extortion || h.s

chapter two:

After messing with the lock to my apartment for probably two minutes, I finally made it in and I was overly tired. I sat down on the couch and flipped the TV on, but just my luck? A knock on the door decided to change those plans.

I grunted, getting up off of the couch and walking over to the door I had just entered through less than five minutes ago. I opened it and instantly regretted not staying on the couch and pretending I wasn't here.

"Yes?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Thats no way to treat your boyfriend, now is it?" A cheeky smirk greeted me.

"You're not my boyfriend until we're at that wedding, so." I smirked back at him.

"Right. I'm just here to tell you the juicy details of the plan." He chuckled

"How'd you even find my apartment?" I raised an eyebrow effortlessly.

"My dad knew your mom, dork. I found your moms number." He looks at me as if I'm crazy.

"Of course." I roll my eyes and he smiles cheekily before walking into my apartment, past me. "Yeah. Sure you can come in, thanks for asking." I say sarcastically as I shut the door.

"Alright." He began, taking my spot on the couch. "The wedding is this Saturday, so we should head out Thursday." He nods, doing some sort of calculations in his head.

"Are you serious?" I raise an eyebrow, placing my hands on my hips, lacking effort and interest. "We're going by plane, correct?" I ask.

"Yes. But we need to be there for rehearsal dinner the night before, love." He says, as if I should have known this.

"Alright, alright. Whatever." I wave him off. "Now, whats my name and where do I work? How did we meet? Whats my personality like?" I ramble on and he raises an eyebrow.

"Your name is Carissa Adams, last time I checked. You work at Starbucks an-"

"Not that, idiot." I roll my eyes, already getting annoyed. "The Carissa that your parents are going to meet." I huff.

"Oh!" He finally has an epiphany. "Well, I'm not changing your name. That'd be weird. You work at a law firm, and we met when I was visiting at your workplace making a deal with your boss and you came in. Since you were new, you were asking your boss about something. I wasn't paying attention because I was just staring at you, and afterwards I ran into you and asked for your number." He smirks, as if he's genius.

"Thats all you have?" I asked, raising my eyebrows expectantly.

"I bet you can't come up with anything better." He smirked, leaning back easily.

"Is that a bet?" I ask. He nods. "Alright. We were at a coffee shop and you spilled your coffee all over me by accident. You were in a rush to get to work, but you couldn't skip coffee because you're a caffeine driven beast. I told you it was alright after you helped me clean my favorite sweater up. Before you headed out to go to work you asked me for my number and I wrote it down on a napkin which you took and called me later that week." I smiled. It was cliché and if I was going to have to pretend to be in love with this tool bag, I at least wanted something cute.

He stares at me blankly long enough to make me fidget. "Yeah. Sure. Whatever." He says, lacking any interest that he had before I came up with the romantic meet.

"Alright. Is that all you came here for?" I raised an eyebrow, much like I always do when asking a question.

"I believe so. See you in two days, sweet cheeks!" He said before getting up off the couch and leaving before I had any time to reply to his stupid pet name.

How was I going to function the weekend in London with him? He's already getting under my skin. And what better thing to do when annoyed than call your mother?

"Mom?"

"Carissa? Is that you?"

"Mhm. Why did you tell Harry where I lived?"

•

I woke up Wednesday morning and a pair of green eyes already popping up in my mind which we all know belonged to yours truly, Harry. I cringed, and shook my head. Pulling my hair back into a ponytail, I looked over to the clock to see the time. 9:47 am. These four digits made my heart drop. I had work at 10 am.

I jumped out of the bed quicker than I have in awhile and ran to my bathroom. I quickly did everything that I needed in order to actually be presentable and not too zombie-like before hightailing it to my car. Ratty car, may I add. I've had it for way too long, not to mention it was my fathers before it was ever mine.

I sped probably five over the speed limit and made it to Starbucks at 10:02 am exactly. I ran inside, apologizing to Ralf too many times for one sentence and slipping my apron on and going to work. I made it to the counter and a smiling face made its way over. I thanked God with everything in me that it wasn't another cranky old lady like yesterday. I swear, I wouldn't be able to handle that again.

"Welcome to Starbucks, what will your order be today?" I asked, a smile on my face and still a little breathless from all the running in order to not be late.

"Can I please get a medium strawberry and banana smoothie?" She asked with a smile that never even left her face.

"Alright. Will that complete your order?" I asked, adding the smoothie into the bill. She nods. "That'll be seven-fifty-eight." I smiled.

She hands the money over and I put it into the cash register before turning around and whipping together a smoothie for the nameless customer. I handed it to her and she thanked me before walking out of the store.

I hear footsteps coming up to the counter and I don't look up, but start a new bill.

"Welcome to Starbucks, what will your order be today?" I ask.

"Well." The voice is one thats been haunting me for a day now says, "I'd like to order a short, scandalous, brunette." The voice rasped.

I looked up at the curly haired boy, giving him the look of death.

I lean in slightly–but not so close that it looks like theres something intimate going on, because thats the last thing I want to lose my job over–and whisper, "If there was no one around right now, I wouldn't hesitate to reach over this counter and slap you in that pretty little face of yours." I smirked.

"I think you meant sexy face." And of course, he had to get the last word.