𝙻𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝙳𝚛𝚞𝚗𝚔 | 𝚃𝚊𝚎𝚑𝚢𝚞𝚗𝚐 × 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛

Prolouge_Strawberries and Cigarettes

y/n's pov

August, 2020

"Excuse me."

A hand knocked gently on the pub set. You turn around. As you do, the silver dove pendant laced around your neck catches dim track lights and let out a brief flash. You see the usual men duo sitting side by side, a cocky grin spread on their faces. One of them has a Yankees baseball cap placed crookedly on his head and another with a black leather jacket with a pair of timberlands on his feet. Ugh, so last year. Painting on your business smile, you open your mouth.

"Well hello gentlemen," you say silkly, your hands staying on the cloth rubbing rhythmically on the rocks glass to polish it. "Lovely august night isn't it? What can I get for you?"

"Yeah, um get we get a-"

"Vodka Sour for you and a gin martini up on the twist for you?" You interrupt as you lightly gesture to each man. Their faces flush as you do, nodding yes. You chuckle.

"The usual right? Coming right up." As you take their order and turn around, reaching over to grab a martini glass, you hear the man with the cap whispering to his friend.

"Dude, she even memorized our drinks. It's now or never."

"Okay, okay fine. Just shut the fuck up." 

"Um, excuse me again," the man in the leather jacket piped up again, after a moment more of arguing.

"Yes?" you turned again, maintaining a pleasant smile. Your head was raised with your eyes fixed front, but your hands were already busy, reaching under the table to grab a fresh lemon and bringing it up to the cutting board. An occasional look downward was all that you needed. a

"Uh, I was just wondering if...um I could have your number?" he finally let out sheepishly. Your hands stopped abruptly, slowly putting down the knife and raising your head.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I already have a boyfriend," you say with an apologetic smile.

"Ugh, I knew it," the man said, clasping his hands together and letting out an awkward laugh to ease his embarrassment.

"Aw, well that's a bummer," his friend added, punching the other on the arm boyishly. "I mean, it would be weird for you know, for you to not have a boyfriend already."

"Oh, I don't know," you respond, laughing it off and refocusing your attention to the lemon.

It took the men less than a minute more of silence to open their mouths again.

"So, how did you meet your man?" leather jacket asked.

You lift your head once again. Gosh this was getting annoying. "Well," you start, again, keeping hold of your business smile. "He worked at this cafe in front of my house." The men leaned close, silently urging you to continue.

"And I had this thing when I was younger, where I would always drink a hot caramel latte when it was raining and an iced one when it was not. Always. No matter what. It was kind of a personal jinx you see." Same old story. You quicken your pace and slide a scoop of ice along with some vodka into a shaker, raising your arms to mix it.

"Then one day, just as I ordered a hot caramel latte on a sunny afternoon at that cafe, it just suddenly started raining. Like that," you continue as you strain the shaken liquid into a highball glass and top it with a lemon slice and jest, finishing up the martini. You could tell the male customers in front of you were totally absorbed with your story at this point.

"That's when he asked, "Do you want me to change your drink to iced?" And well, after that we just got closer and yeah."

"Wow, well that's some romance," the man with the cap exclaimed as you finished your story.