Serena

I really hate being late to work.

To be honest, being late to anything gave me anxiety, even at school. I didn't like it. Being on time for things was something that I always tried to keep up.

However, right now I was rushing to get to work.

I thought that before work, I could use a little something extra this morning, instead of my usual coffee at home. I wanted a special blend of something. Unfortunately, the queue to buy coffee was so damn long.

If you couldn't decide what drink you want, I would just make more sense for you to stand outside the line or just let others, who know their order, go first. But that, apparently, wasn't a thought process that everyone had.

I ended up spending fifteen minutes in the queue. I was not happy.

Luckily, Arya was already at the shop, to open up and set everything. But I still didn't like to be late. After being in line for the first ten minutes and being so close to ordering, I didn't want to leave, so waited.

Once I managed to get my order, I was weaving through people, trying to get to work.

I carried on walking my normal route, turning a corner, when something, or more accurately, someone bumped into me.

"Ugh, what the-" I started to say, when my precious coffee, which took so long to get, was dropped onto the ground, but not before soaking me in the process.

I chose a great day to wear a cream coloured coat.

"Oh, shit. I'm so sorry."

I looked up to see a blue-eyed guy in front of me, with a guilty expression on his face.

I couldn't help but look him up and down, from the mess of brown bed-hair, to the wrinkled white t-shirt, red flannel and his blue jeans, which also looked like it needed an iron.

It seemed liked I wasn't the only one in a rush this morning.

"Just please watch where you're going next time," I said, giving him an annoyed look.

I was more irritated about the coffee spilling, than him bumping into me.

"Sorry, I was in a rush," the guy apologised once more.

I glanced back down at my sad little coffee, that was now in a little puddle of its own.

"It's fine," I said, crouching down to pick up the now, empty coffee cup, since littering isn't something I wanted to do.

I straightened up and made a move to walk around the guy, only I couldn't do that, since he came in my way.

"No, it's not," the guy said and I gave him a confused look. "Your coat is all ruined because of me," he noted, looking down at my sleeve, which had a noticeable darker stain on it, compared to the lighter colour it was before.

"I said it's fine," I told him with a forced smile, but the guy still wouldn't get out of my way.

"Let me buy you another one?" He offered and my brows knitted together in confusion.

Was this guy seriously offering to buy me a new coat?

"What?" I asked and he looked down at the coffee puddle.

"Another cup of coffee? You dropped yours because of me," he said and then glanced up at me with a sheepish smile on his face.

Of course he wasn't going to buy me a new coat. That was wishful thinking at its best.

It took fifteen minutes for me to get this one cup, that had now graced the floor, I'd rather not wait in line again.

"No. It's fine," I told him with a tight-lipped smile.

Without a good cup of coffee in the mornings, I wasn't exactly the most cheeriest person.

Although, I wasn't nearly as bad as Sara, who would start a war if someone spoke to her before a certain time in the morning or without her coffee.

"Please?" The guy requested.

He was giving a new meaning to the word persistent.

"Look, I said it's okay and I mean it. I don't need another cup," I told him.

Unfortunately for me, this guy didn't seem to understand that I just wanted to leave. Wasn't he in a rush too?

"I feel bad," he said, giving me a slight pout, which then turned into a smile. "There's a cafe right there, let me buy you a cup," he offered, pointing to, what I assume was a cafe, behind me.

"No, it's-" I started to decline once more, but the guy cut me off.

"It's a make-up drink," he smiled at me.

"You're a stranger," I stated.

This was probably meant to be one of those scenes in the movies where then guy bumps into girl, offers to buy a new cup, girl blushes and accepts, guy turns out to be the perfect man and then they have a happily ever after.

I think it was called a 'meet-cute' moment.

However, in those movies, the concept of 'stranger-danger' didn't seem to always exist.

The guy looked at me with an amused expression. "And you can't speak to strangers?" He asked.

He looked at me as if I was a little child, whose parents instructed to not speak to strangers. I mean, my parents did do that and they weren't wrong to either.

"You could be a deranged criminal or a serial killer, for all I know," I told him honestly. "This could be your way to lure people in," I added and the guy laughed at my words.

"I'm not a deranged criminal or serial killer. I promise," he said, putting his hands up in a surrendering motion, as if to tell me he wasn't dangerous.

But looks could be deceiving.

He put his hands down and then reached one out. "I'm Will," he introduced himself.

I looked at his hand cautiously, eyeing it for a moment and then looked back at him. "I have no way to confirm that, nor do I care to," I said and his expression faltered and his hand dropped.

"I have somewhere to be. So, please," I said, before side stepping once more.

This guy, Will, really couldn't take a hint. "But I-" he started to say once more, before coming in my way again.

"Okay, give me the money," I said, placing my open palm in front of him.

He gave me a bewildered expression. "What?"

"If you feel so bad, give me the money for a cup of coffee. That'll pay me back and lessen your guilt, which is your intention, yes?" I counter-offered.

This was seemed like a good negotiation to me, since he was determined to pay me back somehow, and I really wasn't going to go have a coffee with a stranger.

He seemed to be taken aback by my offer.

"Uh, right. Yes," he stuttered through his words, blinking rapidly as if to make sense of what just happened.

He took out some money. "Here you are," he said, placing it in my hand, his palm lingering over mine a little too long for my liking, before I moved it away from him.

"Thank you," I replied, putting the money in my pocket. "Now, I'm going to leave and you're not going to stop me," I told him, a little slowly so he understood the message.

He nodded, smiling at me, his lips twitching as if he were holding in a laugh.

"Have a nice day," I gave him a quick smile and walked off.

"Yeah you too," I heard him reply. He sounded amused again.

Well, this was a weird start to my day.

After a long day at the store, I stopped by a cafe to get my caffeine fix, since I dropped mine in the morning.

As soon as I stepped into the cafe, I looked around at the interior. The place seemed new and by the decor, it looked quirky. Funky wallpaper, curved booths, and even books placed around at random spots. I could definitely get used to this place.

Instead of ordering straight away, I saw an empty table, and thought to take a seat first. I could do some work here, and leave Sara and Danny to have some alone time together, knowing that he was probably over at our apartment.

I really have got to move out soon.

Spotting a free table, I walked towards it and sat down. There seemed to already be a book on the tabletop, so curiously I picked it up, turning it to the back to read the blurb.

Just as I was reading the book, a to-go-cup was placed in front of me.

"Oh, I didn't order-..." I began to say and then looked up to see a very familiar blue-eyed guy, grinning down at me. "-You?" I asked, in surprise.

Now I would've been completely worried that he was a stalker, if he didn't have an apron on.

He smiled, before taking the empty seat in front of me. Okay, he was clearly making himself comfortable.

"Hello again," Will said. I'm pretty sure that was his name.

I was looking at him a little wide-eyed. "You work here?" I asked, surprised that I was seeing this guy twice in the same day.

He looked all-too amused by my question.

Will looked down at his apron and looked back at me, with this weird twinkle in his blue-eyes, which seemed brighter under the light of the cafe.

"Work, own, same thing," he said nonchalantly.

I gave him a look of disbelief. "It's really not," I said, shaking my head a little.

Did he really think that owning a cafe wasn't a big thing? He looked to be around my age. I would think that owning your own cafe was quite an achievement, but of course I wouldn't tell him that. He's not my friend and I don't have to reassure him.

"Eh," he shrugged. "Plus, at least you know I'm not a serial killer or something," he smirked at me, referring to our earlier conversation.

"That's still not confirmed. You could still lead a double life," I pointed out. "Oh, and I didn't order this by the way," I gestured to the now-cooling beverage in front of me. It smelt like cinnamon and I was tempted to taste it, but I couldn't be sure what was in it.

Will leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table. "I know. It's on me, since the last cup you had was on you, literally," he joked, but it didn't quite amuse me, since the coffee stain was still on my favourite coat and very visible.

"You already gave me the money for that," I told him, moving the cup towards him.

Will then moved it back towards me. "Look, it's just coffee, that's already made. I can't exactly put it back in the machine now," he smiled.

It was getting really hard to not smile back when he does that.

Stupid, annoying cute guy.

I moved the cup back towards Will. "You can give it to someone else," I told him. Clearly we were in the middle of some weird cup-pushing game.

"It has your name on it," he then said and I looked down at it and saw nothing but blank space.

Will reached forward and turned the cup around.

'Cute girl I spilled coffee on', it read.

"Funny," I muttered sarcastically.

He then moved the cup towards me once again. "I was going for cute actually," he replied.

"I'm not exactly sure calling me cute girl is appropriate," I responded, crossing my arms in front of me.

In reality, I found the compliment to be quite sweet, but I still kept my guard up.

Will gave me a little one-sided shrug. "Well, if the shoe fits..." he trailed off and I had to fight off the smile that was tugging on my lips.

I then decided to take the cup, "Thanks, I guess."

Taking a sip, I immediately tasted cinnamon and it made me very happy.

He could still be a serial-killer, but he made a great beverage.

Will then cleared his throat and I looked up towards him, only to see he was smiling at me.

"So, the last time we met, or bumped into each other, I told you my name is Will. You now know that I work and own this cafe. Another new fact about me, I'm twenty-five," he informed me and I gave him a confused look. "Do I get to know something about you now?" He asked.

He was looking at me, clearly waiting for me to say something and I raised a brow at him, but he continued to grin.

"I'm twenty-three," I told him, which caused him to laugh.

I looked around to see some people had turned to face us because of his laughter. When I faced him once again, I gave him a weird look.

"I was hoping for a name, since 'cute girl I spilled coffee on' is quite a mouthful," he said.

"Serena," I told him my name.

The new piece of information about me seemed to really please him, since he now looked like he was beaming, his grin stretched from ear-to-ear.

He then did the strangest thing and put his hand forward for me to shake, I assume. "Hi Serena, I am Will. It's nice to meet you," he said, in a very formal manner.

"What are you doing?" I asked, looking at his outstretched hand, a lot like I did when we met in the morning.

Again, he gave me a little shrug, with his hand still extended towards me. "I'm trying the more traditional way for introducing myself, than spilling coffee," he said and this managed to get a little laugh out of me.

"You're a dork" I smiled.

Will gasped, putting his hand to his chest very dramatically, with a look of hurt on his face. "A good looking dork, thank you very much," he said and I shook my head at him.

He was charming, but a part of me felt like this was some kind if setup. A cute guy, who just happened to bump into me on the way to work? That just felt too weird. I hoped this was something Sara had setup.

"I should get going now. I have some work to do," I told him.

"Oh, what do you do?" He asked.

"I run a bridal boutique" I told him

"I didn't peg you for a boutique kind of girl," he mused, and I wasn't sure if I was meant to be offended by that.

"I didn't peg you for a cafe owner, yet here we are," I retorted, gesturing around us.

"Oh, I know," he laughed at my words. "You basically had me on a criminal watchlist," he said.

I playfully narrowed my eyes at him. "Still do."

Suddenly, I felt my phone vibrate on the table and saw Sara's name on the screen.

"Okay, I really have to go now," I said, getting up from my seat and gathering my things, whilst Will stood up at the same time.

"Come again sometime," he said.

"That depends-" I replied and Will crossed his arms, waiting for me to continue. "-Can I get a free coffee without having you spill it on me first?" I asked and he let out a laugh, which caught the attention of some of the people sitting around us again.

He then grinned at me and nodded. "Yes, to the free coffee, but no guarantee on the spilling part," he said, his blue-eyes shining with humour.

"Goodbye, Will," I smiled at him.

"See you soon, Serena," he replied.

I thought it was a little funny at how he seemed so certain that he'd see me again, but I didn't comment on it.

This had been a weird day. But a good kind of weird.