his star ~ b. barnes

chapter two

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the mid-september rainfall of london is something i will never forget.

having grown up in a dry california valley, we rarely experienced rain- snow completely nonexistent. but here in the u.k., the rain barely stops. and i love it so much.

i sit in my tiny apartment's window as miniature figures with umbrellas walk to the bakery down the street, crossing on the drenched alleyway separating my building from another. a candle lit on my bedside table (because i'm too scared to light a fire) and pride & prejudice in my hand.

my eyes become tired so i place my homemade bookmark on page 123 and skip over to my comfty mattress, turning the tv on in the process.

i scroll endlessly through netflix, having just finished gilmore girls for the thousandth time, and decide to rewatch stardust...totally not for ben barnes. i fall asleep after i see a glimpse of him- and thats what i dream of.

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the following morning was the same routine as usual- some fight between george and nora,  them both approaching me separately, making me their safe haven from the other.

i am rearranging the non-fiction table as nora comes over to me.

"he is so arrogant, ry." i pause my organizing and look at her with confusion.

"george?"

"yes george, who else? we don't speak to any other of the male species."

i correct her statement while pointing at her, and resume my cleaning. "willingly."

"of course, of course. anyways, he is the most arrogant person alive and i cannot stand him."

she takes a sip of her 4th cup of coffee before resuming.

"he has the audacity to take the last bit of coffee from the machine when he knows i wanted it!"

i ignore her, letting her continue without interruption.

"i clearly said 'i think i'm going to get some more coffee,' and he didn't even say anything back! just stood there for like 5 minutes and then refilled his cup with the last of the remaining coffee. so now i'm here with only 16 ounces in mine, while he has all of it!"

i bend behind her to look over at the coffee maker on the entrance table, finding him refilling the grinds and water, a smirk growing on my face while i lean back.

"hey george?"

i ask from beside nora.

"whatcha doing?"

"i'm making coffee, ry." i hear him announce in a very cocky voice, clearly directed towards our coworker.

i see her peek to where he's standing and roll her eyes before skipping over and waiting next to him for more coffee. 

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that afternoon was the highlight of my day. we went for lunch at the old post office bakery, a few minutes away from us, and ate absolutely phenomenal pastries (i ate a cinnamon twirl, george got an almond croissant, and nora bought an apple turnover).

we returned to the shop at around 12:30 with a couple people waiting outside. george went to get iced coffees for us three while nora and i helped customers.

i had just finished helping celeste, one of our regulars, meaning there was no one except us two left in the store when nora puts on the only country song I enjoy- tennessee whiskey by chris stapleton.

we blast the song and sing it as loud as we can, probably earning a noise complaint from the restaurant beside us.

"I've looked for love in all the same old places. found the bottom of a bottle's always dry. but when you poured out your heart I didn't waste it, 'cause there's nothing like your love to get me high"

"YOU'RE AS SMOOTH,"

we grab bookmarks supplied on the counter and use them as our microphones.

"AS TENNESSEE WHISKEY."

george enters with our drinks and rolls his eyes, but places our caffeine on the counter and grabs nora's hand and spinning her, and leaning into the microphone as well.

"YOU'RE AS SWEET AS STRAWBERRY WINE."

the bell hanging from our door rings, causing us three to look wide-eyed at each other. 

nora runs into the storage room only a couple feet behind her, and george sprints to the bathroom at the end of our building- leaving me alone, rushing to change the music, and the main source of embarrassment. i quickly hit the ~jazz ~ playlist on the spotify connected to the speakers as I announce to the unknown audience,

"welcome in! don't mind us, have too much coffee in our veins i guess," i laugh as a way to soothe the awkwardness, and only hope they didn't hear too much of our performance.

"that has got to be one of the best things i've seen all week."

i giggle a bit and turn around at the customer's responce, noticing a familiar face.

fucking benjamin. thomas. barnes.

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(A/N: hey everyone! sorry this chapter was so short and pretty uninteresting, i was trying to figure out a way to make these two lovebirds meet. also, i was watching stardust for the first time in like 5 years as i was making this, and holy shit i love it so much. robert de niro is so amazing in it and henry cavill?? why didn't i know he was in it?? anyways, i hope you have a wonderful day! drink some water please <3 -bubby)