Obsessed

I sink another stripe and cue up for my next shot.

Derrick laughs. “And here I thought you were going to say adventurous. What about all that ziplining you’re going to do?”

The ball hits the cushion and comes twirling all the way back to me.

“Adventure? Nah. I’d rather be home if I’m not at work.” It’s true. Home is an empty apartment right now, so I don’t have much reason to be there. But if I had somebody? Yeah, I’d be home.

There are only a few stripes left on the table and almost all of Derrick’s solids. He frowns, lines up a shot, and hits the eight ball straight into the pocket. He curses under his breath and I laugh.

“Bet money on the next game?” I ask.

“No way in hell.”

I’m resetting the table when my cell phone beeps. I check it. A new message from work: a mugging was just reported.

I could let someone else handle it. I could leave it until morning.

But someone could need help, and that’s all the information I need to make my choice. I grab my keys from my pocket. “Gotta go. Let’s meet up again next week.”

Derrick shakes his head and discards his cue on the abandoned table. “Sure. Whatever. See you next year.”

It hasn’t been a year since I’ve hung out with Derrick. I’m sure it hasn’t. The trouble is, I can’t remember the last time I went out instead of working.

I’ll make time next week. Right now, someone might need me.

I get in my car and drive to the station. I try not to think about the stuff Derrick was saying about me needing a woman in my life, or the empty apartment waiting for me when I get home. I won’t make it there until past midnight at this point, anyway. I’ll only have enough time to sleep. Until then, there’s more than enough to keep me occupied.

Chapter Three

Emily

Someone is watching me. I try to shove the thought out of my mind, but it’s stuck there like gum on the bottom of my shoe.

I’m being silly. I’m alone in my apartment and I’m letting my imagination run away from me. All this is the leftover uneasiness from this morning. And there was nothing. Nothing happened. I just have to shake it off and move on.

I settle deeper in my couch with my bowl of popcorn next to me and flip through Netflix with my remote, looking for something to watch. Definitely not a horror movie. Not tonight. A romcom seems safe, but I’m not in the mood to contemplate my epic failure of a love life. I pick a superhero movie I’ve seen before and start on my popcorn.

Normally I wouldn’t take this much time away from studying, but I had scheduled tonight to work on a lab report I will no longer be allowed to turn in. Watching a movie feels better than brooding on my personal shortcomings as a pre-med student.

A noise outside makes me look over at the window. It sounds like the scuffling of feet. My stomach twists. I set down the bowl of popcorn and edge carefully toward the window. I pinch back the curtain, taking care not to announce my presence there, but all I see are the neatly-trimmed abelia shrubs around my apartment and the parking lot. No people.

I pull back from the curtains and they close again. It’s deathly quiet, but my hands are still shaking.

No one’s there. I’m being paranoid.

My phone rings and I jump. I nervously laugh at myself as my cheery wind chime ringtone keeps playing. This is what giving in to flights of fancy gets me. I check my caller ID. It’s just my mom.

I sit back down on the couch and answer the call.

“Emily?” Mom sounds angry, but she usually sounds angry so no shocker there.

“Yeah, I’m here. What’s up?”

“I was just checking your grades on your portal and saw you missed an assignment!”

Hell. I should never have given my mother the password to my grade portal. I switch the phone to my other ear and lay back on my couch. “Don’t worry about it, Mom. I’ll turn it in late.” I’m lying, but that’s easier than arguing with my mother.

“I’ll check it again after your next class to make sure,” she says. “You know I’m paying a fortune for you to go to that school.”