Bad Habit

Chapter Six

"Isn't it lovely to know that even the great Sherlock Holmes, the quirky and genius Sherlock Holmes, is vulnerable to love as we all are?"

— Natalie Dormer

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06. Arabella

TO SAY this day was not my day would be an understatement. First, waking up to the sound of my bouncy idiot of a best friend blasting Hotline Bling at 7:03 am while she yells (literally yells) along to the song is not the greatest thing to make someone start the day in a good mood. Second, after I finally gave up on going back to sleep, stopped swearing at Savannah and got the courage to get up and make breakfast I found out that, well, there was no food. And when you start the day checking the kitchen and finding out there's no food, you know it's bound to get worse than it already is.

However, despite my pessimistic thinking and awful mood, I was brave enough to actually change and go out to buy us breakfast — even though I wasn't so sure Savannah deserved it after rudely interrupting my peaceful slumber. But after taking into consideration the fact that she would always buy me tampons and cookie dough ice cream whenever I got my period, I decided to be kind enough and buy her some food.

Let me just tell you something: most days, the coffee shop is never full. Especially if it's just past 8 o'clock, because that's the time it opens and who would be there so early, right? Right. And, well, it wasn't full (as I said), but there were two people there by the time I arrived: the cashier and Colton Grey.

Colton. Grey.

Let me just tell you another thing: I froze mid-step because a) I had never met him somewhere other than at Joey's; b) he looked amazing, whilst I looked like death itself. My shock, therefore, was pretty evident and understandable. But Arabella Hayes does not cower away, no matter how messy her hair looks or how dark the bags under her eyes are. That's why, slowly, I walked towards the counter, where he was calmly sipping his coffee, not noticing my arrival until I stopped next to his spot and tapped his shoulder. "Fancy meeting you here, Grey."

Breaking out of a daze, Colton turned his head at me and recognition soon filled his face. "Arabella... never thought I'd meet you here out of all places."

"Me neither, hot stuff," I threw him a smirk. "What are you up to so early?"

"I usually have early morning runs and then stop here for a bagel and a coffee. But I could ask you the same thing. I mean, it's Saturday and I suppose you don't have any classes today..."

Nodding at him, I answered: "Yeah, waking up this early was never part of my plans. But my roomie dearest woke me up by singing too loudly and then I couldn't get back to sleep and we ran out of food, so — here I am."

"You have the craziest friends, Hayes," he chuckled. "Since you're here, I'm here, it's too early and we have nothing better to do, why don't you order your food and then we can get out of here and go talk somewhere else? Like a park or something."

"Are you spontaneously asking me on a seven-in-the-morning-date, Colton?"

He grinned at me, eyes wrinkling in the corners. "Depends on if you're going to reject me or not..."

I made a face, pretending I was pondering over the idea, though I already knew what I'd say. "Sounds lovely."

+++

Later, Colton and I were strolling down Greenwich Village, watching as the streets started to get busy. We were headed to the Washington Square Park — I'd had the sudden decision of taking him there, so we could actually sit down and I could eat the muffin that I had taken from the coffee shop.