This Interesting Man

Chapter 9

Chapter 9: changing.

It was twelve thirty, and you decided it was time to go. You are walking hand-in-hand with Tom by the fountain, sipping the drinks Tom had gotten for you. You let go of his hand and tug on his shirt.

"Yes, love?" he looked down at you.

"I need to get ready for work." you declare, turning around. Tom followed you, grabbing your hand again and catching up with you.

"There's a bathroom right up there," he pointed uphill.

"I'll drive you to work," he stated, smiling at you.
"I'll race you?" You smiled and swiftly walked up the hill, laughing as Tom pretended his legs were small and incapable to catch back up with you. You grab your bag from the car, and waltz alone into the bathroom, smiling at Tom, taunting him because you won. Tom smiles back;
"Hurry up, you loon." Smiling still, you disappear behind the restroom door and begin to change. You slide into another black pencil skirt, and a red dress shirt and the tall, deep dark red high heels you had packed. You take your hair out of the ponytail, and it flowed down your face and shoulders, and you admired how it made you look sophisticated. You were happy with how you looked at the moment and walked out of the bathroom. You see Tom, leaning against a tree, his hands in his pockets, ankles crossed, and looking dreamy-eyed into the sky.

Damn, he really was just so handsome. You wanted to twirl the cute curls in his hair- and to run your fingers down his lovely cheekbones, however, you noticed a few girls making looks at him; you rush toward him with a wide, flirtatious smile. When Tom saw you, a glint of passion sparked faintly in his eyes. He took his hands out of his pockets and held your hands. He kissed one of them, and you saw the three women who were looking at him either blush, or raise an eyebrow and walk away. You didn't mean to, but you made a smug look. Tom looked over his shoulder.

"What is it, dear?" he asked you, noticing your look.

"What? Oh... Nothing." you reply. Still holding your hand, he led you to his car. You made it to your office building by one fourteen.

"We're about twenty minutes early.." you told Tom.

"Ah... I see we are. Let's get some coffee right here." he stated, rushing out of his side of the car to open your door for you. You stand. Tom, as usual, takes your hand and leads you to the door. You two wait in line, and order your drinks. You sit with him, and talk. You stared into his eyes when he was telling you a vivid story about how interesting a vacation was in Rome and Italy. He was so passionate about everything. You admired that about him. He noticed you're gawking, and smiled. Once you realised why he was staring at you, you blushed and looked down at your cup. Tom extended his long arm and held your head up. He smiled, and ran his fingers through your hair.

"You..." Tom began, licking his lips. He looked at you as though he was hurt.

"You are very beautiful." he stated. He ran one of his dextrously long fingers down your jaw bone. You start to tremble a bit. Tom giggled softly and patted at your shoulder, then he stood up. He avoided your eyes.

"C-call me. When you're done with work. I'll pick you up.." he almost whispered. Something was wrong with him. You wanted to know why. Why was he acting this way?

~*~

Work seemed to last eons. The seconds seemed like minutes, the minutes seemed like hours, hours felt like days. The time crept up on you slowly.

"Ughhhhh" you exasperated. It was midnight, and you had two hours and thirty more minutes of work. You completed all of your work. You even got a head start on next weeks project. So you sat in your cubicle, slowly occupied yourself by staring at the fish tank with the bright shiny fish swimming around. You puffed a hair out of your face. Then your printed out a project and the printer jammed. That was about the most action you've seen all day. There was about six other people on your floor with you. Usually the floors with the most people was the first and tenth floor. The first floor was some sort of shipping business and the tenth floor was some sort of doctor thing. You really wanted to go home. To see Tom. To understand what is bothering him; to most of all, sleep. Your manager offered you that from now on, you need be in by four o'clock a.m. And leave at five p.m. Maybe you should go over that with Tom sometime soon?

"Oh Thomas... Tell me.." you whisper to yourself, leaning back into your chair and thinking back at the coffee shop. You pouted to yourself.

~*~

Work was finally over. You called Tom but he didn't answer, so you decided to walk back home. For some reason, most of the streetlights were out. It was incredibly dim outside; you hear a group of people walk up behind you. You do a quick glance back at them and see four men your age. One of the men jumped up in front of you abruptly. You stop walking and step back a little, into two of the other men. The fourth man joined the tall blond that blocked your way- suddenly the men behind you, one with black hair and glasses and the other with a shaved head and an eyebrow piercing, each grabbed one of your arms. They were laughing and talking to each other in what seemed to be German or Swedish. You were frightened and tried to yell for help- but the man with blond hair took out a pocket knife and held it to your throat;
"Don't make sound." he said in a thick accent. Crying, you shut your mouth up, afraid of what may happen. The men all start talking to you at once, pushing you and grabbing whatever came into their hands; your purse, umbrella, wallet, everything. They let go of you for just long enough for you to pull out your phone and call the last number you did. Tom. Right as he answered, you tried screaming into the phone. Then the man with blond hair slapped it out of you hand and all you could hear from the phone was:

"Hello? Demi? Are you ok love?" you heard him ask frantically. When he heard nothing but faint womanly screams and men's voices, he yelled into the phone.

"WHERE ARE YOU? NEVER MIND I'LL COME FIND Y-" one of the men threw the phone away. The maybe-German men started pushing you into a corner and you reached for something to hit with. You feel a long piece of wood laying against the wall behind you, so you grab it and swing vigorously. You feel the wood come into contact with some of them, hear the men grunt with pain.

The one with the eyebrow piercing grabbed the piece of wood and threw it behind you, slapping you hard on your cheek, making you hit the ground hard.
You then hear someone run up just a few feet away.

"HEY," you hear Tom yell. The four men turn around, letting their backs turn on you. Tom runs up to them and says things you can't make out- you're too busy with what you're about to do. The shaved head guy walks towards Tom, brandishing a pocket knife. You find a piece of pipe that's a good foot in length, and silently crawl towards the blond boy.

"Leave her alone.... Don't do this... Maybe if you..." you hear only bits and pieces of what Tom is saying to the men. You slide closer to the blondie, and jabbed the pipe as hard as you can between his legs. When he fell to the ground, you stand and hit him a few more times, crying. Eyebrow guy then raced towards you, and you hold up your pipe. Tom tries to get closer, only to be met with Baldie's blade in Tom's shoulder. Eyebrow guy gets hit harshly across his jaw then gets jabbed in his stomach, and you run up to Baldie and hit him hard in the kidneys, then even harder between his legs. Tom then grabs your hand and runs out of there, and on your way out you grab your purse and wallet from Blondie.

After successfully making your way to your apartment building, you see Tom grabbing his shoulder with intense pain in his face.

"Oh Tom! Are you ok?" you whimpered, trying to look at his cut. He stepped back, and pressed you against him like he had at the park. You listened to his heart beat rapidly. Then sudden sobs.