day1 love

chapter 35*according to plan

Dre's POV

Now that I know what I know, it's time to find out more. The only way I can do this, is to immerse myself into her mind, and the only way to do that is to make her think I'm into her.
First, I have to let her catch me.

So, knowing that she's basically stalking me, I go for a run in Fairmount Park, and within a matter of days I see her running the same trail as me.
I keep it at a steady pace, not full out running at my top speed, but not lagging either.

She has to literally catch me.

Bitches like her, it's all about the thrill of the stalk, learning their quarries habits, then slowly adopting those habits as their own.
If I let her catch me too fast, she'll catch on that I let her.
If I am too slow, I'm worried she'll lose interest.
Naw, I gotta stay just outta her reach, thus presenting a challenge!

I miss my real life girl, more than I can even say, but this is the way it has to be for now.
Can't risk going to see her, her coming to see me, or even meeting at a hotel or something, cause this psychopath has been watching my every move.
I know this, cause I'm covertly watching hers!

I don't switch nothing up. I go for my run every morning, just as I always have.
After my runs, I drive to the the gym, put my workout in there, go home, shower and change, get to the garage and work my regular shift.
I return home and settle in for the night, have dinner,watch TV, shower and hit the bed.
It's quite monotonous, and real boring too, but it it what it is.

Stalkers are creatures of habit.
They cling to their known, and shy away from what isn't, that is in itself a contradiction.
They have to go against their own natures to stalk a new prey, learn new habits and adapt.
The only day I know she's not around are Thursdays, as that's Cornballs visit day.
Last week she came back sporting a black eye and a dejected spirit.
I could see it in her stride, in the way she held herself.
This week her lip is split yet again.
Much as I dislike her for who she's with, I still don't condone any female getting beaten.

It's been about a month now since she started getting chasing me.
She's getting closer to catching up, her long legs eating up the distance, she's been training, I can tell.
When she first started, she couldn't go more than the distance equaling a few blocks without becoming winded.
Good.
That means she's had to change a few things about herself in order to get herself in shape!
That must be discomfiting for her, again I'm sorta proud of my resolve.

At least I'm forcing her to be healthy.
If she smokes, drinks, or uses substances she won't be able to keep up with me.
She's probably eating healthier, seeing these changes in her physical appearance.
I notice she leans out more, not that she was even fat or nothing, but the weeks of running, naturally make her shed at least ten pounds.
Her face is more angular, her clothing fits better and she doesn't skulk or slouch anymore. I bet he was the reason she slouched
He just the type to beat her down saying she was too tall for him.
She's tall for a female, probably around 5'9, close to my own height of 5'10
And when he isn't physically harming her, he's abusive to her mentally which is probably why she is the way she is.
Lost and lonely, even around a crowd of people.

All my musings at an end I look back slyly, and check her out!
I failed to notice that she's now running alongside of me, and she looks astonished that she's finally next to me.
She looks at me, gives me a nod, and then pulls slightly ahead of me, then looks back and smirks, challenge in her eyes.
Oh, it's on now!

Nina's POV

I DID IT!
I finally caught up to Dre.
And trust me, this wasn't in any way easy!
I had to make some changes and I hate making changes.
First thing I changed was my addictions: I quit smoking, drinking and using.
I know, right?
I couldn't believe it myself.
But, I had to.
Couldn't even run a block because my lungs felt like they were on fire!
So I quit my pack a day habit, cold turkey.
Then I noticed that coke didn't give me the high that running started to, so I stopped that as well, and then drinking wasn't even as much fun without the high of drugs, and I found I didn't miss any of it!
For the first time in a long time, I was completely sober and clear-headed.
I even started taking my medicine as prescribed instead of abusing them.

I went to the library and checked out books on the benefits of diet and exercise, and incorporated those as well.
As a result I lost ten pounds in less than a month.
My clothes fit better, my abs became defined, I joined a gym (the same one as Dre of course) and became noticably more fit.
I started hanging out with some females and even a few males from my Spin and Yoga classes, well, when I wasn't stalking Dre.
That was still my top priority.
Which, of course, was a problem for Tristan.
As soon as he noticed that I looked healthy, he got ornery.
Said he didn't like his bitches "sticks"
That I looked like I was cracked out.
I rolled my eyes at him, looked away for a second then WHAP...he punched me dead smack in my eye and whispered to me that I should learn not to roll my eyes.
I looked all around and nobody, except for that table who seemed to be always watching ours even seemed to notice.
That threw me off a little, and I got real tempted to use, to cut myself, to quite literally beat my own head in, to fall back into unhelpful behaviors.
Almost did it too, but thankfully, that long bus ride and my CD in my disc-man soothed the urge.
I listened to Chopin, closed my eyes and let that soothe me.
I ran instead, once I knew Dre was in for the night, caught an extra yoga class and went out for a coffee with two of the girls from it.
Today, I went back up there to see him.
I'd gotten a letter saying he needed to see me, that it was of the "upmost importanse" that I come.
Almost didn't though.
I rolled my eyes again, laughing to myself at all his grammatical errors, especially upmost.
Stoopid mothertrucker ....it's "utmost"
you imbecilic moron!
Despite all my inner voices, screaming at me not to go, I went anyway.
Found out that his court date is next week and that he thinks it's a very good chance on him beating the charges, since no witnesses will come forward.
The old dude had disappeared and his old broad wrote a letter stating that she couldn't appear in court, she had a doctor's verification that she was in her last trimester with twins, and having a high risk pregnancy.
He might walk.
His glee could barely be contained until he hugged me and noticed how strong I was becoming. I had hugged him back, happy for the physical contact, and forgot not to show my strength.
When he noticed I was getting definition and a little bit of muscle, he called me a butch.
I popped fly, saying all my friends like how I look.
And just like that, it was like a switch was flipped.
He backhanded me hard, split my lip and growled in my ear "Don't get smart, you getting brand new on me, huh? Yous gone let ya new lil friends get ya fucked up!"

I held my mouth, sat back and looked around, noting again, them guards aint notice a goddamn thing.
But, that table, that Tris was always gritting on, sure had!
The man's chick, she looked equal parts horrified and angry.

Tris, following my line of vision, smirked and said in a low tone, that when he hit the bricks, he was gonna make sure she paid for every angry look she directed his way.
That if I didn't shape up, and remember who the fucking man was, he would remind me I had no wins.
Again, I felt like using when I left the prison.
Again I let the strains of classic music, Mozart this time, soothe me.
I held my split lip in a cool washcloth that I procured from my handbag, and drifted off into a dreamless, drug free slumber.

The next morning, I dressed, hit the Park, and FINALLY caught up with my target.