Lies & Deceit

1

It's was particularly cold winter's evening in London, the snow was slowly blanketing the city while the wind blew the falling snow from side to side. I rub my cold nose and blow warm air into my hands. January in this place is probably the coldest. I sigh as I rush along the sidewalk to make my way to a nearby coffee shop, the wind whipping my brown hair around as I walk. The brit’s are accustomed to this weather, whereas I am not. I recently moved here from California, USA. I can honestly say I prefer the winter in America when opposed to this. I blow warm air into my hands once more as I enter the coffee shop. In an instant I can feel my body relax as it is met with the heated air from inside the shop. I smile as the warmth hits the skin of my face, my nose burning as it defrosts. I stomp my black combat boots against the ground to throw off the remaining snow before I make my way to the counter.

"Hi, how can I help you?" The cashier chirps and I subconsciously roll my eyes. How can anybody be this happy in his dreadful weather?

"I'll have a cuppaccino and a chocolate chip muffin, please." I notice the cashier furrow his eyebrows as he notices my accent. As I said, I am not a born Brit so obviously I sound American. I brush off the confusion and hand him a few pounds to pay.

"Thank you, miss. Have a seat and I'll bring it to you in a sec." I nod a thank you and turn, harshly bumping into someone.

"O-Oh sorry." I stammer and look up into the most mesmerizing green eyes. I feel my mouth run dry as my throat closes up. He runs a hand through his brown hair and gives me a warm smile. My pulse quickens at the sight of him.

"No problem, Love." He murmurs as he bends to pick up my wallet, which I didn’t even notice was not in my hands anymore. His voice is low and raspy, clearly British by his accent.

I blush as he hands me my wallet and makes eye contact. Did he notice me staring?

"Thank you." I muster a small smile and hastily make my way past him to take a seat at a nearby table. I feel his eyes follow me which makes my cheeks turn a brighter color.

As I sit down the cashier sets my hot drink and muffin down in front of me. I thank him and ask him for some sugar as the table had none. He quickly swipes some sachets from another table and hands them to me with a smile. I nod and proceed to sweeten my cuppaccino. I love cuppaccino, but it’s a really strong coffee drink so I need a lot of sugar. As soon as I feel pleased with the taste of my cuppaccino I decide to look up, only to find myself staring directly into the green eyed man. He was sat at the table across from me. His intent gaze made me squirm in my seat. Didn't anybody ever tell him that it is rude to stare? I decide to ignore his staring and just eat my muffin. I slowly open my muffin, slightly peeking to see if the man is still staring. I am pleased to find that he is busy talking on the phone. Slight disappointment fills me and I'm quick to shrug it off. How can I be happy about a complete stranger staring at me? A completely gorgeous stranger. I mentally curse myself and shake my head as I tear off a piece of my muffin. I place a piece of muffin in my mouth and close my eyes as I savor the taste. The muffin tastes extraordinary. It’s still a bit warm and the chocolate is melted which makes it even more delicious. After a few bites and half of my cuppaccino I look up once again and find that the man is no longer there. I smile and briefly think about the job interview I have scheduled a week from now. Hopefully the people will be nice. I sigh and call the cashier to ask him if I could have an extra muffin as a take away.

I leave the shop feeling warm and cozy, only to be slapped in the face by the cold wind. I frown and pull my black coat over my ears. I cringe when I realize that I still have a long walk home. Unfortunately the chances to find a taxi in this weather were zero. As I continue my speed walking down the street I hear a car behind me and decide to ask for a lift. There's no way I'd make it to my flat without freezing half to death first. I turn and quickly wave my hand to grab the driver's attention. The car slowly comes to a stop in front of me before the window is rolled down. I gasp at the sight.

"Are you following me?" I eye the green eyed guy suspiciously while clutching my handbag close to my side. Partly, because of the cold and partly, because this man is freaking me out. He chuckles and shakes his head.

"No, I just left the coffee shop after you left." He shrugs and I frown.

"So you waited for me to leave before you left?" I counter him, narrowing my eyes and taking a step back.

"That's not what I meant, Love. I was in the washroom and when I came out I saw you leaving. I was on my way though, nothing to do with you." He smiles and shifts his car in park. I take a moment to take a look at the car and notice that it’s a black Audi A4, my favorite. How ironic.

I grunt and wipe my hair out of my face. Should I even go with him? He might be a serial killer. I sigh and consider my options. Walk and freeze to death or ask for a ride with a guy who could potentially be a serial killer. I'd rather take the ride.

"Do you need a ride?" He voices my thoughts which make me freak out a bit more, but I nod and make my way around the car to get into the passenger seat.

"I thought you'd never get in." He exclaims and closes the window before turning up the heat. I widen my eyes at his statement. He must have seen because he burst out laughing as we drive off.

"Goodness, your paranoid. I just meant that you finally got in so that I can turn up the heat." He shakes his head. I feel a slight pang of guilt run through me for judging this guy too quickly. Am I paranoid? Yes. Does that mean this guy is a psycho killer? Well, maybe.

"Sorry, yes, I am paranoid. Can you blame me though?" I question him and sit back in the seat making myself comfortable.

"I guess not, sorry." He shrugs and gives me a small smile before turning his attention back to the road. I take a look at his mouth and instantly my attraction towards him is spiked. He has such full plump lips. I bite my lip and shift my gaze to his cheek and notice the protruding dimples as he smiles. I wonder if he has dimples on both sides. I shift in my seat as I push down the urge to turn his face and ask him to smile.

"Where do you live?" His voice rings through my thoughts and once again an alarm goes off in my head. Holy s**t Ashley, get your act together. He needs to know where you live.

"Clerkenwell road, flat number 12." I state and bite my lip. I honestly hope this guy won't murder me. His audible gasp catches my attention.

"You wanted to walk that far? In this weather?" He looks at me in disbelief.

"Yeah, nothing wrong with a good walk." I state and raise my head.

"Yeah, nothing wrong except if there's a chance that you might die." He explains his face serious.

"I wouldn’t have died." I chuckle and shake my head.

"Well, you would have at least gotten frost bite or something." He smiles and I can't help but agree. It is way too cold to be walking that far. Luckily on the way here I grabbed a taxi, but now the weather is too bad to even think about calling a taxi. The weather wasn’t this bad when I left my flat, though. It’s crazy how the weather can change.

"So, if I may ask, your American right?"Henry questions and I nod.

"Are you just here on a vacation then?" I shake my head and smile.

"No, I moved here about a month ago. I'm still very new, but I quite like it here, just not the weather." I answer which makes him chuckle.

"Yeah the weather is an acquired taste. It's basically always cold or chilly here." He explains and I groan in response which makes him chuckle.

"I take it your British?" I question, but I already know the answer.

"Born and raised." He says proudly. I smile at him and nod. Obviously after noting his accent I knew he is British, but I just had to ask.

"How old are you?" I blurt before I can stop myself.

"28 on February 2nd." He smiles and turns to look at me. "You?" He asks.

"I'm turning 25 in two weeks." I state.

"Hmm" He thinks for a moment before continuing "So 31 January is your birthday?" He questions and I nod. I can't believe how fast time goes by.

"Your birthday is so close to mine." He says in awe which makes me chuckle.

"Yeah? No way!" I say sarcastically which makes him give me a playful glare.

"I'm Henry, by the way." He states and I nod.

"I'm Ashley." I mumble, returning the gesture. He nods and stretches out his hand to put on the radio. As soon as his hand touches the radio the car comes to a halt and dies.

"What?" I instantly question and give Henry a questioning look. He shrugs and quickly jumps out of his car to take a look.

I shake my head and rub my temples. Today is Friday, and it’s already half past six. Who wants car troubles on a Friday evening?

"So we have a slight problem." Henry states when climbing back into the car. I raise my eyebrows and cross my arms.

"There's a bit of a blizzard which is causing the roads to pile up with snow. My car is stuck and it doesn’t look like we'll be going anywhere soon." He finishes with a huff of air.

"You have got to be kidding me!" I exclaim in frustration.

"Not kidding." He sighs and wipes his face with his hand.

I frown, clearly upset. Henry takes a look at me and frowns before taking out his phone.

"I could call a tow truck, but that would be pretty useless." He suggests and I automatically roll my eyes at him.

"Its fine Henry, I'll just walk. Thanks for the lift though." I give him a tight smile before unlocking the door.

"It's really not necessary, you could just wait here." He gestures to his car and I shake my head.

"Look, thanks for the offer, but as much as I would like to sit here with a complete stranger for who knows how long, I'd rather take a chance and go home." I snap and Henry frowns. He narrows his eyes and shakes his head at my stubbornness.

"Fine, be my guest." He grunts and leans over to push open the door. I ball my fist at his bluntness and quickly jump out of the car, only to sink into the snow. The snow reaches to just below my knee. I gasp as the coldness quickly envelopes me. Instantly I regret my decision and slide back into the car before closing the door and rubbing my legs. I'm not even sure how we made it this far in a pile of snow that high.

"I guess you're staying the night with a complete stranger." Henry mumbles and crosses his arms before leaning back into his seat.

"I guess so." I say simply and rest my head in my hands.

"So, why London?" Henry questions after a while of just sitting in silence and listening to the wind. I furrow my brows at how easily his mood has shifted. I guess the realization of the fact that we’d be spending the night together sunk in.

"To be honest, I'm not actually sure.” I shrug and sigh at my boring answer. I could have told him the truth, but I don't want to talk about family drama the rest of the night.

"Interesting." Henry hums, his eyes still closed.

"Not really, but if I have to pick a reason it would definitely be the accents." I mumble and bite my lip to keep myself from laughing.

"The accents?" Henry makes sure and covers up his laugh with a fake cough.

"Yeah, I guess. I can't seem to find another reason." I shrug and chuckle. Henry bursts out laughing at my statement.

"I can honestly say you are the first person I've ever met who moved across the world just because they like the place's accents." Henry shakes his head and rubs his eyes.

"It's getting pretty late, and heat is basically nonexistent." I mumble my thoughts, not really speaking to Henry.

"I agree, I'm growing tired and soon we're going to be very cold. The car can only isolate so much heat." He bites his lip and looks at me, suggestion evident in his eyes.

Does he want me to cuddle with him so that we can go to sleep? Is he crazy! There is no way I am going to cuddle with some stranger I just met just because it’s cold, even if he is very attractive. His eyes soften before he shuts them again and lies back in his seat.

"I could turn on the heater, but I'm not sure how long the car will be able to hold." He suggests and the tension in the air immediately vanishes. We agreed that we wouldn’t turn the heater back on just in case it might damage the car.

"Are you sure?" I question him and he hums a response before starting the car. The car struggles and almost comes to life but simply does not. I frown and shake my head. Obviously it won't start, the car is probably colder than we are.

“So that's not going to work." Henry mumbles and scratches his neck. I sigh and shut my eyes to think.

"We could, you know." Henry interrupts my thoughts and gestures to the back seat.

"Cuddle? It'll keep us warm." He confirms my thoughts and I feel my body go stiff.

"We don’t have to." He quickly assures me as he realizes that I've gone silent.

"Ashley, its fine. We can stay the way we are." He says giving me a look of embarrassment.

"No, you’re right…" I trail off, surprising not only myself, but Henry too. Didn't I just completely freak out a few seconds ago about cuddling with him? Sometimes I think I might be bi polar.

"It's crazy and very reckless, but you are right. If we don't, we won’t get much sleep in, because we'll be freezing most of the night." I explain to Henry, probably trying to convince myself.

It has only been an hour since we got stuck and I can already feel the cold air rushing into the car. Another hour from now we'll be freezing, not to mention the fact that we'll probably be stuck for 8 or more hours.

"Alright." He gives me a reassuring smile and gestures for me to get into the back seat. I give him a tight smile before climbing through. As soon as I sit I gasp at the coldness of the seat. This is going to take a few minutes to get used to.

I giggle as soon as Henry sits down and is met with the coldness of the seat. A few profanities leave his lips which lightens the mood a bit. After a few minutes of contemplating and reassuring each other that this was merely for the sake of getting warm, Henry gestures for me to lie down. I lie down against the seat where as Henry lies on the edge of the seat. For a moment we are glancing into each other's eyes before I break eye contact and turn my back to Henry. The scenario being way too intimate for my liking. He chuckles slightly before wrapping his one arm around me and pulling me into him. I bite my lip at the contact, not wanting to give away the fact that I'm actually not that bothered. It feels really nice to have his arm around me, plus his body heat is radiating from him to me so that's just a bonus. I'm definitely not entirely sane. I mean, who in their right mind would do what I'm doing now.

"Night Ash." Henry whispers, clearly already drifting off into sleep. Butterflies erupt in my stomach at his nickname for me.

"Night Henry." I whisper back and close my eyes.

***

I wake up shivering. It takes a while to remember where I am and how I got here, but as soon as I remember I instantly notice Henry's absence. I frown and look around the car, he's nowhere to be found. I sigh and rub my hand over my face, closing my eyes in the process. It's still fairly dark outside so it must be the early hours of the morning. My phone is completely dead so there's no use in trying to check the exact time. Even if my phone were on I would have absolutely no one to phone as I know nobody in London, except, now I know Henry. A slight tapping on the window startles me, causing my eyes to shoot open. I notice a smiling Henry who is holding up two cups of something. I hope its coffee. I smile and open the door, pleasantly surprised that the snow has decreased somewhat.

"Good morning." Henry says in a low voice.

"Morning." I smile and gratefully take the steaming cup from his hands. I realize that it has no name or brand on it. I eye the drink suspiciously before looking at Henry in confusion.

"I walked around and found an open shop just around the corner. Luckily they sold coffee. I also used their phone to call the tow truck. The plowing service as well as the tow Truck is on their way." He says all in one breath. He quickly takes a sip of his coffee, pulling his face as he tastes it.

"By the way your pulling your face I don't think I want to try the coffee." I mumble and he chuckles. I skeptically sniff my coffee and eye him.

"It’s not that bad, just very strong." He says and shrugs. I hate strong coffee.

I slowly take a sip of the coffee. Henry wasn't joking. He laughs as he sees my face causing me to almost choke while I try to swallow. I eyeball him and he throws his hands up in mock surrender.

"Would you like to go out with me tonight? Maybe go ice skating." Henry mumbles suddenly and runs a hand through his hair. For some reason the thought of seeing him again makes me excited.

"Yeah that could be fun." I accept his offer making him smile. His eyes gleam in excitement which gives me butterflies.

"Great. I don't really know when the tow truck will be coming, but the roads are starting to clear so you might be able to get a taxi in about an hour or two." Henry suggests and holds his cup of coffee close to his face to blow it cold.

I nod at him and finish my coffee, earning a gawk from him.

"Don't you have any feeling in your mouth?" He questions in amazement.

"I do, but I always drink anything hot with ease. I don't know why or how, but it doesn't really burn my mouth. Except if it's really, really hot." I shrug and play with the empty cup.

"This is really, really hot." Henry widens his eyes and looks at me with a horrified look on his face. I chuckle and feel my stomach growl. I blush as Henry notices it.

"I have a muffin." I suddenly remember aloud and practically jump to the front of the car. Henry checks his wristwatch as I sit back next to him.

"I just wanted to say that we could go for a breakfast if we can find a place open at 7 am?" Henry suggested looking at the stale and definitely cold muffin in my hand.

"Well a hot breakfast does sound more appetizing than a stale muffin." I smile. Henry chuckles and gets out of the car before leaning his hand inside to help me out. What a gentleman.

A gush of cold air hits my body causing me to get goose bumps all over my body. I instantly regret only wearing leggings and deciding against a pair of skinny jeans. All clothes I have on are my leggings, a white T-shirt and my black coat. Luckily my coat is quite thick.

"You alright there, love?" Henry questions.

"Y-yeah." I shiver. Curse my inability to act.

"C'mere." Henry opens his arm which I hesitantly accept. If I weren't this cold I would have declined the second he asked me. I bury my face into his chest in an attempt to shield it from the cold air.

"Thanks." I mumble against his chest. I feel a rumbling in his chest as he chuckles. It's such an amazing sound.

After a few blocks of searching for some place to eat we enter a small restaurant which says open 24/7. Luckily for us we did find a place because we were busy freezing to death. Henry quickly speaks to the waitress and gestures for me to follow him as soon as the waiter starts leading him. It feels like my body is frozen stiff. Unfortunately the restaurant does not have any heaters, but we choose a seat as far away from the door as possible.

"Can I bring you anything to drink?" The waitress questions while pulling out her small notebook.

"I'll have a large cuppaccino, please." I eagerly reply. I really need something warm to fill my cold body.

"Bring me the same, thanks." Henry replies. She quickly scribbles our order and hurries off to get our hot drinks.

"It feels like we've been walking for hours." I sigh and vigorously rub my legs in an attempt to heat them up.

"I agree, walking in cold weather and snow is quite tiring. I hope this weather clears up some. If it does stay like this we'll possibly have to reschedule our date." Henry says simply, causing me to freeze when he says 'Date'.

I feel my eyes widen and my face flush. I quickly duck behind the menu to hide my face from him. I don't want him to think that I dislike him or anything like that. Henry hums to the beat of the song playing throughout the restaurant, not caring that I didn’t reply. Meanwhile my heart is racing for some unknown reason. I bite my lip and decide to have a basic breakfast. I slowly put down my menu and take a look at Henry while he studies the menu intently. He really is a handsome guy, also very nice. I understand why I feel flustered around him the whole time, but it’s not normal after knowing him just a day. He has a way about him which makes you feel like you've known him for years. My eyes slowly travel to his lips. The way he smiles and shows his dimples is enough to make any girl's heart race. When he bites his lip it makes my knees weak. Henry looks up and makes eye contact with me causing me to blush. Why would I have thoughts like this with somebody I barely know?

"Didn't anybody ever tell you that it's rude to stare?" He says with a cocky grin.

"Funny, I thought the same thing last night at the coffee shop." I retaliate.

"There’s nothing wrong with admiring beauty." He murmurs in a low voice causing me to blush. I stare into Henry's eyes, not fully comprehending that he just called me beautiful. There's no way I cannot be attracted to him.

"Here you go!" The waitress chirps while placing our drinks on the table. Henry and I both shift our gazes to her.

"W-what can I bring you to e-eat?" The waitress stammers as we intently stare at her. I bet it’s more because of Henry's eyes on her.

"I'll have the special, double bacon and fried eggs, please." Henry says, still using his low voice.

I squirm in my seat and watch as the waitress nods and pulls out her notebook. I tear my eyes away from the waitress to meet Henry's steady gaze. He smiles at me and nods toward the waitress who just asked me a question.

"I-I'll have the basic breakfast, also double bacon, but scrambled eggs." The waitress nods and quickly scribbles down my order before taking our menus and rushing to the kitchen.

"S-so, you're saying I'm beautiful?" I say with all the confidence I can muster.