Rosalie couldn't believe the time when she checked the clock, she had been working solidly for hours, and she didn't mean only a couple of hours – she meant until it was 1am in the fricken morning. Rosalie stretched out and groaned, she needed to get home. She slipped her phone into her pocket, and grabbed her bag and locked up the studio. She really wished she had bought a coat with her, but she had no idea she was going to be spending that much time with Steve and then be this inspired afterwards. "Shit, its cold," Rosalie mumbled under her breath.
She could feel her pace of walking start to speed up in the hopes that she would get to her apartment sooner. She was maybe five or ten minutes into her journey home when she heard it, footsteps. 'Don't be paranoid,' Rosalie thought to herself, 'Its probably someone else just walking home.' Rosalie sped up her pace of walking and she could swear she heard the footsteps speed up to keep up with her. Her heart started to pound and she could feel the anxiety increase inside her mind.
"Hey sweetheart," she heard a voice shout out behind her, "where are ya going? I've got something I think you might like.." a guy shouted behind her, laughing and clearly intoxicated. Rosalie sped up more to the point that she was going to start breaking out into some sort of jog/run, and as her pace picked up – so did the guy behind her.
After a few seconds Rosalie felt the guy grab her, "Where do you think you're going?" he practically growled at her, she could smell the alcohol and cigarettes on him.
"Get off me!" Rosalie shouted at the top of her lungs, she tried pushing this guy off and getting her arm out of his grip. She could feel his grip tightening around her arm.
"Oh, I don't think so!" He pulled her closer, putting his hand over her mouth. Rosalie clamped her mouth around his hand and bit it – hard! She then stomped her foot onto his and he let out a shout and released his grip on her momentarily. Rosalie knew this was her chance and she ran for it. "I'm going to get you for that you bitch!" he shouted after her and he could hear him chasing after her.
It didn't take too long until he had caught up to her. He managed to grab her and yank her so that she was thrown into the wall. "You see, I was going to be nice to you. Now, you deserve this." He told as Rosalie started shouting and screaming again. He placed his hands over her mouth again, "If you bite me again, you're going to regret it!" he warned her. She closed her eyes tightly as she could feel her body tensing up.
Rosalie felt that she had been in this position for hours – like time had slowed down, when in reality it had only been a few seconds when someone came to her rescue.
"Looks like the lady doesn't want you touching her, punk" another voice said, Rosalie opened her eyes and she could see another guy behind this guy, his hand was on his shoulder. "I suggest you leave her alone."
The guy who was holding her to the wall sniggered, "I suggest you mind your own business." He told him, shrugging his hand off his shoulder. "What are you going to do about it?"
Rosalie could hear the guy sigh, and in one swift movement the guy was thrown off her and Rosalie watched in shock as this guy had managed to throw him to the other side of the street. The guy had been knocked unconscious. Rosalie just stood there, frozen in fear – "Are you okay, doll?" the stranger's voice snapped Rosalie out of her trance. She looked at this guy, even in the darkness she could see that he was handsome. "Are you hurt?" the guy then asked her.
Rosalie shook her head, "No, you got here just in time." She sighed, letting out the breath she had clearly been holding all this time.
This guy fidgeted awkwardly, "Let me call the police." He told her,
"No," she said before this guy could get out his phone, "I just want to get home." Rosalie told him and she pushed herself off the wall and started walking towards her apartment.
"Woah," the guy said, "wait a minute. Let me call you a cab."
He tried to stop her, "no, I just want to get home."
"Let me walk you at least then," he said, walking beside her which made Rosalie stop and stare at him, "Hey, I cant just leave a lady walking alone by herself after I just stopped her from getting hurt." He rubbed the back of his head, Rosalie clocked that he was wearing gloves and thought that was a bit strange but chose to ignore that, "trust me, if my mother, god bless her soul found out I let a dame walk home by herself this late at night, she would've clipped me."
That statement caused Rosalie to chuckle, "you're probably right. It's only a couple more blocks away." Rosalie said turning back to walking in the direction of her apartment, "thanks…..?"
"James," he said,
"Thanks James," she gave him a brief smile, "Rosalie."
They walked in silence, Rosalie was freezing, and she could feel herself shivering. "Here, take this," James told her, removing his jacket and before she could even refuse it – he had placed this around her shoulders.
Rosalie let out a small smile and slipped on the jacket, it smelt amazing. She looked at him, he was wearing a semi tight black jumper, she could definitely tell how he was able to throw that guy off her – she was definitely muscley. "How are you not cold?"
"I'm just used to colder temperatures," he told her.
They continued to walk in silence until Rosalie arrived at her apartment block, "this is me," She said stopping outside of it, "thanks again for walking me back,"
James nodded at her, "No problem doll, just make sure you aren't walking this late at night again on your own, get a cab next time."
Rosalie let out another small smile, "trust me, next time I will be calling a cab. I will make sure I have an app downloaded for one before Friday."
"Friday?" James asked her and Rosalie then realized that once again she sounded like an idiot, this was a complete stranger. He wouldn't know about Friday.
"Oh, I have an art show that evening." She told him, "I don't even know why I'm telling you this or even bought this up." She wanted to mentally cringe and have the ground swallow her up, "but yes, to the point – I wont do it again." She started turning to her apartment, "Thanks again James." She started walking to the door, she turned around and he was still stood there. "Goodnight James." She called to him, opened the door.
"Goodnight Rosalie," he said and she watched as he started walking back the way they had come from. Rosalie shut the door behind her and sighed. She had no idea why, but being around that guy made her feel the same way she felt earlier around Steve. A few minutes had gone by and she was still leaning against the door, she went to rub her arm and that's when she realized,
"shit, I still have his jacket." She opened the door and looked outside, but he was nowhere to be seen. Rosalie went back inside and started walking up to her apartment, "no wonder guys don't like lending girls their clothes, they never get them back."