I wake up, bleary-eyed and laying partly on Sophie, most of me not even on the couch. I blink, and then realize someone is knocking on the door.

I drag myself off the couch, and go to open it. "Coming!" I yell before unlocking the latch and opening the door.

I jump back a few feet when I see who it is. It's Jameson, who I'd forgotten was coming, holding a small bouquet of flowers. I'm in an old, too-tight and too-short stained t-shirt I've had since I was ten, and grey sweats.

"Oh god. Sorry, I forgot you were coming. You look good. Did you gel your hair?" He turns pink and nods, then shoves the flowers into my hands. Roses. I hate the smell of roses, but it's nice that he thought to get them, so I smile and take them. I step away to put the flowers in a vase and (hopefully) smooth down my thick, brown hair that probably strongly resembles a birds nest. Or really thick cotton candy.

"Hi, Nat. I'm not intruding, right?" I shake my head and he goes on. His voice is quiet, so I'm easily distracted by the scene behind him. I'm too short compared to him to see over his shoulder, but I can see around his body.

A silver-hair man in a black suit, holding a briefcase, is running down the sidewalk. He looks behind him and clutches the case to his chest, and that's when I see the two big men chasing after him. I grab my phone out of my pocket and look up at Jameson.

"Sorry, I just-" I push past him, and run down the lawn as one of the big men surges ahead and knocks down the man with the briefcase. "HEY! LEAVE HIM ALONE!" I hold up my phone, showing that I've dialed the police, and my finger hovers over the call button. The two look at each other and rush away, hopping in a black car and driving away. I turn off my phone and kneel down to help the, up close, salt-and-pepper- (mostly pepper) haired man.

"Are you okay?" I reach to take his hand and help him up, and he looks at it for a second before letting me. He's the same height as I am, but he seems taller. "I'm Phillip Daniels," he says, "but call me Phil." "Okay, Phil." He hands me a business card, which reads:

Phillip Daniels,

Assassin

"Huh?" "Oh, sorry, wrong one..." He has a smooth, British accent. I love it. He begins rummaging through his coat before finding another card. He reads this one over before handing it to me.

Phillip Daniels

Government Official

"Oh, okay." I smile awkwardly. Assassin? "Makes more sense. Much less concerning." He laughs at my weak attempt at humor, the last defense of the utterly confused, and then another black car pulls up. I reach toward my pocket, ready to call the police for real this time, but Phil just looks slightly annoyed.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"Hey, Nat?" A light touch rests on my shoulder, and I turn around to see Jameson. "Oh, hi. This is Phil. He's a... government official." "Okay." He smiles, but he looks worried. I never noticed he had dimples before. Cute. I kind of want to poke them, but before I can give into the urge, the window of the car rolls down.

A paper bag, held by a slender brown hand with magenta nails, is held out of the window. It's followed by a very pretty face, with magenta lipstick to match the nails. Her eyes are big and brown, and her hair is styled in a small Afro, kept close to her head. "Hey, Phil! I got you a danish." She calls. "Dammit Blaire, I almost died because you weren't here!" Her face falls, and she lowers the bag. I think it's from the pastry shop a few minutes away. "The DAOBO guys?" She asks, eyes wide with fright. "YES, the DAOBO guys, who else? If it weren't for this one here, they would've caught me." His voice is very nonchalant for someone who is pretty much saying he was, apparently, in a great deal of danger.

She looks like she's frozen for a sec, then retreats in the car. A second later, she climbs out and rushes over to hug me. "Oh, thank you for saving my Philly Cheesesteak-" he sighs, deeply, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'm Blaire." "Nat." "Jameson."

She shakes Jameson's hand, then Phil looks up. "I don't remember meeting you. I'm Phil." He shakes Jameson's hand, and smiles. "Nice grip. Have some agents I've trained that could've used one like that. Anyway, we must be going."

We wave goodbye as they walk back to the car, but Phil turns just before getting in. "Here's my number. You might need it. Those DAOBO idiots don't mess around." "Okay, thank you." He nods and gets in the car, and they drive away. Jameson and I watch them leave, then turn back to each other.

"Was that real?" He asks, and I have to shrug, because frankly, I'm not sure. "Maybe it was a joint hallucination?" "Makes sense." He smiles and ducks his head, and I again have to resist the urge to poke his dimples. His eyes close when he smiles. He's cute, really. He gives a light chuckle, and I hold out my hand, offering to walk him back up to my house and his car. He must have practice soon.

The look on his face changes, but he takes my hand. And then he smiles at me, and we start walking. "You have to go, don't you? I didn't mean to keep you so long." He nods, and gets into his car. "Bye, Nat." "Bye." I stand on the small porch, arms crossed, and watch him drive away, smiling, before I turn back and walk into the house.

I make Soph and I some coffee, and sit on the opposite side of the couch until she wakes up.

"Uuuuurgh... Nat? What are you doing?" "Made you coffee." "Thanks." She sits up and grabs the cooling cup.

"You won't believe what just happened," I say after letting her drink about half the cup. "What?" "Jameson came over. He's the one who brought the flowers." I jut my chin at the roses, still in the vase on the table. "Oh?" "And I saved a guy from getting beat up." I take a long sip of my coffee to hide the smirk. I love forcing her to deal with suspense. "And got his number." "Oh?" "He's like forty though." "Oh."

"Anyway. Want to see if you can spend the night tonight, too?" "I can't. I promised my little sister I'd take her to the zoo. Sorry." She doesn't really like spending time with her little sister, but she does it anyway. Mostly because she has to. But I don't really want to stay here all alone all day. "Can I come?" She smiles at me. I think it was more than she'd hoped for. Even with years of friendship, she still doesn't want to 'force' me into spending time with her. "Hell yeah! Let's go."