chatroulette's stranger

Chapter Twenty four : Try a little stalking

Waking up that day has been pretty hard, even sleeping early hadn't helped vanish the dark circles under my eyes. My sleep has been tormented with nightmares about being found, having to move again and never seeing Esteban again. I quickly put some make up on to mask the dark areas, a,d head downstairs . Esteban was still asleep, i prepared breakfast , took my plate and turned the TV on . it was too early to wake him so i just ate alone, watching old cartoons and animes, Caleb found it weird, but watching it , always made me feel light, as if i was still a child, careless...

Later on, Esteban came down, he seemed in a great mood, joking while warming up his plate. Days like this were the best, only being with a person you truly appreciate and care freely spend time with that dear person, unfortunately , like every single god thing in this life, these moments have to come to an end or else when they happen, we wouldn't pay enough attention and in the end, never really profit from it.

Esteban came sitting on the couch next to me, i snuggled with him and we spent time just like that seeking warmth and enjoying the calm atmosphere we occasionally had. Then the phone rang , when i answered. it was Caleb

'Hey sis, how is it going ?'

'Everything's alright, what about you ? '

'Same here, i would like to see you, for lunch may be ?'

'Yeah sure ' i enthusiastically answered.

'Awesome . Oh and bring Esteban with you!' he asked

'Okay will do, Take care'

'Laters'

"Everything's alright ? "asked Esteban after i hung up .

"Yes, don't worry. it's just Caleb. he invited us for lunch" I answered

"Us ?...is this a good or a bad thing for me ?"

"What do you mean bad ? " i laughed

"does it mean he's okay with the fact that we're together or is he planning to threatening me into keeping off of you and going back to Argentina ?"

" I don't think he actually knows" i said

" do you want to tell him ? "

do i want to tell him and complicate things even further ?

"i don't know, i don't think it really matters, do you wan to tell him ? " i asked

" I don't really want to but he's your brother and tutor, maybe it would be best to tell him , in order to make things clear" he explained

"complicated too" i added

"Complicated and clear "

An hour later,while going to the bedroom, i noticed my hair in the mirror, it had split ends and no form at all, it was just plain long auburn hair, i wanted a little bit of change something new, something spicy. So i decided to have a new haircut before lunch, i was thinking about it for some time but the fear of losing length had always made me indecisive. I went to a little shop in the mall, having no idea what i wanted so i just let the hairdresser do whatever he wanted to.

After twenty minutes of cutting, i finally discovered myself with a medium length hair, some layers and a side bangs. it looked great plus less hair meant less work and time spent on it . On my way out, i looked at the clock on the wall : i still had an hour before lunch. I decided to wander around for a bit inside the mall, passing through the multiple stores, admiring the very well dressed woman , some people were walking hand in hand , smiling while others were struggling with their children running everywhere... i've also seen the ones walking alone but in a hurry with a lot of bags , others probably thinking about what presents they could buy for their loved ones, a young man was looking at many rings on a display case, another woman was doing the same in a video games store...I turn around feeling watched and i see this woman in a brown coat staring at me, i keep walking not paying atention to her but after minutes i still see her reflection in a shop's showcase. I feel like i know her but i can't remember her, i head out of the mall, walking to the restaurant we were supposed to meet in, at the corner of the street, i stop to check if she were still there, but she's not. I start walking again slower this time, when i arrive at the restaurant, Esteban's already there waiting for me at the door, " you look beautiful " he says before he enters and holds the door for me but before i cross it, i turn around again. There's no woman in a brown coat but i see a black car with smoked glass just in front of the restaurant . I try to forget about it and enter the place. Esteban and i look around and spot Caleb with Vanessa in a table near the window, I hug them both and sit in front of them, with Esteban by my side, we start the conversation by talking about their jobs , the small house he has just spotted then the news about our school and lives but the waiter interrupts us to take our order.

" I see you have cut your hair, it looks so pretty like that, when did you do it " Vanessa asks

"this morning just before i came here" i answer while touch my hair

"Well the hairdresser sure did a wonderful job" she adds

Then Caleb says : " for sure it changes from the mane you display daily" then he adds " i actually miss it"

"sure you do " i respond

At that moment the waiter came with our orders that looked very delicious i found myself not only wanting to eat my plate but also theirs, which of course i was going to do...

the lunch went well, i even convinced myself that the incident from before was only my imagination or a simple coincidence, Vanessa stood up to go to the bathroom in order to refresh her make up. That's when Caleb decided to ask us a very tricky question

"So are you two, together ?"

my eyes met Esteban's, and he was like asking me what i wanted him to answer, i didn't know what to do or say, so he just turned his gaze on Caleb and answered : " Yes we are "

Caleb didn't look really surprised instead it was a thoughtful look, as if he was thinking about how to ask his question may be.

"You're not taking advantage of the situation are you ? I mean since you too live in the same -"

"what ? No , Caleb of course not " i cut him off. I felt so embarrassed that he asked that, i knew that he prepared something but not this kind of things ...Since i actually had a different point of view on the situation.