Page 43 of Falling Backwards
And when I see who’s there, true alarm spikes into me.
Kyleis somehow almost upon me, apparently having followed me around the corner of the building.
What?blares in my head.What?Why is he…?Wheredid he come from?
A sweeping glance around the parking lot shows no one is out here but us—it’s just me and him and the could-be-more-lit-up night.Even the light pole close by doesn’t seem bright enough.
A chill goes down the back of my neck.
“It’s me again,” he says with a wave.“Kyle Danfords.I’m sure you remember me this time?”
Oh, do I nod.
“Nice.”
He stops near me.I take a step back.
When did I stop walking?
“So, hey,” he goes on, “it might seem random that I’m here again, but it’s Taco Tuesday at this great place down the street and I wanted to invite you for dinner and a drink.I just didn’t wanna bother you while you were working, so instead of going in the building like the other day, I waited around to catch you after.”
His words are loud in my ears, his smile sharp in this poor lighting; my heartbeat is heavy in my chest.
Did he just say he’s been waiting out here for me to get off work?How did he even know I wasatwork?
“Oh, whoops,” he says.“Your hair is all messed up right here.”
I barely register that before his fingers are at my bangs, their tips brushing through to my forehead and scarred eyebrow as he tries to fix my hair.I suck in a breath and back, back, back away again, the alarm inside me mounting that much more.
Um.
I don’t like this.Any of this.
I can’t tell that he can tell.He’s still just smiling.
“So what do you think?”he asks.“Wanna go?”
All at the same time, I know I need to keep moving and I think he’s close enough to grab me and I prepare to scream and I cling to the hope that hewon’tgrab me because he’s just a harmless guy, right?Just forward?But he’s also always touching me and he has followed me into a dark parking lotbecausehe waswaiting for me—
“No, I can’t,” I hear myself saying thinly through the noise of my thoughts.“My—they’re expecting….I have plans.Already.Iamexpected.”
At the end of this lie, I force a smile since I’m abruptly hit by worry about angering him.Ido notwant to anger him right now, when there’s no one here to help me if he reacts badly.
“Sorry,” I add, “but I have to go now.”
I try to both keep an eye on him and keep walking to my car without tripping or running into anything.
Is this gonna make him mad?Is he gonna keep following me?Please, no.
But he says, “Oh, okay,” and even though he sounds and looks disappointed, he’s lifting a hand in another wave.“Maybe another time?”
The,No,in my head is so loud I almost fear he can hear it.
I don’t manage an audible answer as I reach my car.I just silently thank God I can unlock it with a button on my key because I don’t think I’d be able to do it manually right now.
I hear Kyle call out to ask again, “Hey, another time, yeah?”
I pretend not to hear him now that I’m shutting myself into my car.
