hot chocolate//fionn whitehead

5

amber didn't talk to fionn on sunday. but they did text, a lot. 237 messages exchanged between the two of them, to be exact.

after their "date" amber had probably lied on the floor for about 2 hours, revisiting all that had happened that day. honestly, she couldn't believe it had turned out as well as it did, and when he texted her again later that night, she nearly lost it.

although amber was too busy editing that day, she promised fionn that she would visit him at the coffee shop the next day after work. and now, walking to work, that's all she could think about.

the skies were grey again today. the forecast said it was going to start raining later, what a surprise. she adjusted her hood over her head and continued walking.

-

a new pile of papers slammed on amber desk, knocking her out of her focus. she looked up to see her supervisor, derek, looming over her.

"can I help you?" she asked, with more attitude then expected.

he snorted. "yes actually. new story," he said, handing her a folder. "the population of rats have been increasing in london lately."

amber sighed. "got it." another boring case.

"good," he said, puffing out his chest. "maybe add a graph. make it flashy," he said, strutting away.

that man may be her supervisor, but he was way too full of himself.

amber sighed and started researching.

-

not to brag, but amber was pretty sure she was the most efficient writer in her company. over the course of one work day she had done one round of research and already had a rough draft of her article written. no matter how hard she seemed to work, however, she still was never given and praise for her hard efforts.

amber rubbed her temples, relaxing her thoughts and clearing her mind.

just like any other day, she rounded up all her papers and grabbed her bag to leave. although this time, she actually had something planned, other then going home alone to watch tv until midnight.

about a block away from work, it started to rain, hard. that was when amber realized she had left her raincoat at work.

she cursed a bit then took some deep breaths to calm down. it was no use going back now, the office would be locked up. amber decided that she had no choice but to walk as fast as she could to avoid getting completely drenched.

she speed walked all the way to la cup, still managing to get wet enough that her hair stuck to the sides of her face.

swinging open the door into the warm shop, she must've looked like she just emerged from the ocean. water was dripping from her nose and her clothes were sticking to her in an uncomfortable way.

the few eyes that were in the shop all turned towards her. she wished she had her jacker to hide behind, but no. people resumed their discussions, but amber still felt that she was being judged.

"amber?" fionn exclaimed, coming out from behind the counter.

amber smiled sheepishly. "hi."

his confusion quickly turned to concern. "oh god. you must be freezing. here, um." he scooted away and quickly returned with a yellow coat, his yellow coat. "put this on." he handed her the coat and she took it gratefully.

"thank you." she said, shivering.

"oi! kid! stop flirting and get back to work!" yelled a big man coming from the back room.

fionn jumped. "oh right. um I'll make you a hot chocolate. on the house," he stammered as he quickly went back behind the counter.

amber sat down, warm with thoughts of fionn. she was wearing his jacket. the one he never shut up about on their date, and he trusted her with it.

she smiled as fionn came over with a cup of steaming hot chocolate. "i had fun the other day," he commented, taking a seat across from her.

"me too," she said after taking a long sip of her drink.

they sat there for awhile in comfortable silence. amber realized fionn was staring at her, she cocked an eyebrow in his direction.

he shook his head out of his thoughts and then proceeded to fix his hair back into place. "well, i should probably get back to work before my boss comes back."

"oh right. of course," amber replied, jolting out of her dreamy thoughts. "i guess I should go too."

fionn looked at her with some emotion amber couldn't quite place. "tomorrow?"

"tomorrow," she responded confidently.

she swung open the doors into the cold and wet streets of London. she starts walking before stopping upon hearing footsteps pounding towards her.

she quickly turned around and was met, once again, with fionn's bright green eyes.

"amber," he gasped, panting. "you forgot something."

amber frowned. she was hoping the reason he had chased her was a little more romantic. but of course, she still had on his precious rain coat.

"oh right. sorry. here," she stammered, beginning to take his jacket off.

"no." he said in a low tone.

he leaned in, and before she knew it, their lips connected. amber froze at first, but surprised herself as she began to kiss back.

fionn wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her closer. amber placed her hand on his cheek, deepening the kiss.

after a bit, the two reluctantly pulled away.

fionn looked down at amber like he had never seen her before. dazed, but also amazed. he gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, causing amber's smile to grow even more.

"keep the raincoat, it looks good on you." he whispered. he then gave her one more smile and walked back to the coffee shop.

amber stood there, frozen for a few seconds. she felt the need to pinch herself to make sure non of this was a dream. fionn, the coffee boy she had a crush on since she first saw him just kissed her.

amber walked home slowly, for once thanking the rain for bringing her the day's events.