Charlotte squirmed in the bed, panting heavily. She pulled against the restraints that held her wrists in place, but they were secure. Hands grasped at her hips, pulling her closer, and she looked to see a head of dark hair between her thighs. Josh...she thought, and tipped her head back with a groan. She desperately wanted to reach down and grab a fistful of his hair, but the restraints held tight. Instead, she compensated by pushing her hips off the bed, closer to his mouth. But his hands gripped tighter and pushed her roughly back onto the bed. She whimpered, and he looked up. Charlotte gasped; that wasn't Josh.

Her eyes flew open and Charlotte sat straight up in bed. She was drenched in sweat from her nightmare, and the humidity in her apartment didn't help. Her clock read one in the morning and she had only been home a little over an hour. Flopping back down, she remembered that she had been in such a deep sleep. She wondered why she had woken up so suddenly, when she realized her phone was buzzing. Rolling over, she detached her phone from the charger and opened it.

Josh: You made it home alright, didn't you?

Charlotte wiped her hair off her sticky forehead and sat up. After the cab dropped her off, she kicked off her shoes, pulled off the dress, and pulled a shirt on before collapsing in bed. She couldn't believe how tired she was, and she was even more surprised when she fell asleep immediately. In her exhaustion, she completely forgot to tell Josh that she was home safe. Sitting up in bed, she typed out a response.

Charlotte: Yeah, I did. Sorry, I fell asleep.

She flopped back down into bed and stared at the ceiling in the dark. She swallowed hard, remembering her dream. It was great, up until she realized it wasn't Josh between her legs, but someone else all together. Sighing, she pulled herself out of bed and walked into the kitchen for a glass of water. She kept a bottle of sleeping pills in her cabinet for nights like these, and she popped two in her mouth as soon as she retrieved them from the bottle.

Charlotte then shuffled back into her room, toppling into bed and waited for Josh to text her back. It was still so hot and sticky in her apartment, and she wondered if she would be able to sleep at all. After a few minutes, though, the sleeping pills were kicking in. I'll just text him back tomorrow, she thought. Yawning, she quickly fell back into a deep sleep.

She dreamt that Owen was teaching class instead of Josh, and that Josh had taken Owen's usual seat in front of her. Owen lectured about school rules forever, and then called on her to explain why no one else had shown up for class. Charlotte had looked around the class, only to reveal that he was right: no one else had come to class except the three of them. When she told him this, Josh turned around and chastised her for not knowing the answer because she had been late. Then his phone started chirping.

Chirping? Josh's phone didn't chirp.

Charlotte's eyes opened slowly to her phone ringing. She groped at her bedside table, wondering what time it was, and brought her phone to her ear.

"Hello?" she answered groggily.

"Where the hell are you?"

Now she was awake. It was Josh, and he did not sound happy.

"What? I'm in bed, where are you?"

She could practically see him pacing on the other side of the phone.

"I'm exactly where you are supposed to be. IN CLASS. Which starts in less than ten minutes!"

Stunned, she sat up in bed.

"Class? Wait, what time is it?"

She glanced around, frantically searching for her clock, but Josh answered before she could find it.

"It's 6:50 and you have exactly five minutes to get here!"

Launching out of bed, she pulled on the first thing she could find, which happened to be a pair of skinny jeans and a black v-neck. She didn't even bother brushing her hair or teeth, and decided to just settle for some gum and a messy bun.

"Shit! I overslept. Fucking sleeping pills."

"Sleeping pills? Overslept? How the fuck-"

"I'll be right there!"

She hung up on him, which she was sure she'd hear about later, and shoved her shoes on. She slammed the door shut and ran to class, her messenger bag bouncing painfully against her hip. Goddamn it, she though. Josh is going to absolutely filet me alive.

Charlotte made it to the school in her fastest time yet, completely out of breath. Holding at a stitch in her side, she paused to catch her breath, and glanced at the clock. 7:01. She was officially late, but she jogged to the classroom anyway. She would demand that he let her in, she'd be damned if he dared to lock her out.

Reaching the door, she took a moment to compose herself, then she turned the handle. It opened! Surprised, but not wanting to wait too long, she quickly walked into class, closing the door behind her. Josh had stopped lecturing, and all eyes were on her as she walked to her seat, blushing furiously.

"Running late are we, Ms. Matthews?"

Charlotte cringed at the icy tone in his voice as she sat down and took out her recorder. He wasn't going to take it easy on her. She decided it was best to play it safe and apologize, rather than be sarcastic.

"I'm sorry Professor. It won't happen again."

She made eye contact with him, and tried to transfer how sorry she really was simply through a look. She must have succeeded, because he returned to his notes.

"It better not, Ms. Matthews. You happened to be late on a day that I forgot to lock the door. Next time, you won't be so lucky."

He continued his lecture, and she breathed a sigh of relief. That was close; too close. And she would make good on her promise to not let it happen again. She finally got a chance to look around the class, and disappointment filled her up when she realized that Owen was once again absent. She couldn't understand what was going on with him. He had completely cut off all communication, and now he was avoiding her.

She thought about her dream of Owen lecturing the class. What the hell was that about? Did it mean something? Was she secretly wishing that she had stayed with Owen? No...she thought. I definitely want to make things work with Josh. But why am I suddenly dreaming about Owen? Suddenly, she remembered why she took the sleeping pills to begin with. That dream was mind consuming too, and even more so because of the content. Forget Owen, why was he suddenly popping into her sleeping mind? She put her chin in her hand and lost herself in thought.

Charlotte stared at the acceptance letter in her hand. She was bursting with excitement at being accepted to NYU, and she couldn't wait to tell everyone. All her life she worked to get into this school, and now it was becoming a reality.

Her parents were out, but she had to tell someone, so she pulled out her phone and called the one person she was most excited to share her news with. She had been friends with Casey since their freshman year of high school, and she couldn't wait to hear if they had been accepted to the same school. Casey answered on the second ring, and Charlotte lost all her plans to make her friend guess the good news.

"I did it Case! I got in!" she practically screamed in excitement.

There was a sharp gasp on the other end, followed by enthusiastic squealing.

"Oh my God, Charlie! I knew you could do it! When did you get the letter?"

"Just now! Did you get yours?"

Casey paused.

"Yeah, I did. But tell me all about your plans! Have you talked to Rem yet?"

Charlotte had planned to call Rem, her boyfriend, next. But she knew Casey was trying to distract her, and she wasn't going to be fooled.

"Not yet. What's wrong Case? I know when something is wrong, you better tell me."

Casey sighed, and Charlotte imagined her sitting down at her kitchen table.

"Fine, you're right. I didn't get in, Charlie. It's not happening for me."

Charlotte could hear the despondency in her friends voice, regardless of how well she was trying to hide it.

"Casey...I'm really sorry. What are you gonna do?"

"I don't know. I applied at a few community colleges, so there's always that."

Charlotte nodded, then remembered that Casey couldn't see her. She was about to reply, when her call waiting beeped. Glancing at the screen, she saw that it was Rem.

"Listen, Casey...Rem is beeping in. I better answer, you know how he gets when I don't answer my phone. I'll call you later, 'kay?"

"Sure, Charlie. Whenever is fine. Talk to you later!"

She hung up, and Charlotte switched the phone call over.

"Rem, hey. What's up?"

Charlotte was pulled out of reminiscence by the door slamming. Apparently, Professor Hutcherson was taking a break; he was missing and everyone else was engaging in casual conversation. Glancing at the clock, she realized it was a little late for him to be taking a break; the class was nearly over, it only had an hour left. Shrugging, she reached into her bag for her cell, and opening it, saw that she had a text from...Josh? Curious, she opened the text, and blanched when she read it.

Josh: My office. Now. Bring your things.

Shit. This was it. He must have noticed her daydreaming, and now she was really going to get it. Shakily, she gathered her things and left the room. She wanted to walk there slowly, but knew things would only be worse for her if she took her time, so she walked at a normal pace.

Her palms began to sweat as his door came into sight. Should I knock? Or should I just walk in? She sided with a knock, deciding that it was better to be polite in this case. Rapping her knuckles on the door, she waited.

"Come in," she heard him say from the other side.

Slowly, she turned the handle and stepped inside, remembering to shut the door behind her.

"Sit," he said, and motioned to the chairs. Shuffling, she set her bag down by the seats and sat down. She felt like a bomb was about to go off, but she didn't know when.

Charlotte waited patiently for him to speak, but when he didn't immediately, she became increasingly nervous. She started to fidget, which didn't go unnoticed by the Professor. He was sitting at his desk, his hands folded in front of him, and he did not look happy. She decided a distraction technique was her best option at this point.

"Class only has an hour Josh, couldn't this wait?"

He grimaced.

"I dismissed class early, so don't worry about that. We have all the time we need." he finally really looked at her. "You look like hell."

She ignored that last comment. Wait, she thought. He dismissed class? When...?

"You didn't know I dismissed class, did you?" He paused. "What the fuck, Charlotte? First you're late, then you completely zone out during my whole lecture? You aren't going to pass this class just because we're seeing each other. You still have to work for it."

That caught her attention.

"I never thought that! I don't expect you to pass me unless I earn my grade, and I'm offended that you would assume otherwise. I just...I had a rough night after I got home is all."

Josh's demeanor changed.

"A rough night? Did something happen?"

She shook her head, reluctant to tell him about her dream. He waited patiently for her to say something, but when she didn't he pressed her for more information.

"Did Owen do something?"

This confused her. Why would he suddenly bring up Owen? She hadn't even mentioned Owen since she broke things off with him, and she hadn't heard from him since. She had actually given up on trying to contact him since he was completely ignoring her.

"Owen? No...I haven't heard from him. He's ignoring me, and since he hasn't been in class, I haven't seen him either. Why?"

Josh shifted uncomfortably in his seat, and he seemed to be having an internal struggle. She was about to ask him what was going on, but she didn't need to.

"Owen...well, he dropped the class. The same day you came to see me, actually. I can only assume that was a result of you leaving him." He paused for a moment, as if he didn't want to say more, but knew he had too. "There's things you don't know about him. He's...unstable to put it lightly."

Charlotte looked at him doubtfully. Owen? Unstable? No way. He was too nice. He was just hurt, that's all it was. She figured she'd give him some time and he would eventually talk to her again. Besides, even though he was nice and friendly to her, it wasn't like they had been dating for months or anything. If he completely wanted to cut off all contact, he had the right to. But now Josh had her curious, and she decided to take the bait.

"Unstable? Like how? Actually, how do you know he's like that?"

Sitting back in his chair, Josh slowly glanced around his office, as if looking for the words to say. He knew that she wasn't going to like this, but at this point he had too.

"As I'm sure you know, Owen worked with me for a short time. Sort of like an internship. But he had only been working for a semester when the pressure became too much, and he had to leave."

Charlotte nodded, she knew about this.

"Because of his studies. He told me all this our first day in class."

But Josh shook his head.

"Not his studies. That was a lie."

He studied her face, which was contorted in confusion.

"Just before he started helping me, he started seeing a girl he took my classes with, Alex. But once he began working with me, she left him. They were only together for a few weeks. He had spent long hours here after classes, helping me grade and send out emails to students. I can only imagine the break-up had something to do with that, but he never told me.

"However, after they went their separate ways, Owen became obsessed. He was constantly emailing her, texting her, calling her...even following her around the school. I saw her a few times, and she always had makeup caked onto her face. But it wasn't always enough. I saw the edges of a bruise or a scrape more than once. I was concerned about her, but she would never tell me about them. One afternoon, Owen didn't show up here and I received a phone call from one of my students. She said that she was with Alex at her apartment, and that Owen was pounding on the door, refusing to leave until she saw him. I had to drive over there and drag him away from her house. I should have called the police, but I didn't want him to get arrested. I thought he was just drunk and upset, and that he simply needed someone to talk to.

"But he wasn't drunk, and he refused to talk to me; just demanded that I leave him alone. After that, he quit working for me, dropped all his classes, and took a semester off. I looked into his student file, and saw that he has had similar cases in the past with girlfriends, even a school report of stalking. This was his first semester back, and when I saw him with you in the park that day, I decided to keep a close eye on him. When you told me that you had broken up with him, I was worried. Now that he hasn't spoken to you at all, I'm even more concerned. It's just like what happened with Alex all over again, except it's like he's waiting for the right moment to pounce."

Silence passed between them. Charlotte was shocked and confused. She didn't want to believe that Owen had actually stalked his ex-girlfriends, but Josh had no reason to lie to her. She didn't know what to think. At the same time, she was relieved that she had broken things off with him before it had gotten too serious. But now she was also concerned about Owen's sudden decision to drop the class. Charlotte mulled this over for a few moments, shrugged, then composed herself. She didn't want Josh to think she was worried.

"Well. That's a lot to think about. But I'm sure I'll be fine. Like I said, he hasn't contacted me, and I don't think he's going to. Anyway...we got away from the original topic. I'm sorry I was late. And I'm sorry that I didn't pay attention in class."

Josh stood up and splayed his hands over his hips, pacing.

"Charlotte, this isn't even about class anymore. I'm concerned for your safety. This is not like him to just cut off all contact with a girl, it makes me wonder what he's thinking, or planning for that matter. He can look up you're student information at any time and use it to his advantage."

Charlotte remembered her first email with Owen. I looked you up on the school's computer. The Professor had a point, but there wasn't much else he could gather from her student file. He knew her email, her phone number... Shit. This was more serious then she though.

"He's been to my apartment. He knows where I live, and he knows my class schedule. He'll know when I'm home and when I'm not."

Josh stopped pacing, and stared at her.

"I don't want you going back there. You'll stay with me tonight until we find out Mr. Holt's whereabouts and you are no longer in any kind of danger."

Well, that was unexpected, she thought.

"What? No, I can't. I've got homework, and...stuff." She trailed off pathetically, unable to come up with another excuse. Josh, knowing that she didn't have any other reasons, smirked at her.

"Yes. You can, and you will. Besides, don't act like you would be opposed to spending more time together."

Pink tinged her cheeks, and she gave in.

"Fine. But I'm going home to get some things first."

"Unnecessary. I can get clothes and toiletries for you."

She glared at him.

"Absolutely not. I'm still trying to get over the dress."

"Charlotte, don't fight me on this."

"I'll fight you tooth and nail. I will not be provided for like a damsel-in-distress."

He looked at her seriously, and she stared right back, challenging him. Finally, he sighed.

"Fine. I will pick you up in one hour. Don't take too long, I'm not a patient man."

She smiled and nodded knowingly, then gathered her bag and backed away towards the door.

"See you in an hour."