Fakely HIS

Chapter 2

For a good percentage of people in this world, four little words habitually accompany their entrance into their work place, dinner with friends or a date.

'Sorry, I am late.'

Oh, wow! That sounded just like me. Oh, well, maybe it was just me.

The truth is that there are many reasons why I just can't get somewhere on time. But there seems to be one common thread running through the behaviour of chronically late Elaine that may be the most universal reason for everyone similar to me with their eternal tardiness—and yet it is consistently overlooked:

I am always late because I don't want to be at any place early.

Only the punctually challenged, suffering from the same disease as I am – being late everywhere – can understand this.

Sometimes I think that if I was a ninja, I would still get to places dreadfully early, yet would be comforted by the fact that since I was a ninja no one could tell if I was there.

I don't know why I cannot be anywhere on time – it has always been so for the past twenty years of my life. But I know why most of the people are always on time. That is because they hate being late.

James was one of them. He hates being late to anywhere. He is paranoid of being tardy. He gets to places embarrassingly early, which sometimes requires him to park his car around the corner and wait surreptitiously just so the others that he was supposed to meet don't notice the real time he arrived.

"I am so sorry," I managed the most apologetic look that I could muster up and gave him my best puppy dog eyes, "My alarm's battery kind of ran out and my stupid best friend forgot to wake me up early."

"That's your excuse for today, Hails," he crossed his arms over his chest unhappily, "You always have an excuse for coming late."

I grinned knowing very well that James was just faking his anger. He cannot stay mad at me, "You love me anyways."

"Be thankful that you are cute, or I may just not talk to you at all," he teased, flashing me a small playful grin.

I rolled my eyes at him as I slid into the seat opposite to him, "Aye, aye, Captain!"

The moment I slid into the booth is the same moment I realized that James was indeed not alone today. My breath hitched in my throat as my eyes locked with the ocean blue eyes of the man that shone with an intensity that made my stomach roll with knots forming in them. He had dark brown hair – almost black – that was slicked back perfectly letting me know that he had spent some time grooming himself.

How did I not notice this man before?

"Oh, um," I turned to James with a puzzled look as he was never a person to bring company with him when he came to see me, "You didn't tell me you were bringing company."

"Oh, I would have," James, the almost sixty year old billionaire rolled his eyes at me, "If you had attended my call last night."

"You called?" I frowned.

Why didn't I know that he had called?

"I called at ten. Instead of speaking to you though, I spoke to Dale," he scoffed with disgust clear in his voice; he was never a fan of my best friend, "That devil answered the call and told me that you were already asleep."

I shrugged, frowning slightly when I realized that my best friend had indeed lied to James yesterday. I don't know why she had attended his call and told him that I had already slept when in reality I was busy working on the new code that I was trying to create. She knew I don't fall asleep until midnight.