THERE AND BACK AGAIN (Joseph Quinn)

The Piano Room

The calm before the storm........

Friday

The university were sympathetic to Sarah's situation but unable to offer much in the way of real support. They asked the security service that surrounded the university to be vigilant and to report to the police if Alec was seen on uni property, but that's all they could do.

"Sarah, this must be so scary for you"
Miriam passed her a cup of coffee.
"To be honest it makes me feel sick" replied Sarah "I'm looking out of the corner of my eye everywhere I go"
"If you need me to walk with you at anytime, you know all you have to do is shout" added Miriam with a mouthful of custard cream biscuit.
Sarah helped herself to a biscuit, the warmth and comfort of her current familiar surroundings easing her discomfort as she looked at everyone chatting away in the staff room.
"Aww thanks Maz; the good news is that I have a friend staying with me so I'm not on my own"
"Lisa?" Enquired Maz
"No, someone I've recently met actually" Sarah's cheeks blushed as she mentioned him
"Oh ho! A man?" Maz widened her eyes in interest
"Yes a man" Sarah whispered and dropped her eyes shyly
"Well tell me everything? Do you have a picture?"
Sarah realised that she didn't actually have any photos of Joe at this point. She found herself in the bizarre position of having to Google the BBC website to find a photo of him.

Sarah held her phone up to show Maz and her jaw dropped,
"Oh my God! He's in Les Mis!" She exclaimed
"I was watching it last night!"
Sarah giggled shyly "I told him more people would recognise him now!"
"What's his name?" Said Maz urgently seizing Sarah's phone out of her hand for a closer inspection of the picture.
"Joseph Quinn" replied Sarah, with flutters in her stomach as she said his name.
"You've done well for yourself there girl!" Said Maz enviously.
Sarah nodded in agreement, it still didn't seem real to her in any shape or form. She wondered silently if the butterflies in her stomach would ever disappear when she thought about him, talked of him or saw him.

Sarah was in between classes when her phone rang. It was Joe. More butterflies.

"Hi babes it's me, not disturbing you am I?"
"No, my next class is in 20 mins; is everything ok?"
"More than ok" he paused "I got the role in that film!" His voice sounded like he was dancing about excitedly.
"That's great! Well done!" She enthused "we've really got something to celebrate tonight then!"
"We sure do, I just had to tell someone before I burst! I'll leave you to it! Text me when you're leaving then darlin'"
"Will do, looking forward to it, see you later "
"See you later"

Sarah didn't like to admit it but even hearing his mellifluous voice on the phone broke her into a slight sweat. She couldn't understand the visceral physical reaction that she had to him, but it thrilled her.

That night they were going to the 'secret' location that they hadn't made it to nearly a week ago previously. Sarah reflected that it felt more like 10 weeks as the first of her students made their way into the lecture hall and took their seats.

When Sarah left work she had flutterings of excitement at the evening ahead, she messaged Joe who replied that he was on his way.

As she made her way onto the first tube she settled into a seat and plugged in her pods. She did a double take and her heart jumped as she glanced down the carriage as she saw a man with his hood up in jeans and a dark red hoodie standing with his back to her.

Reason told her after a few seconds that he was too tall to be Alec but it didn't stop her trying to check it definitely wasn't him by looking at his face.

The worst thing about this potential situation was that she now saw Alec everywhere she went, her brain subconsciously picking up on all the hidden places he could be waiting for her unseen.