Personal Paparazzo (ft. Les Twins)

Half Full Or Empty?

~22~

"Look, just put the gun down so we can talk about this. In a civil, non violent way." I say slowly putting my hands up.

"No! I've heard that line before! Almost got me caught by the cops!" He pushes the gun to my head.

"Fine. What do you want?" I ask irritatedly. It's too late for this. I just wanna get home.

"Unlock the door. I'm gonna take what I want outta there."

"No."

"Do you not see this gun in my hand?"

"Yeah, I obviously do, dip shit. It just doesn't scare me."

"Wh—"

I knock his hand, making the gun fly into the street. The guy angrily looks at me and throws a punch but misses as I dodge. I don't miss a beat and punch him in his lower stomach making him double over. I grip his hair and bring his face down to my knee. He falls backwards on the ground with blood running down his nose. I look down at him breathing heavily. I only learned a few self-defense moves hoping I wouldn't need to use any and I've had to use them 3 times since I moved to New York.

"I tried being civil and agree to give you something because obviously these are desperate times for you." I say turning around and grabbing my things off the ground.

I turn back around and see the man off the ground with a knife in his hand. Unfortunately, my training was limited and I don't know how to handle knives. He charges towards me and I back away only to be pushed out of the way. I look over and see a man beating the shit out of my attacker. Stunned, it takes me a while to gather myself before approaching the man.

"Hey... Hey! I think you got him. Good job." I pull the man off the guy on the ground.

"Are you okay?" He looks confused from my question.

"Wh— Are you okay?" He asks looking back at the guy.

"No! Yeah, I'm absolutely fine! This has been a great night." I laugh humorlessly wiping my face with the sleeve of my jacket.

"Thanks for your help." I say grabbing my stuff.

The man watches the other get up and stumble away. I start to walk off in the opposite direction.

"You live close by?" The helpful man asks catching up with me.

"Yeah."

"You gonna walk alone?"

"Obviously not anymore."

"How'd you learn to move like that? Sorry, I'm just shocked."

"Learned from my grandmother's friend. He had a dojo in Japan and I learned from him when I was younger."

He hums in approval. We approach my townhouse door. I stop and turn around.

"So... I just lead you to my house. You're not gonna rob me?" I ask frowning slightly.

"If I wanted to rob you I would have waited until the guy finished and then robbed him." He laughs shaking his head.

"Why do you sound so experienced with this kinda stuff?"

"I may or may not have done some regrettable shit that got me where I am now."

"Looks like you don't have to anymore." I point to the Rolex peaking from under his sleeve. "Who are you?" I squint to look at his face but I can't due to the dimly lit sidewalk.

"Everyone calls me Drake but you can call me Aubrey."

"Drake? Like the singer, Drake?"

"Uh yeah." He laughs nervously.