A Race against the clock

It is currently 6:58am, the alarm has been blaring for a full fifteen minutes, it's shrill beeping bouncing off the walls of Stephan's apartment. It wasn't just ringing, it was screaming but Stephan? Dead to the world.

Sprawled across his bed, one leg tangled in the sheets, he barely stirred. His phone vibrated next to his pillow flashing notification after notification, text, a meeting reminder he had already snoozed twice. Somewhere in the distance a dog barked, a car honked, life moved on, Stephan however remained completely unaware. It wasn't until the sunlight had crept through the half opened blinds, hitting his face at just the right angle that he finally groaned shifting onto his sides. He cracked one eye open, blinked at the ceiling, stretched himself like a mountain cat and the finally noticed the obnoxious beeping, with a sluggish hand, he swatted at the nightstand, knocking over a half- empty water bottle before finally silencing the alarm. Relieved by the suddenly tranquility, he sighed, ready to drift off again until his sleepy brain registered something important.

His meeting.

His very important meeting, can't miss, starting in some minutes meeting. Stephan shot up so fast he nearly fell out of bed. "Shit" late, so late.

Stephan Hayes had never been on time a day in his life and he didn't see the problem, clocks schedules and deadlines were more like rough guidelines than actual rules. If he showed up late he just flashed his easy grin, run a hand through his perpetually messy hair and offer some half hearted- half baked excuse that somehow still and always worked.

He launched himself and tried not to trip Stephan's apartment was a masterpiece of controlled choas. A pile of laundry - clean?dirty? Who knew?- covered the arm of the couch. Coffee stained mugs sat on the kitchen counter competing for space with an abandoned pizza box from nights ago. A tower of unopened mails leaned precariously on the table and his sneakers , one by the door and the other no where in sight were clear proof that organization has never been his strong suit. There was no time to deal with all of that right now, stumbling towards his closet he kicked aside a pair of sneakers, narrowly avoided stepping on a rouge pizza crust and yanked open the door only to be met with a disaster zone. Wrinkled shirts hung crookedly, one sleeve completely missing. His only decent suit wasn't only wrinkled but was stuck between a hoodie and a t-shirt he hadn't worn in years.

Come on, come on ....he muttered, pulling out the wrinkled jacket and t-shirt from the mess he put it on buttoning it in a rush. His pants nowhere in sight. He checked the bed,the chair, the laundry basket filled with more questionable decisions than clean clothes. Finally, after a frantic search, he found it draped over the back of the couch for absolutely no reason. Shoes, keys, wallet. He needed all three. Shoes, one by the door, the other inexplicably in an unknown location after a search of enternity it being found in the bathroom, wallet burried under a stack of unopened mail, keys - oh in the fridge. Stephan grabbed them without no question, no time for self reflection, as he sprinted out the door, he muttered to himself I really need to get my life together. Not today, though.

To some Stephan was unreliable, irresponsible, tardy but he liked to think of himself as creatively flexible, spontaneous and free spirited he felt he wasn't lazy he just didn't see the need in stressing over things that will sort themselves out. Plans change, meetings ran late, traffic happened. So what? His idea of organization was stuffing things into his pocket and hoping for the best, somehow, though he always landed on his feet moreover life was a lot more fun when you didn't fight the choas.

Stephan was in a mad rush to arrive at work, down the staircase he went, two at a time, nearly colliding with his neighbors cat. Out the door he went heading for his car- wait wher the hell was his car he asked himself, just to let out a loud breathless laugh, oh right, street cleaning, he had to park two blocks away last night. With a groan, he took off running, dodging pedestrians, ignoring the annoying honk from drivers as he jaywalked with confidence of a man that has done this way too many times. By the time he finally found his car his frustration was at an all time high. Jamming the key into the ignition, he offered a silent prayer. The car cough sputtered... then refused to start .

You have got to be kidding me, after a solid 25 seconds of begging the universe the engine finally roared to life. Stephan fishtailed out of his parking spot nearly taking out a trash can and merged onto the road with the precision of a man who definitely didn't have time for traffic laws.

Then red light

He smacked the steering wheel, o come on.

Checking his phone which was of course, at a 4% battery, he saw three missed calls from his boss. No point in calling back now, he'll only get yelled at and either way he will get there soon he just needed to grab coffee that's all. After a series of questionable driving choices, an illegal U turn and one very close call with a cyclist, he finally skidded into the parking lot, jumped out of the car and sprinted towards the entrance of the cafe. With one final deep breath, he pushed through the doors though he was late, painfully, hopelessly late. If he was going to face his boss, he might as well do it properly caffeinated.

So despite every rational thought screaming at him too get to work, the rich scent of espresso wrapped around him like a warm hug, the only comforting things about the morning.

The place was packed, of course it was, he groaned, raking a hand through the already messy hair scanning the quickest escape route that wa seven he saw her. Standing at the counter, precisely five feet of lethal confidence, was the most intimidatingly gorgeous woman he'd ever seen.

She wasn't just beautiful she was sharp, polished and completely untouchable. Long, jet-black, sleek and perfect. Not a strand out of place. Dark, piercing eyes scanned the cafe, assessing everything, missing nothing. Her full lips, painted a deep, blood red were pursed in mild impatience as if waiting for people to catch up to her level of efficiency.

She wore a perfectly tailored black blazer and heels that looked like they could double as weapons. Her nails? Long almond shaped and polished in a shade that somehow matched the ruthless edge in her gaze, everything about her screamed power,control and precision.

Stephan on the other hand looked like he survived a tornado and because life had a twisted sense of humor, he found himself stepping up to the counter right next to her.

After his disaster of an order, he stole a quick glance at her. She barely glanced at him, arching one perfectly sculpted brow before turning her attention back to her own order, some complicated,expensive sounding order.

Stephan felt so nervous and it wasn't helping that he felt the piercing disapproving stare for the boss lady, stealing a glance at her, he could see her jaw clenched a definite confirmation that she definitely thought he was inefficient, jittery he grabbed his coffe and quickly shoved some cash onto the counter rushing to grab his briefcase to make a beeline for the door but the universe didn't think he already had enough for the morning, as he reached for his briefcase the boss lady beside him grabbed hers at the same time, their hands brushed over identical cases, the feel of her palm was as soft as silk and for a moment he was enthralled but the spell well broken as she snatched her briefcase lifting her left wrist to her eye level taking note of the time, he didn't need a soothsayer to tell him boss lady was a time freak as since he had stepped into the cafe and had been secretly watching her trying to be as discrete as possible he noticed she had repeated the action more times than he could keep track of, nervously he let out "whoops, I almost took yours silly me" trying to lighten up the already tense, edgy and uneasy energy however she just offered a tight lipped smile something that looked similar to a clowns smile that never promised any good while already pivoting with quick steps towards the exit without sparing him even a second glance, the moment she exited the cafe his trance like state was broken he then remembered he was already far behind time and the meeting with his boss he was beyond late for, sprinting towards the exits he made his way his car zooming off the entire drive to the office was a blur, finally skidding into the office parking lot, he jumps out of the car and without a second thought pushes through the doors out of breath, slightly coffee stain a lily tel accident that occurred in his quest to race to his car and only about 45minutes late.

Made it, he exhaled.

His boss stared at him. "Stephan", The meeting has been moved to tomorrow. He blinked, then smiled. "Well...at least I'm early for once, as he had somehow worked his charm again, he decided to enjoy his coffee and his half eaten granola bar, blissfully unaware he opens his briefcase and instead of his granola bar and a bunch of his other stuffs, he finds a sleek laptop, immaculately organized presentation folder and crisp documents that clearly doesn't belong to him, then he sees the name Anastasia Carter.

He checks his phone, 9:02am. Oh! Crap.