Cold Hearts in The Rain

Chapter 11

When did I stop breathing?

I felt air return to my lungs when Caleb shook me.

"We gotta get moving," he said, his voice deathly quiet. I stared at the car, my heart hammering in my chest. The man was back. He managed to find us again.

Of course he would. Why were we so naïve to think that he wouldn't go looking for us in the same spot that he first found us?

"Let's just call the cops," I begged. He nodded, still eying the car.

"You have to be quick," he said. "We don't know what this guy is capable of doing." It was my turn to nod, and I shakily felt for my phone.

"Crap, I forgot it," I muttered, looking to him. He pulled out his, and handed it to me.

"Call."

I dialed 911 as the man got out of his car. Caleb pulled me to him, and walked with me to the opposite direction of the man. He followed.

"911, what's your emergency?"

"There's this man following me and my friend and I have no idea what to do and--"

"Slow down, hun," the dispatcher soothed. "Now tell me everything."

So I told him.

"Go to a local store, okay?" he said. "We're tracking where you go right now. Keep on the phone."

"There are no stores nearby," I whispered, and looked to Caleb. He stopped and turned around.

"We have the cops on the phone," he warned to the man who was a few feet away from us. "I suggest you stop following us or you'll regret it."

That seemed to freak the man out. His steps faltered, until he stopped following us entirely. We sped away and I informed the dispatcher that the man left. He told me to stay on the phone anyway until officers arrived where we were.

It was going to be a long (yet short) day.

***

We missed the movie. I couldn't help but feel guilty about it. I know I didn't want to go, but I didn't want Caleb to miss it because of me. If I hadn't run off, and if I hadn't been so freaking emotional, this day would have been nice. But I screwed it up because I was an idiot. This is why I needed to control my emotions and stop feeling.

Caleb decided to take me out for dinner, which I was automatically uncomfortable with considering it was like a date. But, I didn't protest because of my guilt.

As we sat down in the little diner, Caleb was super chatty. I don't remember the things he said considering I was too distracted with my dumb emotions. I was trying to silence them, but they were too loud. Colors then flooded my brain.

Not the ones I usually soothe myself in.

No, these were vibrant colors. Colors of all my emotions that I've tried so hard to suppress. I attempted to paint over them with gray, but they just exploded the color off of them each time I did. My leg started to jitter in frustration, until Caleb reached over and squeezed my hand to get my attention.

"Sorry," I muttered, uncomfortable with the gesture.

"You all right?" he inquired, letting go.

"This is like a date," I blurted out.

His eyebrow raised, and I looked away out of embarrassment. Of course this wasn't a date... but it sure as hell did feel like one. Maybe I was being paranoid. Or maybe I just wanted it to be one.