RowAelin One-Shots

Morning Meeting (part 2)

Aelin shut the door slowly, taking plenty of time to watch Rowan sprint down the hallway like a bat out of hell. She couldn't help the laugh that escaped her, but she was mannered enough to cover it up with a tight fist. Their scene from a couple of minutes ago tumbled through her mind. She hadn't actually meant to trip him, but his sleep-logged reflexes caught both of them surprise. His startled face was plastered in her mind, and she couldn't help but bust out into another fit of giggles. Rowan Whitethorn was very handsome, but he was so stilted that Aelin wondered how that man ever made any friends. Perhaps he was that way around strangers, she thought. The door closed with a satisfying click and Aelin turned, enjoying the swift swish of her long pajama shirt around her legs. Her music was still blaring, but out of consideration for her cute new neighbor she lowered the volume a little bit. Glancing up at the ceiling, she wondered if he would notice or if he was still too flushed to comprehend anything.

A small chuckle escaped her again before she wandered into the kitchen, grabbing a bowl and a spoon from the kitchen cabinets. Another cabinet door creaked as Aelin took a cursory glance at the inventory, and she grabbed a cereal box from the lowest shelf. This bowl of cereal that she was about to put together happened to be one of her signature dishes. She emptied the milk in the carton onto the cereal with a dramatic flourish, then chucked the milk carton into the recycling bin on the other side of the kitchen. The metal recycling bin shuddered and the noise echoed throughout the apartment. While searching for the milk, Aelin realized that her fridge's supplies were dwindling. A trip to the supermarket was in order.

Twenty minutes later, she was in the supermarket, prowling the aisles with a shopping list in hand. The store was empty save for a few grandmas who held stacks of coupons with quivering hands, and the odd man out who was ousted from the room on game day to go snack shopping. Aelin couldn't help but feel sympathetic for him, with his slumped demeanor and pinched face. She sighed, adjusted her shopping basket on one arm, and made to turn into the produce aisle, but bumped into someone as she was rounding the corner. As she begun to teeter towards the floor, Aelin wondered what kind of luck she must have to fall over a stranger not once, but twice, before it was even noon. She was even more astonished to find a familiar face on the floor looking up at her.

"Hot neighbor?" Aelin yelped, before attempting to get up. A surprised cough was the only reaction from the man below her; however, it was followed by an even louder grunt as she slipped on spilled milk and crashed right back into Rowan. His face scrunched up in pain, looking as if he swallowed a lemon, and Aelin finally managed to get herself up without injuring him any further. She held out a hand for him, but when she saw that he was still curled up on the ground in pain, Aelin instead knelt down next to him and pat his back.

Rowan couldn't help but choke out a harsh laugh. "Seriously? A-- pat-- on the-- back?" he gasped, word by word, before he finally seemed to be released from the pain. Aelin stood up and held out a hand for him to grab, but he eyed her outstretched arm suspiciously before grabbing it and hauling himself up. She imagined he was probably wondering how she managed to keep her stability, but he simply coughed into his fist and looked away. A flush was beginning to spread on his cheeks again, and the blue-eyed woman couldn't help but stifle a laugh behind her hand. His eyes immediately snapped to meet hers, almost annoyed at her for laughing, but the red tinge that lingered on his face caused him to turn away.

"So, um," he started, still facing away from her. Aelin chuckled and circled around him so that his eyes were meeting hers.

"You need to look someone in the eyes when they're talking, you know. Good manners," she added on towards the end, although she guessed that good manners were probably the last thing on his mind now. The first thing on his mind seemed to be how to will down the blush that was steadily creeping up his neck. Yet, he seemed to do a pretty good job at dispelling it – the tinge never reached his cheeks. Rowan finally managed to find his voice.

"I'm very sorry about that, I was not looking where I was going," he murmured, his eyes trying to find purchase anywhere but her face. His insistence on not looking her in the eyes elicited a small chuckle from her, and he ended up looking at Aelin anyways.

"I guess we both have something to be sorry about – I wasn't looking either," she amended. She went to pat his upper arm in a measure of goodwill, but he shifted away almost imperceptibly and her hand dropped back to her side. He cleared his throat and began to organize the things that had fallen out of their respective baskets, and Aelin went to go get another carton of milk to replace the one that had spilled. She found Rowan by the checkout aisles, and he went first, talking politely to the older woman behind the register. The lady smiled and Aelin couldn't help but stare, because all she knew about this hot neighbor was that he was very uptight. Here he was, though, making a woman blush with just a few words. Her mind was completely occupied as she stalked up to the checkout aisle, not paying attention to the woman bagging her goods as she swiped her credit card, grabbed her bags, and left. Aelin was completely baffled by the woman's behavior, but found that she couldn't ask Rowan about it because he had already left.

When she arrived back at home, Aelin went straight to attacking the plastic grocery bags and putting all her groceries in their respective places. Only when one bag was left did she snap out of her annoyed trance. At the bottom of the brown plastic bag was a small bouquet of flowers with an even smaller card attached.

"Once again, I'm sorry about the incident at the grocery store. Could I apologize over dinner?"

The card was signed with an "- R", which immediately clued Aelin in to the sender. Thinking back to the grocery store, she realized she must've not noticed when the bagger lady put the bouquet in because she was so consumed by --- what was that feeling? She felt annoyed, but couldn't place a finger on what had annoyed her in particular. Another emotion stirred at the back of her mind. Jealousy? That wasn't possible, she thought, because there was no reason to be jealous of the lady behind the register. However, as Aelin looked at the bouquet, a small smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

{A/N: HELLO! I finally updated, again, and I'm so sorry it took so long this time. I had a small break so I was able to write this chapter, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I really wanted to write a second part to that first "Morning Meeting" so I did, and I think I want to keep writing a few more. I don't know, I'll leave that up to you guys. Anyways, thank you so much for all the support you've given me and this fanfiction. I read all the comments and they make me so happy to read, and 4k views is absolutely astonishing. I'm so thankful. Anyways, I'm still trying to get over this writers block so this chapter may feel a little different than the others, style-wise. I still hope you enjoy it! Make sure to comment if you want me to continue with this story, or if you'd like to see a new one-shot. As always, don't forget to drop a star or comment if you really enjoy these stories, and don't hesitate to leave advice or just start a conversation in the comments!}