The Love of a Stranger

Converse tied. Jacket on. Earphones in. Music on. I walked down the street to the beat of my favourite song. My imagination started to flow through my head, I do that a lot. I was quite a day dreamer, in fact I heard this fact that you spend 50% of your life daydreaming, which was probably true. I'm such a klutz, I'd never look where I'm going. I was in my own world most of the time because I didn't bother with the real one. Life was hard, low pay, shitty job and lived alone.

I arrived at the small coffee shop late at night, owned by my brothers ex-girlfriend, they broke up a year ago. I talked to her only because I saw her nearly everyday because I just loved the coffee there. Her name was Catherine or 'Cathy' as I called her. I ordered the usual to go and headed back home after being at the library. I ran out of books to distracted myself with. Being the clumsy person that I was, I walked into a big brute of a man covered in tattoos, muscles and piercings. The impact made me spill my coffee down him. Shit. I looked up at him to apologise but seeing his red, angry face made want to just run away.

"I'm so so sorry" I said as my voice quivered.

"You better be you little bitch" he replied sternly. I could tell he was going to throttle me but being the height that I was, which I kind of hated, was an advantage to me as I ducked under his fist that was suppose to be heading into my face. He missed me and fell forward and I couldn't help but laugh a little bit. Adrenaline pumped through my veins as I ran down the dark poorly-lit street towards my flat. Unfortunately, my bad health was kicking in as I started to run out of breath so I limped my way down the back way of a block of flats. I had asthma and I was prone to have anxiety attacks. I searched through my bag looking for my life saver inhaler but was no where to be seen, then I realised that I forgot to grab it out my other bag.

"You've got to be fucking joking me." I muttered to myself. 'Right, Laura just calm yourself, take deep breaths, relax, you can handle this' I thought. This happened before, me having an asthma attack and not have my inhaler but I got through it and I can go through it again.

After calming down I headed back to my flat. When I had my door in sight I searched through my bag for the keys which were right at the pits of hell of my bag. I stopped in my tracks to dig deeper, then I eventually crouched down onto the floor. Ah ha I found them! But my happiness didn't last long as I felt a foot strike my face. Pain started to spread through my cheek and my nose and they eventually became numb. I fell onto my bum and I looked up at the culprit. It was that big brute that I spilled coffee over who had a massive coffee stain down his white t-shirt.

"You ruined my shirt! This was really expensive you bitch"

There are many different types of people in London. The normal, the kind, the businessmen, the elderly and the really annoying people who only care about money and style, and I was just one of the lucky few to run in with the most delightful one. He was about to hit me again, so I prepared myself for the worst while I stared at this guys really expensive shoes. I should of spilled coffee over them as well. I closed my eyes but after a minute, I didn't feel any punch to the face or kick to the stomach. I opened my eyes to see red converse shoes that stood in front of me facing the brute.

"Move out the way!" He shouted. Someone was defending me. Thank God. I stood up onto my feet behind this stranger who seemed to be my hero. Blood was dripping off of my chin from the kick that was delivered to my face.

"Why don't you just fuck off and buy yourself a new shirt? In fact, I think that the coffee stain has done that t-shirt a favour." He barked back. I couldn't help but smirk at the smart comeback. The brutes face just dropped, then silence fell, he didn't know what to say to defend himself.

"And why don't buy some respect with that t-shirt, so on you go, have fun shopping" he barked again. This guy just couldn't hold himself back. I was trying so hard not to burst out laughing but I couldn't contain the small giggle that escaped my blood covered lips. The brute scrounged up his face and walked away in a huff muttering to himself. The stranger finally turned round and I saw his face for the first time. I had to admit that he was beautiful, especially his glowing blue eyes. His hair defied the laws of gravity and was styled messily. I felt really embarrassed standing in front of this really attractive person while I'm here covered in blood.

"Bastard" he muttered.

"Are you okay? Sorry, stupid question of course you're not, you're bleeding half to death" he babbled.

"I'm fine thanks, that was so brave of you, thank you so much, how can I repay you?" I asked.

"The best you can do is let me help you get cleaned up." He smiled. God his smile was amazing.

"Well my flat's just right here. You can come in if you want?" I asked pointing to my door. He nodded in agreement.

I took him upstairs to the second floor and we walked into my apartment together.

"Welcome to my home. I'm Laura Anderson by the way, may I know the name of my hero?" I joked.

"Dan. Dan Smith. Lovely home you have. So, where this first aid kit?" He said clapping and rubbing his hands together.

"Yeah it's..um...in the top left hand cupboard"

He went into the kitchen and followed orders while I looked in the mirror to see how bad my injuries were. I sighed knowing that the kick that tore my skin was going to leave a mark.

"Agh shit." I muttered. I turned round to see Dan standing there behind me. He stayed silent just staring at me. After he realised he was staring he shook himself out of it and opened the first aid kit.

"Right. Don't you worry I've had plenty of training with this sort of stuff." He said taking out an antiseptic wipe.

"Oh really? How come?" I wondered

"I'm part of a band. This sort of stuff usually happens when we get drunk and start partying a bit too hard. There's always someone who gets hurt." He smiled while I giggled. He pulled me closer to him examining my face. I could've stayed in that position forever.

"So what's this band that you're in? What do you do?" I said trying to keep the conversation going.

"I...ugh...I sing...kind of. The band's called Bastille, you probably haven't heard of it, it's not really everyone's cup of tea." You could tell he wasn't confident talking about it, but I knew the band.

"Aw yeah I've heard of you guys, the 'eh oh' song. I liked that one." I seemed to be a complete idiot being in front of a singer of a band and not know the name of the most popular song out. He frightened me when his laughter filled my ears. He let go of my face and I looked up at him.

"Ahhhh, oh my god, the 'eh oh' song. I've never heard of that one before." He cried.

I blushed with embarrassment feeling like an total idiot. I placed my hand on my forehead looking down at the ground. He'd finally stopped laughing and saw that I was embarrassed. He took my chin within his grasp and gently pulled my face up so that my eyes would make contact with his blue ones. My cheeks were red and my heart was pounding. He returned to treating my cut face.

"Aw I didn't mean for you to get embarrassed, I've heard worse." He fibbed just to make me feel better. It was weird bringing in a stranger who I have know for about 10 minutes and he's already possibly saved my life and was fixing my wounds.

He had placed a plaster on my cheek and zoomed out to take a better view. He sighed then smiled.

"What? Is it really that bad that you have to laugh at me?" I complained.

"No it's not that, I just...think that you're...really pretty" he blushed.

Hearing him say this about me made my heart race and my cheeks redder than the blood that once covered it.

"Thanks, I've never really heard anyone say that about me." I confessed. I looked down, fiddling with my thumbs. A loose strand of my long blonde hair fell across my face. He had swept it away behind my ear.

"I bet you any money that that's a lie"