Chapter 1
It had been a brisk morning. Just cool enough for you to throw on a grey plaid blazer to match your white t-shirt and black dress pants. You absolutely hated Mondays, if this was the day for things to go wrong, it did. Last Monday, you ended up breaking the heel of your shoes while trying to run down the stairs to catch your Uber. It seemed like nothing went right, so this time you made sure you woke up early to ease the stress of almost always running late. You checked your watch. 8:01 am. Seems like enough time to walk to work and grab a cup of coffee at your favorite coffee shop. You grabbed your bag, keys, and phone off the table and began the 20-minute walk to work.
You finally arrived at the coffee shop and right after you finished ordering, you got a call from your sister.
“Yeah, hi! I’m so glad I was able to catch you! How’s the new apartment treating you?? I wanna hear all about it! Sometimes the pictures just aren’t enough.”
You roll your eyes as you hear your sister drone on. She never shut up, but being more on the quiet side, you’d appreciated it growing up.
“Ally, wait they’re calling my name for my coffee. Hold on a sec please!”
You grabbed your coffee and was fumbling with your phone as you started to walk out the door. Unfortunately, there had been someone on the other side of the door that was paying even less attention than you were.
“Oh FUCK, are you kidding me?”
You had collided with the stranger and had coffee spilled all over your white shirt. Thankfully, you’d picked an iced coffee, so the only problem was the stain and not the coffee being hot.
“I’m incredibly sorry, I swear I wasn’t paying attention, and this was entirely my fault. Let’s get some napkins and dry you off at least.”
Looking up from the oxford shoes to the olive-green pants to the black turtleneck to incredibly piercing blue eyes of one of the most handsome men you’ve ever seen. You’re left speechless by the accident and also by the stranger standing in front of you.
“I-I, yeah okay, that would be great.”
You sigh ever so slightly because you thought this Monday would be different, but it was off to a pretty bad start so far. The stranger leads you inside and gets an insane amount of napkins and offers them to you.
“Here, I really hope this helps. What an awful way to meet someone though. I’m Quentin, by the way.”
He smiles at you and your heart skips a beat. Okay, maybe this isn’t the absolute worst Monday, at least he’s cute, you think to yourself.
“I’d say it’s nice to meet you, but the coffee on my shirt says otherwise.”
He lets out a cute laugh as he shakes his head.
“I swear I’m not normally this clumsy. If there’s anything, absolutely anything I can do to make this up to you, please name it and I’ll do it.”
You glance at your watch. 8:34 am. You’re gonna be late if you don’t get a move on.
“Uhh, well I’m actually about to be late for work since I decided to walk today, and I need to go back home and change which I definitely don’t have time for now.”
You rest your face in your hands while Quentin ponders what to say next.
“Hmmm, okay, now I know I’m a stranger, but I do happen to have my car with me. What if I drove you back so you could change and then drove you to work? How’s that sound?”
You’re hesitant but agree to it since there isn’t a chance you’d walk back home and to work on time.
“Great! Let’s go then.”
You follow Quentin out the door and walk to the parking lot. He stops in front of a black sedan.
“Well, this is me!”
He rushes over to the passenger side and opens the door for you. How gracious of him. He shuts the door and walks back to his side, climbing into the driver’s seat.
“Now, tell me how to get to your place?”
He looks at you while smiling softly. You give him directions and in no time you’re at your apartment.
“Let me run inside really quick, give me 5 minutes!” You yell as you open the passenger door.
Running up the stairs seems to take forever today, and you don’t even know what you’ll change into. Thankfully your pants and shoes are fine, so you throw off the blazer and t-shirt and rummage through your closet. You find a burnt orange sweater and put It on while grabbing your black coat and running down the stairs again. You hop into the waiting car and turn to Quentin.
“Thank you so much, honestly you’re a lifesaver, you know minus being the reason I had to change.”
He laughs while running his hands through his brunette hair.
“Well, if I could spill coffee on a pretty girl every day, then maybe it’s worth it.”
You feel the heat rise in your cheeks as you smile back at him.
“Oh shut up, that’s not it.”
You glance at your watch again. 8:50 am.
“Okay, not to rush you at all, but I seriously have to get to work.”
You can’t stop staring at him, waiting for his response.
“Oh, right, yeah, that’s what we were doing here. Where do you work?”
You tell him the name of your work and he types it into his GPS. You finally get to work and you thank god you’re not late. Quentin rushes around the side of the car to open your door for you again. You smile sweetly at him while he takes your hand to help you out.
“You doing anything tonight?”
Thinking about how you just moved in and only planned to unpack, you answer him promptly.
“Nothing besides organizing and unpacking my apartment, why?”
You glance down and realize he’s still holding your hand since he helped you out of the car.
“Well, be ready at 8, I’m taking you to dinner since I so horribly ruined your day. To make up for it, you know?”
“Uh, yeah, okay. See you then Quentin!”
He drops your hand and gently rubs your back on his way back to his car.
“Bye, see you tonight!”
He rolls down his window and waves goodbye to you, smiling the entire time. Maybe today wasn’t the worst Monday.