It was another great day in the city and once again Sam was lost. He took a wrong turn again and now was lost in the city. It didn’t bother him too much, he always seemed to find his way eventually, and the walk was well needed. Whistling to one of his favorite songs by the Killers, he noticed it’s been a few hours since he had eaten anything. He noticed a nice sit down restaurant, located outside. Sam smiled as his stomach growled, “I know your hungry hold on.” Sam felt a little crazy talking to his stomach but he felt a little crazier when he would actually have an argument with it.

Sam walked in the gated area that was the restaurant. Then something caught his attention. It was a girl sitting by herself. Sam felt like he was in need of a good conversation. As Sam approached he noticed things about the girl, her eyes which were a beautiful shade of dark green, she seemed to be a little on the short side, but that didn’t matter, and her hair it was dark brown and shoulder length. Sam came to the conclusion, she was very cute.

As he got closer he started thinking about using a lame pickup line, but then thought about it, and decided not to she probably heard it all before. So he improved which he was good at, he walked over and pulled out the chair that was across from her, and sat down. “Looked like you could use some company?” Sam smiled at her as he leaned back in the chair, trying to be confident and collected.

Sterling ached all over.

She awoke later than she normally did—the sun spilling into her face—and severely wished she hadn’t. All her injuries from the night before were screaming for attention. The pain was bad enough to make her want to remain in bed for all eternity, but it was also bad enough to warrant pain meds. It was the rumbling in her stomach that eventually pulled her from bed. The fact that her stomach usually rebelled if she didn’t have anything in it before taking pain pills made seeking food a priory.

She pulled herself out of bed and drug herself to the bathroom. She sighed at what she found in the vanity mirror. Her reflection peered tiredly back at her, a bit of busing around the edge of her jaw. She had a nice scrape down the side of one arm that she some how overlooked the night before, but it had scabbed over during the night. The bandaging on her right hand and legs needed changing too. She hoped she hadn’t actually broken any bones or seriously injured herself, but knew she couldn’t afford to go to a hospital at this time. Her injuries were tell-tell of a car accident and with the going-ons of last night now well known, she knew the authorities would be stalking the hospitals, just waiting for those with unexplained injuries to show up. She gingerly changed her bandaging, and stuck a band aid on the side of her chin in attempt to hide the burse. Painfully, she dressed, carful of her legs and half-heartedly groomed herself, giving up on her hair when the tenderness of her head brought tears to her eyes.

Nearly an hour later, she limped out of her hotel room, a small purse clutched in one hand. She was a little sorry she couldn’t ride Dragon-Fly but at the same time felt it was for the best: she didn’t think she could tolerate the tightness of a helmet at the moment much less grip handle bars. She slowly limped down the street and stopped at the first eatery that she saw, which happened to be a cute little café surrounded by a short fence. A hot drink sounded really good to her at the moment. And maybe even something sticky and sweet. A short time later, she was seated and nibbling a bear-claw the size of her face. She didn’t normally indulge in sweets but, the pastry’s warmth and wonderful taste soon lulled her almost into an almost trance like state, allowing her for a time to forget that she had nearly died the night before. So absorbed in not thinking, she almost didn’t notice when the man sat down at her table. She started when he spoke, berating herself for not being more aware of her surroundings. This wasn’t like her at all. ‘I must be really messed up,’ she thought wryly, blinking up at the man now sitting across from her. The though made her remember her injuries and she nervously shifted, calming herself with the knowledge that there were other people around should he try anything.

“Um,” she trailed, unsure of what to say next.

She looked nervous as well she should be a random guy sat down across the table. Most cases when a random guy sits across the table, it usually means he is going to try something, but that wasn’t really on Sam’s mind far from it, he was hungry and almost all the tables were full.

“Um,” she trailed, unsure of what to say next.

Sam smiled at her as she said um, Sam was almost expecting yelling but that wasn’t the case she was speechless. Sam spoke up, “So, are you waiting for anybody? Cause I think that guy might be following you. The one on the bench bout ten feet back?” Sam was referring to what he would call a jock if he ever attended high school, this guy was big. But this guy kind of seemed like a creep to Sam, the guy was wearing sunglasses and was hiding behind the newspaper. Sam waited for her to take a look back and respond, if she did know him, Sam would have apologized and left and if she didn’t know him then Sam would have stayed around for a bit, just to make sure nothing happened. One of Sam’s pet peeves is seeing a women being taking advantage of.

Sterling didn’t know what to say. What if this guy was lying and just trying to get her to look away so he could do something funny? But at the same time, what if he was telling the truth? She didn’t want to turn around stare at the guy that the man at her table gestured too, but she didn’t know how else to be sure. Keeping the man at her table in her peripheral vision, she chanced a glance at the guy a few feet away. She couldn’t see him very well, but it did slightly look like he was hiding behind a news paper.

“No, I don’t know him…ah, thank you for your concern?” she offered, turning back around. The guy that sat at her table didn’t look like he was up to something, but Sterling was well aware of how deceiving looks could be. There was a moment of tense silence when suddenly…

“Well! I didn’t know you were waiting for someone else, or I would have left a menu!”

Seeming to appear out of nowhere, an over eager waiter now stood at the table, grinning entirely too happily and clutching a sliver of a menu in his hands. He didn’t wait for a reply from either of them as he handed the man the menu.Sterling could only blink in confused surprise as the waiter fluttered away.

“I’ll be back in a second!" the sang as he retreated.

Sterling didn’t know if she should laugh or run away. “If I had known, I would have told you…” she responded dazedly to the waiter’s first statement.

Sterling was NOT good with people and this was swiftly becoming a situation she had no idea how to deal with. Vaguely she wished it was socially acceptable for her to hide under her chair and way from people.

Sam was a little cautious of the situation, she could have easily been playing with him, Sam was a sucker for the whole damsel in distress thing, and all the wrong people new it. Sam took the menu in surprise as the waiter shoved it on him and then walked away. Sam paused for a second, realizing how awkward the situation was then he responded, “and do you want me to stay here for a bit and keep an eye on him? I am in a perfect spot for it.” Sam waited for the girl to respond as he scanned the menu while keeping an eye on the guy. Something was off here, he clearly wasn’t just some kind of pervy guy, and otherwise he probably would have left while once Sam sat down. Something was up here and Sam wanted to get to the bottom of it. “My name’s Sam by the way.”

Sterling frowned slightly, the whole situation feeling more slightly awkward. She was practically bursting with unease, but she didn’t let it cloud her head.

“My name is…ah, Mary,” she said thinking quickly, her mind thumbing through a series of possible escape scenarios. ‘I knew getting out of bed today was a bad idea…’ she groaned to herself. However, the beginnings of a plan started to take shape in her mind. A plan that would not only take care of the guy who may or may not have been following her, but also the stranger at her table.

She leaned forwards towards Sam and did her best to look trusting, “So you really think that guy is after me?”

She chanced a short glance at the guy reading the paper, not really listening to any answer Sam might have given.

“Look,” she began, turning back to Sam, “I got an idea. I’m gonna pay for my meal and go to the bathroom, will you stay here and watch him? If he does anything funny you can get a jump on him?”

Sterling barely waited for a response before getting up and heading back into the café . She shoved a $10 bill at the lady at the register, quietly murmuring, “keep the change”, before slipping through a side door that lead into the kitchen. Her entrance earned a few stares, but she straightened her posture and lengthened her strides, giving herself the appearance of belonging.

“Sorry,” She said to the first person to made eye contact with her, “They said to use this door.” She pointed vaguely in the direction of the door through which she had come.

As the person tried to figure out her meaning, she quickly made her exit through the back door and into the alley behind the café. She hardly paused to catch her breath before hastily continuing on her way. An alley was not the safest place for an injured woman to rest.

As she walked away from the café, some part of her felt vaguely sorry for the guy still at the table but she told herself that in a city as large as New York the chances were slim to none of ever seeing him again. Besides, he could have been a stalker, or hitman after her race earnings. Consoled, she made her way back to her hotel with the full intension of taking several pain pills and sleeping the rest of the day away.