The first look

-01-

It was a stormy night in Philadelphia , I was walking down a street had walked down a thousand times. My father always discouraged me from walking there because of the high rate of shady shit that happens in those alley's, but I guess you could say I don't love to follow the rules. Usually it's pretty quiet but tonight was a little different, I heard a loud yell and three voices from behind a wall. I stayed and listened and recognised one of the voices, my brothers friend Paul Cincinnati, or how we called him; Big Pauly.
"You got the fuckin money or not? We ain't got all night ya know!"I heard one of the men say, with a thick New York accent, to Pauly.
"Shushh, quiet down you don know what kinda folks could hear ya down here.", Pauly said.
Now i had to stay quiet, judging by the reputation of the ally and the New York accents, i discerned they were most likely connected to the mob.
"I ain't got the money okay? I'll get it for ya ina bit, now get off my back and let's move on!", I heard Pauly say.
The next thing I knew, I heard the cocking of a gun and the sound of a kick. The men started beating the shit out of Pauly, who laid on the floor quiet as a mouse except for a few coughs her and there. My hart pounded as I wondered what i could do, eventually I mustered up the courage to run over to the ment and push them of Pauly. In the confusion of it all the gun went off, the blast nearly turned me deaf, and it hit one of the men who fell on to ground, groaning in pain. I caught a glimpse of the other guy, who was still standing, he had beautiful blue eyes and dark hair. However, he disappeared before i cold get a good look, he grabbed his partner and fled the crime scene, not before sneaking in a little:"Fuck u!" for good measure.
"Who.....how......what......happened?", Pauly said
He was probably unconscious for a good minute so he was confused as fuck, the fact he probably got a concussion also didn't help.
"Who are u? Why'd ya save me?", he slowly opened his eyes, and eventually his eyes widened.
"Y/N? Is that you?!", he said excitedly
He got up, with a struggle, and hugged me
"Where ya been? Joey said u went off to university!"
"Well, you know, my brother loves to talk about my life. And yeah i'm actually studying not so far from here, do you live nearby?"
"Yeah just down da street over there, Ya brother never said nothin about you bein a hero tho."
I blushed, Pauly was always a flirty type, after my brother left for university i stopped seeing Pauly as much anymore, but he was my biggest childhood crush. My childhood nostalgia was interrupted when i saw Pauly was bleeding from his lip, and i was reminded that he was just beat the fuck up.
"Pauly, Who did this to you? are you involved with some shady stuff or something?"
"Neah, nothin like that, just some dumb teens who think they better than me."
"Well, do you want to come back to my dorm, you seem pretty beat up and I don't want you to pass out, or for them to find you again"
"No need, my apartment's like a minute from here."
"Well, maybe....I'll see you again?"
"Yeah, if you're lucky, see ya around."
And there he went, off to go his own way. I hadn't seen him for 2 years and yet I recognised him immediately and something told me this wasn't gonna be the last time I saw him.

The next day I went to school I had a strange feeling, something was off. During the break i sat with my friends in the schoolpark and asked them:
"Do you guys think the mob's at this school?"
"What?", my friend Meghan replied
"like, the mafia is active in our community or something?"
"Girl, what the fuck are u on about? Was there something in your lunch?", Christy asked
"No, it's just that.....yesterday I was walking back to school when two guys beat the fuck out of one of my brother's friends, and i think they may have been connected."
"Shut up, seriously? What did u do?"
"Well, i pushed one of the guys off of Pauly and....well...."
"Well what?"
"Come on hurry up already!"
"He shot himself in the foot! I was so stunned i just didn't know what to do!"
"What? and you're still alive?"
"How?"
"I don't know, they just....left."
"And Pauly? Is he okay?"
"I don't know, he seemed okay after, but he could have been hiding it, he seems like a guy who doesn't want to be emasculated."
"Wow, that's crazy, you should like write a book or something."
"Yeah and call it like, My crazy mafia encounter by Y/N. That would be so cute!"
"Guys, did you no hear what i said? The fucking mob is in Pennsylvania
, aren't you fucking scared?!"
"Well, they can't really do a lot can they?"
"They're the mob of course they can!"
Suddenly our conversation was interrupted by a ball hitting Christy in the face, soon after a few jocks walked over and laughed at Christy, except for one guy. He was handsome, had cute black hair and gorgeous blue eyes.
"Hey are u okay?", he asked with a deep voice
"fine thanks", Christy said reluctantly
"I'm sorry the guys are assholes, but can i have the ball back?"
"Seriously? Whatever, here.", Christy threw the ball at his head hoping it would hit him in the face, but all it did was expose his muscly arm.
He walked away, and i couldn't shake the feeling i had seen him before, his eyes, his hair his accent. And then it hit me.
He was the guy beating Pauly.