Don't Lose Sight of Me

(19) How Far Can I Go

Juliette

I look around our surroundings, trying to find him. He would stick out. Always dressed in his signature black. Stiff. I couldn't possibly miss him. And yet I had.

"What are you looking at?" Alysa asks as she reaches with her spoon for my melting ice cream. I snap out of it. "Uhm." I mumble trying to gather my thoughts. "No, nothing."

"How are things with Tom?" She asks me. I scoff and shake my head. "I don't ever know which version of Tom I'm talking to. But it's not the Tom I knew. I'm either always speaking to the angry Tom. Or the sulking Tom." I mumble.

She frowns. "He's hiding something. Whatever it is, it's the reason he started spiraling. Bill finally had enough. Rightfully so." I mumble recalling the various bruises and minor cuts he'd sustain from Tom every time he tried pushing.

Tom had Vince following you.

I look over my shoulder, feeling something burning into my skin. A heavy glare. A consistent watchful eye that had no intentions of going away. But there was no one there. I walk to a nearby trash can, tossing the melted ice cream. I bite down on my bottom lip, turning back to face Alysa.

No Juliette. I'm not a fucking stalker.

"Let's do something." I ask her. She furrows her eyebrows looking at me confused.

_

"Juliette you're fucking insane." She hisses as she clenches tightly to my arm. I could feel her digging her nails into my arm. But adrenaline was beginning to rise and her nails didn't bother me so much right now.

I ignore her and continue walking through the run down, and creepy back alley. A few men begin catcalling us. "Hey baby! Come over here!" One of them slurs. He accidentally trips, various pills falling from his pockets. "Oh fuck." He mumbles as a frenzy begins. "Get off my shit!" He slurs to the group of people that were on their knees trying to gather as many pills as they could while he swung and jabbed a knife at them.

"JULIETTE!" Alysa groans in a panic as she pushes herself as tightly close as possible to me. I turn around, but he hadn't revealed himself. Alright then. He'd need more than that.

There's a guy standing in a corner, a few feet away from the opioid disaster behind us. He didn't look as shot up as the others and the people he was talking to didn't seem to care for the mess of pills scattered around us.

"Come on." I tell Alysa as I practically have to drag her. When we approach, the two girls he was talking to have left. "Ladies, what am I good for?" He asks us. "I have $25. Whatever that'll get us with rolling paper." I tell him, handing him the cash. He smirks and takes the money, popping open the drunk of his car and handing me a baggy full of weed. "You need some company?" He ask, bitting down on his lower lip and focusing on my chest.

I slide the baggy into my back pocket. "No." I smirk at him. "I don't think you'd want that trouble." He becomes confused, but doesn't insist any longer.

"You're fucking crazy!!" Alysa screams as we walk away from the alley. I ignore her and find a nearby empty bench, crouching down and rolling a small joint the way Josiah taught me. "And now you're fucking a stoner too??" She asks in disbelief. I ignore her and walk towards a woman standing nearby, smoking a cigarette. "Do you by chance have a lighter?" I ask her. She pulls one out from her pocket, lighting the end of the joint for me. "Thank you." I say as I walk back towards Alysa.

I look around again. But there was nothing. I look down at the burning end of the joint before bringing the other end to my lips and deeply inhaling. I hand it to Alysa who swats it away. "No fucking thank you. One of us has to be the fucking sane one." She hisses as she nervously looks around. I chuckle and blow out the smoke, taking another drag. I check my phone. From when I went into the alley, to smoking half of the joint, it'd been 27 minutes. And nothing. He'd need more.