consequence / shopping
price x f!reader | 1.5k words
series directory
tags: stalking mention, white lies, jp fears no 'friend zone', entitled cats
a/n: john price vs. his feelings. john price vs. old man allegations. john price vs. his barista . ☕
john’s grip tightens on the wheel as he turns onto her street. he’s imagined this moment since he set her in his sight. possessing the patience of a sniper comes in handy with endeavors such as this, and it’s good to pull a trigger that isn’t lethal for once.
she’s waiting outside. good girl.
nose-deep in her phone, she doesn’t notice him until he’s a building away. his heart jumps into his throat when her eyes lift, and her face follows. she squints, then shades her eyes with a hand. a smile breaks the mild confusion, and she rises to her feet from the steps outside her door.
he forces himself to relax, painfully aware of the intensity of his gaze. he can’t risk running her off, but he has to see it—the moment of realization.
~~
it cannot be the same car. calm down, you order yourself, plastering a small smile on your face as john rolls to a stop, grinning back through the window. it’s statistically impossible. there are thousands of cars in town, plenty of the same make and model. this is just the universe’s idea of a cruel joke: giving your favorite customer the same car you smashed your face and arm into. your good hand shakes as you open the door and sink into the passenger seat.
coincidences happen.
~~
“hey.”
“afternoon. you look nice.”
“yeah? i was worried you wouldn’t recognize me without the apron.” she says wryly, draping her bags over her lap.
i’ve memorized your face and more. which one would think would help decipher the minutiae of her expressions. does she recognize the car? remember it? she was drunk and crashed hard enough to break bone—fuck, he hadn’t thought of the effects of the impact. too caught up.
he watches her buckle, eyes falling to her cast. it’s filling with signatures fast. the space that held his number is covered in a drawing of a cat. all that remains is ‘john’.
“did you draw over my number?”
“i didn’t think you’d want the free advertising.”
smart girl. the number isn’t traceable further than falsified records, but it's best to avoid nuisance. he lets the doodle eclipse his grand scheme and pretends to adjust the mirror. he’ll wait until the time is right. “that i don’t.”
the drive to her preferred market is ten minutes by car. she might’ve managed alone, but he’s done some of his best work in ten minutes. performed miracles and misdeeds. he spends this bit on recon.
he susses out a little more information about her life: she’s worked, on and off, as a barista for nearly a decade. she recently took in a kitten, the very one depicted on her arm, and named her chicken cutlet a tortoiseshell.
“it's all i had for food. now cece’s a snob.”
“points for uniqueness.” he grins and gestures at the doodle on her arm. though he doesn’t have much of an eye for art, it’s obviously stylized. “and creativity. bet you did her justice, like a regular artist.”
the comment, meant as a compliment, makes her wince. she ducks her head in poorly concealed shame, pretending to check something in her wallet. it comes out casually, like a weather report—she dropped out of an mfa program to move here, for the ex, a year ago.
the details resurrect his anger.
the tremble in her hand tells him to leave it. he will. for now.
the car park is packed, and it’s all he can do to not celebrate when he finds a space on the first go. he cannot be much older than her, but he’d rather avoid feeding the ‘old man’ reputation his sergeants encourage.
she separates her reusable bags as they climb out of the car. “do you have any pets?”
he circles to her side and takes them without asking, “no. afraid my schedule doesn’t allow for it.”
“oh.”
he beats her to the baskets, tossing her bags into the bottom, and she strolls past him. he traipses behind, head on a subtle swivel, inwardly tickled at how normal it feels. it’s not often he shops, let alone in the company of a bird. it makes him puff up. go a bit softer in the face, especially when a woman roughly his mother’s age gives them a long, wistful look in produce.
it’s nice playing house, even in the middle of a bustling supermarket, dodging the less spatially aware and rogue children. it strokes his ego to flex an arm over her head to reach the shelves she can’t and carry a bag of cat litter in the other. he cracks a joke about tinned fish, and though she doesn’t laugh, he can tell she wants to. how she ignores his suggestions and color commentary on other shoppers. it’s fascinating to watch her, all business, as if she were behind the coffee bar. tapping items off the list on her phone, triple-checking a recipe.
while she’s distracted, slowly loading the conveyor belt one item at a time, john pushes his luck. he slips his card and pays.
her focus breaks when she sidles up, reaching for her wallet, only for the cashier to offer the receipt. she takes it, confusion turning to understanding, and her jaw clenches. her thanks are muttered, and she promptly joins him in bagging what’s left.
he knows she’s upset before she speaks, practically punching items into the bag.
“please don’t do that again.” she whispers. “my wrist is broken. i am not broke.”
angry as she is, she sails out the doors without waiting. clearly expecting him to tote her bags like a porter and follow.
which he does, of course. it’s what he signed on for.
good view, at least.
the ride back to her place is quiet, but he feels the tension burning away with the light. it’s damn distracting how the sun plays off her skin and hair. ten minutes fly by. she turns to him as the car idles, a storm of thoughts in her eyes. severe, tempestuous, and pretty.
“park. you’re not off the clock.”
“yes, ma’am.”
the bag handles loop into one fist, and the litter rests on his shoulder. he beams, and with the complete confidence he usually carries himself, he starts up the steps of her building.
“uh…john?”
he glances over his shoulder and sees her fidgeting at the bottom of the stairs.
“that’s…not actually my address.”
his brows raise, fall, and pinch in rapid succession. the minx. a fake address. smart.
she sheepishly apologizes on the walk to one street over and explains.
“i mean, this part’s weird.”
“what part?”
“befriending regulars,” she shrugs. “the counter’s there for a reason—to sling espresso, yeah, but it’s also a social barrier.”
“do you often befriend regulars?” he hopes not.
“god, no.”
thank christ. he’ll start memorizing faces on his next trip, just in case.
“but being polite to people is part of my job.”
he cracks a careful grin. “do you get reprimanded for that?”
her eyes roll. “ha. ha. no. my manager’s a coward and afraid of me. what i mean is, it’s a tightrope. be nice, but don’t be too nice to the wrong people, else they’ll stalk you or something.”
john’s gut tightens. what was his plan again? expose her? he manages a chuckle. “and am i one of those…wrong people?” effortless.
“well, you’re a minute from my kitchen with an invitation. so.” she smirks after a second. “are you fishing for a compliment? for me to say you’re special?”
heat shoots up his neck and colors his cheeks. “i am not–”
“relax. i’m joking. but you are the first customer i’ve brought back to my place.”
the phrasing instantly sets him on high alert. it could mean nothing. it could mean anything.
her place is markedly worse than her fake one. he does not like the look of the neighbors, but the exterior light reaches the walk. he bites his tongue when she veers to the side, cutting down a set of steep stairs to the basement. it won’t do, not long-term.
but the interior of her flat—it’s everything he did and did not expect.
it’s sensibly furnished and lit to compensate for its floor plan and limited windows. it’s cozy and colorful, with artwork fixed to the walls and littering various surfaces. some pieces are more notable than others: tiny statuettes of women, a diptych of a cow, and a collage of what looks like found notes. in the living area, there is a console and a headset, a small collection of games and dvds, and ten too many knickknacks. a stuffed backpack occupies a seat at the table.
he moves mechanically behind her, toeing off his shoes and treading straight into the surprisingly decently sized kitchen. he sets the bags and litter down, rolling his shoulder as he soaks it all in.
might be his only chance, after all.
something bumps his shin. two big amber-colored eyes stare up at him, unblinking.
“you must be the famous cece.”
“the one and only.”
the young cat weaves through his legs, then jumps, immediately sticking her pointy head into the bag containing the chicken. she meows, indignant, when her human automatically hooks her around the middle without looking and returns her to the floor.
“bad.” she murmurs, unpacking. “would you mind setting the litter next to the door down the hall?”
john obeys, though he lingers outside of said door, staring through a crack into the dark of her room. she has a big, comfortable-looking bed. a shudder passes over him. an unhelpful throb. christ. feels like a fucking teenager. he pulls himself together, retreating toward the door to leave. probably overstayed his welcome.
just as he turns to say his goodbyes, she glares from the kitchen. around her neck, untied, hangs an apron—don’t be afraid to take whisks.
“where are you going? i’m making dinner.”
it’s not an invitation. it’s an order.
he slips his shoe off.
“yes, ma’am.”
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