Afraid to love

Chapter 10

Only moments before, I thought I wanted the dance to last forever. Not anymore. I can't wait for the music to stop, I can't wait to get off stage. Why is Daniel here? How does he even know I dance here? I never told him which theatre I dance at. Is he the stalker? But if he was, he wouldn't be standing there in plain sight, would he? As soon as the music stops, I walk off stage and, without even changing, I head straight into the audience, towards the back.

A bunch of people congratulate me as I pass, a few try and stop me, talk to me. Normally we wait for the audience to go before coming out. But I don't want Daniel to get away, I'd rather confront him now in front of hundreds of people than when I'm somewhere alone. I apologise to the fans, somehow manage to squeeze my way towards the back.

Daniel has a cocky smile on his lips as he watches me approach, like he was expecting me to come for him. When I'm finally standing in front of him, dressed only in my flimsy white dress that barely covers my thighs, I feel overly vulnerable. I don't want to show it, so I come really close to him, in my mind daring him to do his worst, but in fact knowing fully well that in this crowded place he really can't do a thing to hurt me, even if he is the stalker. I have to crane my head back just to look into his eyes.

"Why are you here?" I ask without greeting,

"To take you home" he says, this takes me back a little, wasn't what I was expecting him to say,

"What?"

"You heard me"

"To take me home?"

"Precisely"

"What does that mean?"

"It means you have some stranger stalking you every night and it would be reckless of you to go home alone"

"But... but how did you even know I'm here?"

"You said you dance in a theatre. This city is not that big so I figured it out"

"And this is the first time you're here?"

"I'm not the stalker, Sofia" he says with a scoff,

"I know" I say unconvincingly,

"Then stop questioning me and go change so I can take you home"

"But how did you know I even had a dance happening?"

"I came home, no one was there. Thought about where you could be, remembered you danced, connected the dots" he raises his brows like it's the most normal thing a person could do, his eyes challenging me to probe further,

"But it..."

"What?"

"It doesn't seem likely"

"What does seem likely? That I am your stalker guy and that I'm standing here for everyone to see me before I force you into my car and kill you?" his blunt words make me shiver,

"No. I don't think you're the stalker anymore"

"Then what's the problem"

"The problem is that I-"

"Hello" Lara walks up from behind, interrupting my sentence. She's looking up at Daniel with curiosity, his eyes land on her,

"This is Daniel," I say, "my roommate"

"Oh, the boxer?" she smiles up at him, "I'm Lara, Sofia's friend" she holds out her hand, he takes it into his much larger one, and nods down at her. I never told Lara about my suspicions regarding Daniel so she doesn't feel the unease I do.