Jeremy had been watching you. He had been stalking you through the crowds of people you walked in. Through the midst of parties you patented your friends. Through all the chaos you got yourself entangled in, he found himself entangled with you. He never was one for being in a committed relationship, but you were different. Something about the way you held yourself.

He always saw the ways you crumbled. The way you zoned out for minutes at time. One day, that could possibly kill you. If you died, he didn’t know who else he could entangle himself with, because there wasn’t anyone like you in his mind. In his world, you were the only acceptable person to torment until tears ran down your pretty face. He would be the only one bringing tears to those red puffy cheeks.

Jeremy was watching you from afar on his motorcycle, watching you walk out of the club. Of course you hadn’t gotten drunk. He observed the way you usually refrained from ever drinking and usually parented your not as mature friends. He revs the engine once to get your attention. Nothing. He prolongs the revving but you still show now signs of hearing his loud bike. He doesn’t try again. Instead, he hops off his bike.

He strides towards you and sees the look in your eyes. Dead. Distant. You’re clearly not paying attention. He reaches out to you, halting you in your tracks and ripping the earbud from your ear, engulfing it in his hands “Who the fuck listens to loud music at night when walking alone?” He asks, the music still playing while in his palm, audible. It was loud and unsafe and you clearly weren’t thinking straight.