needing you | joe goldberg x reader

one

joe

london. a fresh start.
already seeming better than where i'd been, and hopefully where i'll i stay. it's not as ridiculous as la, so far. everyone back there seemed so pompous, but the people here seem to be a lot more humbled; it was nice to finally see it.
arthur probsthain, a bookshop, my new job. it wasn't ideal, but it was what i knew best. i wanted to get back into my speciality, keep myself low-key from now on; distract myself from whatever this big city held.
i was sure my past wouldn't follow me, i was safe and i wanted to keep myself that way. it was time to protect myself for once.

and then i saw, you.

your full black outfit. your (y/h/c) hair in a loose ponytail. simple but effective, natural makeup. checking your phone as if you were against the clock. if you were in a rush, the steady pace you walked around seemed to be not helping you at all.

where are you going?

i stepped towards the window at the front of the shop, pretending to reorganise a shelf, but instead following your movement. you soon speed up, realising how late you were to wherever you had to be.
then you arrived, starbucks. i put two and two together, making a mental note of your workplace.

"erm, excuse me? do you work here?"

a wanting customer interrupted my wandering thoughts of you. i had to snap myself back into reality, putting you aside for just one moment.

"guilty.."