The Banoffee Sundae Stalker

Chapter One

Katya had always felt that life had more to offer. She had vivid recollections of being a young girl, possibly twelve or thirteen and daydreaming about where she would be when she was all grown up. Hours upon hours would be spent picturing the perfect life. A white picket fence, gorgeous loyal labrador and a hard-working attentive husband like she'd seen in all of her favourite movies. Unfortunately, all that had materialized so far was a room in a dingy little shared accommodation where she had to keep her cereal and tins in her bedroom to stop them being pinched and the same minimum wage job that shed been working for 5 years with no recognition at all.

The only good thing that was going for her currently was Ollie. They'd been dating for around 6 months at this point, which was longer than she had ever dated anybody before. Unless you could consider her only other previous boyfriend, who had cried like a baby and punched walls every time that she had broached the topic of a break and had a weirdly incestuous relationship with his mother. No, Ollie was nothing like that. He was attentive without being overbearing and charismatic without being arrogant. She didn't get what he saw in her, but she was appreciative that he'd stuck around.

"Morning, buttercup." Came the familiar drone of her line manager who somehow never ended up on the early morning shift and could waltz in at 9am every day. Apparently the only perk to devoting the last 20 years of your life to retail, that and hating everything about your life.

"morning, Mara." Katya replied. "We're all good for the morning. Am I alright to have my break early, I forgot to grab breakfast?"

"Sure, but don't think you're going early, I'm already two people down today." Katya's smile turned to an eyeroll as soon as her back was turned and she raced to the break room. She hadn't had breakfast, but she never did, she hated to admit it but she wanted to check her messages and relax her face that had been stuck in the fake smile for the past couple of hours.

Twitter. Nothing

Instagram. Nothing

Facebook. A thumbs up from her Dad after she had messaged him the previous day reminding him of his doctors appointment. Typical.

Texts. Nothing.

She furrowed her brow in confusion as she drafted a quick text to Ollie and sent it without even checking. "hey, are we still on for this evening xxx"

She stared at the screen for a couple of seconds then slipped her phone onto silent and gave herself a pep talk to get through the rest of the day.

The hot August sun hit her face as she bounced down the high street heading home. One of the only benefits of working early morning shifts was that the afternoons were for Katya. Unfortunately, all of her friends had degrees and 9-5's so she had accustomed to spending a lot of time on her own, It was peaceful and she didn't have to worry about making plans or letting people down when she inevitably didn't fancy going out.

"Afternoon Katya" Katya had barely even walked through the door of the corner shop near her house before she was greeted by Lena. Katya and Lena physically were worlds apart. Katya was 5t 3 brunette with a oval face and more curvy than she was comfortable with and Lena tall sleek, with cheekbones which could probably cut through paper. Katya had known Lena since she moved into her shared accommodation just over a year ago but hadn't spoken until one day when a particularly merry gentleman had tried to make off with a 6 pack of beer a few months ago. Katya had caught the tail end of the debacle and fell flat on her arse when he barged through her trying to make a swift exit. Since then they had been thick as thieves and regularly giggled at the memory.

"You're going to make me fat Lena." Katya teased as she picked up a pack of jam donuts and headed to the tills. "why couldn't you have worked in a gym, I'm going to eat myself to death coming to see you."

"not before I do" laughed Lena pinching the non existing fat under her skin tight t-shirt. "Got any plans tonight?"

Katya remembered the text she sent Ollie earlier and checked her phone where just the word 'Ofcourse xxx' lit up as she pressed her thumb to the unlock button.

"Yeah, I'm going to dinner with Ollie for our 6 month anniversary. Not sure where yet but I'm hoping that it's fancy."

"oh Poop, but wouldn't you prefer to spend it with me. " Lena fluttered her eyelashes

"are you buying me dinner?"

"I can barely afford to buy myself dinner, let alone you but I'm off tomorrow evening if you want to do something."

"I'll let you know" Katya skipped out of the door, across the road and up the stairs to where she lived. She never spent much time anywhere other than her bedroom when she was home, the people weren't really her vibe. The accommodation comprised of a professional couple who seemed to never communicate with anyone else in the house unless it was to post a passive aggressive letter on the cork board by the front door complaining of something or other, a 20 something year old called Spike (she suspected a self appointed name) who spent his days in his bedroom listening to or playing loud music and George; the landlord, a soft spoken man in his 50's who had a kind face but was definitely not quick to make repairs or help out if there was an issue with the property.

She couldn't complain too much as she spent pennies living in London compared to other areas but she couldn't help but yearn for her own space that she could decorate to her own taste and not have to worry about anyone barging in on her when she was having a bath.

She fell backwards onto her bed and let out a sigh of relief. Finally alone, all she had wanted all day. She opened her phone again to check the time 5pm, two and a half hours to waste. It was embarrassing to think that she was willing the minutes to move forward so that she could see Ollie as she'd never been one of those girls who were more interested in the guy than they were of her but she felt it. How could he fancy her as much. He was a big shot accountant in central London with a little flat all to himself, he didn't need to share a bathroom with anyone or get 20 tubes to get to his work. He could have his pick of the litter. Sometimes she felt like he could do better but she knew she was being silly and that he liked her back.

Katya settled for snuggling back into bed and catching up on whatever tat on telly she had missed the evening before. The donuts plonked on the side were screaming her name but she resisted (just) so as not to ruin her appetite for the evening.