The day went by and I got dressed for the medical appointment today. Grabbing the keys on my nightstand, I headed out of the room and sauntered downstairs. Just in time when I reached the bottom of the stairs, Aunt Odessa appeared in front of me and gazed. I halted, putting the keys inside of my pocket before gripping the strap of my bag.
“Where are you going?” Aunt Odessa asked.
“I’m gonna go to my doctor for an appointment,” I immediately answered.
“You mean your therapist?”
“No. I need to get a medical report for the job I’m gonna apply for.”
“Oh, take care.” She caressed my shoulder as I nodded in response.
After I bid Aunt Odessa a brief goodbye, I went out of the apartment building and strolled along the sidewalk. Tucking my hands inside the pocket of my coat, I fastened my pace and tilted my head down. The stench of smoke had entered my nostrils, and the honks along with people’s chatter resounded through the vicinity.
I was quietly walking towards the bus stop when I suddenly felt a hand laid on my shoulder that made me jolt. I halted, glancing at the back, and saw no one. My heartbeat was tremendous as I tried to peer through the throng of people behind me. I saw no one, but I was convinced I felt something. The hand was large, warm, and even gave me shivers. It wasn’t anything daunting, but it was foreboding and it left me feeling unsettled.
I convinced myself that it was just probably my anxiety playing tricks on me so I continued my way down the slabbed sidewalk. But the unnerving feeling that kept bugging me like someone was trailing behind was making my mind went on a spiral. When the paranoia hit me, I took long strides so I would get to the bus stop quicker and almost had a heart attack because of the discomfort. Despite all of these people surrounding me and a bunch of cars that were passing by on the road, I still feel like someone would suddenly pounce on me.
As soon as I reached the bus stop, relief washed over me and I began to roam my eyes around the vicinity. There were only three people in this shed and the worry I had constantly vanished. Shaking my head, I averted my attention to the bus that was nearing us, as I moved closer to the road. When the bus stopped in front of us, the door slid open and we all stepped inside. I settled on the seat beside the window before pulling the earphones out of my bag and plugged it inside my ears. I was about to focus my attention outside the window when I felt someone sat on the seat next to mine. I immediately averted my gaze to the person only to recognize his familiar face.
He beamed at me, and I started to realize that he was the guy I’d seen at the park yesterday while I was jogging. Now that he was closer to me, I got to notice more of his features. His jaws were sharp and chiseled, specks of freckles were laid atop of his cheekbones and the bridge of his nose. I gave him a sheepish smile in return before awkwardly clearing my throat and noticed how weird it was that we’d met again so spontaneously.
“We’ve met again. It’s a coincidence to see you here,” I started, a little creeped out by his sudden appearance.
“Oh,” he mumbled. “You’re the girl in the park yesterday.”
“Yup,” I shortly responded, pursing my lips and unplugging the earphones.
“I never knew we’d meet again, to be honest,” he said with a chuckle.
“Me too.” Since my social skill was close to non-existent, I began with a very basic question that wouldn't hopefully prolong this conversation. “What’s your name, by the way?”
“I’m Tobias,” he responded, extending his hand out for a handshake. “And you are?”
“Portia.” I clasped his hand and hid the blush that slowly crept across my face when I noticed how warm his hand felt. “So where are you going right now?”
“I will go out to meet a friend,” he responded as I nodded in response. “How about you?”
“I’m going to a doctor’s appointment.”
“Doctor’s appointment?”
“Yeah. I need to get a medical record for my job so I might have to see a doctor for a check-up.” I tugged a forced smile, fidgeting my hands on my lap.
“That’s great. Are you signing up for the werewolf hunting thing?” he asked with a chuckle.I raised my brows in surprise and shook my head reluctantly.
“Actually, I’m not. I’m gonna be applying to a company that my friend’s currently working in. I don’t wish to involve myself in nonsense stuff,” I lied, hiding the hint of suspicion in my tone.
“That’s good to hear.” He nodded and I didn’t speak after that to end the conversation.
I felt a bit unsettled by Tobias’s sudden appearance on the bus. A few moments ago, I was worried about someone following me and I also felt a hand grasped my shoulder. I didn’t want to think that he was stalking me because I knew it was just my paranoia. But the possibility wasn’t slim and if he was really here to follow me around, what was his purpose?
I shook off all these nagging thoughts and plugged the earphones back in my ears to let the music dominate the noise in my head.
~*~
The guard of the hospital swung the glass doors open as I stepped inside and walked towards the counter. The nurse who was sitting in the middle of the wide counter flitted her dark eyes towards me. Her lips were stained with gloss and her hair was tied to a low bun. Her eyes trailed from my head down to my toe before uttering, “What’s your appointment?”
She sounded like she wasn’t too fond of my presence and because I just came here for the first time, she wasn’t as friendly as I thought she should be when welcoming new patients.
“I’m here for a check-up to get a medical record,” I apathetically answered.
She rolled her eyes, causing me to furrow my brows in confusion. She faced her monitor, typing something on it before asking, “What’s your name?”“Portia Laurent.”
“How old?”
“Twenty-three.”
Then after a few aggressive clicking on her keyboard, she handed out a piece of paper and motioned me to move aside.
“Fill this form.”
I took the paper, as I drifted to the side and grabbed the pen. I wrote down on it and after I finished filling up the form, I handed the paper to the nurse in which she took immediately. As I waited for the nurse to finish it up, I looked around the place and glanced behind me.My eyes widened and my mouth almost gaped when I saw Valerie, strutting inside the hospital with a huge grin plastered on her face. She was wearing a bodycon dress that was cloaked with a coat and a handbag that was swinging on her side. What was she doing here?
My mind was on full alert and all I could think of was hide away from her. She shouldn’t see me here or else she would question what I needed the medical record for. Since I was suddenly glued to the ground while my mind went on panic, I just followed my eyes to her. When I noticed Valerie approached a guy that wrapped his arms around her shoulders, my mouth parted and the last thing I heard was the nurse calling my name out loud because I had gone into a haze.
And her voice was also loud enough for Valerie to know that I was here.
Shit.
“Porsche?” Valerie looked over her shoulder, with the guy’s arms still wrapped around her. I looked down to cover my face though I couldn't be unnoticed. If only this nurse didn’t have a loudmouth.I could see Valerie in my peripheral view, slowly walking towards me with her skeptical look. The nurse handed out the form after confirming my appointment for today so I faced her to finally leave this counter.
“Are you my doctor?” I glared at his prideful demeanor.He looked around the office and finally answered my question.“I guess I am.”&nbs
Valerie had been my best friend since high school. We were neither nerds nor part of the queen bee’s pack, just normal high schoolers who did their best to maintain scores above the passing rate. We got along well, being socially awkward people but at the very least, Valerie was able to improve her social skills. For the most part, we just saw each other and knew we should hang around. I honestly had no idea how our friendship developed. There wasn’t a time that we weren’t together at school. Every little thing, we had to do it together, except when one of us was sick and had to skip school.
Tobias TrevinoMixed emotions filled me to the brim. I must be assuming that he was the Tobias that I knew. Even if he was, shouldn’t I be happy about it? Why was I feeling more anxious then? Besides, they must have had the same given name. He couldn’t be the only Tobias in this town.
I focused my attention on the briefing, while I felt Tobias staring at me on the other side of the room. When I would glance at him, he would immediately look away like it was nothing. Seeing him here made me skeptical and unnerved that my hands were starting to sweat. The hair at the nape of my neck bristles as I swallowed, trying to deviate my attention from him.Tobias had been following me, I concluded. If this wasn’t weird, then I didn’t know what was. His appearance brought mixed emotions to boil inside of me. It was lik
The next morning, the Silver Stag informed us that the training was due today. Aunt Odessa was ceaselessly asking me about what I had been occupying my time with lately, but I was too afraid to answer her questions. If she would know about this, she would be disappointed and I couldn’t bear that. She had been making some medicines for me so my anxiety would go away and here I was, trying to worsen my condition. I did felt guilty for doing this behind her back, but this was the only way I could help my parents get back at the creature who killed them. And I was also doing this to prove something to them that all of thehallucinations, as what they called it, that I was continuously having was true.
I didn’t know why butterflies began to fly in my stomach when Tobias pressed his body against my back. My mind was screaming but, as much as I wanted to move, I didn’t. I was too caught up with the warmth his body emitted and the gentle touch of a man I rarely experienced in my life. He was too big that his whole body engulfed me, wrapping me like I was inside a cocoon. Aside from that, he smelled like aftershave, drenched with expensive perfume to intentionally captivate any woman he would pass by. I noticed it late, maybe because I was focusing on his features more than his scent.
Tobias pulled off in front of a parking lot of an apartment building that stood taller than where Aunt Odessa and I lived in. I lingered my eyes around the place, examining the surroundings around me before getting off the motorcycle. Unclipping the helmet, I took it off my head and handed it to Tobias beside me. He pulled it out of my hands and hung it on his motorcycle. As soon as he took off his helmet, his hair became disheveled as it danced with the breeze that swept on our skin. Pulling the coat tighter around me, I heaved a sigh and smoke came out of my mouth because of how freezing it was outside. But when Tobias touched my back as if to indicate me to go inside, his warm hand made the coldness subside. I nodded in response as we both headed into his apartment building and entered the lobby.