That Perfect Stranger

Chapter 16

After that freakishly scary old lady had attacked us with her book we continued on to muck around, trying not to be too loud. Tom picked up a children's book and started reading it out loud to me. I sat on a table and laughed at how his voice sounded.

He looked up at me, closing the book and laughing. "I should buy this and read it every night to you." I kept laughing and pulled the book out of his hands, hitting him with it pretending to be the old lady.

"No kissing in my shop!! Next time i'll kick you out!!" Tom snatched it out of my hands with a massive smile on his face. "How about i'll hit you with it!"

He started trying to hit me with it but I kept dodging the book. Suddenly Tom fell on top of me, both of us knocking a statue over. He laid on top of me, staring at the now shattered statue all over the carpet. We both froze, listening for loud and fast footsteps.

My eyes were clenched shut and I held onto Tom's shirt tightly.

"Is it bad?"

"Ya."

Suddenly we herd the footsteps up the stairs and it sounded like she was angry. Straight away, we both clung to each other, trying to get up but failing because Tom was pulling one way and I was pulling the other.

"Shes coming!! Poppy, if we die, I just wanted to say that I love you so so much!!" She walked around the corner with her book in her hand and a terrifying angry face.

As soon as she saw the statue she gasped and looked at us. "YOU!!!" I grabbed Tom's shirt again. "Shes looking at us!!" She started to walk towards us.

Ok I know shes really old and wrinkly and small...but shes SCARY AS HELL!! I thought old ladies were cute!! Tom pulled out his wallet, quickly getting out heaps of money.

"Look look look! I'll pay for it!! I have the money!! Here!! Take it!!" She held her book in the air as he walked faster towards us. "I'm terribly sorry about the stat..."

She started hitting us with her book. Tom threw the money at her as we tried to get out of the shop.

We ran towards the stairs and she threw her book at us, making us stumble down the stairs. "Don't ever come back!!"

I shoved the door open as we ran out of the shop, completely terrified of that old lady. We were both panting as we looked at each other.

"We're alive!!!" Tom swung his arms around us as people gave us funny looks and pointed at Tom. I started to laugh as he swung me around.

"Can we go get lunch now? I'm starving after what just happened. And anyway, you said you were gonna take me out." Tom grabbed my hand, ignoring all the people and we started to walk.

"I'm hungry as well."

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We found a nice cafe and had already gotten our food, which was absolutely delicious! Now we're just sitting here finishing the rest of our drink and having a talk.

"So, tell me about your family. Why is it just you and your brother?" The question did give me a bit of a shock because I haven't said anything about it in years.

"Um..." He gave me a worried look, knowing what I was thinking. "You know what? Don't worry about it. Save it for another time."

He stood and grabbed my hand, dragging me out of the cafe. "Lets go for a walk in the park." He dragged me across the road and we started to stroll through the park, hand in hand.

"Todays been nice...apart from that old lady." We both started to laugh at the same time as people walked past.

"I would of started doing all my ninja moves but um...I just couldn't do it on an old lady." I kept laughing as Tom started to swing our arms. "Tom...we were both scared, admit it." He snorted and pulled a face as it to say 'no way.'

"I was not scared...ok I was scared a lot." We both kept on laughing as we walked past the lake.

Suddenly Tom stopped. I looked up at him, seeing that he was looking around us. "Tom whats wrong?" His eyes slowly moved from one thing to another.

"Oh no." I tugged on his hand. "Tell me!" He held my hand tighter and started walking really fast. "Tom?" He had his head down as he looked at me.

"Put your head down. If I start to run then you start to run."

Ok, what the hell is going on!? My heart feels like it's going to explode.

"There's the paparazzi everywhere. Their always wanting to know whats going on with my private life." We turned a corner and there was a whole group of them right there, flashing their cameras in our faces.

I tried to cover my face so people wouldn't see who I was. They were all throwing questions at Tom about me. He held my hand really tight and started to run in the opposite direction.

"C'mom love!" I looked over my shoulder and saw that they were following us.

"So it's always like this!?"

"Sometimes!"

We went around a bend and saw that it was blocked off because of what the builders were doing there. "Oh no." We turned around and saw that they were getting closer and still flashing their cameras.

"Tom...do something!" He picked me up and put me in the garden, then jumping over the little wall himself. "Hurry love!"

I followed him through all the bushes and then we were on the other side. He helped me down, grabbing my hand and running again. Down the road was their van.

A few people jumped out with a video camera turned on. "Tom! Is she your new girlfriend!? Tom!" Now that person was chasing us while some more people caught up to us.

We ran as hard as we could down the street, trying to loose the people.

He grabbed my hand again and dragged me into a shop. He looked at the man working there and pointed towards the back. "Back exit?" The man smile and nodded, pointing to where the door was.

He dragged me through the shop all the way through the back door, leading to a little alleyway. Straight away we both collapsed, trying to catch our breaths.

"Wow, what a run." I smiled and didn't say anything back. He leaned against the brick wall, watching me as I caught my breath back.

"Darling, i'm really sorry about that." I sat next to him and grabbed his hand gently. "It's fine."

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Hope you enjoyed it! Things are and will start to get a bit more exciting in the story :)