Chapter Text
The morning started with the blare of my alarm clock, the constant beeping irritatingly loud and deafening.
"Y/N!" The groan of my roommate, Lauryn, snapped me out of my sleep. "Turn your fucking alarm off!"
Blinking awake, my hand tried to locate the harsh high-pitched sound that was already ruining my day. My hand slammed down on the top of my F/C alarm clock a couple of times, but the noise continued on.
"Turn it off!" Lauryn yelled.
"Bloody hell!" I knocked the clock off my night stand, resulting in a loud crash as it hit the surface of my floor. I glared at Lauryn as I sat up in my bed. "Happy?"
"Yes." She mumbled, closing her eyes once again as she cuddled with her pillow.
I rolled my eyes, swinging my feet out of bed before I stumbled sleepily towards the bathroom. "You know, this is all your fault. I'm going to be late for work, and you need to get ready for that cake-tasting thing with Johnny." I grabbed my toothbrush and toothpaste, wanting to get the taste of morning breath out of my mouth.
"That's at 7 A.M."
"7 A.M is in half an hour." I replied with a mouth full of mint-flavoured toothpaste.
"What!?" There was a thud before the sound of feet padding against the wood could be heard behind me. "Y/N, why didn't you wake me up before?"
I paused, spitting out the toothpaste before washing my face. "Because I was too busy sleeping after you forced me to go to that stupid bar last night." I dabbed the water off my face, trudging out of the bathroom. "What're you doing?"
Lauryn was jumping around, trying to put her skinny jeans on as she wiggles with it half up on. "Trying to put on these stupid jeans." She replied, huffing as she continues jumping and pulling it up. "How do those teenage guys in those teenage movies fit in these?" Lauryn shimmied slightly before sighing in relief, falling back onto her bed. "Finally."
I raised my eyebrow in amusement before walking over to my closet. "You forgot to zip it up and button it."
Lauryn groaned loudly, yelling something along the lines of 'Who the fuck invented these?'.
I just laughed in response.
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I was ten minutes late for work.
Zoe was going to kill me.
Zoe is my boss, and although we do talk like friends a lot of the time, she was a strict person. She hated it when people were late, especially when it was for work. And even if she was irritated by the tardiness, she never fired anyone (which I'm oh-so grateful for). She kind of needed all the help she could get, as she owned the only coffee shop in Bishop Hills.
Oh, coffee. Coffee sounded so great right now.
No! Y/N, stop daydreaming. And where on earth is the bus? Damn it, I knew I should've taken up Lauryn's offer to drop me off.
I shuffled around, crossing my arm as I watched people go on with their day.
Maybe I should walk?
I nearly scoffed at myself for that thought. Walking? Please, I'd rather be late.
A tap on my shoulder snapped me out of my thoughts. I turned around, a forced smile appearing on my lips. "Can I help you?" I was so not in the mood for talking to strangers.
The man -in his grey business suit, holding his fancy leather briefcase- smiled back at me, wrinkle lines forming in the corners of his eyes. "Uh, no, actually." He paused, looking over my shoulder at the schedule of the bus. "You do know that all the buses have been temporary cancelled for today?"
I gaped at him. "No. No, I did not know that." I sighed, before running a hand through my hair. "Thank you for telling me, though."
And, me being me, turned around and began running in my boyfriend jeans and high heels to the direction of Barista.
I made it to the store without breaking my ankle, though, and I didn't get fired. So that was the upside.
The downside?
Well, you're about to find out.
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The small ring of the bell echoed through out the empty store, but I didn't bother standing up to ask whoever it was to leave.
"Sorry, we're about to close. You can come back tomorrow, though." I told whoever was on the other side of the counter. I continued kneeling on the floor, wiping at the coffee that Robin -my pregnant co-worker- had spilled around lunch.
"Actually, I'm not here for coffee." A male's voice replied.
"Well, you still have to leave." I responded, grinning at myself when I wiped the coffee -which had unfortunately dried and became sticky- away. The grin didn't last long, because the next thing I heard was the sound of lock turning, and footsteps nearing.
Fuck, don't be a killer. Don't be some gang leader. Don't be anyone holding a knife or gun.
The rapid beats of my heart reached my ears, my blood ran cold as my stomach churned. I gulped, taking small quiet breaths before raising myself off the ground. I clutched the dirty rug in my hand as I slowly turned around.
I almost sighed in relief, seeing that it wasn't some murderer or gang leader and he didn't seem to be holding an weapon. But I didn't, for obvious reasons like the fact that he was wearing his sunglasses indoors and wearing a leather jacket (fake?) and ripped skinny jeans.
I tilted my head to the side. Yeah, how do boys fit in that?
I raised my gaze, blushing as I realised I was staring at his legs -jeans, I mean jeans! I was staring at his jeans, not his legs. "Can I help you?" I spoke up, hoping I didn't look like a tomato. Gosh, I'm so glad he was distracted.
The said blonde glanced at me, before returning to looking out the window. "Uh, not really. Unless you've got a net to trap a bunch of paparazzi's." He mumbled the last part, but I heard it as clear as day.
"Did you just say 'paparazzi'?" I frowned. "Are you famous or something?"
The guy raised an eyebrow at me in return. "You don't know who I am?"
I pressed my lips together. Should I just guess who he is so that I don't hurt his feelings?
"Should I?"
The blonde -really, who the heck is this guy?- took of his sunglasses, glaring at me slightly. "Yeah, kinda." He snapped.
I narrowed my eyes at him. Asshole.
"You don't recognise me at all?"
Furrowing my eyebrows, I shrugged, throwing the towel into the backroom. "Nope. Sorry." I sighed. "Look, I don't really care that you're some celebrity. You have to leave, I'm closing the place in a minute." I turned around as I went to wash my hands, sure that he would follow my instructions and leave. But as I came out of the staff bathroom, wiping my wet hands against my jeans, the guy -seriously, I need to catch his name- was still standing on the other side of the counter.
"Did you not get the gist?" I was starting to get grouchy. "You gotta leave, dude." I jump over the counter, ignoring the fact that I could've left the proper way -through the door on the right. I crossed my arms over my chest, looking up at the dude.
Wow, he was tall.
I hate him.
He smirked down at me, "You don't understand. There are paparazzi's out there." He pointed towards the one-way glass door. A bunch of men stood outside, clutching their cameras as they stared into the door.
It looked like they were staring at us, even though they can't see anything but their reflection.
It made me feel uneasy.
"How famous are you exactly?" Okay, so maybe I was still in a bit of a grouchy mood. But can you blame me? He snapped at me for not recognising him.
Asshole.
"Pretty famous." He replied, standing beside me as we watched the group of men knock on the door, yelling something through the sound-proof doors. "I'm in a world-famous band."
"Cool." I replied, not caring very much. "Are you gonna leave yet?"
"Not unless you can find a way to get rid of those paps."
I exhaled, uncrossing my arm. "Fine. Follow me." I turned around, walking towards the back exit. I didn't bother looking if he was following, only the footsteps trailing behind me reassuring me that he was. "Nobody uses this exit, so the paparazzi's won't be around here. You can leave easily without them knowing."
He nodded as he walked alongside me.
I grabbed the key from my back pocket, unlocking the door before twisting the knob. The door opened with a slight creak as I pushed it open. It was an old door, okay?
I stepped out onto the small alleyway, turning towards the blondie. "You can take those stairs up back into the street." I pointed to the left, watching as he walked down the steps.
He nodded, his Adam's apple bobbing as he gulped. "Luke Hemmings." He looked at me, watching as I stared back at him in confusion. "I figured since you helped me, the least I could do is tell you what my name is."
Not that I wanted to know in the first place.
I nodded, "Okay."
We stood in silence, looking at anything but each other.
"So, I should probably...." He gestured towards the stairs.
"Yeah, you probably should."
He nodded, slipping his sunglasses back over his blue eyes. "Thanks again." He headed towards the stairs.
"Your welcome." I mumbled, before stepping back inside the shop. I locked the door again, leaning against it as I exhaled deeply. "'It's the least I could do'." I mimicked his voice, shaking my head afterwards. "What an asshole."