Apartment 4B

Chapter 38 - Brooke

My throat bobs slowly, as I begin to slide one foot back along the floor, keeping my eyes on David the whole time while the light liquor on his breath floats on to hit me. He barely notices and keeps his eyes on my face, the smile widening when I don’t look away.

Crap, crap, crap..

Trying to keep my calm, my brain does a mental inventory of where the hell my phone is, while my mind tries to form words.

“Hey.. David, this is a surprise.. What are you doing here?..”

His head drops to the floor for a moment, before swinging back up as he takes a step forward, the same moment my brain comes up with it.

Kitchen.

It's in the kitchen..

I need to get to the bench in there my phone’s on, and call for some mother fracking help.

Taking my hand off the door, and trying to act casual while I bounce back a step to keep the distance between us, my head inclines to the kitchen as I move.

“.. I was just making a cup of coffee. Did you want a cup?”

David’s smile grows, stepping fully into my apartment, before shoving the door closed behind him. I can’t help the slight fear, that I’m already well into feeling, rise with the outside world now cut off from view. Despite the waft I’m getting from his breath, his voice is clear of any influence, and I’m slightly thankful that he’s not thoroughly  trashed right now.

“Thanks, yeah that’d be great.. You have a really nice place here, it’s nice to see the inside of it from this angle..”

My mind boggles on the last part of that statement, not letting myself go on to elaborate with what the hell he means by that, and stay moving in the direction of my phone.

However, the images of him sitting there looking in through the window with high powered binoculars, is one that just annoyingly pops up anyway...

Keeping my steps small, natural and not just basically flying towards the kitchen, takes something in me I honestly didn’t even know I had. He’s two steps behind me, absorbing in the details around my place as he walks, his eyes dragging closely over everything he sees. My hip comes to casually nudge the side of the bench as I sweep my hand over the top, snagging my phone on the way.

“.. So, I guess you didn’t receive my flowers then?”

Keeping my hand holding the phone slightly behind my leg, I step away from the bench as I turn to face him. Finding it far easier to react with surprise, as honestly, I have no idea what he’s on about.

“Sorry, I haven’t seen them, but sometimes they do get lost in the delivery or can take forever.. I think the last two I sent Penny for hers, magically and annoyingly, disappeared on me too.”

His head nods as his eyes linger on the two other used mugs sitting on the island bench, the pancakes stacked high near the stove, before coming back to me.

“I had thought as much... Ah, no I delivered them myself, actually. No delivery man needed.”

And, apparently no witnesses either.... That does not make me feel any better in the least.

My finger slips on the phone, half working in my favour as it unlocks the screen, and I turn slightly to indicate the shelves behind me with my other hand.

“So, I have your usual coffees, decaf, hot chocolate, or.. well, some teas I don’t even know what they actually taste like, but Pen’s a huge fan of them.”