• “Who the hell are you?”
    “I guess I am your stalker” She mentioned very calmly, then laughed. “Oh, good. You hadn’t noticed yet.”
    “Well, how long have you been…stalking me?”
    “I’d say…hmm, tough one.” She closed one eye and looked up. “Uh, for about two, wait nah, three…yeah three weeks.”
    “Well, s**t, I should start noticing things.”
    “Do you always do that? Start your sentences with well?”
    “I haven’t noticed, but I suppose you could tell me. You have been stalking me after all.”
    “Damn, you’re right. I guess I will go through the tapes to answer my own questions.”
    “Tapes? You’ve been taping me too?”
    “No, I was only joking, I know you can take a joke.”

    He walked from the ATM after taking his cash. The night was quite brisk and made him hurry.
    “Do you want a ride?” He said as he opened the passenger door.
    “Ah, you must be lonely then, enough to give your stalker a ride.”
    “Well then, it would suffice to think of you as a bad stalker, at least in my eyes, if you should accept.”
    “Whether in your car or on my own, either way we end up at your house.”
    “True.” He said with a smile as he climbed in, the door creaked as he closed it.
    They sat there for a few minutes without saying much, but it still withstood as a reasonably comfortable silence, given the circumstances. Not many cars were on the road, given the possibility of this could be due to the hour.
    “How was work?”
    “You know.” He shrugged and then paused. “Actually you probably do.”
    “Nah, I just met up with you tonight, I don’t visit you at work, man my slinking skills must not be up to par tonight.”
    “Yes, I am afraid they aren’t, but it is a good opportunity to save money on gas.”
    “Oh, I don’t drive. I stalk by foot and usually quite well I might add, well the exclusion being tonight, of course. It really is a lost art.” Smiling she pushed back her brown hair that lay as a sort of controlled mess all over the place.
    Glancing over in between the road and her, he commented, “I don’t think I could have thought to have such an attractive stalker.”
    “I am flattered for sure. I could say the same, but I kind of chose you, so I am a bit partial.”
    “So, I suppose we are headed to my house?”
    “Where else?”

    Soon enough they did arrive, making good time, but unknowingly for what. He led the way up to his door and unlocking it, he let her in first. Offering her a drink, which she accepted, they sat on a couple of mats that were on the floor next to the coffee table.
    Sipping she coughed and asked, “Japanese influence?” as she picked on the mat below her.
    “I see it in a catalogue and if it looks decent, I buy it. You know in the set.”
    “Right outta the page?”
    “Right outta the page.”

    While sitting in an awkward silence, there came a sound from the back of the house near his bedroom. Both heard the noise and rotated to listen for more. After sitting in anticipation, she broke the silence.

    “You hear that noise in your bedroom?”
    He rolled his eyes at her uncanny knowledge of the layout of his home, she was better than he thought, for he had been totally clueless to it all.
    She asked again.
    “Yeah, I heard it, that’s why I am still listening.” He whispered.
    “Well, aren’t you going to go back there and check it out?”
    “Hell no, you think I am crazy?”
    “Well it takes one to know one.”

    He scoffed, “Yeah, mature. No, but you see those scary movies, people always go check out a noise when of course that is the last thing they should do, it only causes trouble. I will just put my mind at ease and say it's the cat.”
    “But you don’t have a cat.”
    “s**t, thanks for ruining my ‘at ease’ plan.”
    “Alright soldier, if you are too much of a wimp to check it out, then I will, if you don’t mind?” She exhaled with a sharp whisper.
    “Sure why not? You already know my floor plan and pet status.”

    She got up slowly from the table, fixing a stare at him, sauntering back to his bedroom she stood in the doorway and she turned to look at him before she walked into his room. Waiting impatiently he stared at the empty hallway, he listened as hard as he could for anything. He thought he heard voices. Several minutes passed before she came back out of the room, not uttering a word as she entered the hallway once again.
    “Well…?” He uttered.
    She shrugged and then rubbed the top of his head. “I guess it was your cat.”

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