I think I have a stalker. This morning I was followed to work. I first saw him when I was getting off the highway. He was getting off the same exit as me...no big deal, right? But something made me concentrate in my rear view mirror to get a better look at him. He was wearing a baseball cap, and he had some unkempt facial hair. That's all I could see from where I was. I turned left, he turned left. Straight through two lights to the main intersection. Make another left. Ditto for him too.
A mile down the road he was still behind me as I pulled into the parking lot of Starbucks to get my morning tea. I got out of the car and looked around. I didn't see him anywhere. I knew he had pulled into the lot behind me, but it was as if he had just disappeared. I went in, got my tea, and came back out. His car was the first thing I saw as I exited the coffee shop. He had parked in the back, not where everyone else typically parks, which is why I hadn't seen him the first time. I got in my car, started it up, looked around. As I started to pull out of my parking space, he started to pull out of his too. He drove a silver Volkswagon. Looked like a two-door. I couldn't make out the model from my mirror. I pulled out of the parking lot, turned left, checked my mirror. He was still behind me. I pulled into another shopping center on the other side of the street, and so did he. At this point, to say I was uneasy with this is an understatement. I pulled around the main parking area and began to head for the back of the attached building of the strip mall. Back here was nothing but dumpsters and empty pallets, and if he followed me here, he certainly was up to no good, and for some reason I felt I needed to make sure he was following me. You know, for sure. This would be a good test, I figured. I started to drive around the back of the buildings, and he began to follow. Once he realized what he was doing and how this was probably a trap to see what he was doing, he made a u-turn and drove off. I never could quite make out who he was, but I have a real good idea who might have put him up to it.
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Innocent flirting is rarely innocent at all. At least not to the observers. It seems easy to enter into a flirtatious "relationship" thinking it will head nowhere, but if both parties are not aligned and in a silent agreement of this, things can go drastically wrong. Todd was someone I knew from work. We were both managers of different departments and had never had much interaction, other than the exchange of a couple work-related conversations here and there over the course of the year that I knew him. Then one day, we seemed to find a common bond of someone that we both didn't like, and that turned into a budding friendship. Funny how those things sometimes happen. Something so shallow and trivial is what brought us together. I should have known how it would turn out, simply based on how it began. Todd and I saw each other every day at work, we exchanged emails, and occasionally went out for coffee or lunch. The first time we were together outside of work was one night when we had decided to go out for drinks. We had a great time. I don't think I have ever laughed so hard. We had so much in common, and even though we mostly discussed work, the direction of the conversation was enjoyed by both of us. When the night ended, I realized that the only thing that would have made it better was if I was there enjoying this time with my husband instead.
Yes, I'm married. My husband knew I was out for drinks with another man. He trusts me. After all, it was just some harmless innocent flirting exhanged through emails that got us here. What bad could come of that?
We continued to see each other every day during the work hours, and we spent a couple of our lunch breaks together. There was a lot of flirting going on from both parties, but we were both married. We knew if the flirting turned into anything, it would be a no-strings-attached kind of something. There were a couple times that it could have gone that route, but for one reason or another, I avoided it. He, on the other hand, seemed ready and willing, with no regard for the fact that he was married. I could tell he had done this before.
