The Pursuit

Ten

TEN 

Monday came rolling around, and I was jittery at the prospect of seeing Caleb today. We hadn't spoken to each other ever since he dropped me off, and somehow I was afraid that he changed his mind about me after our date. Maybe he came across an even more beautiful woman on Sunday or realized I wasn't worth the chase.

Stop it! I scolded myself. Caleb's not like that. 

I took a deep breath and cleared my head of those farcical thoughts. I quietly munched on my oatmeal and read through the old morning newspaper from yesterday. Afterwards I placed the dirty dishes in the sink and dressed up ready to go for another day of interning. 

I locked up my loft behind me and took the stairs down to the main lobby of the building. There was an elevator in this building, but when I tried it once, the doors only closed but never moved. I panicked and never used tried using it again. I sort of had something against elevators ever since I was little.

The man at the front desk, who I had come to know was named Rick, was as always sleeping soundly on the counter with his head propped against his arms. I laughed to myself at the sight and proceeded on heading out of the building. I walked passed by the parking lot that still had cars from my neighbors. I only ever saw them when I was coming home late from work. I didn't bring myself to associate with them any further. 

They were cars that you would typically match up to a person living in a loft like mine. Except for one of them which seemed all-too familiar. Caleb's car was parked in the same spot on Saturday night when he dropped me off. 

With a frown on my face, I walked up to the car and looked inside which was pretty hard to do considering it was darkly tinted. Was Caleb here or was it just a coincidence that a person had the same car? I highly doubted the latter for his car seemed to be pretty sparse in the entire city of Seattle. 

I noticed a group of three thug-looking men eyeing the car from a short distance away. It wouldn't be a far-fetched guess that they were part of a gang. They were all whispering to each other and kept on pointing or looking at the car. One of them caught my eye and tipped his head in acknowledgement along with a nasty smile. I held on to my bag tighter and spun around to head back inside the building.

Just like I thought, there was Caleb sitting on one of the sofas in the lobby looking innocently down at his watch. 

"Caleb!" I said getting his attention as I walked closer until I was standing only a few feet away. "God, what are you doing here?"

His ever charming smile changed his entire face, and he stood up. "I was thinking I could surprise you with a ride to the office."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "How long have you been waiting?"

"Quite a while," he shrugged. "I didn't know what time you usually left your place, so I came here early just in case I miss you."

The thought of him being here long and looked around the place where I lived made me tense in embarrassment. I didn't want him knowing I lived in a crappy place. You could just tell from the blinking lights on the ceiling, minimal decorations, and the sleeping receptionist that this place wasn't so hot.

I pulled on his hand leading him outside. "We should get going now." The image of those guys sent shivers down my spine. "It's not safe for you to stay here long, you know, especially with your flashy car." I dropped his hand as we reached his car. "Next thing you know, your car will be vandalised or worse gone."

Caleb looked at me with an entertained look. "Pardon me?"

I threw my hands up in the air. "I'm not kidding! This side of the city isn't so great, and people like you don't know what to expect."