Artifice

Coffee Shop

"Hi-"

"Did we sleep together last night?" I interrupted him, sitting down at the table I found him at.

"No," he held a neutral expression and I gasped in relief. "You act like that would be the worse thing in the world." He huffed a breath and rolled his eyes.

"Sorry." I took a deep breath. "I'll be right back." I said after only being in my seat for a few seconds.

The question if I slept with him or not had been itching at my brain for the past few hours and now that I have that off my chest I could relax. I ordered a coffee and made my way back to the table where Harry was sat. His long hair rested on his shoulders and a long stripped coat was hanging off his chair.

"Did you undress me?" I eyeballed him.

"Yes," he said and I flinched.

"You sick bas-"

"You threw up all over yourself, you should be thanking me you didn't have to wake up to a bathroom full of throw up."

I did notice how the clothes smelled odd.

"Uh, thank you." I simply said, not really knowing what else to say.

"I remember you were at the same club as I was, you were hooking up with a blond. Did you really leave her to take me home?" The more questions I asked, the more I felt I was interrogating him.

"I have no idea who she was, if anything you did me a favor by showing up wasted." A smirk appeared on his lips and I felt sick all over again.

"That's fucked up." I said and sipped from the cup of coffee in my hand. I guess I wasn't all too fazed by his disrespect towards woman at this point.

"Did anything happen last night? Like what did I say or do?"

"Besides mumbling about your roommate and complaining about wanting chips, you didn't do anything destructive besides of course throwing up all over the bathroom." He shrugged.

I stared at him while he looked around the small coffee shop, feeling uneasy by his presence.

"What?" He caught me looking.

"I'm just a little weirded out that I met you just yesterday and you've seen me naked." My cheeks burned.

"Usually with other girls it doesn't take so long." A cocky smirk that I have seen too many times in the few minutes I've been here, formed on his lips.

"You're gross, really." I said only causing him to laugh. I was about to get up before he rested his hand on mine, freezing me in place.

"Stay?" He gave me damn puppy dog eyes.

I sat back down uncomfortably. There was something about Harry that I didn't completely feel at ease about.

"What's your plan then, Harry?" I asked bravely.

"What do you mean?" He raised an eyebrow, leaning his body forward and resting his elbows on the table.

"You've seem to have put in a lot of effort to get me here, the Met, last night and now we're having coffee. All in the span on twenty four hours." I examined his face.

"Pure coincidence." He sipped his coffee and leaned back in the chair again. "I went to the museum just to see it, and the club to hook up with some random chick, you just happened to be at both of them at the same time. Regardless of how you feel about me and who you think I am by the little you've gathered, I'm indeed not stalking you." He laughed softly. "Coffee, was just my treat after the hangover you must've endured this morning." He winked at me and I shifted in my seat. "You work here?" He looked around.

"Yeah, mostly during the nights since I go to school every morning."

"What school do you go to?"

"An art institute down in Brooklyn," he nodded, taking a sip from his drink.

Silence took over the small space we were sat in. Harry seemed unbothered while I couldn't sit still watching him watch me.

"Where are you from?" He broke the silence.

"Uh, here." I replied.

"You've always lived in New York City?"

"No, not in the city. I moved here for school. I lived by Niagra County."

"Like Niagra falls?"

"Yup. How about you?" I desperately didn't want to talk about myself anymore.

"Redditch, Worcestershire." He said. "It's small, no one outside of the United Kingdom really knows about it." He answered my thoughts. "Could you take me Niagra Falls one day?" He turned the conversation.

"There are bus tours you can take, they're pretty cheap." I suggested.

"I want you to take me." He pointed a finger at me.

"Harry, I hardly know you. We're practically strangers." I couldn't wrap my head around why he wanted to pursue a friendship with me so badly.

"We can change that."