“Your eyes are popping, by the way.”
“Thank you. I could teach you how to do this. We have the same color eyes.”
I cringed. “Nah. Too much time. Do you think I need to work on my makeup?”
“No,” she said right away, then she motioned for me to go up the stairs. “You’re beautiful. I was just saying that if you wanted your eyes to pop, I could teach you.”
“Maybe eventually.”
“Fair enough.” We meandered through the house and out the front door until we were both at her car’s doors. “Hey, you haven’t told me about any guys yet.”
I furrowed my brows and turned to her. “What do you mean?
“At school.” She rolled her eyes. “Any potential boyfriends?”
I shook my head. “No one I’m interested in.”
My sister sighed and I knew what was coming next, though I ignored it until her footsteps stopped right beside me.
“Jurnie… You can’t let Mom and Dad lord over this part of your life. You know if you go out on some dates, you won’t necessarily get pregnant like I did.”
“I know dating doesn’t get you pregnant.” Then I rolled my eyes. My sister was far too invested in my virginity. She’d told me once that she felt responsible for ruining my teen years since Mom and Dad had clamped down on me after she’d gotten pregnant. They’d been strict before, but now it was so much worse.
Even me being in college hadn’t gotten them to back off. They were paying for it, so their rules were one of the strings that Delaney and I often talked about.
“Have you dated anyone this year?”
I rolled my eyes. “Of course I’ve gone on dates, but I haven’t clicked with anyone. I’m fine. I promise.”
“OK.” She said the words but still looked skeptical. “But leave yourself open for a prince to sweep you off your feet.”
“Sure, sure. Run along now.”
Delaney gave me a quick hug before running back over to her side of the car. My car needed some work done and I’d waited until school was out to do it, much to my father’s dismay. And right now, not having my own mode of transportation sucked. Mom had dropped me at work this morning and I’d taken an Uber home. It was going to take some juggling but we’d work out a schedule and it was only supposed to be a week.
My preferred bookstore was a little farther than the closest one. Living outside of Detroit gave me a ton of options, but this one was my favorite. It was a chain, but it was the people there that I loved so much.
Stepping in, it was the smell of books for me. Hit me every single time as it mingled with the coffee from the café. Oh, I promised myself a coffee in a little bit. First, there were some new releases in romance that I wanted to check out. I could afford two or three this trip.
As I passed a man in the aisle, I swung around so as to not get too close. He looked up then did a double-take and smiled. After giving him a polite smile, I focused on where I was going. However, the feeling of someone following me prickled at my neck. With as much caution as I could have, I glanced over my shoulder. Yup. That man was following me. Or going the same direction I was.
He was decent-looking. Tall with dark blond hair and tattoos down one arm that I could see. He was pretty big, muscular-wise. He was the type of guy who made me feel really small and not just because I was short.
To my surprise, he didn’t say anything to me as I perused the books. Until he did. It was about five minutes later that he finally approached me.
“You like romance?” he asked and it took all of my willpower not to groan.
“Yup.” I kept my focus on the book in my hand but made sure I could track him out of my peripheral like a girl is taught to do.
Never take your eyes off a guy close to you. That was how girls end up in trunks, my mom told me. I used to think it was because of her job that she thought that way until I understood what it was a corporate lawyer did and it didn’t have anything to do with dead bodies or kidnapped girls.
“Who’s your favorite author?” he asked.
I took a deep breath. That wasn’t an easy question to answer, but I didn’t intend on answering him anyway. “Too hard to choose.”
“Listen.” He stepped closer than I was comfortable with. “My name is Chase. Can I have your number? I thought you’d let me take you out sometime.”
“No, thanks,” I said, almost so automatically that he had to know I didn’t even consider his question. Delaney would’ve told me to give him my number if I thought he was cute. He was, I suppose, but there was something about him sending off warning signals.
“What about your Snapchat? We can talk that way.”
I shook my head. “I don’t have Snapchat.” It was a lie, but he’d have no way of knowing that.
“Seriously?”
“Yes.” I locked eyes with him so he’d know I was dead serious and hopefully understand that I wanted this interaction to end.
“How—”
“Excuse me,” I said quickly as I put the book in my hand back in place then walked away from him toward the women’s restroom. Probably not the best idea because if it was empty, he’d have me alone, but when I pushed through the door, I was happy that there were other women inside.
I didn’t even have to use the room, so I just washed my hands quickly and pretended to check my hair and makeup. Then I walked out at the same time as the other woman who’d been at the sink.
It took me ten minutes to work my way back around to the romance section. I’d wanted to give that guy time to clear out. Hopefully to leave the store.
Finally, I could look through the books I was interested in.
Until my own personal stalker popped up again.
“I thought you left,” he said as he leaned a shoulder against the bookcase. “Lucky me that I stuck around.”
“Lucky you?” I asked.
He nodded. “If I would’ve left, I wouldn’t have this second chance.”
“You didn’t have a first chance,” I told him, dead fucking serious. “I’m not interested.”
His jaw tightened. “You don’t even know me yet. Let’s change that.”
“I have a boyfriend,” I lied as I set the books back down. This guy was going to keep me from finding the books I wanted to buy. Damn it.
Still, he narrowed his eyes on me and cocked his head to the side. He didn’t believe me about having a boyfriend.
“Do you now?” he pushed. Nope. Didn’t believe me for a second.
I groaned internally and stomped my metaphorical foot. How I wished I could stomp my real one on his toes. Instead of giving him another second of my time, I turned on my heel and hurried away.
Leaving the store immediately crossed my mind, but I’d be doing that alone and it was more secluded outside than in. If I called my sister to come get me, that would put her in a potentially bad situation and pull her away from her night out. She didn’t get many of those.
The café was a perfect spot to try to lose this guy. There were more people congregated in that small area, so at least I’d feel somewhat safe.
Maybe the manager would walk me out if I ordered a ride share. But damn, the store was busy and why wouldn’t this creeper keep following me? No, leaving the store with him still around was a terrible idea.