Fling to Ring

Handsome Rescue

The next ten seconds were a blur. Without looking to where I was going, I had managed to set my bag down onto the floor again and sit back down. As if his eyes commanded my every move, I remained sitting in my seat, but my legs were not completely under the table. I assumed that because I couldn't lose this gaze I had with this stranger, that I hadn't actually moved at all. I was mistaken, for my original pose was neat and composed with my legs under the table. Now, I had managed to sit comfortably at the edge of my seat with my legs awkwardly resting out beside the legs of the table. The woman, who I could only imagine was the disgruntled woman from the back of the café, was walking with her friend towards the door to leave. However, she had decided that the route near my table was the easier way out of the crowded café. In an attempt to quietly leave, she was not looking to where she was walking and had accidentally tripped from my awkwardly placed feet. I did not fully realize what had happened until the eyes I was staring at had shifted their gaze to a different direction, breaking the spell.

This woman managed to jump back up from the fall in a matter of seconds, but she looked different than before she fell. Her face was a bit dirty from the floor, since the rain had caused many people to track some dirt in. Immediately after she stood back up, her eyes filled with a certain amount of rage, that you could possibly see steam coming from her ears at a certain angle. Before she could even begin starting a fight, I could see a small trail of blood begin to ooze out from her nose. Her friend had stopped her from yelling so that she had enough time to catch the blood from falling onto her clothing. The woman gave me an unsettling glance that most likely meant I'm coming back for you before she ran to the restroom to clean up her face.

I was not entirely sure what had happened or how it all happened, but when I looked back at the stranger who had sat down in front of me, he was smirking at me. His eyes were not the only ones looking at me after the incident. The entire café seemed to be waiting to see what was going to happen next. I wasn't sure if I wanted to stick around for what was to come. I got back up again and made my way to the front entrance. Before I could walk outside, I forgot that it was still raining heavily, and I didn't bring an umbrella to protect me. I glanced back at the table where I was previously sitting and had the urge to go back and sit down. Unsure of what I was going to do next, I saw the doors from the women's restroom swing open with the two women from before, each with fresh looking faces. Both of them seemed pretty upset, but the one I pissed off seemed like she was about to bring hell. In an instant, I ran out the front entrance trying to put some distance between us. Even though it was still raining hard, that did not stop the anger these women held. They also ran after me and in an effort to stop me, one tried to jump into the car they had parked by the curb. Luckily for me, I wasn't wearing heels today.

I took a right turn into an alley that lead out to the other side of the café, basically running in a circle. The car wouldn't be able to fit in the alley, but the woman was still running after me. I kept running and casually looked back to see how close the woman really was. She was about thirty feet behind me. I could see the back end of the café at the end of the alley leading out to another street, but before I could get closer, somebody yanked me into a smaller side alley to my right. A hand was clasped over my mouth in an effort to keep me quiet, but I didn't know if I was in more danger in this way or not. The sound of those horrendous heels got louder, and the huffing of the woman was more audible. They came closer, and I actually broke a sweat waiting to see what would happen. Maybe I was going to die today after all. I was semi-conscious of the mysterious figure holding me against my will in the shadows of the small alley, but at the same time I was worried the woman would find me. The person who held onto me was pulling me back somewhere closer to a pretty big trashcan. I struggled walking backwards, but we had made it behind the trashcan and crouched down so that nobody from the main alley could actually see that I was behind it. I could hear the sounds of heels get louder until finally fading away and becoming like small taps in the distance before silence. I sighed in relief as I realized I escaped this crazy woman.

The hand around my mouth loosened and the arm around me had been released. I turned to face the person who had helped me escape my predicament. I met the familiar blue eyes that had captured my gaze earlier. This time, I did not surrender to his gaze since we were in the shadows. The rain continued to pour upon our heads in unison. My clothing, which was probably soaked by now, was clinging to my body like the heat of a summer's night. I could not tell if I was sweating or not. He looked soaked as well, but he quickly and quietly pulled out his tightly wrapped umbrella. It sprung open above our heads, and the sound of rain tapping the top of the umbrella surrounded us. The tapping began to slow down, probably at the same pace my breathes had calmed down. After a few seconds, the rain was no longer surrounding us. We did not speak for several seconds, but instead we held conversations with each other through our gaze. I felt as though I could know everything about him just by the way he looked at me, and I felt that I was an open book when he stared back.

"Why did you help me?" I had the courage to ask. He chuckled again making me feel like that was the only thing he could do. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but only the pitter patter of raindrops could be heard above us. The rain had picked up again.