*Caterina*
Anna gasped the second she saw Paul walking quickly toward us. His steps were long and hurried, making it obvious that he had been trying to get to us before we had the chance to notice him and walk the other way.
“What the fuck is he doing here?” she muttered.
I had the sa question. How had Paul even known that we would be here? Was he stalking ? The thought made my heart ice over with fear. I didn’t think Paul was dangerous exactly, but the idea that he could be watching or following around made him seem like far more of a threat.
Suddenly I regretted not just staying at the safe house with Elio and my mom. As I stood rooted there in shock and fear, Paul only had the opportunity to get closer and closer.
It was obvious that I had squandered my only chance at trying to get away before he could talk to us, but Anna moved so that she was between him and . She put her hands on her hips and stood there like a little wall. The ssage she sent was clear: to get to , he’d have to get through her.
“Get the fuck away, Paul,” she said venomously when he was within earshot.
He pulled up short, about ten feet away. I tried to keep myself from visibly cowering behind Anna, but him showing up like this was too unsettling for . It was impossible not to want to cower.
“Cat, please talk to , please, Cat,” he begged pathetically, ignoring Anna completely even though she was standing right in front of him.
He moved closer slowly, as if trying to see how close he could get before Anna physically attacked him. Knowing Anna, it wouldn’t be much closer. She was not afraid to get into a scuffle when needed, and she had been harboring a grudge against Paul for quite a while now. I had the feeling she would love to jump at the chance to give him a black eye.
“Get away from us right now. Do not co any closer,” Anna demanded, her voice forceful.
“Cat, please, just give five minutes to talk to you in privacy. It’s seriously important. I’m not trying to scare you!” he said.
If only his actions followed his words—It was impossible to believe he wasn’t trying to scare considering the fact that he was currently inching toward us in spite of Anna’s repeated threats. He kept walking forward, and I was pissed. Once again, he was showing that he didn’t give a shit about my boundaries at all.
“Go away and leave us alone or I will call the cops, Paul,” I said over Anna’s shoulder, standing up a little straighter.
He laughed coldly, then said, “You could try. Just rember, I tried to save you.”
What the fuck was that supposed to an? And why had his deanor changed so quickly? The way he had gone from anxious pleading to cold-hearted vague threats was even more unsettling than the fact that he was there at all.
Anna seed to feel the sa way, because she took a step toward him, her fists clenched. For a crazy second, I thought she was going to start swinging. I thought if we both attacked him, we just might be able to take his sorry ass down.
Paul opened his mouth to say sothing else, but before he got the chance, a large college-aged guy walked up behind Paul and clapped his hand on his shoulder, asking “Do you have a problem?”
Paul cringed away from the contact like the coward he was, but then tried to square up with the bigger man. “What the fuck do you care, dude?”
Once again, his change in attitude was scary. It was like he was trying to keep up so sort of facade but couldn’t decide exactly what that facade was. He kept swinging from anxious to commanding at the drop of a hat.
Two guys that had been walking with the big one ca up and flanked Paul on either side. One of them said, “We heard them tell you to leave them alone. Now do we have a problem here, or are you going to leave them the fuck alone?”
The other one added, “I would suggest walking away now. We’re really not in the mood to deal with so creep today.”
My heart was pounding in my chest watching the whole thing. As gratifying as I knew it would be to see these three guys puml Paul into the ground, I really wasn’t interested in the scene that would create, especially knowing that I would be attending this campus soon.
I didn’t want to get a reputation before I even started, and I didn’t want soone else to end up calling the cops and getting them involved. The best-case scenario for everyone would be for and Anna to be able to walk away without anything going any further.
Luckily for , Paul wasn’t stupid enough to provoke soone when he was obviously outnumbered. He glanced at one more ti and said, “You’re going to regret this.”
He had an unsettling smile on his face that made my stomach twist. Finally, he walked off. The three n who had co to our rescue stood there and watched him go, then looked at us. The one who had first talked to Paul asked, “Are you two okay? Do you want us to walk you sowhere?”
“No, we’re alright, I think he’ll leave us alone now,” Anna answered for both of us.
The three of them nodded and continued on their way to wherever they had been heading. The whole altercation made feel sick. As soon as the adrenaline left my body, I had to take deep breaths to keep myself from dry heaving.
Paul had always been a majorly controlling jerk, but this seed a bit much even for him. Normally he was the type who would run away the second he was confronted. I didn’t understand what he would even think he had to talk to about that would be worth making such a ridiculous scene.
Anna turned around and wrapped her arms around . I sagged against her, grateful that she was with . I couldn’t imagine how badly that would have gone if I had been alone. I hated that he had managed to ruin such a perfect morning.
“Are you alright?” she asked.
I nodded, but I didn’t want to talk about it until we were back in the car. “Let’s just go ho,” I said.
She nodded as well and we walked back to my car, my mind spinning over what had happened. There had to be sothing I was missing. Paul’s behavior just didn’t make sense.
As I drove to Anna’s house, she said, “I really feel like you should call the cops and get a restraining order on him, Cat. I know you’ve been trying to just handle this on your own, but what he did today was seriously creepy. How did he even know we were going to be there?”
“I know. It scared too,” I said, knowing there was no way in hell I would be getting the cops involved. I had other people who were way more frightening who would handle the situation far better than the authorities.
“Ugh, I’m just so glad you have Elio. When I think about that creep trying to get back with you, it just gives the heebie jeebies to even think about.”
I laughed without any real humor at her words. I was so glad that my relationship with Elio had shown how a real man treated a woman. Anna was right. It gave the creeps to even imagine being with Paul now.
“ too,” I said.
When I pulled in front of Anna’s apartnt building, she leaned over to give another hug. “I love you, Cat. Stay safe, alright?”
“I’ll try my best,” I promised.
As soon as she was out of the car and in her building, I called Elio. I needed him to hear about the interaction with Paul. It had just been too weird to not ntion, even though I really wanted to be able to tell Elio that everything had been fine considering how badly he had wanted to stay at the safehouse.
“Hey, are you alright?” he asked as soon as he picked up. “You forgot to text last half hour.”
I rolled my eyes, glad he couldn’t see it. “I was driving. I didn’t think you’d want to be texting and driving.”
“No, you’re right,” he said, “Sorry, what’s up?”
“Well, sothing did happen,” I admitted, pissed at Paul all over again. Now Elio was going to be even more reluctant to let go out without him.
“Tell everything,” he said sternly.
I could practically hear his jaw tightening over the phone.
“It wasn’t a big deal, but I thought you should know because it just felt weird.”
He sighed loudly. “Cat, I know you don’t want to tell , but please just get it out.”
“Okay, fine. Paul ca up to us while we were walking around the campus.”
“What the fuck? Paul? How did he know you were there?”
“Well, that’s the problem, I don’t know why he would know we were there. I’ve been thinking about it since it happened, and the only way I could figure is either it was just random, or he was watching Anna’s apartnt waiting for to co and see her. I feel like that one’s more likely, because I don’t know why he’d just be wandering around campus like that.”
“I agree,” Elio said tersely. “So what did he do?”
“He told that he wanted to talk to , but Anna wouldn’t let him.”
“Smart woman,” he said approvingly.
“Yeah, anyway, he started acting kind of crazy and yelling about how I would regret it. It was creepy. He got so out of hand that so random guys ca up and told him to leave us alone.”
“I’m glad they were there at least. But I’ll be honest, Cat, that really pisses off. I wish I had been there.”
“I know. I wish you had been, too.”
“Well, I think you’re right. Sothing weird is going on with that asshole. I’ll look into him.”
I drove the rest of the way to the safehouse thinking about how grateful I was for Elio. The fact that I knew I could go to him with any problem and he would help solve it made feel a thousand tis safer, even with the worst kind of n after .
I was so lucky to have Elio in my life.
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