Page 28 of Creep

I was pulled out of my thoughts when Victoria waved her hand in front of me.

A week had passed since that night—a week of apathy in which I had done nothing and told no one.

I didn’t even know why that was the case.

I could have told my father, Leo, or Victoria, but there was a part of me that was afraid they might look at me like the police. That sounded unreasonable. They loved me. They wouldn’t look at me like that, but what if there was no more sign of the stalker? It would feel like—to everyone—that I had made up the story, wouldn’t it?

And so far, my stalker hadn’t made any other appearances in my apartment or in my life.

It was as if he never existed in the first place when I knew that wasn’t the case. He was real. He was just… not here.

I could be optimistic and say he got bored with me and had moved on with his life, but even I could hear the lie in my thoughts.

Perhaps that was what I was waiting for before I told anyone else—more proof.

“Are you okay?” Victoria asked, her eyes roaming over my face and probably taking note of the bags under my eyes.

I forced a small smile. “Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”

She narrowed her eyes on me. One thing about being so close to another person was that they could almost always tell when I was lying.

“You haven’t been yourself. And when was the last time you’ve gotten a good night's sleep?”

Probably a week ago. Or perhaps longer than that, long before I first realized I had a stalker.

“Just some insomnia hitting me lately,” I explained with a casual shrug. She didn’t appear to believe me.

“You know you can tell me anything, right?” she said softly. I looked away when a burning sensation hit my eyes.

“I know,” I answered her, and I did know. I could tell her anything. I just…

I didn’t even know what was going on or how I was supposed to approach it. I didn’t even know if the man was coming back. If he was coming back, he would have done so already, right?

Or perhaps this was a part of his plan.

Or maybe I was going crazy.

That had to be it.

My loneliness had finally caught up to me, and there was now a break in my reality.

I had finally lost it.

Victoria moved in closer to me, and a slight tinge of annoyance flared in her eyes.

“You were saying something to me, weren’t you?” I guessed. I had tuned her out again, and I didn’t even notice. She crossed her arms over her chest. I shot her a sheepish smile and moved to put in her order for a latte, turning my head away so she couldn’t say anything. Not that it would stop her.

Luckily, the front door opened, distracting her.

“Holy hell,” Victoria said under her breath. “How fucking hot.”

I peeked over at her to see her eyes were laser-focused on the man who just walked in.

I placed her cup of coffee in front of her and ran my hands down my apron. “Wipe the drool off your chin,” I teased.

She narrowed her eyes playfully at me before making a show of wiping her chin. I laughed as I headed over to the front counter to help the man she couldn’t take her eyes off of.

I hadn’t looked at the man fully, which was why I was so surprised when I came face-to-face with the stranger from the bar. I gasped slightly and watched as his lips curved up in a small smile.

---