Natalia huffed as she flicked the little yellow pencil with her slender finger. The pencil rolled across the smooth oak desk until it fell off the side with a slight clatter. Bored out of her mind, Natalia laid her head down on the desk and used her arms as a pillow. She knew she shouldn't fall asleep on the job, but her boss wasn't even around at the moment, and business was so slow, she highly doubted anyone would come into the shop to find her in such a state anyways.
However, just as Natalia's eyelids fluttered shut, the bell of the shop door rang, making them shoot open. Natalia quickly sat up, hoping no one had seen her trying to sneak a nap.
"Yelloooo...Is anyone there?" a voice called out from the front of the shop.
Natalia rolled her eyes. "Da, 'round back."
She honestly had never understood the book shop layout. It would be so much simpler to put the desk at the front of the store, but for some reason the layout called for one to work through a maze of bookshelves in order to get to the checkout desk. It was a hassle, and frankly, Natalia was surprised no one had gotten lost in the store before.
"Um...where exactly is 'around back?' I'm, like, totally lost right now."
Natalia rolled her eyes again and hung her head. She had been joking when she had thought that. How was it that the universe had known to send her someone so stupid at that exact moment?
She pushed herself up off from her chair and weaved through the bookcases until she reached the person who'd asked for her help. Said person was a tall man around the same age as Natalia, with straw-blonde hair with a single tuft that refused to go the same way as rest. He also wore glasses, and behind said glasses were sapphire-blue eyes.
"What do you want?" Natalia asked curtly. Her boss was always telling her she needed to be more friendly with the customers, but frankly Natalia thought being friendly was a waste of time. Instead, she preferred to be direct and to the point when she spoke.
The man turned his attention from the bookshelf he'd been looking at to Natalia, who was standing with her arms crossed over her chest in an irritated fashion. He smiled. "Hey, I'm Alfred," he spoke, holding his hand out to Natalia. Natalia didn't move.
"I don't care. What do you want?" Natalia repeated her question. She didn't have enough energy in her to exchange with pleasantries. Plus, she just plain didn't want to.
Alfred hesitantly put his hand down. "Um, what's your name?" he asked.
Natalia's frown deepened. "Natalia, but why do you care? Now what do you want?"
Alfred blinked. He was surprised at how cold Natalia was being. Normally girls were very nice and giggly around him, but this girl seemed different. Vaguely Alfred wondered if she was really "all there."
"Um, right. Do you have a copy of Pride and Prejudice? I need to read it for a class at college, but the library was all out of copies." he explained his situation to Natalia. As if she cared. Why couldn't people just simply state what book they wanted without telling her their life story? She didn't need to hear why you needed a particular book, she just needed to know which book so she could go and get it for you and you could leave her alone.
"Look under Classic Literature," she said flatly. The sooner Alfred left, the sooner she could be alone. Frankly, Natalia would rather be bored and alone than annoyed with a customer. She was about to turn to leave when Alfred started to talk again.
"Um, where exactly would I find that? No offense, dude, but your store is like a maze." he flashed her a smile after this statement, though, as if to say "no offense."
Normally Natalia would snap something along the lines of, "Look at the signs, you imbecile!" but something about the utterly lost look in the boy's eyes told her that this sensible advice wouldn't help in the slightest, and he'd still find a way to get lost again.
Sighing, Natalia motioned for the boy to follow her. As she led him to the appropriate shelf he tried to strike up a conversation, much to Natalia's irritation.
"So, since you work at a bookstore, I'm guessing you read a lot?" he asked.
Natalia internally groaned. "Yes." He may think he could engage her in casual chit-chat, but she would try her hardest to tune him out.
"Cool, so, what's your favorite book?"
Natalia paused her scanning of the bookshelves for a moment. To be honest, she couldn't really pick. There were so many tales worthy of being called her favorite, but pinpointing just one seemed so impossible. So, she simply shrugged and said, "Not sure."
Alfred nodded. "I don't really read much, to be honest, but my buddy Arthur is a big book-addict. I think he said his favorite author is Charles Dickens, or something. I don't know, some British writer."
Natalia could have laughed at Alfred's opening comment. "I don't read, much." She expected as much. His manner of speech and inability to browse a bookstore didn't exactly scream "literary scholar." Instead of laughing in his face, though, she responded with, "Your friend has good taste, Dickens is a genius." Just then her eyes finally landed on the spine of a book that read "Pride and Prejudice." Bingo.
She grabbed the book and handed it to Alfred. "Here." After he took it, she walked him back to the checkout desk. He continued to talk, though.
"So, do you have a favorite genre?" he asked as he joined her in weaving through the shelves.
Natalia nodded. "Romance." Though she may not act like it, Natalia was a hopeless romantic. She loved stories of heroes who swept ladies off of their feet, and took them away to distant lands. No one who met her would guess it, but she loved to curl up with a nice, steaming cup of tea and a romance novel on a chilly winter day. The only people who knew this side of her were her older brother and sister, whom she lived with.
"Huh, I wouldn't pin you as the romance type." spoke Alfred. Natalia shrugged.
"No one would." She stepped behind the desk and picked up the scanner that was lying off to the side. She took the book from Alfred's hands, scanned it, and then handed it back to him a a smooth, solid movement. "Will you be paying with cash or credit?" she asked.
"Credit," said Alfred while he reached into his pocket for his credit card. "My favorite's adventure."
Natalia looked up, confused. "Huh?"
Alfred smirked and handed her his card. "My favorite book genre is adventure."
"Oh," Natalia felt kind of stupid for temporarily forgetting what they had been talking about. "That's nice." She swiped his card and handed it back to him. "Thank you for your business."
Alfred nodded at her and picked up the book, ready to leave, but he paused when he saw what time it was. "Hey, Natalie, when do you get off of work?"
"Natalia." she corrected sternly, frowning at his seeming inability to remember a simple name. Then she glanced at the clock. "10, why?"
Alfred looked at Natalia sheepishly. "Well, that's only fifteen minutes from now, would you like me to walk you home?" He smiled at her warmly. "It's not safe for young ladies to be out alone so late."
Natalia had two options. One, tell Alfred off for assuming she couldn't hold her own against any petty thugs and shove him out the shop door, or two, accept his offer just to pacify him. While the first offer sounded tempting, Natalia was simply too tired to make the effort to kick someone out, and she agreed to have Alfred walk her home.
So, at 10 o'clock, Natalia was walking down the city street with Alfred in tow. He was chatting away happily about some new action movie, but Natalia wasn't really listening. She just wanted to get home so she could curl up next her warm fireplace with a nice story on her e-reader-
Suddenly, Natalia's mind blanked and she stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, nearly causing Alfred to bump into her. "Whoa, everything okay?" he asked her. Natalia shook her head.
"No," she pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes, trying to concentrate. "I left my e-reader at the bookstore." She sighed and turned around swiftly. "Wait here, I'll go get it."
Alfred frowned. "Do you want me to go back to the shop with you?" he asked tentatively. Natalia shook her head again.
"No, it won't take me long, I just have to unlock the shop and get it. I'll be back soon." She started walking off briskly towards the shop again. As she went, she noticed that the number of people in the streets decreasing. Frankly, she should be home right now. It was late, and the autumn sun had gone down hours ago, and the brisk chill that was carried with the wind kept nipping sharply at her nose. Shivering slightly, Natalia brought her scarf up higher on her face. Her breath left little puffs hanging in the air like mini clouds suspended in the street.
Once she reached the bookstore, Natalia felt around in her deep coat pocket for her keys. She was startled, however, to find her pockets completely empty. Terrified at the prospect of losing her only set of keys, she rummaged through her pockets wildly.
This activity, however, was cut short by a man suddenly grabbing her roughly from behind. Startled, Natalia's breath caught in her throat. "A-Alfred?" she asked with a shaky voice.
The man holding her chuckled. "Who's Alfred, little pretty? Your boyfriend?" His voice had a certain drunken slur to it, and it didn't take a genius to figure out that his intentions were anything but pure.
Natalia clenched her teeth in anger. "No, and neither are you, so unhand me at once." The drunk laughed loudly.
"You got spunk, kid, I'll give you that," he then held his hand up and dangled something inches in front of Natalia's face. "But you should pay more attention to what's going on around you, love."
Natalia looked at the object in the man's hand in shock. Her keys! Her face contorted to a snarl and a small growled escaped her curled lips. "I'm giving you five seconds to let me go. One,"
The man scoffed.
"Two,"
"Yeah, right, like a pretty little thing like you could fight me."
"Three,"
"I hate to break it to you babe, but you're not as strong as you think-"
"Five!"
Natalia elbowed the man in the gut sharply and spun herself around, letting herself free. Doubled over in pain, the man looked at Natalia and growled, "You skipped a number."
Natalia shrugged. "I got impatient." The man roared and ran at Natalia. She dodged him easily by sidestepping at the last moment. "You overestimate yourself, just like every thug anywhere," she cooed at him tauntingly. "I'd push that ego down before it gets you in trouble."
The man charged at her again, but this time Natalia didn't dodge him. She reached swiftly into a hidden pocket inside her coat and withdrew a switchblade knife. At the last moment she flicked it open and stepped slightly to the side and brought the knife down. Natalia could feel it cut deeply into something.
When the man looked up, he had a long, deep gash on the side of his face that was oozing blood. "You little bitch, you'll pay for that!" he roared while reaching a hand subconsciously up towards his wound.
Finally getting the sense to run, Natalia started to take off. She didn't get far at all, however, before she heard heavy, loud footsteps behind her gaining fast. Natalia pushed herself as hard as she could go. If she could get to the police station before he caught her, or perhaps a heavily-populated area-
Her thoughts were cut short by a beefy arm grabbing her around her middle. Surprised, Natalia let out a sharp yelp. The man threw Natalia against the alley wall, knocking the wind out of her. She faltered, but soon enough she had withdrawn her switchblade again and got in a defensive stance. Before she could use it, however, the man grabbed her hand and squeezed hard, causing Natalia to drop her weapon. He pushed her roughly against the brick wall, holding her wrists above her head.
The blade fell to the ground with a sickening clatter, and Natalia's heart sunk. She had no clue how she would get out of this one. She was weaponless, pinned to a wall, and exhausted. Her only hope was if some passerby or else were to walk by and help her at the last moment, and that was about as likely as pigs flying.
Suddenly, though, Natalia got an idea. There was someone who was expecting Natalia to be back by now, and judging by where she was right now, they weren't that far away. So, pushing her moral convictions about asking for help aside, Natalia called out to the only person who may be able to help her in this situation.
"ALFRED!"
"Shut up, bitch!" The man covered Natalia mouth with his hands. This, however, was a bad move on his part, as all it took was Natalia to snap her jaw shut and bite down on the man's hand for her mouth to be free again.
"ALFRED, HELP ME!"
The thug punched Natalia in the stomach and she immediately stopped talking, as the wind had been once again knocked out of her. All she could do was hope that Alfred had heard her shouts for help.
"I told you to keep shut, you little skank!" the man growled at Natalia. Tears threatened to spill from Natalia's eyes, but she held them in. The last thing she wanted was to give this bastard the satisfaction of seeing her cry.
"Natalia?"
Natalia's head perked slightly at the sound of the familiar voice. Alfred! She wanted to call out again, but she knew she should focus on catching her breath, and that anything she said now would come out as a muffled cry.
She saw Alfred round the corner, running with a sense of urgency in his eyes. Were her life not in danger, Natalia may have taken note of how caring he was acting towards someone he barely knew.
Alfred's eyes connected with hers and they widened with shock and desperation. "Natalia?" he yelped, looking from me to the man who had me pinned against the wall. Then his face got vicious, and he looked like an angered animal with talons at the ready to tear you to shreds. Natalia wasn't afraid of him, though, because she knew the glare wasn't directed at her.
"Let her go. NOW." he growled at the thug, his voice low and viperous.
The man only laughed at Alfred and held onto her tighter, his fingers wrapping around her wrists like a snake with it's prey. Natalia felt an involuntary squeak from the back of her throat.
Alfred looked livid with the nerve of this man. No, not livid, he was positively wrathful. He was so infuriated with this man that he wanted nothing less than to tear off his head and use it as a football.
"I don't believe I stuttered, but I'll still repeat myself. Let. Her. Go." He spoke carefully, trying to intimidate the thug.
However, it wasn't working. Natalia's abductor laughed a harsh, course laugh at Alfred. "What do you think you can do, punk? I'm bigger than you, there's no way you could fight me."
Alfred's fists clenched tighter, to the point that his knuckles were white. "Try me, you sick bastard," he spat through clenched teeth. Every muscle in his body was tense, and he looked murderous.
The thug gave another gruff laugh. "Yeah, sure kid. Do yourself a favor: leave and pretend that you didn't see anything before you get hurt. Wouldn't want anything to happen to your pretty-boy face, now would we?" he flashed Alfred a crooked smile that made Natalia shiver slightly.
A muscle in Alfred's lip quivered and the anger in his eyes flared like a cool, blue fire. Then, the fire suddenly diminished, and Alfred hung his head with a heavy sigh. Natalia's blood went cold when she saw him turn on his heel and head in the opposite direction. He was leaving her? Giving up, and leaving her to the mercy of this random street-criminal only to forget completely about her? Would he show any remorse when he saw her show up as missing on the evening news?
Once Alfred had taken a few paces, though, he quickly spun around and firmly planted his fist in the man's face, his knuckles connecting solidly with his nose with a sickening crunch. The man stumbled back in shock and pain, clutching his nose with wide eyes. Thick, red blood squirted out from his fingers grossly, painting his hand a deep crimson.
As soon as the man stepped back, Natalia scrambled away, rubbing her aching wrists, trying to get the blood flowing back into hands. She ran up to Alfred, for once her face showing how terrified she truly was.
The thug looked at Alfred with contempt, his eyes dark with hot anger. "You little shit!" he roared.
Alfred smiled cockily. "What about me?"
"I'll kill you!" he screamed, running towards Alfred and Natalia. Natalia flinched and grabbed a handful of Alfred's leather jacket, but Alfred thrust his fist forward again, this time hitting the man in his gut. He crumpled, and Alfred proceeded to knee him in his face, hitting him square in his forehead. A muffled groan exited the man's lips, and he dropped to the ground. Though he was unconscious, Alfred kicked his side for good measure.
After a moment of silence, Natalia spoke up. "Is he.." she began to ask, but was unable to finish the question.
Alfred shook his head. "No. As much as I would love to kill him right now, I know that I shouldn't. Now matter how much of a low-life scumbag he is, I can't do it." He then turned and smiled at Natalia slightly. "You could say that it's against my moral-code."
Natalia simply nodded, her eyes still wide with fear. Alfred reached a hand out and touched her cheek lightly. She nearly flinched away, but she firmly reminded herself that Alfred wasn't a danger to her.
"Hey, are you okay? Did he hurt you?" he asked, his voice rich with concern. Natalia looked up into his deep, ocean-blue eyes and shook her head.
"N-no. I'm just shaken up a bit," she answered truthfully.
Alfred nodded. "That's good. Did he take anything from you?"
Natalia started to shake her head, but quickly nodded after thinking for a moment. "Yes," she blurted quickly. "My keys."
Alfred nodded again and bent over the unconscious man, looking through his pockets. Natalia heard a soft metallic jingle, and Alfred came up again, this time holding Natalia's keys in his gloved hand. "Here you go," he said as he dropped them in Natalia's hand. She clutched their cool, metal surface in order to try to get her hands to stop shaking.
"We should probably leave before this asshole wakes up, okay?" Alfred said, glancing at Natalia. She nodded and got up on shaky legs. She almost fell, but Alfred steadied her at the last moment. "You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Natalia said, shrugging out of his arms. "I'm just in shock, and you would be too, if that had happened to you!" she snapped.
Alfred smiled slightly. "There's the Natalia I know!" Natalia rolled her eyes. Idiot.
They walked the rest of the way to Natalia's apartment in silence, neither one speaking to the other, as they were both playing the recent events of the night over and over in their head. Mostly what Natalia thought about though, wasn't about the fear she had felt when the thug had her pinned against the wall, but instead how safe and protected she had felt when Alfred had rushed in to save her. What did that mean? Why did she feel like nothing bad could touch her as long as she was by Alfred's side?
When they reached the apartment, Alfred knocked on the door. Almost instantly the door opened with such a quick swing, it was amazing that the hinges held true. "Natalia? Natalia is that you?" a tall Russian man shouted frantically as he scrambled into the door frame. He scanned the hallway quickly, and he calmed when he saw Natalia standing there.
Without question, he embraced her in a big bear-hug that nearly knocked all of the wind out of her lungs. "You had me so worried, малютка!" I thought something had happened to you!"
"I-I'm fine, Ivan! Please, let go of me, you're going to break me in half!" Natalia wheezed. Ivan let go with a nervous laugh.
"Sorry, Natalia, we've just been so worried about you, since you didn't come home when you normally do. We thought that you might have run into some trouble!"
Natalia hung her head slightly. "Well...there was a bit of an incident, but Alfred helped me." She jerked her thumb at Alfred, who Ivan now turned his attention to.
"Ah, yes, I was wondering who you were. You kept my sister out late, da? If you plan on doing that, you must also plan on marrying her," he said with a smile.
Alfred eyes widened to point where they seemed like they would fall out of their sockets. "W-what?!"
"Big brother, that is not funny!" Natalia shouted at Ivan, punching him lightly on the arm. Ivan only chuckled.
"Yes, it was funny!" He turned once again to Alfred. "You should have seen the look on your face, it was hilarious!"
Alfred coughed awkwardly. "Um...yeah, I'm sure it was..."
"Well, come on in," Ivan said, stepping aside to give Alfred room to enter the apartment. "I want to know what Natalia meant when she said that there was 'a bit of an incident.'"
After Alfred an Natalia had explained to Ivan what had happened earlier, Ivan thanked Alfred for protecting his little sister. "I'm so glad someone could protect her from that brute. If my little sister was hurt, I don't know what I would do. Thank you, Alfred."
Alfred nodded sheepishly, and glanced down at his arm. Clinging to it was Natalia's older sister, Yakaterina, and she was sobbing uncontrollably while muttering a stream of 'thank you's and 'God bless you's. Frankly she was not only getting Alfred's sleeve wet with her continuous tears, but also creeping him out. Frankly, Natalia's older brother gave him chills for some reason, too.
Natalia stood up from her brother's side abruptly, and looked at Alfred with stony eyes. "Well, I think it's time for Alfred to get home. I'll walk you to the door."
Slightly confused, Alfred shook Yakaterina off of his arm and stood up, walking over to the door with Natalia. Once they reached the door, Natalia turned to Alfred.
"I never thanked you for saving me. So, thank you, I guess." she said, looking down at her boots. "And I just wanted you to know that if you feel like walking me home any time again, I guess I can put up with you."
Alfred laughed at her offer. "You guess you can put up with me?" he questioned.
Natalia smirked. "Yes. Your mouth is always running, and it's infuriating. However, I suppose I can tune you out."
Smiling, Alfred nodded. "I suppose I can join you for a nightly walk every once Ina while, if you'll have me."
Natalia nodded, too. "Thank you." Though her eyes were usually expressionless, Alfred could see that Natalia was still shaken about the attack, and she was asking Alfred to accompany her so she could guarantee security. He could also see the tears that were starting to form in the corners of said eyes.
Alfred stepped forward and hugged Natalia tightly. At first she stiffened, surprised by the action, but then she relaxed and hugged him back. This close, she could detect Alfred's distinct aroma that smelled like a mix of nice cologne and a whiff of a hometown diner. For some reason it was oddly comforting to Natalia. She sniffed back the tears that threatened to spill.
"Hey, if you need me, I can walk with you every night, okay? There's no need to be afraid, you're a strong girl! It looked like you roughed that guy up pretty badly all by yourself before I got there!" He then pulled away and looked down at Natalia. "Does your brother even know that you carry a knife?" he asked with a slight smirk.
Natalia shook he head. "He'd be worried sick if he did." she said with a small smile inching its way onto her lips. "Thank you, again."
Alfred hugged her close and then kissed her on the forehead. "It's no problem at all. I'll see you tomorrow night."
Natalia returned the hug and smiled at him as she opened the door. "See you tomorrow night." she returned as he exited the apartment.
After he had left, Natalia sat and stared at the door, thinking. Alfred had rescued her, and had offered to protect her whenever she needed him, like a gentleman. Vaguely, Natalia wondered if she had finally found her storybook-hero.
малютка = "little one" If that's incorrect, blame Google Translate.
HOLY SHIT, I'M FINALLY DONE! You have no idea how long this took me. This also turned put about three times as long as I originally planned it. I got major writer's block around the fight-scene, so sorry if it sucks. I just am so bad at writing action. =_=
By the way, Meghan, I know that isn't the kiss you were hoping for at the end, but TOO BAD. Natalia just nearly got raped and was saved by a guy who she barely knew, I don't think she'd be in the mood for passionate kissing.