Chapter Text
Jim's POV. Thursday, 6:00 am.
I wake up to the sound of my default alarm, blindly throwing my hand over to my bedside table to switch off the assault on my ears. I pick my phone up to clear the minimal amount of notifications I've got, one of which being a weather notification. 18 degrees most of the day, which is surprisingly good for Carlisle, the shitty English city I live in. I get up, swiftly heading to the kitchen to make myself a coffee. It's 6:15, which means I've got half an hour til I have to leave for work. I've never been one for fancy coffees, all the different kinds and syrups you can get nowadays just ain't for me. Black americano does me just fine, sometimes iced if I'm in the mood. I sip my coffee as I turn on the news, which unsurprisingly is the exact same as any other day. Firstly a segment covering ongoing political conflicts, then some waffle about health and the economy, followed by random unusual events no one gives a shit about and then all rounded up by the weather that I've already read on my phone. Fuck knows why I watch it. I finish my coffee and head into the bathroom to shower. There's something about cold water streaming down your face first thing in the morning that ya just can't beat. I wash myself for about ten minutes (showers ain't worth longer than that in my view) and hop out, drying myself with my trusty matcha-coloured towel that I've had for far longer than I wanna admit. I pull my clothes on, consisting of a plain white t-shirt topped with a red flannel, beige cargos and boots. I grab my keys and head out for the day. I don't drive considering my work is a 10 minute walk from my house, and I live right in the centre of Carlisle so I have everything I need, which really isn't much. I get to my workplace, already sweating a bit from the heat. I head into the forest, grabbing my axe on the way in. I spot my mates Sam and Mikey, along with a few others scattered around the woody area. I wave morning to them and get on with the long day's work. Chopping down trees ain't easy.
I spend a good few hours hammering away at the trees til they fall, luckily we ain't gotta chop them up too, someone else does that. Lotta people would say it's boring, doing what I do, but I love it. Wouldn't trade it for anything else. Being as good as alone in the woods, nothin' but trees and animals for company. Gives you time to think, unless you work with hyperactive mates who interrupt your train of thought, like Sam does. "Jimbo!" He shouts, bounding towards me. "Yeah mate?" I reply. "How are you today?" He asks, smiling. "All good mate, nothin' to complain about. You?" "Yeah same, another day another dollar, eh?" I nod and smile back at him. Knowing Sam, he won't have just come over to say hello. As much as I like the guy, he's always pestering me for some favour or inviting me to some social event I don't particularly wanna go to. "So, uh, y'know how you're my best mate, Jimbo?" He smirks, swinging his axe up to rest it on his shoulder. "Yeah, mate, I'm aware." I respond, waiting for the impending question. "I've got myself a date on Saturday afternoon..." "Good for you, getting yourself out there." I reply, whilst hacking away at a tree. "Yeah, yeah. One thing, it's a double date...and I don't have any other pals that would say yes." He shrugs at me, sheepishly. "What makes you think I'll say yes, Sam?" I turn to him, wiping the sweat off of my hairline. "I'm paying, and I'm sure she'll be really nice and it's only a couple hours and I'd be really grateful and-" "if I say yes will you shut up?" I laugh. "Definitely." He replies. "Alright, I'll come with you." I chuckle. "Thanks so much mate, you're a life saver." He smiles, walking away to go back to chopping trees. I don't really wanna do it, if I'm honest, but I'm a sucker for helping people out, especially my best mate. Couldn't say no to his annoying puppy eyes. Maybe I'll even like the woman, but I doubt it. Haven't had much luck with dating, so I've been staying away from it for a while.
After a couple more hours of slaving away in the uncommon English sun, it's finally my lunch hour. I'd usually just go home and make myself a ham sandwich or something, but I'm not especially hungry and sometimes when I go back home and get all cozy on the sofa with my cat Otto, I don't wanna come back out, and today is definitely one of those days. I'm a man of routine, so when I don't head back home I tend to go to this cafe on the high street. It's a decently sized place with a nice autumnal vibe, called The Maple Corner. Sure, it's a little 'basic white girl' coded for me, but it's never done me wrong. I head inside, the bell above the door making it's familiar jingle. I head round the corner towards the counter, queueing up for a minute. I get to the front of the queue and see the usual front of house, Aby. "Afternoon, Aby, how you doing today?" I ask her. "Pretty good thanks, James, busy as always, how are you?" She replies, her usual smiley self. "Yeah I'm good, bloody hot out there today, innit?" "Yeah, I'm glad I'm in here and not out there like you. What can I get you today?" She chuckles. "I'll take a large iced americano and a cinnamon roll, please." I order. "Of course, coming right up. Usual table by the door?" "You know it." "Good good. Service might be a little slow today, we're a bit short staffed, it's only me and a new guy. Ieuan's ill." Aby sighs, still smiling. "That's fine mate, no rush." I smile back, heading towards my regular table back around the corner. I hang my flannel on the back of my chair as I sit down, getting my phone out to scroll on various social media whilst I wait. Once that gets boring, I shove my phone back in my pocket. Shortly after, Aby comes over, holding my drink and cinnamon roll. "There you go, James. Anything else?" She asks, putting them down on the wooden table in front of me. "Nope, all good thanks." I reply as she walks away, rushing around to accommodate all the customers.
I sit for a while, just looking out the window and watching passers by as I sip my iced coffee and eat my cinnamon roll. It's a nice break from all the heavy lifting and non stop effort I put in whilst at work. It's as if the world just stops for a few minutes, letting me breathe. After what's probably been longer than my lunch break is meant to be, I finish my coffee, getting up and stretching. I pull my flannel shirt back on and throw my coffee cup away, leaving the plate on the table. I reach down into my pocket to grab my wallet, about to pull a note out and walk up to the counter to pay. As I turn around the corner, someone bumps into me and my wallet flies out of my hand, coins falling to the floor with a rattle. I feel a hot liquid hit my chest, realising someone has just spilt hot coffee all over me. "Fuck." I exclaim, stepping back a little. Luckily the coffee isn't hot enough to burn, but it definitely takes me by surprise. I look down and see a man on the floor, extremely flushed and obviously embarrassed. He looks up, his blue eyes meeting mine in a tense haze. He grabs my wallet for me, hastily brushing up the coins off of the floor and putting them back inside. He gets up, brushing himself off whilst picking up the coffee cup he dropped. "Oh god I'm so sorry, I didn't realize you were there- I'm new- I really didn't mean to- " he spurts out, a thick geordie accent coming through in his rushed words. "It's fine mate, no worries." I reply. I'm not the type to get angry at someone for something like this, it'd just be unreasonable. "Are you sure? Shite, I've spilt it all over you, here." He says, handing me a cloth from a nearby table and putting the coffee cup down. I pat myself down and attempt to wring my soaking wet coffee-stained shirt out as it clings to my chest. "I'm such an idiot, I'm so sorry again." He says, his face bright red. "Don't worry lad, no harm done. Happens to us all." I glance at him, my eyes tracing over him for a better look now he's not on the floor. He's quite a tall man, only a few inches shorter than me, which is taller than most people. He's a brunette, probably late twenties or early thirties, his hair is a mullet, not dissimilar to my own. He looks kind, like he wouldn't hurt a fly, although simultaneously having furrowed eyebrows that make him look serious. He's definitely not unattractive. "Right, I'm not letting you pay, it's on the house." He nods at me, handing me back my wallet. "If you insist." I reply, putting it back into my pocket.
Aby walks over to us. "Will, what've you done?" She says, chuckling with a very slight harsh tone. "Aby I'm really sorry, it won't happen again." The waiter, apparently called Will, replies. "It's alright, better not though." She grins. "You alright, James?" She turns to me. "Yeah, absolutely fine. You should sack this one, though." I say, jokingly. Will looks genuinely concerned for a few seconds, a soft smile creeping onto his (still red) face when he realizes I'm joking. Aby laughs and walks away to serve someone. "Well, Will, is it? Nice to meet you, thanks for ruining my t-shirt." I scoff, reaching a hand out. "Yeah. Nice to meet you too, sorry again, James." He replies, shaking my hand. "Stop apologizing, and you can call me Jim, everyone does. Aby just likes to wind me up by using my full name." I roll my eyes. Will nods, smiling at me. "Have a good day, Jim." I hear as I walk out of the cafe. I chuckle to myself at the whole altercation, buttoning up my flannel to hide the coffee stain. I make my way back to work, at least I've got a funny story to tell the lads. The rest of my day is spent exactly as usual, continuing work for a few hours (occasionally conversing with Sam) in the thick heat as the sun starts to go down. It reaches 7 pm and I breathe a sigh full of relief as I get to go home. I make my way back home, glancing at my favorite cafe on the way past, my shirt still soaked in the same coffee spilled on me earlier. I smirk to myself, replaying the moment in my head a few times, despite knowing why. I reach my humble abode and unlock the door, Otto running over to me the second I step in. "Yes, good evening. You must be hungry, lad." I bend down to stroke him, grinning. I head straight into the kitchen to feed him, all the while having him meow at me and nuzzle against my leg. One that's done, I continue on to the lounge, sitting back on the sofa and relaxing for a while. I kick my shoes off and yawn, followed by finally pulling the stained t-shirt off and then turning the tv on to find some game show or nature doc to pass the time. I end up doing exactly that, watching some new game show for a while whilst time passes and the evening grows longer.
After a few hours, I realise I should probably make myself dinner. I reluctantly drag myself up off of the sofa to find something to eat. I walk into the kitchen and Otto jumps up on the counter, meowing at me. "I'm not feeding you again you little bastard." I laugh, I don't mean it seriously. I search through the fridge, finding pretty much fuck all. Off to the shop then, it seems. I chuck on the first clean t-shirt I find, along with a fuzzy jumper and still wearing the cargos I wore to work earlier. I grab my wallet and a couple of bags before heading down the road, the shop being an even shorter distance to walk than work is. I arrive and head inside, wondering around aimlessly with no real clue as to what I wanna buy. I end up in the pasta aisle, figuring it's quick and easy. I grab a bag of tricolor pasta, along with some premade sauce and breaded chicken to go with it. With all of that and a few snacks acquired, I go to check out. I proceed towards the self checkout machines, although as I go to walk through, someone bumps into me from behind. I turn around. "Will?" I ask, the back of the head I'm staring at looking familiar. Will turns around to look at me, his face turning red with embarrassment again. "James- uh, Jim?" He tilts his head. "Howay man, not again." He follows his own sentence. "So do you bump into every guy you meet multiple times or am I special?" I chuckle. "Ah, god, I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going." He rubs the back of his neck. "It's fine, at least it wasn't coffee this time. I'm having you on mate, I've had worse spilled on me." I joke. Will seems to stifle a laugh at that, I'm glad he's laughing about it, he looked mortified earlier, thought he'd never forgive himself. I look down at his basket, carrying only a few items consisting of oat milk, a chocolate bar, some random ingredients, chewing gum and a vape. I'm a little caught off guard by the last one, he doesn't seem like the type to be addicted to nicotine, not that I can judge considering I still smoke very occasionally and have for years. "Can I ask what you're doing here at 9 pm, or is that a bit forward?" I smile. "Just the old grocery shopping, I tend to come later in the evening to avoid clumsy accidents like someone stupid bumping into someone else." He grins. "Wise choice." "You?" "Same really, only just realized I didn't have anything in for dinner." I reply to him. "Ah yeah, been there." He raises his eyebrows. "Good, well, have a nice rest of your evening mate, try not to bump into anyone else." I say, lightheartedly. "Thanks, I'll try me best." Will smiles at me, lighting up his whole face. I nod at him as I walk over to a machine, him doing the same. I watch him for a minute, not in a creepy way, just curious. All he does is scan his shopping, messily shove everything into his small bag, pay and leave. Not that I was expecting him to do anything else, but it's intriguing...almost endearing.
I realise how long I've been staring and snap back to reality, scanning shopping of my own and then packing it, paying and leaving too. I walk back to my house in the dark, exhaling as I reach my door, glad to be back again. I crack on with making dinner, which turns out surprisingly well considering I'm rushing it because I hadn't realised how hungry I was. I scran it down and then head to bed after putting a load of washing on, including the shirt that Will stained. I pull my clothes off and fold them on top of my nightstand, I'll wear them again tomorrow. I brush my teeth and then swiftly get into bed, unsurprised that Otto has already joined me, curled up next to me, purring away. I set my alarm for tomorrow, thank fuck it's Friday. I'm not someone who wishes their weeks away, I enjoy my simple life, but this week has felt particularly long. I stretch out and close my eyes, being very aware that I can't move too much or else I might squash my cat. I lay for a while, thinking about things. Nothing too important, just things. It's been a relatively normal day, but for some reason had some exciting quality about it, felt better than any other day. Maybe I'm just thinking about the date on Saturday. Yeah, I'll put it down to that. I feel myself drift off as I finally fall asleep, wondering if tomorrow will feel as unusually good as today did. I hope so.