Make Your Move...before it's too late

Part One

"Fuck"- you whisper under your breath as you frantically grab 50 napkins and attempt to rub the red wine stain from out of your new silk blouse. You give up and exclaim with a loud sigh that this day could not possibly get any worse. This morning your boss ordered you to grab him a coffee from star bucks before showing up to work.
"Of course", you said even though you shouldn't technically have to start work before 9 am, because I mean, he doesn't pay you for this shit and you aren't his receptionist- Mandy is, but Mandy is also a little shit with a pretty face that the boss enjoys to see when he arrives at work-with his coffee of course- catered by me while she sits and smiles and gets paid for doing seemingly nothing- no literally, I have no idea what she actually does. Me on the other hand, well I am a writer... thats the dream at least. For now though I get shitty pay to write shitty articles on issues of shitty politics for which I couldn't give two shits about. So you could say my life is a work in progress, or that I'm progressively working towards my dream, depending on how my day goes, my viewpoint on this switches.
The alarm clock goes off to a volume that shouldn't even be possible for such a crappy piece of plastic. Its a pig, a pink pig, with a pepper pig clock face-it's your little sisters, she isn't that little anymore, she didn't want it, and you didn't have any money to buy yourself one, so hey why not-you did not think about how childish this may look when you have people over to your apartment. Luckily, you don't have people over to your apartment, its too small to host, and too many levels up for the girls to climb to crash after a night out. That's where Claire comes in handy.
Claire is your best friend since pre school- minus that one year in 4th grade where you accidentally misplaced her favourite butterfly clip and she disowned you for a year. Claire is very similar to you, but she succeeds in what she does-she has a boyfriend, an apartment right in the heart of the city (although she doesn't pay rent-her dad does), and she has parties on work nights, somehow she also has you, at every party, by her side, holding up her hair while she lays on the tiled bathroom floor. You love Claire, with all your heart you do-but you can't deny your jealousy for the things she has. Her boyfriend is sweet and kind and treats you like a little sister-sometimes you love him for it because you're an only child, and sometimes you hate it... well, because you are an only child.
Tonight Claire is having her 22nd birthday, a week before your own birthday, and 2 months before hers. So basically, she was bored and wanted presents and an excuse to get trashed with her friends-but hey who doesn't!
You open your closet door and find a single red slip dress-Claires. The rest of your clothes were still in the wash at your parents and you forgot to return the dress to her from the other night when she let you borrow it to wear to her art show at the gallery down the street. You don't usually wear such beautiful items of clothing but you didn't want to stand out, and thought that if you looked as nice as the others that it'd be easier to blend in with the crowd-you were wrong, and surprisingly, arty guys are douches with cheesy pick up lines-one of them actually asked you "hey have you ever kissed a rabbit between the ears? Want to?" AND PULLED OUT HIS PANT POCKETS! You'd never been more embarrassed in your life, you turned as red as the dress and almost cried to Claire who was preoccupied with a conversation so instead you simply slipped out and went home, hiding the dress and all embarrassment in the closet. Until now. And with nothing else to wear than your stained blouse, you pull out the dress and lay it on your bed while you have a quick shower so you don't smell like a coffee addict and an alcoholic-not a good combo.
Paired with a small black clutch and gold heels you head out into the cold-instantly cursing whoever thought spaghetti straps would ever be a good idea.
You checked your phone to see if anyone had texted the group chat saying they'd arrived at the party-no messages. Claire only lived a few blocks away and usually you'd just walk it but tonight in New York it seemed it was going to rain, and well, you were in a slip dress and heels with no coat. So you turned the corner onto the main road and attempted to call for a cab-no luck. You were too small and well too shy to properly haul out your arm and wave one down. You must've looked defeated and oh so pathetic standing on the side of the road alone in a red dress in the dark of the night. Just as you were contemplating kicking off your heels and walking the way there a tall boy with brown curls approached you; he was wearing a striped white shirt, untucked at the side with tight fitting black pants and a chain attached to the belt buckle. He seemed to have just gotten out of bed, his eyes looked tired and he blinked slowly until you realised he wasn't tired, he was in awe... he was in awe with you.
"Hey" you said quietly, surprised by his reaction and not exactly aware of what was going on. "Hi" he replied, "oh-ah- I'm Cal". You reply, aware that the nerves are getting the better of you, "I'm Lena, nice to meet you. Are you also trying to hail a cab..?" After a second too long pause he replied with a soft smile, curling in from the sides he seemed embarrassed with himself, quickly and not-so-subtly tucking in his shirt properly he looked himself over, as if he hadn't bothered to before. Yeah, I was...and then I saw you", he replies with a smile creeping into the corners of his mouth. You laugh, slightly amused at his dumbfounded expression "let me guess, you saw me try and fail to hail about 5 cabs and thought you'd come over to save me the embarrassing walk of shame". He liked that, he laughed, he turns his head to the side when he laughs, its deep and soft at the same time, a laugh you felt honoured to have heard, and to have caused, "nah actually I just left a restaurant with some mates, but now I know of your failed attempts to hail a cab" with that your mouth dropped, oh gosh, you just admitted that to a total stranger, and cute one at that. In your awkwardness you grab your arm and check your phone- "Oh shit I'm going to be late! ... uh is it uhm too weird if I ask you to hail a cab for me? I usually wouldn't ask but its just that I've been standing here for about 10 minutes and otherwise I'm going to be late, and I'm freezing and-" he cuts your rambling off, saving you from any more embarrassment "I actually don't know how to hail a cab either, so I'm sorry I can't help you there, I'm not from around here." You seem to sink into the floor, "Oh" you're about to apologise and walk away when he grabs your hand - "hey wait up, I was going to say that I could drive you to wherever it is that you're going, my car is just parked around the corner". You stand still for a second and he seems to only now understand the situation from your viewpoint- a girl alone with a strange boy asking her to walk around the dark corner while holding her arm. He quickly lets go "oh I'm sorry, I get that sounds bad, hold on, you wait here and I'll get the car, just give me a second". You stand dumbfounded and slightly confused as he jogs off... you watch him leave, thinking its harmless and he won't catch you... just before he turns the corner he looks around and sees you watching him, he smiles and slips away before you even realise what happened....