AN: This was written for the Ridiculous Meet-Cute Competition on HPFC and the prompt was "I typed in the wrong number and accidentally texted you" meet-cute. Enjoy!
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Lily groaned. It was Monday morning and she was supposed to get up and go to work. Problem was, she downed almost an entire bottle of Tequila last night, since she saw her boyfriend – well, it's ex boyfriend now, Lily thought bitterly – snogging a curvy blonde at the same restaurant she and Alice, her best friend, were having dinner at. There was no way in hell she would be able to work today. Nope, she would just call Alice and tell her to tell their boss she was staying home today.
After several minutes filled with alternatively drinking water, Red Bull and running to bathroom to vomit, Lily finally managed to locate her phone in the depths of hell that was her messy purse. It took another five minutes before her eyesight accustomed to the bright lights of her phone enough so that she could type in a message. Al, please tell Amelia I'm not feeling well today and can't come to work. XOXO Lily.
Lily had to send her message three times before she realized that it was just yesterday that Alice wrote her new number on Lily's hand, since she had lost her old one. Praying none of the numbers had smudged, Lily typed the message and the new number one more time and sent it.
After a minute or so, her phone beeped and Lily read the incoming message.
Sorry, miss, but I'm afraid you have wrong number. The name is James, not Al, and I don't know any Amelia.
Lily sighed. Perfect. Now she had to look into the bloody sun a.k.a. her phone even more. She checked the number on her hand and the one she typed in and found them to be the same. So Alice must have made a mistake. Damn. Now she had no way to contact her. And she still had to apologize for bothering the guy on the other side.
Sorry about that. My friend has just changed her phone number and apparently, she wrote the new one incorrectly on my hand. And send.
The phone buzzed again. It's alright, these things happen. And just so you won't forget: call your boss that you won't come to work today. Come to think of it, why didn't you call her in the first place?
She absolutely hates when people are drinking when they have to go to work the next day. I figured this would be safer.
So why on earth did you get drunk in the first place if you know she's like that?
Lily raised her eyebrow. Getting a bit too personal, isn't he? She felt like ignoring him, but then another text came.
I'm sorry. That's none of my business. You don't have to answer if you don't want to.
Lily felt like writing something snarky and ignoring him afterwards, but then she really felt like complaining and getting it out of her system and before she knew it, she was pouring her heart out to a complete stranger. I broke up with my boyfriend last night. Of seven months. He was snogging other girl. Bloody bint. All tall and blonde and had legs for days. How come it's always types like that people get cheated on?
No, it's not. You know, just two weeks ago by girlfriend also cheated on me and the guy probably never saw the sun before and his hair was greasy as hell. So don't worry, you're not the only resident in Dumpedville. Anyway, I have to go. And if you feel like listening to sad music, try 113,5. So, uh, bye then.
Lily smiled. She wasn't alone. Well, of course she wasn't, people were breaking up daily but this just made feel so real. She actually had someone to commiserate with. And just as she was about to send her good bye, her phone rang once again. So, I was thinking, my best mate says my 'grieving period' is over and that I should go out with someone, to take my mind off her. And, I dunno, d'you want to go out sometime to have a coffee or something?
On one condition. You'll stop texting me. Remember, I have a hangover. I want to sleep. And with that, Lily threw her phone away and fell asleep on the spot.
Her phone didn't ring again.
When Lily woke up a couple of hours later, she felt loads better. When she checked her phone, she saw at least half a dozen messages from Alice, in which she wanted to know why Lily wasn't at work. Lily winced. She completely forgot to let her workplace know she would be missing today. Oh well. No use crying over spilt milk. Although belatedly, she let her friend know what was going on.
When that was dealt with, she noticed how the guy she was texting with didn't write her back. Sure, that was to be expected, since she clearly told him not to bother her anymore, but still. He could at least write her 'Sure,' or something…
When looking over what they've written, she noticed a number of a radio station. Since she had nothing better to do and she didn't think her head would mind music that much, she decided to give it a try.
And boy was it worth it. That station clearly knew what it was doing, since each and every one of the songs on there dealt with break-up and a fair few of them were by some completely unknown artists from various countries around the globe, which meant different style than what she was used to. She would definitely research those bands later.
When it was nearly midday, Lily got hungry, so she made herself a sandwich. In the middle of her lunch, though, her phone beeped again. Checking her phone, she found another message from the Random Guy.
Hello again, Sleeping Beauty. Methinks yours truly should be awake by now so my request for a date will not be refused. So, how does Saturday sound like? Lunch at 1 p.m.?
That is if we both live in the same city. London?
Damn, I didn't think of that. But yeah, London.
In that case, I would be honoured, good sir. Saturday at 1 p.m. it is.
Perfect. You like Italian? Luigi's on the Holland Park Ave is okay?
I think the better question is who doesn't like Italian.
My best mate. But then again, his mother really did drop him on the head when he was a baby, so he doesn't count.
I'm sure he'd be elated to know you talk about him like that behind his back, and to a complete stranger nonetheless. So, see you Saturday, then. Bye.
What he doesn't know won't hurt him. Bye to you too.
As the last message came, Lily read over the entire conversation once again. Not exactly how she imagined her day to go, but she wasn't about to complain. She got a date with a guy who showed her some great music, so who was she to complain? And with that, she hopped back in the bed, turned on the radio and immersed herself in not-so-sad-anymore songs.
