Fallen From Grace

Growing paranoia

Lily's POV

I woke up to my head pounding, trying to recollect the events of last night. Ugh, I'm never drinking again. I stared at the ceiling, letting the memories play in my mind. Oh that's right, I was out with Mike and we ended up drinking and dancing. I went to the bathroom before we left and....he was there. He was there! But we didn't speak, Mike came and found me. 

I sat there, replaying our encounter. Memorising the way he stared at me, taking in my presence. I wish I spoke up, asked him where he went the first time we met. I wanted to know how he was and if he thought of me as much as I thought of him. All the questions I had however were left unanswered, if only I spoke up. I held my hands over my face, feeling the annoyance at myself grow. This was the opportunity I wanted and I threw it away. 

After half an hour of pitying myself, I decided to get up and get ready for the day. It was finally the weekend and I had time to relax. After showering and changing into some comfy clothes, I looked at my phone to check any messages. I smiled to myself when I saw Mike had messaged me. 

His message read "Good morning princess, I enjoyed last night. Hope you aren't too hungover. Want to meet for lunch?". I had a love-hate relationship with his choice of nicknames. We always joked that I should have been born as royalty and married a prince since I was made for that lifestyle and he never let it go. It made me chuckle to myself remembering how the Mike I met five years ago would have never joked with me like this. He spoke so posh and was so rigid that I'm amazed at how much he's changed and relaxed around me. 

"Hey Mike, thanks for bringing me home last night. This princess fancies a nice big burger. Meet you at The Grill in an hour?". That would give me enough time to do the jobs I needed to before we met up. Not a moment later, my phone dinged again. 

"Sounds like a plan, see you then." it read, with a nice smiling emoji. 

I hurried to change my grey joggers into my light blue jeans and I wore a light white jumper with it. After putting my phone, keys and purse in my small black tote bag, I hurried to put my comfy ankle boots on. I didn't want to be late for out plans and hoped that I had left enough time for my errands. Once I left my apartment I made my way towards my car and left the parking lot with 50 minutes left until we met up. 

After a rushed morning, I parked my car near The Grill and straightened myself out. I made it to the restaurant just on time and quickly sent Mike a message to let him know I would be inside in a couple of minutes. He responded immediately, telling me he was already inside in our favourite spot and he ordered me my favourite drink. Of course he was early, I don't think he's ever been late to anything. 

As I got out the car and made my way to the restaurant, I couldn't help but shake the feeling that I was being followed. It happened earlier too while I was picking up some groceries at the store. I quickened my pace, trying not to let my paranoia get the best of me. Once I got in and saw Mike at our table, I relaxed knowing that I would be safe. His presence always had that effect on me, it was like he was my guardian angel in life. 

Once I sat down, we ordered our food and engaged in light conversation but I could tell that Mike was waiting to ask me something. It took some time but now I know what most of his looks mean and I knew I was not mistaken. Since he didn't say anything, I forced myself to mention it. 

"What is it?" I decided to ask. He looked at me for a moment before I continued. "I know there's something you want to say Mike, I know your looks."

He sighed slightly before he replied. "You're right there is." he spoke, looking a bit uneasy which made me worried. He rarely looked so serious. After looking around, he continued hesitantly. "Lily... what happened last night?"

This caught me off guard. "What do you mean? We went out together". I had no idea what he was on about which made my anxiety grow. Did I do something I don't remember? How bad was it? My heart rate slowly increased as my thoughts led me astray to all the possibilities of what he could be talking about. 

"When I came to find you when we were about to leave and you didn't show up, you were stood in a hallway by yourself. Just staring intensely like you saw something, or someone." 

I sat there silently, wondering whether I should tell him about the mysterious stranger or not. What would I even say? A guy I met for five minutes a month ago appeared in front of me and I haven't been able to stop thinking about him since we met? I would sound delusional and I didn't know he would react. If there was one thing I knew about Mike, it's that he is very protective of me. Knowing him, he would think I have a stalker and I didn't exactly want to tell him everything about our encounter, It was hard enough to explain to myself. 

"Lily" His voice broke my thoughts and I stared at his face filled with concern. Oh no, what was I going to say?

"Mike" I started, while reaching out for his hand which he held back. "Nothing happened. Like you said yourself last night, I drank a lot. I must have lost track of time and just been lost in my thoughts."

My answer didn't seem to convince him enough. "Lily, you know you can come to me if somethings wrong, right?".

"I know, you've always been there for me and I'm thankful for that. But nothing is wrong Mike, I must have just been out of it. I'll tell you if anything is wrong though, okay?"

He still didn't seem fully happy at my answer but thankfully the server brought our food. My burger looked absolutely delicious and I couldn't help but lick my lips as I went to pick it up. This caused Mike to laugh at me as he watched how happy I was at the sight of my meal. 

"Careful Lil, you have a bit of drool coming out of your mouth" he laughed. 

"Be careful Mike, you shouldn't tease a hungry girl. It's not good for your safety" I responded while trying to show my scariest face. This only seemed to cause him to laugh more as he responded in mock horror to me. The previous conversation was already forgotten as I was glad his demeanour was more relaxed. 

After that we started to eat our meal and I was enjoying my time with Mike. However, I couldn't help but feel the uneasiness creep it's way back inside my chest. The feeling of being watched only grew to the point where it felt unbearable by the time I had finished my meal. I was so relieved when we paid and got up to leave, that I let out a breath I didn't even realise I was keeping in. Maybe I should have mentioned this to Mike but I didn't want to make him worry. For all I knew, it was just my paranoia and no one was actually watching me. I made a mental note to tell him if it got worse but decided against mentioning anything for now. 

We said our goodbyes outside the restaurant as I ensured him that he didn't need to walk me to my car. He reluctantly settled for me texting him when I got back home as we went our separate ways. I was looking forward to finishing my chores and just curling up in bed tonight with some Netflix. Hopefully this paranoia would fade.