Beneath the Boardwalk (Alex Turner) COMPLETE

7 {against the wall}

I pulled up my hood and tried to calm my heartbeat. What was I thinking? What if he saw me?

I had made it so I was hiding behind a corner. I knew Turner was in the alleyway, alone. A million questions ran through my head. I risked a short glance around the corner to see him, with a cigarette dangling between his fingers. He inhaled slowly, then I saw smoke escape his lips, and fade away in the cool night chill. Effortlessly cool. He blended into the night. 

I quickly turned back before he saw me. He was waiting for somebody, wasn't he? At least I thought. I pressed my back against the wall. God, this was crazy. I was freezing cold and could be at home doing something more productive, but I was impulsively watching where my professor left at night? That doesn't sound like me at all! I saw my breath in the air, cold.

Actually, the air wasn't just cold. It was sweeping--it was icy, breathing down my neck in frost, dripping off my clothing. The temperature dropped when I heard footsteps coming my way. I needed to find a place to hide, and fast. There was no option. My only one was to run.

But I was too loud. I heard more footsteps, and oh god, they were fast. I didn't want to check who they were. I ran behind the corner of some building and hope I'd lost whoever it was.

It wasn't long before they caught up to me, grabbed my arms and pinned me harshly against the wall. With a pit of dread falling below my feet, I confirmed it was Turner. He was standing only a few inches away from me, a little out of breath. His eyes were wide and eyebrows raised, cheeks red. I felt uncomfortably close.

"What the bloody hell, Greene?" 

Brick dug into the back of my head, crumbling on my shoulders. It was hard looking up at him. Panic made it hard to breathe as well, I wanted to be home and have no part in this. I bit the inside of my cheek, hard. My curiosity had no limits. "I--"

Suddenly his hand clamped over my mouth. It was warm and had a sense of urgency, and he listened for something. Soon I could hear voices in the distance. Then the voices faded, and we were plunged into silence once again. He removed the hand.

He let out a breath, shutting his eyes for a moment. His grip was strong and firm on my wrists and his body was oh, so close to mine. Heat rolled off his suit. "You're not supposed to be here."

I couldn't think of a lie, and there was something in his eyes that dared me to try and conjure up one. The truth just seemed to slip out. "I just wanted to see if the rumours were true."

He squinted his eyes at me, staring at me in silence for about a minute. I was never used to the attention of somebody studying me that much, trying to figure me out. His gaze got under my skin, and it burrowed there, deep and crawling. "The," he said flatly, "rumours."

"You know... students... talk."

His eyelids fluttered in annoyance. "About?"

My heart skipped a beat. "Uh... you know."

"No, darling, I really don't."

I sighed. It's so hard to find your voice when your lungs refuse to breathe properly. "Why you're late. Where you leave to. Why you drink so much."

He stilled, and I was worried I'd upset him. Turner stared at me, his gaze cold as stone. It travelled over my eyes, my lips. I swallowed. With this proximity, there was no way I couldn't be thinking of what it'd be like with him on top of me. He was painfully close.

I didn't expect the response. "That's what they think, but what do you think?"

My thoughts weren't cohesive. "I don't know, that's why I wanted to check it out."

"Have you already made your assumptions? Are you drawing your conclusions based on the rumours? Because Greene," his voice dropped a notch, husky and as about as gravelly as the rocks in the alley, "get the facts first. Distort them later."

My mouth stayed shut.

 "I don't care about rumours. They aren't the truth." He tilted his head, parting his lips. Turner's eyes were wide, soaking up every inch of my face, gripping my wrists. He was breathing harder than the exertion merited. I saw the rise and fall of his chest. "You don't know what this caused me tonight. They're gonna be pissed I didn't show. So do you know what you're going to do? Go back home, go to class, and live your normal pathetic life without a single fucking care about what you thought you saw."

I'm stunned. I hate to admit I found that slightly... sexy? Shut up Quinn. Shut up, because nothing would've happened if you would've just stayed home and not followed anybody around. But one thing lingered at the back of my mind. "Who's they?"

Turner dropped my hands, but it was a slow motion. He dragged his fingers off my wrist, taking his time. His words were carefully placed, like a cool and calculated threat. "You don't need to know. Go back home. Don't talk about this to anybody."