Stuck On The Puzzle

The Late Night - Chapter 4

Natalie's POV:

I get home around 4 o'clock and chuck my leather jacket on the sofa. I had work tomorrow but not until the afternoon so I packed my bag getting it ready. It was the last day tomorrow before the Christmas holidays and my work shut until January the 4th. Uni didn't start again until the 7th.

Me and Alex had decided to meet again at a street called Memory Lane but at 7 o'clock, in the dark. I was still unknown as to why he had to take off. Maybe he was going to apologise tonight and explain? I decided to check my Twitter and see if there was anything on there about him. Was he in a band? Maybe an actor. I flicked through and a photo cropped up of us sitting in the café. It was me and him, 100%. I gasped and my heart felt like it had stopped. Why were there pictures of me online with him? I put my phone down again and refused to look further into why I was so special. Why was there photos of us in the coffee shop. He certainly was famous now for sure. I felt bad finding out about him on the Internet. I felt like that jealous girl stalking her ex and his new girlfriend. At the end of the day I am entitled to find out exactly why people had taken photos of us. I unlocked my phone. I read the caption,

'Alex Turner seen with young girl at Grumpy Café, New York'

Alex Turner. The name didn't exactly ring any bells. "Do I search the name?" I thought. Maybe Matthew would know, but then if he did I didn't want him to take the piss or laugh at me for not knowing who he was. I felt like I should at least know what he does. I came to the conclusion that I would wait for him to tell me and I liked the whole mysterious and unknown feeling I got from him. I put on my Spotify and played some of The Strokes again.
I had surround sound speakers put up in the main living area so it was great for parties, especially as I still had no neighbours next door either sides.

After touching up on my makeup and making a quick stir fry a random song comes up on my Spotify. It usually did this as I didn't have premium and they sometimes played suggested tracks too that were around the same genre of music as the artist you were currently listening to. It sounded decent, quite catchy. I found my foot tapping to the rhythm as I served up my stir fry onto the plate. Wait a second...
The voice sounded familiar. It almost sounded like Alex's. I raced over to the laptop and checked the artist name. 'Arctic Monkeys'.
I was sure it was him. I decided to ring Matt. I sat down with my plate of food and a Koppaberg and he answered, "Yo." He bellows down the line. "Hey, do you know the song Suck it and See?" I ask. He hesitates, "Yeah I think so that's a Monkeys one right?!" He says. "Yeah, just listening to it now it sounds decent." I reply. "So is that all you wanted to ask?" He says laughing. "Yeah. Well, no. Who's the lead singer?" I say slightly worried as to what name he might say. "That really cool guy, what's his name. He's a proper rock god. Umm.. Alex Turner?" He questions. "Right okay thanks bye." I say in a panic and hang up before he can speak. Alex was in a band.

I had only just left the house and it was 6:56pm. The street lights were glistening and I looked up to the sky taking a deep breath, there was a full moon shining above me. I almost didn't need the street lights to light the way down the road, it was light enough with the moon. I purposely step on the crunchy leaves feeling slightly satisfied with the sound of them under my feet. They weren't the nice shades of red and orange you get in the late autumn. They were now dark and old, rotten and crispy. It was 4 days until Christmas and I was expecting Matt's vinyls I'd promised to get him that day any time tomorrow morning. I check my phone. No texts had been sent between me and Alex since we decided to meet up. It felt weird. I hadn't listened to anymore Arctic Monkeys songs since this afternoon. That was only the one. 'Suck it and See'. It sounded a bit sexual but I suppose it's the way you perceived it to be. I was certain that Memory Lane wasn't far from my hotel. Not even 10 minutes. As I approached the junction I made a sharp turn down the street. Suddenly I'm stood face to face with a huge guy dressed in a black suit. He was slightly scruffy and looked bruised in the face. "Sorry." I say quickly and try and dodge him but he moves in my way again. "Where do you think your going love?" He says darkly. He raises his hand and puts a large bottle of wine to his lips. He stumbles towards me and I edge closer and closer to the wall of the nearest building. Fuck. "Can you move please." I say shutting my eyes wishing it was all a dream, trying to keep myself calm at the same time. "Don't think you can get away that easily honey." He grumbles moving closer to me and resting a hand against the wall. "You touch her and you'll be asking for it mate, do one." A man says shoving him further away from me. I look up opening my eyes again. It was Alex. Relief washes over me as he grabs me by the waist and walks me down the street. I don't dare look back and make eye contact with the drunk man. "Thanks." I say quietly. He was breathing heavily and his fingers dug in slightly to my side in my leather jacket. "Listen, I saw some photos of us online and I was a bit confused as to why they were there but I mean I'd guessed you were famous so I-" all of a sudden he pins me up against the wall and leans closely into me. "Natalie." He says sighing slightly. His breath is hot and tingles down my neck. "Wow okay I guess I see where this is going." I say jokingly. He leans into me, closer and closer. There was barley any space between us. "You've been on my mind all day." He whispers. My arms were dead straight by my side. I look up into his eyes which were bright and sparkling in the dim streetlights. He chuckles to himself shaking his head letting go of me. He walks a few steps down the pavement and takes a glance behind him looking back at me. I slowly approach him and he holds his hand out. I take it and he intertwines his fingers with mine.