I'm awoken by the noise of a slamming door and the luscious aroma of coffee.
I sit up in a quick jump, then reflexively recoil; expecting to feel the onslaught of pain from the movement. The resulting pain in my head hurts, but not nearly as badly as I expected though. I release a shaky breath.
My eyes dart around the room, searching for my feline friend. Relief floods me to see that I left the window open last night, I just hope he managed to slip out before my roommate found him. He hadn't been caught yet, so the chances were pretty good.
I raise myself out of bed carefully and see a generous cup of coffee on my bedside table, along with a packet of aspirin. The sight makes me smile, Beth is too good to me.
She must have assumed I hadn't come home because of a hangover. I dread interrogation she'll conduct when she has the chance.
The coffee's lukewarm, but it doesn't bother me. I quickly polish off the cup before knocking back a pain pill and washing it down with the glass of water.
Feeling more awake now, I make my way into the living room so I can see what time it is. Man, I miss the convenience of my phone. At least we have a working clock, so I'm not completely stranded in timeless-ness. There's still a while before my shift starts, but I don't have much to do. So I decide to hop in the shower and get ready for the day.
I'm about halfway through my morning routine when I realise with horror that I forgot to actually place the shipping order yesterday! Piper's gonna kill me!
Hurrying myself, I manage to make my way out the door in less than twenty minutes, with my keys and wallet safely in my bag.
I make it to the club in record time. As I park, I suddenly remember that, Oh, Chris is staying here. Is he here? Maybe he's gone out. The thought gives me the confidence to get out of the car and make my way inside.
I try to ignore the pang of disappointment inside me upon finding the place empty; the rest of the employees wouldn't be arriving for at least a few more hours. I quickly make my way around the bar, searching for my notepad. Instead, I stumble across something I had forgotten I was looking for. It was on the floor of the bar, seriously damaged, but still unmistakably my phone.
How had this happened? Ughhh, I practically just bought this thing! A whine of distress escapes me as I lean down to inspect the shattered screen closer. I curse myself, and it, for its terrible condition, there's clearly no life left in it. Oh my poor, poor phone. Why did thing have to end like this between us? I probably would have seen it if a certain someone wasn't so annoyingly captivating.
A chuckle sounds from above me that makes my heart squeeze and my body jolt with energy. I quickly snatch my broken beloved from the floor, holding it delicately in my hands and looking up at the source of the noise.
Chris was leaning over the bar. his eyes sparkling with amusement and a frustrating smirk tugging at his lips. What was so dam funny?
Oh, right. Me.
I blush, so incredibly embarrassed that he heard me reacting like that. I struggle to regain my composure as I raise up to my full height. Any progress I make is promptly destroyed when I realise - Oh God - he's shirtless! Why is-? Where is his shirt?!
"I-I'm so sorry you had to hear all that, I thought no one else was here," I rush to justify myself with an awkward breathy laugh. The heat in my face increases exponentially as I desperately force my eyes to look anywhere but his bare chest.
His smirk takes full form as he raises an eyebrow at me, leaning closer in over the bar, "Well, I was sleeping, but I could hear someone cursing from my room and was curious why. I didn't know you could swear like that." His voice has a hint of admiration that makes me blush.
I swing my phone up to his face, practically glowing red at this point, and squeak, "Case solved, broken phone!"
"I can see that," he says lightly, but his eyes hold something more serious in them. He gently takes the offered object from my hand, "It's pretty badly broken. Maybe you should just throw it out?"
I don't detect the slight hope in his tone, still too mortified at the position he caught me in earlier. And trying not to think of the position we're in right now. He's leaning over the bar, so close to me I can practically smell him while I stand completely frozen, unable, or unwilling, to take a step back. As much as I try not to, my eyes keep moving of their own accord to his lean frame. If I just reached out right now, I could touch him - no! Bad brain! Stop ogling the handsome shirtless man!
His pale green eyes catch mine, and a question is clearly displayed in them. Oh crap, what did he say? I stammer out, "Uh, yeah, that's- that's a good idea." I have no idea what his question was, I'm just hoping that made some kind of sense.
Apparently, it does. He smiles with a spark of glee at me, making his way around the bar. My eyes follow his movements, originally wondering what hes doing but I become so absorbed in watching how the muscles of his torso flex with his easy movements that I lose track of my thoughts. It's not just his muscles though, I notice he has scars littered all around his upper body. It was clear he's seen battle before, even had a few close calls by the depth of some of those scars. Any lingering doubt I may have had about his description of our future was slowly being erased. I'm pulled from my thoughts by a solid thunk, and realise he dropped the corpse of my phone in the P3 staff bin behind the bar! Awww, I was really going to miss that phone.
My mental eulogy is cut short as a shirtless Chris' green eyes capture mine again. There's a small spark of satisfaction in them that I don't quite understand... wait, fuck has he noticed the effect he has on me? Quick distraction!
"Notebook!" I practically yell at him, before stammering, "My- do you know- I left my notebook here." My voice gets higher with each word. Okay, not great, but at least that was a semi-proper sentence. I'm getting better with words.
He chuckles quietly, and I think I hear him murmur under his breath, "You are so cute."
My heart palpitates in my chest. Hearts aren't meant to do that! My God, this man is giving me a heart condition now!
"Yeah, c'mon I left it in my room." He turns and motions for me to follow him. Oh, his bare back. My mind goes blank. What did he say?
Wait, room? Good, shirt, he could have one soon.
I make a start to follow him, but think better of it. I really shouldn't, it's not a good idea for me to go into a small space with a shirtless man that I am clearly very attracted to. I can't remember why, but I am certain there is a very good, friendly, reason that I should not follow this great, handsome, charming...
"I- I'll just wait out here, actually" I call, cutting off my own thoughts and feeling more coherent now that I don't have a eye full of his chest.
There's a moment of pause before I hear him faintly reply, "Okay then."
I try to busy myself with tidying the bar while I get control of myself. Chris did a pretty good job yesterday so there's really not much for me to do, but I try to distract myself with it anyway.
As I step back and look at the shelving with a small nod I feel eyes on me and look to see Chris. He has a shirt on now, and if I feel any kind of dismay about that, it is swiftly pushed to the side as I remember why I'm here. He holds out the notebook with a small smile, and I run to him chanting, "Thank you, thank you, thank you."
I snatch it from his grasp and sprinting to the bar phone. I skid to a stop in front of it and push in the number for our supplier, I hait written in the front of my book. The phone rings for so long, I'm hopping from foot to foot, finally a disinterested voice answers. I thank them for answering and quickly conveying the order, apologising for my lateness, and ending it with another thank you. Once the call is over, I close my eyes and sigh, resting my forehead on cool the phone.
I stay like this for a few moments, until I hear a movement that reminds me I'm not alone in the room. I try so hard to ready myself before I look up at him but nothing could have prepared me for the look on his face. His green eyes are lit up and smile is so tender. I don't think I've ever seen that kind of emotion before, especially directed at me before.
As I look back in wonder, a realisation hits me. I think I have seen that expression, just once. In a quiet moment, on a slow day, when Leo used to work here. I saw him stare just like that at Piper while she was working. Honestly, his expression was almost identical. Chris' gaze now is so similar it feels a little eerie, my eyes widen and a shiver rolls down my spine.
My involuntary movement brakes the spell over us and Chris looks down quickly. I keep my eyes fixed on him, watching as he shifts under my gaze. He sneaks a glance up then, seeing me staring, meets my eyes head on with an emotion I can't quite place.
I open my mouth, and close it, not sure what I wanted to ask him. Before I can figure it out I notice his demeanour shift, and know I've missed my chance.
He murmurs something about needing to go see the sisters, and not wasting a second he evaporates into white lights and is gone. All that's left is a gentles chime, which fades soon after his departure.
I can't help but wonder if that was a legitimate summons, or if he was just looking for an excuse to get away from me.
A/N - I was definitely channeling Marrientte (Miraculous Ladybug) in this one, could you tell? I hope you liked it!