Stolen Fates - Anna

Sunday Mornings

Sunday mornings were Anna's favorite part of life in general. No work, no school and no stress. It was a blissful bit of laziness that she only had access to for these few hours each week. She'd opened the windows of her apartment to allow the warm breeze in and sat on her couch, sipping her coffee. The stereo played at a low volume in the background and she hummed along to Imagine Dragons, Demons. It was perfect.

A buzzing sound pulled her attention and she unfolded her legs from beneath her to stand. Walking over to the intercom still holding her coffee, she pushed the button and spoke into the speaker."Hello," she questioned and released the button to wait on a response. She knew it wasn't a delivery as the mail didn't run on Sunday's, not that she'd had any money to buy anything in the first place. Her neighbor had forgotten her keys more times than Anna could reasonably keep track of. So, that was always a possibility.

"Hey...It's Charlie," she heard through the intercom and momentarily stopped breathing. "Wanna grab some lunch," he asked and she could hear the hope in his voice.

"Uh...sure. Um...give me like...5 minutes," she replied calmly with another push of the button. "s**t," she exclaimed loudly and then ran to her bedroom. Setting her coffee cup on the kitchen counter as she passed it, she didn't care, nor notice, that some coffee splashed over the rim in her haste and now stained her cream-colored counter.

She rifled through her closet and grabbed the first thing she considered presentable, a baby blue tee that was cropped just enough to expose a strip of her pale stomach and a pair of distressed denim shorts. Stripping out of her pajamas quickly, she somehow managed to kick the wooden railing of her bed. "Mother-," she began but bit down on her lower lip and the second half of the curse dissolved into a painful groan as she bent to check her shin. Thankfully there was no blood but she was sure the bruise would be a pretty one. Taking a deep breath to refocus her efforts, she pulled on her clothes after snapping the closures of her plain white bra.

She slid her feet into a pair of white flip flops and headed into the bathroom to brush her teeth and hair. She didn't have time to even consider makeup and honestly, she only wore makeup when working at Swan's. She pulled her long, blonde hair into a messy bun on top of her head and checked her reflection in the medicine cabinet mirror. She gave a shrug of her shoulder and thought, Well, I guess this is as good as it's going to get. She grabbed her purse and keys before heading down the stairs of her building to the front door.

Upon stepping outside, she found Charlie leaning against the wall beside the front door, looking refreshed and chipper. He wore a white t-shirt covered by a short-sleeved dark blue flannel and blue jeans. His messy hair was neatly contained under a black ball cap that he wore backwards. She tilted her head as she looked more closely and noticed his expression and how he was trying to control his laughter.

"What's so funny," she asked and couldn't stop the small smile that wanted to pull up the corners of her lips.

Charlie pushed himself away from the wall and pointed straight up at the sky with a megawatt grin on his face. Anna looked up and was mortified to see the curtains of her apartment blowing softly in and out of her open window. She hadn't even thought about it until just now. Her only response was to cover her eyes and forehead with her hand and let her face drop toward the ground.

"Are you alright," he asked with the chuckle still coloring his tone. Placing his large hands gently on either side of her head, he pulled her closer to him and kissed the top of her head, inhaling her lavender scent. "Something sounded kinda painful," he explained while using the hold on her head to lift her face back up to his.Anna allowed her face to be pulled back up and simply wore an embarrassed smile. "Yeah. I think my pride hurts more than my shin right now," she said with a small half-laugh and looked up at him through her long lashes, gently biting her lower lip.

Charlie's eyes were drawn down to her lips at the action and he suddenly had a strong desire to chew on that lip himself. At the thought, he cleared his throat gently and withdrew his hands from her face. Pushing his hands into his back pockets to keep himself from reaching out for her again, he drew his eyes back up to hers.

"So...," he started and then cleared his throat again, trying to get his brain function back to normal.

"Lunch," she offered helpfully with a small smile playing on her features. He looked so flustered and she was truly enjoying his reaction.

"Right...lunch," he repeated slowly after her but everything still seemed to be in a haze. He didn't quite know what this feeling was. He'd never experienced anything like this before. The only real thought he could process was just how much he wanted to have her for lunch.

Anna laughed softly and shook her head slightly. They were never going to leave her doorstep if she couldn't get him to focus on something other than his own thoughts. "Charlie," she called to him to draw his attention to her.

"Hm," he questioned innocently, his eyes wide and amusingly confused. I must look like such an i***t, right now, he thought and mentally smacked himself. Don't screw this up, Charlie, he reminded himself and removed a hand from his rear pocket, extending it to the girl before him. "Let's go get that lunch," he said, glad to have his bearings back and offered her a genuine smile.

She accepted his hand and let him lead her over to his car, smiling again when he opened the passenger side door for her. Sliding into the leather seat, she pulled the seatbelt over her lap and secured the latch just as he entered the driver's side. "Ready," she heard him ask and gave a small nod of her head with a lopsided smile, internally wondering where they were going.