When Perfect Meets Crazy

06 - Criminal versus Cutie

"So," I smirked, revelling in the entirely bored and put out expression on his face. "Shift's over. You proficient in pottery yet?"

After re-shelving and updating the log, I spent the rest of my shift scrolling through my phone while pretending to be studying a really boring book on ancient Chinese civilisations so my coworker wouldn't ask about Masked Idiot. It was obvious she was dying to and for the time being, I didn't have a proper explanation for his presence.

Oh he's just a criminal who's stalking me, ignore him wouldn't have worked for obvious reasons.

He grunted an unintelligible sound, snapping the book shut as he lazily forced himself to his feet. "Where to now?"

"Home but first, I have to see a few friends."

"Fine," he grunted.

I would never admit it out loud but I was decidedly the worst person to stalk, not in the she's so spontaneous it's hard keep track of her way but in the she's so routine it's unbelievably boring way. My life was the definition of mundane and boring. If there was an award for most boring lifestyle, I'd win it. My after school jobs comprised of tutoring, working at the library, volunteering at an elderly home -though I said my goodbyes to them a few days ago-, and the highlight, writing articles for a family owned digital magazine.

To be honest, that was the only remotely fun job I had and even that, all I had to do was write my articles and send them to my aunt, the editor-in-chief of the magazine.

The magazine started out as a childhood project between my mom and her sister but it got a lot more popular than anyone expect so they expanded, and expanded, and expanded. Until it grew so big it became my aunt's full time job. My mom kept contributing for as long as she could but as a high powered attorney, she wasn't exactly swimming in free time. After a while, she could no longer contribute as much thanks to her tasking job so as soon as I was old enough to write articles, they roped me in. It started gradually but with time, I took over most of my mom's columns and added some of mine.

Olly got roped in too a few years after me but she got to chose her own topics. To be honest, I was kind of jealous. She got to write on most of the interesting things. Tattoos. Biker jackets. Piercings. The grunge wave. I got the more mundane topics like hair care, how best to style plaid, wedding dos and don'ts.

You get the picture.

Anyway, the point was, Masked Idiot was going to be bored out of his mind following me around. My life was as interesting as a senile eighty year old with five cats.

He'll figure it out soon enough...

"My car is out back. Did you drive here?"

"Bike," he muttered.

"Tail me." I didn't wait for his reply or a nod of agreement. If he couldn't, that was his problem and honestly, I'd prefer it that way. I wasn't exactly jumping with joy at the prospect of being stalked and I definitely wasn't going to make it easier for him.

I was being stalked. Stalked. S. T. A. L. K. E. D. By a criminal. A legit criminal. A criminal who I knew was a criminal. The kind that under normal circumstances I would've turned in to the cops. The kind I normally would never be associated with, not that I would normally be associated with any type of criminal. I was the poster child for all things good. The ace of good kids all over the world. At least, I used to be. Now, I was practically covering for a criminal. Harboring one.

There was something really wrong somewhere. This was not how my senior year was supposed to end. This was nowhere close to how it was meant to turn out. It was meant to be smooth sailing with no surprises.