ANCHOR DOWN (Pedro Pascal x OC)

CHAPTER SIX

Warnings: angst.

A/N: Reminder- Aidan is Katie's ex-boyfriend.

His face inched closer, so close she could feel his hot breath on her skin, his scent was surrounding her and she savoured it with every fibre of her body. The warm, firm hands holding her waist were luckily steadying her and kept her from falling, because her knees were softening so she could barely stand.

Pedro's left hand moved to cup her cheek gently, his thumb stroking lazy circles along her cheekbone. Katie caught him staring at her lips, his eyes then wandered upwards until they met hers. The golden brown glimmer in his dark eyes was unmistakable, like million stars in the night sky. When he pulled her even closer to his broad chest, Katie shut her eyes, anticipating to feel his pouty lips on hers like a child was looking forward to their birthday. Their noses touched and finally, Pedro's lips brushed against hers

Beep beep beep

"Shit," Katie grumbled at the sound of her alarm clock, cursing it to end her beautiful dream so quickly and without any sense of guilt, of course.

Katie soon realized she liked Pedro more than she would admit. It was obvious she was attracted to him, and after last night's slow dancing, apparently he felt the same. Turning around in bed, Katie remembered the text message Pedro had sent her the night before.

Why can't I get you off my mind?

She smiled, grabbing her phone to open their chat. What should she send him as an answer? Should she send him an answer at all?

Typing and deleting words and sentences combined with emojis, obviously struggling to put it right, Katie eventually decided to send him the following,

Hi! I hope you got home safe. I had a great time with you and would love to repeat that. Have a good day x

She told herself to play it cool.

It was a sunny Saturday morning, which Katie usually spent with having slow breakfast and strolling through the city to do some shopping. Today however, would be a completely different day. She just didn't know it yet.

Smiling from ear to ear for no obvious reason, Katie got ready, occasionally glancing on her phone to check if Pedro had replied yet. Every time she felt a tiny sting of disappointment hit her heart at the empty phone screen.

"This is ridiculous." She muttered to herself, grabbing her keys and coat. She decided to distract herself by going out for breakfast and leaving her phone in her apartment, where it could patiently wait for her to come back., hopefully with a new message from Pedro as a welcome gift.

The cool, refreshing air pleasingly hit Katie's face when she stepped outside, smiling. She was close to bouncing down the street, a very warm and content feeling dwelling up in her stomach every time she brought images of last night back to her memory. Which happened a lot.

Suddenly, she stopped in the middle of the footway, staring through her sunglasses at an unfamiliar, unexpected and rather disturbing scene in the café opposite her. Sat there was Pedro with a stunningly beautiful female, laughing, holding his hand from across the table, him stealing pieces of her breakfast. Katie was paralyzed. Her insides started to throw a party inside her stomach, ending in her knees turning into jelly and her head spinning. She couldn't quite catch up with all the uncomfortable emotions dwelling up, getting stuck in her throat and strangling her until she was sure she would pass out.

Quickly, at the very last minute, Katie managed to take a few steps towards the nearest wall and slumped against it, her back hitting hardly the firm bricks behind her.

What was happening?

She needed a good couple of minutes to calm down by taking deep, controlled breaths. Her lungs needed to win back their actual size and volume after being crushed by the feeling of someone punching them until she was unable to breathe.

Katie didn't want to see the scene again, but she couldn't bring herself not to. So, biting the insides of her cheeks and therefore trying to equip herself with more self-confidence, she again walked past the café, slowly. They were sitting in the exact same position, smiling at each other uncontrollably. Pedro reached over and gingerly brushed his thumb over the woman's cheek, which to Katie felt like being stabbed in the chest.

Asking herself why she voluntarily put up with the hurt again, Katie shook her head, as if to shake the images of Pedro and the woman off, out of her system. Instead of getting breakfast, Katie entered the supermarket to buy a bottle of vodka.

The rest of the day was a blur. The unopened bottle of vodka was sitting on the kitchen counter, practically screaming at Katie to finally open it. Yet, Katie didn't want to give in. Desperately trying to convince herself that getting drunk wouldn't solve the problem, she dug up her running gear out of the darkest corner in her closet.

Glancing at her phone, she was disappointed to only see two new messages: one from her mother, one from her friend Jen.

Katie tossed the phone onto her bed and headed outside, ready for a run.

She hadn't been running for three months or so, therefore she was actually quite surprised she lasted that long. Maybe it was the adrenaline, the emotions, that made her run so fast.

Later that day, after a nice, relaxing bath, Katie slumped down on the couch with a bottle of wine, which was already nearly finished when a text alert noise rang out.

Hi! Sorry, I was busy for the whole day. Would you like to accompany me to the theatre tomorrow? I guess that's something we both like ;) Hope you had a great day! P x

Katie snickered. The alcohol she had been consuming softened her anger and hurt for him a little, for which she was thankful. Still, her opinion of him had changed once more. His behaviour again showed her clearly what he was up to, and that he would break her heart. The repulsion and disappointment quickly switched over to a gut wrenching sadness, leading to self-pity.

Why me? Why always me?

A loud knock on the door made her jump back to the present. Sighing, Katie got up to see who it was. She opened the door and couldn't believe whom she saw.

Aidan.