Dusk (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 28 - Omari

"Why were you watching me?" My voice shook as I called out to the stranger.

The man turned, a surprised look on his soft features. His eyes were a dark brown, and they seemed unthreatening. Was I overreacting?

"S'cuse me?" He had an eyebrow raised, and his nonchalant tone made me slightly less confident in my confrontation. But he'd definitely been watching me, and as thoughts of the night before crossed my mind I wanted to know why.

We'd reached the corner of the building, and I brushed aside the memories of the last time I'd been in an alleyway with a stranger.

"You were watching me." The man's eyes flickered away from mine and an annoyed smile crossed his face.

"Yeah." He admitted, his voice a bit higher than earlier. He looked uncomfortable, and his hands curled in his jean pockets.

I felt my cheeks flush, surprised that he hadn't denied it. His eyes turned back to mine in question, waiting for me to get to the point.

"Uh, why?" My tone was much less confident than it'd been a moment ago. The strap of my bag felt heavy on my shoulder and I gripped it tightly while my other hand fidgeted with the hem of my shirt as I realized it was very possible I'd misjudged the situation.

"Ah. I thought that was obvious." His arms left his pockets and crossed as he peered down at me with a hint of humor. I suddenly felt very small. "I was just checking you out. Thought you were cute."

I stared dumbly at him as humiliation slowly crept through my body. He thinks I'm cute? No- he's just deflecting...

"But..." my eyebrows furrowed as I assessed the situation. He was good-looking... the men who tended to target me were usually old, ugly, drunk... "you look familiar..."

He nodded, a small smile appearing at my obvious flustered form.

"Yeah, I saw you at The Max once." I blinked, my memory slowly creeping in. "You seemed sick, rushed off when I asked if you were okay."

He'd been the one who grabbed my hand... said some words I hadn't heard before I left. I'd gone to get fresh air...

"Oh..." I took a step back, my body slightly less tense than it'd been before. "Oh, right."

The breeze that blew against me didn't do anything to cool the heat in my face which only seemed to be growing at the situation I'd found myself in.

"I-uh, I'm not really... looking right now. I mean you're-" I motioned to his body before I could stop myself, "you look good, but... I'm just uh, unavailable." I felt my face redden and averted my eyes, hoping that this entire day was just an odd dream and I'd wake up in a certain someone's warm embrace.

"Well I got that. It's not like I can compete with Rowan Williams."

I gaped at him, wondering how in the world the words I'd just heard had actually been spoken to me.

"What?" My mind was too slow to verbalize any other thought that was running through my mind as it tried to understand how the fuck this man knew about my feelings towards Rowan.

I saw a slight tint appear in his cheeks and in the back of my mind felt some comfort that I wasn't the only one flustered by this conversation.

"You two came to the drive-thru I work at. Few weeks ago."

"Oh." My mind clicked as I realized he'd been there, and I'd known he looked familiar but had been too distracted to figure out why. "Shit. I'm sorry... I didn't realize- I've just been having a weird day- I shouldn't have followed you out here and-"