The Coffee Date

Chapter 10 - Meet Wake Up Call

It felt as if Hazel's last visitors to her home had been the moving guys placing the last of her furniture. So hearing a gentle knock against her door early one morning was completely unexpected.

Glancing quizzically at the door and then her owner, Lily sashayed her way towards the entrance way and took a seat beside Hazel's neat collection of boots.

Hazel glanced down at her clothes, not exactly 'you have a guest' style fashion. Her fuzzy pink socks, pink leggings, and a large cat-whisker white sweater that hung over her body didn't scream 'come on in'. While she adored the sweater, her mother always told her it made her lose all of her 'beautiful curves'. Hazel really didn't mind.

Setting down her now-empty cup of tea she slowly started for the door and peeked through the eye glass. Instead of seeing a face or a person, her eyes met two cups of coffee sitting in a tray. Immediately her mind wandered to the idea that this person was at the wrong door, and needing to open it and shoo them away was going to be plenty awkward. A part of her told her not to open the door at all, to let them figure out they were at the wrong location or leave altogether assuming she wasn't home. Maybe their friend would correct them while Hazel was busy hiding away under her sink.

But then a tuff of raven hair whisked in front of the glass and she knew it wasn't a stranger. That was definitely someone looking for her. To make sure her eyes weren't fooling her she gripped the doorknob and slowly peeled it open, the door squeaking as if yelling to everyone in the building that yet again she was stepping outside of her safe haven.

And there he stood.

Nathan grinned, using one of his hands to lean against the side of her doorframe with a smile. He always seemed so calm and charming in whatever he did. How did he never get nervous?

"Morning, Hazel."

The brunette pulled back slightly, tempted to close the door and run away altogether. As wonderful as it was to see him bearing gifts of sweet caffeine she was in no way ready for visitors. Neither was her home. It was neat enough and people could come in comfortably just fine, but at every corner there was a pile of papers from lawyers or a stash of pricing ranges from funeral homes. There were trashcans filled with used tear-stained tissues and photo albums of her family with their pictures scattered left and right; searching for the best for their service. But it didn't seem like she had much of a choice in this matter. He had brought her a gift after all. That being a gift of something she still hadn't bothered to go out and buy.

"How," She paused, for some odd reason being exasperated by her one word. "How did you find my apartment number? You only knew the address to the building."

"I can find out just about anything." He smirked playfully. To be fair, the question in itself was silly. He was a detective. He tracked down criminals - or at least did their paperwork - on the daily. Finding some ditzy brunette's apartment number probably wasn't that hard. She still, of course, felt honoured that he had gone through the trouble of finding it, despite that her name was on her call box on the exterior of the building. Noticing her hesitation at opening the door fully, clearly nervous about something, he continued. "I have some good news."

A man bearing good news and coffee. Despite feeling completely embarrassed by the appearance of herself and her home, now she needed to let him in. Cracking open the door, the brunette allowed the male inside. She offered to take the tray but he insisted he was fine and slid off his black shoes at the door.

Bonus: he was even neat in a home setting rather than just in his office setting. Double points.

"Feel free to make yourself at home, I need to go and take care of something quickly." Nathan gave a smirk to himself as he watched the clearly flustered female dart into her room. He was more than well aware that she was trying to fix herself up, or at least make it seem like she hadn't just rolled out of bed. Of course, he didn't mind. He spent time with Hazel for her mind and personality, her features just seemed like icing on the cake.