Bestfriends

Lilan

Me and P listen to his moms advice and keep walking past their apartment complex. I make sure not to make it too obvious that I was looking over our shoulders.

The guy was a tall, thin man wearing dark grey and black clothes. He had his hood up over his head so we couldn't see his face. P keeps looking over at me to make sure I'm okay.

I'm not. I can feel a panic attack coming on. I'm so scared. I've been taught to protect myself against men. I know all the stories about rape and being mugged. This guy makes me think of them.

I go into full fight mode. I suddenly stop. I dont even know what I'm doing. Peter stares at me, eyes wide. I turn around and yell out, "WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH US?!?!?"

The man looks up. His eyes are like darts to my brain. He gives me a cold stare and doesn't respond. He starts walking toward us. Peter tugs on my arm, but I stay put.

The man gets about 5 feet away from me and stops. He looks straight into my eyes and simply whispers, "run."

My eyes grow wide and I turn to sprint off. Peter follows. I get small glances behind me of the man, he's jogging, his pace is getting quicker. He's fast. I'm getting worried.

Peter catches up to me and tells me to run for my life. As if I dont already know that. We run, and run, and run until we get to a small, dark alley. We turn into it.

We're hoping to be able to hide somewhere. Peter spots a squating area behind some wood boxes and a dumpster. I agree and we hide behind it.

My panic attack is here. I can feel myself tensing up and not being able to breathe. I start shaking uncontrollably and crying hysterically. I'm trying to be as quiet as I can, but at the same time, I can't breathe.

It feels like a 200 pound weight just sitting on my chest. I cant see through all the tears and I can't sit still.

Peter notices my attack and instantly hugs me super tight. I fall into him. He's so comfortable and safe. I feel like I can just lay here for the rest of my life. I feel his fast heartbeat and hurried breathing. He's worried and scared, just like me.

I hear footsteps walking down the alley. I quickly pull closer into Peter and tuck my face I his chest, so the man won't hear my panicked breaths. Peter holds me so tight.

He's shaking. The man stops right in front of the dumpster. I can hear his heartbeat. Peter holds his breath, I hold mine. After what seems like 5 hours, the footsteps slowly recede. As soon as we can't hear him anymore we exhale.

I keep my face buried in Peter's chest, even after the man leaves. I can feel his movements, every movement. I feel something and come up off of him.

He's red, super red like a tomato. "Well this is awkward." He blurts. "Let's go." I mumble and we get up and go.

                                     -**-

We walk up the steps to Peter's building and knock on the door. His mom opens the door carefully, as if there's a stranger on the other side, but as soon as she sees its us, she opens it and hugs us super tight. I feel her breath of relief while she's hugging us.

We walk in behind her and she immediately bombards us with questions. "What happened?!" "How did you get him to leave?!" Where did yall go?!" "Why didn't you wait for me or the police?!?!?"

I tell her that we ran and hid in an alley and he just wandered off. I left out the part about me confronting him. Peter also says that there's nothing to worry about and we're safe now.

Peter and I walk to his room and plop down onto his bed. He looks at me, "are you ok?"

"No"

"Yea I can tell"

"I'm sorry about the panic attack..."

"Don't apologize for something you can't control! That's why I'm here Li. I'll always be here..."

I feel something. Like a connection. As I drown in his deep chocolate brown eyes, I wonder what I'm feeling. Butterflies. That feeling when you see someone you like a lot and get excited.

Do I like peter...

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