.
"Yup! It's her idea after all," Anna said matter of factly. After seeing Merida's expression, she pulled out her phone and started to dial her sister's number.
"Hey sis, can you come in Merida's office," she said on her phone. "Yup, see you in a second," she said.
"Okay, stop pranking me already. This is going way too far and I'm starting to lose it," Merida said as she stood up abruptly and glared coldly at the two.
Rapunzel ignored her outburst and pointed her index finger at the door. Merida rolled her eyes. Looking at the door, and right then she was wishing that the earth would opened up and ate her alive.
"You're not kidding me..." Merida faltered as she saw Elsa walking inside her office with a huge grin plastered on her face.
"I see this two already told you," Elsa said as she flipped back her trade mark braid.
"Y-you're a traitor Elsa! I expected something like this from them," she said pointing an accusing finger at her two friends. "Not from you," Merida said helplessly at the platinum blonde. Frustration marking her beautiful face.
"Well you shouldn't put a high expectation on me," Elsa replied back cheekily as she inspected her perfectly done french manicured nails. She was enjoying Merida's reaction more than she should.
Rapunzel and Anna giggled and gave Elsa some thumbs up. Merida rolled her eyes, and she started to pace around the room.
"What did I do to deserve this?" she asked the trio.
"Come on Merida, you know that you'll be push in a blind date by your mom sooner or later," Elsa said as she crossed her arms and drummed her fingers against it.
She knew that Merida would over react, she always did when she was pushed in a date or boys were a part of conversation in general.
Merida looked away. They were right. Her mom always set her up with guys since she was eighteen and she was only going to stop when she had a ring on her finger and a husband.
"Mer, as we said we picked someone that matches what you told us last week. It's not like we use Anna's preference," Rapunzel said as she snickered on her own joke.
Merida felt her lips twitched as she remembered how Anna used to like a guy and go on and on about how she found her first love.
"Shut up Punzie! I'm sure you'll also fall for that stupid's Hans charm if you're on my place. And my preference? It's implacably perfect. Look at Kristoff and say that again," Anna said defensively, her head posed high in the air.
"So... you wanted me to check out your boyfriend's goodies?" Rapunzel asked the strawberry blonde while wriggling her eyebrows suggestively. Anna sputtered and turned a bright red color that could rival Merida's hair color.
"Now, now, don't make her mad Punzie. I don't want to deal with Kristoff being a protective boyfriend," Elsa said as she high fived with Rapunzel. Anna huffed and rolled her eyes at them feigning mad.
"So... what did you exactly do guys?" Merida asked them while laughing at her heart's content. She was curious about what they did, but it didn't change the fact that she didn't like it.
"Well, we post an ad in the internet," Anna said excitedly, glad to take off the spot light from herself and Merida's interest in their surprise, not minding that it didn't sounds right at all.
"An ad? In the internet?" Merida said perplexed at the idea. Setting her in a date without her consent already irked her, but posting it in the internet and making an ad for it? That's something you called crossing the line. "I'm not going. I'm not that desperate. I don't even like it. You can go in that date for all I care," she continued.
"No! It's not like that!" Elsa said as she glared sharply at her younger sister. Anna only looked blankly at her sister not exactly sure what she said wrong.
"We conducted a survey. You know, I made some questionnaire determining a guy's personality. We only picked someone matching those personalities that you like. Then from that we choose the one with the highest score and the most physically appealing appearance," Rapunzel explained quickly to make Merida acknowledge her reasoning, her eyes pleading at her best friend to not turn them down.
Merida sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. They were more serious than she taught.
"So don't worry about it. He's a looker and you know how good Punzie is with those psychological stuff. She's a psychiatrist for a reason," Anna boasted.
"She's a child psychiatrist... who's currently unemployed," Merida dead panned, not thinking before she opened her mouth as usual.
"T-that's!? Totally uncalled for!" Rapunzel said, voice trembling slightly. Her state of joblessness was currently a sensitive topic and story for another time.
"Fine! If you don't want to go then don't!" she said turning on her heels and heading outside, her black pumps clanking on the floor.
The other three room occupants watched her with different expression and thing running on their mind.
Elsa watched the brunette with a raised brow and a small smirk twitching on the corner of her lips. She knew exactly what the other woman was doing.
Anna on the other hand, looked at her with wide and surprised eyes. The brunette couldn't just back down from their plan. She was about to berate Rapunzel for just turning down when Merida beat her to it.
"Okay, fine I'm going," the red head said dejectedly.
Rapunzel turned around, her face passive. "What did you just said?"
"I'm sorry for what I said," Merida said as she looked intently at the wooden floor.
"And?"
"Ugh, don't make me say it again Punzie," Merida whined, when she only got an unamused expression and crossed arm from Rapunzel, Merida sighed deeply and finally relented to the older woman's whim. "I'll go on that stupid blind date," she said dejectedly.
"That's not so hard to say, right? Whew, so it's all settle down. Anna, come on we need to inform him that he has a date," she said as she grabbed Anna's hand. Together the two head out of the door excitedly, giggling and chattering with each other. They were out as fast as they came.
Merida watched them hopelessly. "I couldn't believe I fell for Punzie's trap. Damn conscience, damn psychology stuffs," she muttered to herself while she sunk back in her leather chair.
Elsa laughed and shook her head. "That's why you don't mess with her," she said to Merida.
"Yeah, I already learned my lesson the hard way," Merida replied to the blonde. "By the way, when did the Ice Queen finally decided to play match maker?" she asked looking pointedly at Elsa.
"I'm not playing match maker or cupid Mer. I'm just tired of seeing you running around with your mom's game. You keep on complaining and evading your problem," Elsa said as she leaned on the wall. "You always do some damage control, but you never really fix the root of problem," she added as she looked straight to Merida's eyes.
Merida cringed and looked away. "You know that I'm not good with that stuff. That romantic bullshit those two are so infatuated about," she said softly, her tone vulnerable and sad.
Elsa smiled and walked towards her. "That's why we are helping you," she said as she tapped the red head's shoulder.
Merida smiled weakly. Maybe it wouldn't be as bad as she thought. Suddenly, her phone ringed. Merida instantly became nervous when she saw her mother's caller ID. She instantly had a feeling that she wasn't going to like it.
"Hello mom, I'm alright. Okay. Yeah. What!?" and she was not wrong.
"What's the problem?" Elsa asked Merida as soon as she put her phone back into her pocket.
"It's more on who's the problem," Merida answered. "Kevin McGuffin, he's in town and my mom said that he asked her if I can go out with him," she explained.
"Why doesn't he ask you himself?" Elsa asked puzzled. She remembered Kevin. He's the only son of Mr. McGuffin, one of their business partner's.
"I blocked him on my phone and all the social media I'm into," Merida answered.
"You what? Why? He seems nice," Elsa asked.
"He's nice," Merida said as she pinch the bridge of her nose.
"But..." Elsa said.
"He get this idea that we are for each other," Merida said as she pursed her lips and wrinkled her nose.
Elsa suppressed a smirk from forming on her face. She had a hunch that it's Merida's fault why this guy was tailing around her. "What did you exactly do?" she asked as she leaned on the table.
"I didn't do anything. I just gave him a watch on his birthday. As I said, he's nice to me. Then after that, he started to become annoying," Merida answered. "Mom's fault too. I think she feed him up with her fantasy of me marrying anyone eligible in her eyes," she added.
"That's bad. Maybe you should turn him down," Elsa suggested.
At that, Merida snorted and pushed one of her stubborn curls out of her face. "I already told him that, but my, he's persistent. He said he will only stop pursuing me if I already have a boyfriend."
Elsa nodded her head understanding what was really happening. After a few silent second, she looked down at her wrist watch. "It's almost twelve. If you want to avoid that guy you better head out now," the blonde suggested.
Merida looked at Elsa and give her a thankful smile.
"I'll cover you up. Hurry now before he spotted you," Elsa said as she stood up and flicked away the invisible dust in her white blouse. She said her goodbye as she closed the door, leaving the red head alone.
Merida was on her way out when she saw the paper Anna was holding earlier. It was carelessly strewn in her coffee table table. Giving it a brief glance, she realized it had the name of her blind date.
Haddock, it sounded familiar. She started to think when and where she recognized that name, but she couldn't remember.
Her phone abruptly vibrated again and she checked it to saw a message from her mother. She shoved the paper on her bag and head out. She needed to learn who this Haddock is, but right now she needed to win in playing hide-and-seek with McGuffin and her mom.
After she ran out of the building as fast as she could, Merida went inside a cafe a few blocks away. It was slightly crowded with couples and group of teenagers. She was waiting for her turn when she caught a guy looking oddly at her.
The red head felt her cheeks tinged with color as she instantly suddenly felt self conscious. Checking herself in one of the window's reflection, she was glad that she didn't looked as funny as she felt when the guy stared at her. Looking back at him, she felt her lips twitched as he started to pull on his hair and banged his head on the table. He looked troubled and frustrated.
Someone's having a bad day. She commented on herself as she keep watching the auburn haired man to pass her time and keep herself amused.
She was broke out of her staring when the old woman in the counter called her out. She decided to look again at the odd man when she finally got her order, but he was nowhere to be seen.
Merida was already walking out of the door, when she bumped someone and spilled her drinks.
"Shit!" a panicked voice said.
"I'm so sorry!" Merida said as she hastily pulled out some tissue. She was about to dabbed it on the white shirt on front of her when someone hold her wrist.
"Don't dare too wipe it. It'll make it worst," he said as he moved away his shirt from his skin. "Oh man why did this happened too me now. I have an interview in an hour."
Merida instantly became guilty. She looked at his messed button down shirt and the large coffee stain on it. She finally looked up to see a man with the greenest eyes she ever saw and McGuffin a few meters behind him.
"Do me a favor," Merida said as she watched McGuffin starting to walk near them.
"A favor? Miss, you ruined my shirt and you are asking me for a favor?" he asked surprised and ticked off.
Merida rolled her eyes and stepped on his feet. "You talked too much," she said as she grabbed his head down and kissed him squarely on the lips, making sure McGuffin was watching it with his two eyes and hoping that this would work.
When she saw the blond man turned away with his bouquet of flowers, Merida finally let the man go.
His face was red and he looked at her disbelievingly. "That was sexual harassment! You cannot just robbed anyone with their first kiss randomly. I never felt so use in my life," the guy said as he glared sharply at Merida.
"I'm you're first kiss?" Merida asked surprised and him turning a shade brighter made her realized that indeed, she was his first kiss.