Chasing Possibilities

2 - Of Stalkers, Strangers, and Old Friends

"So B? Do you know this person? I didn't know you had lots of friends. You didn't strike me as friendly. Sorry just being honest." Sydney asked me, after our shift and handed me back the note.

"No I don't know this person. And you don't need to rub it in to my face that I'm practically friendless. Thank you very much!" I said and we both laughed.

Sydney was one of the only two friends I had. The other one was, you guessed it, Perry. I wasn't exactly very friendly but I'm not entirely friendless either. If you counted cousins as friends then I pretty have a lot. I just had a hard time connecting with people ever since I got rejected by this one special friend back in grade school. That incident led to my being an aloof person and disconnected to the rest of the human populace.

It was really a miracle being friends with Sydney actually. We were totally complete opposites. While I was a self-proclaimed anti-social, she was very sociable and likable. I was average looking while she could have passed as a product endorser with her perfect fair skin, long shiny black hair, slender body, and very pretty face.

Despite our very huge difference, I was really grateful we've clicked since day one because she made my life in the office pleasant and bearable. She always had so many silly stories to tell and she always kept me posted with the office gossip. Not that I fancied being in the loop of everything happening in the office. I actually pretty much wanted to stay away from all the drama and stress. I didn't want anything to do with other people's business.

"So where to?" Sydney was busy fumbling with her locker. We always ate breakfast together because I hated cooking in the morning. I'd rather head straight to sleep the moment I got home from work.

"I found this nice place not so far from here. It's a cutesy cafe and it opens at 7 am." I responded took my bag and replaced my jacket inside.

We headed straight to cafe the moment we got out of the office building. It was a short 15 minutes' walk and we were able to talk about the random anonymous messages I received lately. When we arrived at the cafe, it was pretty clear that they had just opened. We were the first customers there. It wasn't surprising because it was still pretty early. We found ourselves a nice seat by the corner of the cafe and settled our things. The waiter took our orders and we went back talking the moment he left.

"Wait up, you also received an anonymous viber message yesterday? Like a stalker message?"

"No. I don't think he was a stalker. He knows, I mean, knew me well. We went to the same school." I said sounding defensive for Rye.

"But?" Sydney inquired further. It really amazed me how good Sydney was with reading my thoughts. I was probably just too easy to read.

"But I can't remember him."

"See? Stalker Alert! Did you respond?" When I didn't say anything, Sydney glared at me and fired theories after theories at me. Like Rye could be a psycho stalker who had a huge crush on me, or a psycho killer looking for the next victim, and a lot more that had "psycho" in it.

"What were you thinking?" She finished.

"I'm thinking you just had too much Psycho Thriller series in your computer. Anyway, I just have this feeling that Rye and I were friends." I told her, defending Rye from all her accusations.

"You see! That's how they work! They make you feel like your friends and then attack you when you're the most vulnerable."

"Oh stop! You make it sound so dramatic. I trust my guts, he's not a nutcase!" I said convincing her of Rye's innocence. "I can handle this. Promise I'd be careful."