Miss-Guided
1. The Stranger
I woke with my head pressed against a stranger's chest, able to hear his heart beat and feel his chest rise and fall as he breathed.
When my mind seemed awake enough that I could tell where I was, I slowly eased my way out of his arms and off his bed.
My clothes lay strewn around his room but I collected them and put them on with ease.
My body felt uncovered and I knew that the shorts, fishnet stocking and tank top had all been a bad idea.
I slipped out of his room and eased his door shut watching him sleep, unaware that I were even there.
As I spun around to find the front door, I stopped, my eyes finding more than one pairs of eyes staring right back at me. His living room was filled yet I pretended that none of the men existed.
My shoes sat atop the coffee table where two guys had put it on display in front of them, scrutinizing the knock off converse as though it would have revealed secrets they wanted.
Too red-faced to talk to any of them, I collected my shoes and left the house without a word.
Anni
Hey guys. It's Anni. Today, we're taking yet another early morning adventure back to my place.
I spoke to my phone, stopped at street signs and took photos while tracking my location on maps.
I was posting it all as an influencer would, onto my private profile that no one followed or would ever see unless they skillfully hacked my phone or laptop...but I knew I was safe since, I was too boring to be hacked.
I liked the idea that someone knew where I was and would know where to start searching for me if I ever disappeared but I wasn't keen on making myself a target.
Will
Hey, you don't look like you're from around here.
I looked up to see a car driving slowly beside me.
Sure, maybe I looked like a hooker since the neighborhood seemed to be out of my league...but that didn't give him the right to judge.
Anni
Yeah, I'm just visiting a friend.
It also wasn't a great opportunity for me to draw more attention to myself either.
Will
Looks like you could use a lift. Where you headed?
Will
I know every face on this street.
Will
I know who comes here.
Will
You don't belong here
Sure, had I been drunk and out late when he offered, I would have accepted.
Sober as I was, the man was creeping me out.
He was following me and then telling me what to do and there was no one out on the street.
Anni
**whispers** Calm down, Anni. Pretend he's just another guy.
Without overthinking it all, I did the one thing that no one would have done.
2. Will..the Stalker-Detective
He placed an item onto my lap.
I buckled the seatbelt up before taking the item into my hands.
Will
Please don't react too much.
Will
I can't talk about it.
Will
You were almost in danger just now.
The item was an unsealed envelope.
Inside of it were a badge and a folded letter that was labeled CONFIDENTIAL.
Will
Yelling out that I was undercover would have really blown my cover.
He smiled and I smiled in return.
I was trying to stay calm.
Although we had both buckled up, he had simply pulled over and parked the car.
He pointed ahead of us as a woman wearing a similar outfit, with heels, made her way slowly down the sidewalk as though it were a runway.
Will
We're waiting on that.
Will
Let's see him approach first, then we'll talk.
I still held his badge. His letter. His name was William Walter. Pretty easy. Pretty fake.
The girl on the pavement stopped suddenly, twisting some strands of hair around her finger.
I watched as she walked to the edge, talking to someone we couldn't see.
Ruth
Like what you see huh?
Ruth
How about you give me your number and I give you a call when I need a handsome man like you on my arms?
I watched, saw someone take her phone from her hands, replace it but as she walked off, the person never revealed themselves to us.
Anni
Now can I get to know?
William cheered before pulling out of the space and driving away.
Will
It's also my cover name.
Will
That lady there just now, that was my partner, Ruth. She is a feisty woman, I'll tell you that.
Will
The man there, he likes to find a new Missy every couple months. He bad news but he never hurts the girls. Safest way in.
Will
I'm telling you all of this since you have your camera on and you're filming your legs.
Will
Ruth is my friend and so was the other guy.
Will
You're really weird by the way.
Will
Where do I drop you off?
He had yelled at me to get into his car then called me weird.
Anni
Right there. Stop light on the left.
I pointed at the light with my mind still in disbelief.
Anni
Yeah, next to the old guy.
Will
Word of advice to yah, never get into any stranger's car, unless he's a taxi driver.
Will
Even then, never believe everything you hear and see.
I climbed out, threw his weird envelope back onto the seat, slammed his door and walked off before he could say another word to me directly.
...or drag me back into the car.
But I was finally somewhere I knew.
I waved at him as I passed the restaurant. He owned the shop yet never looked the part.
My friend, Jack, was one of the best guys I knew but he wasn't important enough to stop when work would start in less than an hour.
I got home, showered, put on my suit and heels and left immediately for the office.
The day slowly crept by but somehow, I made it through.
That night, I got home to find Will standing outside my door pacing back and forth.
Anni
Are you stalking me?!
Will
I have a job for you.
3. Sleepover
Anni
I was here last night.
Anni
I think I might have left something of mine here when I left this morning.
It was eleven o'clock, had just rained and I was standing outside, in the cold, in front of the stranger I had slept with the night before.
Because William freaking Walter said so!
He showed up...At My House!...tried explaining some crap to me...then when he realized that I wasn't interested...He yelled at me until I did what he wanted!
He ordered me to get into the dirty shorts and fishnet stockings and everything from this morning!
He drove me back to the stranger's house and made me walk back up the driveway!
Sure, I know what you're thinking...
yelling isn't a gun to your head...but here's the thing... I freak Out When People Yell At Me!!!
And now I'm yelling at you....
Xero
I doubt you did but you're welcome to check it out.
I entered knowing fully well that I left nothing here.
The place was absolutely spotless.
I waltzed on over to his room door and entered there.
His bed was made, the sheets straighter than mine was. His floors were spotless and none of his personal items stood out of place.
Xero
What are you looking for exactly?
He laughed lightly and I finally looked up at his face.
I never once returned to the home of a one night stand.
I was embarrassed to have my name exchanged and my face there twice. He would be able to pick me out of a line up now.
Anni
An earring. My gran gave me the pair before she died. I've never taken it off since.
An earring.
It was a genius idea but somehow, the thought of me coming all the way back for an earring was idiotic. Unless it held massive sentimental value.
William came up with it of course.
Anni
This is the other one. The sister.
I handed him the earring. It was a small gold thing with an actual diamond at the center and somehow, the creator managed to weave tiny flowers around the thing.
Will carried it around apparently.
Xero
Not special enough for me to search for it but wonderful none the less.
Anni
I actually make paintings that I consider more valuable but my ma instilled the desire to keep the damn things on me so much that my nerves have been majorly off since I realized one was missing.
Anni
I need to get it back.
I dove onto his bed and began removing items one by one, checking every inch of them.
I just never thought I'd have to use those skills...since my mother considered them criminal.
Anni
You're not going to help me?!
Furthermore, I pleaded. Yeah, I know the other one wasn't in here, but Will said that I needed to make an impression on the guy.
If the guy didn't invite me back or take my contact information... I was not to leave.
Will was a conniving, insulting, tall bastard who was very much going to show back up at my place if I didn't get what he wanted.
Anni
You're holding the other one!
I bent back down and started searching on the ground.
He had a hand gun and a rifle on the end he had slept on.
I could see him looking at me from the corner of his eye.
Anni
Not under here for sure.
He started searching the other end of the room near the cupboards where my shorts had been..
Xero
Are you sure you left them here?
Anni
I couldn't find them anywhere else.
Tears were in my eyes.
My voice was breaking.
I saw the responding emotions displayed across his face.
We searched the entire room.
It was after one in the morning when he sat down across from me, his eyes pitiful and he, himself, distant.
I knew what that hollowed out feeling was like. The one that you got when you lost something you cared about. I brought it up and made sure it was directed at that object.
He held my gaze. I could see his eyes through the tears and I was actually getting through to him.
I was halfway to success.
Xero
I can...I can get you another one.
Xero
It won't be the same, but it will be absolutely identical to this one. Opposite in pattern but the other side to this one.
Xero
No. It won't be the original, but you'll have both.
Xero
Your mind will be at ease.
Xero
It's the only thing that I can offer you.
I ensured or rather surprised myself by sounding completely and utterly broken.
Xero
Here's what. You slept here last night, crash here again until morning.
Xero
I'll get someone to drop you off in the morning.
Xero
And I will call you as soon as I have a complete pair in my possession.
Who knew my acting could be this good?
Xero
Come on. Climb up on the bed.
Xero
It will all be better.
He lifted me off the ground and placed my onto the bed, like a child.
And he...laid down behind me, hugging me close.
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