Beautiful Disaster

Chapter 12: Closer

“Who was on the previous line?” he asked, worry masking his curiosity.

“No one, just –” I said as I looked through the curtains, the silhouette was back.

“Chloe, what’s wrong?”

“I, I think someone’s standing outside my window,” I said, unable to control my words.

“Who?”

“The guy that’s trying to kill me,” I said as a sudden realization dawned on me.  The night of the robbery I was being followed by a man that I bumped the night before, and now I was sure he was the one standing outside in the rain.

“Chloe, what man?” I couldn’t find the strength to move a muscle. “Chloe are you there?” I still couldn’t answer. “Chloe? I'm coming over, okay?” then the line was dead, just like how the man wanted me to be.

Within a half an hour the sound of banging on the door echoed through the empty house. I felt particularly frightened because other than my cat, I was utterly alone. I could be killed and no matter how hard I screamed no one would hear me. I just hoped it was Cap at the door, instead of the man.

I walked to the empty kitchen first and took out a butcher’s knife before walking hesitantly to the door. I was trembling in fear so I was reluctant to reach for the doorknob.

Slowly, I turned the knob and was washed with relief when I saw Cap’s face, instead of the man’s face.

“Oh Cap!” I screamed as I ran into him, embracing him tightly. His arms locked me into him and I felt instantly safer, tears of relief falling over my face. He was wet so the embrace lasted shorter than what I would have liked it to.

“Chloe! I came as soon as I can.”

“I'm just glad you’re here. But wait, didn’t you see a man when you came in?” I asked, looking around to see any hint of the man. There was nothing.

“I didn’t notice anything off as I came in, where’d you see the man?” he said and I pointed to the fence where I saw him starring maliciously at me. “Well, I'm sure there’s no one here now. Can you tell me about the man?” he said and walked into the house.

“Sure, uhm.” I started to say but stopped when I saw that Cap just stood on the porch.

“I can’t come in unless you invite me in. You know, manners and whatnot.”  He said with a crooked smile on his face.

“Well, you’re invited in Mr. Delguard,” I said, my mood instantly brightened.

We walked up to my room hand in hand and I told him everything, not even leaving the parts that sounded ludicrous to me. I told him everything from the night I ran right through the man, to what happened just before the mugging and finally ended by the silhouette I saw just moments ago. When I was done Cap’s face didn’t look like I was completely out of my mind, instead he looked worried and scared at the same time.

“So that’s what happened. I'm sure he’s trying to kill me. Why else would he be taunting me like this? And I'm sure he’s not a normal guy. When we drove into him, he didn’t so much as flinch as he got up, and I'm sure no normal person could run that fast.” I said. I knew it was the truth, even though I knew I sounded absolutely demented.

“I’ll do all that I can to make sure he doesn’t touch you.” Cap said with a haunting seriousness in his voice. Nonetheless I was comforted by his statement.

“Can we do something else but talk about him? I need to get my mind off of crazy stalkers.” I said to Cap.

The rest of the night I laid in Caps arms as the TV played old movies. Though my favorites such as Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Casablanca were playing, I couldn’t find it in me to concentrate on the movies. Instead, my mind drifted away to the fact that I was lying on Cap completely alone at home. His body smelt of his Tom Ford cologne and his perfectly carved unconventional beauty sent me on several trips to Mars. The sound of his rhythmically beating heart calmed me like no other – it seemed as if the beating of our hearts beat at exactly the same pace.

Cap and I talked silently throughout the night and I felt completely at peace with him next to me. It felt as if this was meant to be and nothing else could tear us apart. It was as if my head was molded to lie perfectly on his chest. It was if his hands were made to entwine with mine. It was as if my heart was meant to be with him and no one else. But because of Damian, neither of us could do anything about it. Cap was too much of a gentlemen and I was too much of a friend to hurt Damian. But sometimes the more you resist it, the more you’re susceptible to give into temptation.

Why was it that something so wrong could feel so right? The more I tried to resist doing anything that would cross the line of friendship and love between Cap and I, the more I felt like I was fighting a losing battle between what I thought was right and destiny.