FINE PRINT [✔]

Thirteen

"I think we need to confront my stalker," Timothy said the moment he walked into the bedroom.

I rolled onto my stomach and rested my chin into my palms, "Good evening to you too. I see work was stressful?"

"Yeah yeah. Whatever. I need you to take this seriously." His voice broke on the last word as he bent over the sock drawer and rummaged through it.

"Hey...hey, come here. Talk to me." I said pulling his hand gently so he could sit on the edge of the bed.

"I think my past is finally catching up to me." He said before resting his head on my shoulders.

"By your past you mean?"

"Someone could be trying to kill me and I don't want you to be caught in the crossfire. I have actually grown really fond of you."

I smiled as I nudged his thigh with my own."Not the time to be saying nice words you look really put off by this."

"I am sure that creepy neighbour guy was taking pictures today. And when I turned a corner on my way home I saw his face more than once in places he shouldn't be." Timothy used his free hand to push his hair back before standing up and starting to pace back and forth.

"Could it be a mistake?" I asked letting my bottom lip rest between my teeth.

"No, our neighbour is definitely spying on us."

"I totally get it but could it be that our neighbour is not spying on us and you are paranoid. Being on the run does that to people."

"I am a wanted man. I know what it looks like when I am being hunted like an animal!" He screamed at my face before withdrawing back and scrunching up his hair in tight anxious fists.

"Okay clearly this spooked you, so it must be serious. And I get that but Todd has lived in this building for years why would he suddenly start searching for you?"  

"What part of following me home did not sound serious." He said looking at me like I had sprouted a new head.

Wow, I only questioned his sanity for like a second or two and now I was the monster. Forgive me for thinking that the only part of my life that would sound like a badly written movie was me buying a mail-order husband by mistake.

"Ok. We need to do something. Do you have any suggestions on what we should do?" I said moving closer to him.

I grabbed his wrists and brought them away from his hair because all that worrying and stressing was going to make him bald. I held his wrists by his body as I repeated the question "What should we do?"

He looked directly into my eyes and without missing a beat he replied, "Kill him."

I opened my mouth to reply but all my active brain cells had taken a nose dive into their early grave. He had said it with such conviction and a straight face I was failing to string along any words into sentences. Who decides the solution to end stalking is death. Shouldn't he say something like 'let's call the police'.

"Kill... him." I whispered as I made the motion of slitting someone's throat."Maybe I heard wrong."

"Did I stutter?" He replied now looking ready to commit to the idea of murdering someone.

"Okay hold on now James Bond, We are not killing our neighbour. In fact, we are not killing anyone. Wait have you actually...Don't tell me I need plausible deniability." I let him go and paced the bedroom floor.

Okay so clearly the first step would be to figure out if he is being followed or not its the only way forward. Then the rest of the plan should work itself out.

"Okay, we execute our plan tonight. Todd goes for some weird music thing every Thursday. And we determine if you have a stalker or not."

"Okay. I can wait until tonight."

"Hey, You know that I won't let anything happen to you right," I said moving closer and hugging him." I am not much of a fighter but I will fight for you and do whatever I can. I know this whole thing started as well an accident but ...."

I trailed off as I let the unspoken words hang in the air. Timothy would understand he had to understand. I was going to be there for him no matter what my feelings were. They were after all slowly seeping into this equation and for some reason, the idea of being with Timothy for a long time did not seem as bad as it did in the beginning.

Timothy returned my hug and squeezed just a little tighter but tentatively as if he was wondering if this was okay. We stood like that for what seemed to be a long while before an idea came to my mind. Granted it wasn't a good one but it was an idea.

"Let's get matching tattoos."

"What?"

"You heard me."

"Don't we have a lot on our plate right now?"

"Exactly. We need a distraction you know something to keep our minds busy. And what better way than getting ridiculous weird matching tattoos. We could get something like a duck with its back on fire or something." I said getting excited and wondering where I would put it.

Timothy laughed as he looked at me with a different look in his eyes. One more relaxed than the one he had when he came in. A welcome sight from the anxiety and worry that was clouding his eyes seconds ago.

"A duck with its back on fire?"

"Yeah, it's a great idea," I said looking at him with as much conviction as I could muster.

"Have you ever gotten a tattoo before?"

"No, but I am sure I can handle it."

"I don't think so," He said laughing and turning to the wardrobe to change into jeans.

"Just wait and see. Hurry up we can leave now."

"Wait, you are really serious about this?"

"Of course I am. If we are going to commit a crime I want to at least have some semblance of an up and coming criminal."

Timothy actually stopped what he was doing so he could laugh at me. "Relax its just breaking and entering, no big deal."

"You say that now but if we have to jump through lasers and booby traps I need to be ready."

"Okay, Indiana Jones. Let's go get tattoos together."