The Chosen One

Chapter 5

Thursday

Francine woke up before her alarm clock even went off, and as the birds chirped away happily in the trees, she practically jumped out of bed. Today, she decided, she'd use the extra time to make a little more effort than she usually did.

Once she'd showered and done the usual bathroom-related activities, she blow-dried her hair, dancing around the room. She felt happier than she had in a long time. It was as if a day of sunshine had lit up her life, and she felt lighter and less uptight than she usually did.

She drove to work, putting her foot to the gas a little more than usual, in an odd hurry to get there for some reason. As she pulled the car up outside, she couldn't help but scan the area for a certain someone.

But when they were nowhere to be seen, it was as if a grey cloud of misery ripped through her, tearing away the light, happy feeling she'd woken up with. Nothing but disappointment and embarrassment was left behind.

She shouldn't have let a cute guy get to her so easily. She shouldn't have been sucked in by the way he looked right into her soul and the smooth, velvet-like way his voice caressed her. She shouldn't have been such a bloody i***t.

The cafe was quiet until lunchtime when chaos ensued. Maria, who usually covers the lunchtime rush with them, called in sick, and Iris was out all day meeting with suppliers. That meant Francine was left all by herself, trying to balance serving food, making drinks, and clearing tables while the cook, Leon, tried his best to do as much as he could too.

It was mayhem. She swore every hungry wolf in the town had decided that Woodies was the place to be right when she was snowed under. Tables were in dire need of clearing, cleaning, and re-serving, food needed taking to current customers, and the queue for drinks was insane. To top it all off, she was fast approaching a breakdown.

When that bell rang again to tell her another customer had arrived, she was close to kicking everybody out and shutting up shop for the day. But for Iris's sake, she took a deep breath and tried to focus.

"How can I help?" Someone questioned from behind her as she was about to go back behind the counter to serve. Her body froze as every nerve in her body fluttered to life at the closeness of that hot, strong body against hers.

"You could leave me to do my job," she growled out lowly, trying to move away to serve customers again and seriously not in the mood for dumb games.

"You are too busy to do this by yourself, and I'm offering to help for heaven's sake. Tell me what you need me to do," he said, wrapping his large hand around her wrist and pulling her so that she was facing him and unable to get away. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment to regain her senses and fight the urge to smack him, or kiss him; she couldn't be sure, maybe both.

"Fine, clean the tables," she snapped, shoving a cleaning cloth and antibacterial spray in his hand, gesturing towards the dirty tables.

"On it," he flashed her a toothy grin and saluted her like a soldier before he rushed off to do as she'd asked.

As much as she hated to admit it, she couldn't have got through it without his help, and he was a huge hit with the customers. The men loved chatting to him and joking around, whereas, surprise surprise, the women were captivated by his good looks and charming personality, which she hadn't seen a lot of until today.

Lucky for her, Iris had called and told her to close up for the afternoon and go home. So once things were cleared, she got to go put her feet up for the rest of the day, which for her would probably end up in a long nap.

"Thanks for your help, but you can go now. I'm just going to finish closing up and then I'm heading home," she advised him once she'd finished the call with Iris, watching him clean the last of the tables for her.

"What are your plans for this afternoon?" he asked, raising his eyebrows apprehensively as if he wasn't too sure if she'd be happy he was asking.

"No plans, I might take a long bubble bath and just relax. You?" she asked as she closed down the coffee machine.

"I was hoping we could talk," he suggested, emphasizing the word 'talk' as if it held a far more intense meaning than a simple chit-chat. But Francine didn't trust him, and she definitely didn't trust herself around him. This type of talk meant being alone with him, and being alone with him was not the best idea. She had a feeling not much talking would take place.

"We are talking now," she said, pretending she had no idea what he was referring to or what topic he'd possibly want to discuss. She tried her best to look as nonchalant as possible.

"You know what I mean, Francine. How about we talk tomorrow?" He wasn't going to give in without a fight, and there was a flash of hurt that lit up his eyes before he managed to hide it. It made her feel guilty, but she couldn't deal with this right now. She couldn't deal with him and all the feelings that came with him.

"I'm working all day."

"Fine, what about tomorrow evening?" He was clearly getting frustrated, grinding his teeth and clenching his jaw tightly shut the more she pushed him away.

"I have plans with my friends," she said truthfully. She did have plans with them, plans she refused to change.

"Seriously? There's not room for one bloody conversation, Francine? One hour of your precious time is all I'm asking for, and you can't even give me that???" He yelled angrily before storming out of the cafe, nearly ripping the door from its hinges with the amount of brute strength he slammed it with.

She knew she was doing the right thing by keeping him at arm's length, but why did it hurt to see him so hurt and angry? Why did she feel like crap for being the one he was angry at? She didn't ask for this to happen. She didn't ask for him to waltz into her life and be all bossy and sexy, did she?! He didn't even tell her his name, so who was he to make demands on her time? But she never asked his name. She never asked for his help, but he gave it to her anyway.