Stalker

She is pretty, but not your typical kind of pretty. There is just something about her. I wish I could explain it to you, but I can’t. When she smiles my heart beats a little faster and when she gets close to me I feel as if there is an electrical current flowing through my chest.

I remember the first time I saw her. She was standing outside the library with her long blonde hair pulled up into a messy bun and she was chewing on a pencil. I thought it was so cute. You don’t see people our age chewing on pencils, but there she was, blue eyes turned toward the matching sky and an old fashioned yellow number 2 pencil hanging out of her mouth.

Now don’t think me weird or anything. I don’t get turned on by women having things in their mouths, but there was something about her that I was just drawn to and I knew I had to know more about her.

It started innocently enough, I promise. I followed her onto the bus and sat a few seats behind her. She tucked a few loose strands of that perfect hair behind her ears and pulled out earbuds. She plugged them into her phone and proceeded to hum a tune that I didn’t recognize. She gazed out of the window and swayed back and forth to a beat I couldn’t hear.

I followed her off at her stop and stayed behind her a good ways as she made her way down the side walk. I knew I was going too far by that point, but no matter how much I told myself to stop it, I couldn’t not follow her. I followed her into an apartment complex and to the third brick building. I waited for her to disappear onto the stairway before I snuck up to the bottom steps to see which apartment she went into. I watched her disappear into the second apartment on the second floor.

I didn’t know her name then, but I knew that I needed to find out.

My name is Charlie by the way. I’m not a stalker…I promise. I don’t find pretty girls and follow them around and jack off outside their window. That would be disgusting. So no, I’m not a monster…but I am in love. Tara is like a magnet and I am metal. There is an irresistible pull that comes from her and I can’t help myself.

I realized I was going to be late for work after she disappeared into that mysterious apartment, so I hightailed it back to the bus stop. I was 20 minutes late for my shift, but I didn’t care…I felt like I had just had a religious experience and I couldn’t wait to go back to that complex and get to know her.

Work took forever that day. I bus tables at a little pizza joint downtown called Mario’s. I hate pizza by the way. I use to love it, but after you clean half eaten slices off tables 6 days a week, you kind of lose your taste for the stuff.

So I got off at 10 that night and I got on the bus and headed back toward her apartment. It wasn’t until I was standing at the bottom of the stairs in her building that I realized that I had no idea how to do this.

Scenario one: I could knock on her door and introduce myself. But what would I say…”Hey, I’m Charlie…I saw you outside the library earlier today and followed you home and now I’ve just gotten off work and wanted to come by and see if you would like to go on a date with me?”

Yikes, no…that’s really bad idea.

Scenario two: I could make a loud noise outside her window and pretend to be investigating the ruckus when she comes down to check it out?

Hmm…I thought, this has potential. I sat down on the bottom of the stairs and began to contemplate how I would make enough noise to attract her attention without the entire neighborhood showing up. And then what if they call the cops. I don’t live here…so it would be hard to explain what I’m doing outside in a neighborhood not even remotely where I live at 11 o’clock at night.

I stood up and walked over to the bench on the other side of the street facing her building. I sat down, sighed and lifted my head toward the heavens in search of an answer. When I looked up I saw her standing in her living room. It was like getting to see an angel in its natural habitat. I was fascinated. I wanted a better view. So I climbed onto the play equipment behind the bench and angled my sitting position so that I was looking right into her window.

She was wearing orange shorts and a bright blue tank top. She had let her hair down and it was falling around her shoulders. I really wanna touch that hair. I watched her in her kitchen standing at the microwave. She stood there sawing from foot to foot, waiting for something. I couldn’t hear the microwave beep but I figured it must have because she pulled open the door and grabbed a bag of popcorn. I wanna eat popcorn with her. She walked toward me into her living room and settled on a sofa that was slightly out of view, but I could see a glimpse of that beautiful hair.

I lost track of time that night and it wasn’t until my mother called me that I realized I had been out to long.

Mom fussed at me the entire walk to the bus stop. She yelled about how irresponsible it is to be out so late at night, especially when I have class in the morning and she yelled about how I needed to pick up milk and how I should be there with her and how lonely she is…you get the point.

Its morning now and I’m sitting out here on this damp play equipment and I’m waiting for her to come out. I formulated a plan last night after I got home with the milk. I am going to wait here for her to come out and then I will walk up and stand next to her at the bus stop. Then I will strike up a conversation while we wait. Once I get a good conversation going I will sit next to her on the bus. By the time we get off together…wherever that stop may be…I will have her number and her name.