It's Monday night and I wait and wait for him to walk through the station doors. Now that I know his name he's even more real to me, which means I'm even more obsessed. I kind of want to slap myself for wishing he comes in, because what kind of person am I? He clearly has a son and wife, but here I am counting the minutes for him to stride in.

I'm going to clown hell. Probably a place where my water shooting flower detonates on me and all of the other clowns judge me, all because I'm salivating over a married man.

A part of me is kind of freaked because now we've talked twice. Does that mean he's obligated to talk to me again? Would it hurt if he didn't?

I busy myself with organizing the powdered donuts on a nearby shelf. I don't even notice my foot is tapping on the linoleum floor until the chime of the door goes off and my tapping cuts off. I don't want to seem too eager, but I can't keep the goofy smile off my face when I turn.

Then I can't keep it from sliding right off. You would have thought I greased my face up just so that all the expression could be wiped off.

"Mike, what are you doing here?" I finally choke out. I haven't even realized that I'm holding one of the powdered donut bags in my hand tightly and ruining the merchandise.

"Hey, Emma. Came to make you company." Mike replies smoothly, grabbing a nearby stick of beef jerky. For a moment I want to giggle, because the jerky is holding a jerky, but when he takes a step closer all trace of my humor is wiped off. I don't want to be mean, but the fact that he almost sucked my face off the last time we met is still fresh in my mind.

"It's three in the morning." I squeak out. I don't want to let him see me as weak, so I put the donuts down slowly and make my stance firmer.

"Yeah, but I know you get lonely so I thought we could spend some time together." He starts creeping closer, which makes me slink away. We're like magnets repulsing each other, instead of coming together.  Suddenly, he's right in front of me. I don't even realize that I've been cornered against the refrigerators inside the back wall until I feel the super cool glass through my button uniform shirt. This is bad, very bad.

"Mike, look, I'm seriously not interested." I say it firmly. I even get the lady balls to push against his hard broad chest. Surprisingly enough, me touching him seems to come as a surprise, enough for me to slip out from under him and make a run for my station. Before I know what I'm doing, I'm climbing up the conveyer belt and onto the counter. The conveyer belt feels like a treadmill for a moment, until I feel the solid surface of wood under my running shoes.

"Emma, stop playing games." Mike says coming my way. I've never heard this tone before and I realize that maybe I'm annoying him. He's always tried to be smooth and ended up creepy, but now his tone is hard and tired. Sounds like he's just tired of me fighting, which almost scares me to give up.

I'm sure the security cameras are watching us play this cat and mouse game, which reassures me a bit.

"Don't come a step closer!" I yell out, shooting my index finger at him as if that alone will keep him at bay. I'm still on the counter, a little dizzy from the height and adrenalin.

"Or what?" His voice is hard now, like glass. This turned from scary to terrifying in two seconds and the fact that I'm all alone is making it worse. Hopefully the security video of my attack will lead the authorities to him. I start thinking of all the things I still haven't done. I mean, it's not like he's threatened to kill me, but it feels like the end of something even if it's not my life.

I still haven't thought of something witty to engrave on my grave stone. I still haven't made a baby laugh, surprisingly enough. Worst of all, I still haven't gotten to know the guy who never smiles.

This sucks.

"Or I'll....I'll...." I have no clue what to say. No clue at all, until I glance down and grab my scanner like a mock gun.

"- shoot!" I finish with a flourish of my red laser. That's when the door chimes and the lights flicker. I don't want to look in case Mike gets any ideas, but bless whoever just walked through the door because I've just been saved. Unless it's an old lady or a pregnant woman, because they'll be no help at all.

"Please tell me you're at least six feet tall and a body builder." I say breathlessly to whoever just walked in with the scanner still poised on Mike. There's a bright red line from the laser over where his heart should be. Too bad he doesn't have one.

Don't ask me why, but I can almost feel the newcomer raise an eyebrow.

"Nope, sorry." I know that voice. I know it so well even though I've heard it so little. My legs start to wobble from the relief that even my right leg starts to give out. Then I'm out, yelling timber, floating past a display of gum, straight into gasoline station floor with a scanner still in my hand and it's cord being stretched to the limit.

Someone grabs me, cradles me like a freaking baby, and I start to revolt when I realize it might be Mike.

"Stop moving." Jesse orders in a calm and deep voice. Instantly my body obeys. If I look up, I can see the underside of his face, the faint shadow of a beard starting, it's utter torture. I was almost sexually assaulted, but I can't stop enjoying the view.

I probably am going to clown hell.

"Hey man, let her down. You're harassing her." It's the first time that Mike's spoken up since Jesse's appeared. His comment is so ironic that I can't stop myself from making a very unlady-like snort. I sound like a pig looking for truffles.

"Yes, please do stop harassing me away from my harasser." I say dryly after I'm done sounding like a farm animal. Jesse's appearance has given me a burst of confidence, enough to sound like a smart ass without minding. He's still holding me, although it really would have been proper for him to set me down minutes ago.

"I think you should leave." Jesse says, without any emotion as always, except now it's totally scary because it's like he wouldn't really mind tearing Mike's head off.

"What the fuck. I'll leave when I fucking want to leave." Mike sounds like he wouldn't mind ripping Jesse's head off either. This is getting out of hand. I decide to make Jesse drop me, because as much as I can't believe I'm being carried by him, I need to do something quick before I lose my job and Jesse gets hurt, or not.

Wiggling like a worm, Jesse finally gets the hint to let me down. My feet touch the ground with new found confidence.

"Mike you need to leave me alone, not just today, everyday." I say it like my mom used to tell me whenever she wanted me to quit eating candy. I was pretty big as a kid because her tone never seemed to work on me, I would always send her a charming smile and win her over, but Mike has none of my fat kid charm.

I almost believe he's going to put up a fight, but with a hard glance at Jesse and a lack of response for me, he walks past us and out the door.

"Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my-" I start repeating, while hopping around from foot to foot. I can't believe that just happened. Jesse is watching me have a meltdown without a word, I realize when I turn back to him.

"How long has that been going on?" He asks with a hard expression still on his face. He sounds pissed too. Oh no.

"A while, but he just recently started to get more...er...invested." I say shyly wringing my hands.

"Thanks for coming and catching me." I continue awkwardly.

"Stand in front of me." He says in response. I'm more than happy to stand anywhere around him, but the request is super random. I do it anyway because frankly, I'll do anything he asks me to at the moment.

"Look behind me and tell me if he's still outside." I look past his shoulder, realizing that I haven't heard a car speed out. Sure enough, Mike's huge ass truck is still parked outside under a street lamp.

"He wouldn't." I say with a bit of horror. I officially have a stalker.

"Should I call the cops?" I ask, eyes wide.

"Why didn't you press the panic button?" He asks. His tone is starting to melt a little, sounding more casual, invested in me and not in Mike.

"Because I'm bad under pressure." I say with an apologetic shrug. He's right, there's a panic button under my cash register, but I was too dumb to go looking for it.

I watch him roll his eyes and pinch the bridge of his nose, like he has no clue what to do with me.  Despite his previous tone, I can't help but feel like he's getting angry at me.

"I'm calling the cops. Thank you for saving me again." I blurt out, trying to erase the stressed out look on his face. I hate that I'm the reason for his annoyance, which I clearly am. I can figure this out on my own, and stop bothering him.

"Did you come in to buy something? I can ring you up really quick and then you can leave. I'll call the cops and just-" I'm rambling now, trying to make everything better.

"Not really." He blurts out. Wait, so he didn't come in to buy something? I watch him shake his head a bit, like he's trying to clear cobwebs out of his brain.

"I mean, yeah." He finally replies, but doesn't elaborate. I stand there staring at him, waiting for him to tell me what he came for, but I'm starting to think that maybe his first answer was more honest. If he didn't come in to buy something, why did he come into visit?

"I really am sorry for bothering you about this. He'll probably leave soon if not I'll call the cops or something." I smile what I hope is a reassuring one and wait for him to leave. Then he does something I don't even see coming.

He asks, "When does your shift end?"

That's when I declare myself dead.

OMFG I HADN'T WRITTEN ANYTHING FOR MY STORIES SINCE I FINISHED PBT AND IT FEELS GOOD TO BE BACK LET ME TELL YOU. I HAD MISSED WRITTING ^.^ Hopefully you guys dig the chapter and thank you so much for your reads, comments, and votes!