forum The Stranger in the City. (Romance/Crime) (One on One) (Closed, Stalkers Enabled)

Started December 09, 2018 by @Desvelarse pets

tune

Vaughn was two lines over from Roxie and Taylor. It was eventually his turn, and he paid for the card in cash.

Roxie glanced over, catching sight of the figure she'd seen earlier. "That's him." "Really? Hmm…" Taylor wandered over. "Taylor, Taylor don't." She stepped in front of Vaughn and smiled. "Hi yes hello, I'd like to point your attention to the girl two lines over who you have caused to cut herself."

Vaughn looked down at Taylor when she approached. He arched a brow in confusion before glancing over to see Roxie. His eyes widened before he quickly finished paying. “Stay away from me. You both are crazy,” he growled to Taylor before quickly walking towards the entrance.

She hopped over the counter and grabbed his wrist. "Please, I'm begging you, talk to her. She's broken and scared. Just one conversation." Taylor's voice was soft and desperate. She wanted to see her friend happy again.

Vaughn tensed, and very quickly in a fluid motion, spun his wrist and got it loose from her grasp. “She cut me and accused me of a crime I didn’t commit,” he snapped. “She’s lying to you, that’s what’s going on.”

"I know that's what it seems like but she was accused of her own sister's murder. I've known Roxanne my entire life. She's not crazy. I know it seems like it but she's just scared. Please. I'll be right there to make sure nothing happens."

Vaughn clenched his jaw at that. “A short conversation will be all,” he muttered before approaching Roxie.

She leaned against the counter, scratching at the still slightly bleeding scars on her wrist. "Don't do that, you'll make it worse." Taylor slapped her hand away. "Sorry…" She mumbled. She looked up at Vaughn. For once, her eyes were clear, meaning she was stable. A person could always tell her mental state based on how cloudy her eyes were.

Vaughn stopped. He looked at Roxie’s face, and still stayed out of reaching distance. “Why did you want to talk to me?” He asked

"Because I need someone to rant to or else I'll really go insane. I just wanted to talk…" She shrunk back slightly.

“Why me? Aren’t a just a suspected serial killer?” Vaughn asked, a sharpness in his tone.

"Will you leave that out of this? Please? I don't want to think about it…" She mumbled, refusing to meet his eyes.

“Hard to leave that out. You cut me and left a goddamn threat note for something I didn’t do,” Vaughn hissed.

She shrunk back further. "I'm sorry…"

“I don’t think you are,” Vaughn said, grey eyes narrowed. “This has gone past saying sorry. You accuse me of being a serial killer, which has seriously damaged my reputation around work. Then you arrest me after I saved a few people from an armed robber. You took me back to your house against my will, which frankly, is kidnapping. Then you threaten me with a knife and cut me. So I don’t want to hear your sorries,” he growled.

She stayed quiet, she was used to people yelling at her with everything she'd done wrong. It didn't hurt anymore. Taylor frowned slightly but didn't say anything. "Taylor can I go? This isn't going to do any good…" She mumbled. "No way! You need to talk to someone."

Vaughn shot Taylor a look. “How about you two talk? Normlly I would love to, but after all of the unspeakable things she did, I don’t want anything to do with this,” he said.

"Listen honey, I'm moving in a month and I need someone she can talk to that isn't me." "Taylor please…" Her voice was quieter than before and she fidgeted slightly. "This is doing more harm than good."

Vaughn scoffed at that. “She’s right. She wouldn’t want to talk to a serial killer, or so she says, so I don’t want to talk to her.”

"I could shove you and make you kiss her, would you prefer that instead?" "Taylor!" "What? He's not cooperating!"

Vaughn shot Taylor a look. “That has nothing to do with any of this. Deal was I come talk to her, not engage in PDA.”

"That wasn't a no!" "Taylor! Just let it go." "I'm not Elsa, I can't do that." Roxie sighed, rubbing her temples. "You Didn't dork." "Says you." "Yes! Says me!"

Vaughn shook his head. This was taking too long. He turned on his heel and stepped away quickly.

She sighed. "I told you it was a bad idea." "Sorry Pop Rocks. I'll get you a boyfriend before I leave, I promise." She punched her friend's shoulder playfully with a smile.

Vaughn quickly left the store. Of course he ran into her. She was different. Her meds must have kicked in. But that didn’t matter.

She sighed quietly. "I just hate that the first time he saw me is when I was going through withdrawal. You know how I get when I don't take my meds for a few days." "Yeah, it's not pretty." "Exactly. And it's such a shame too. He's really cute." She smiled a little.

Vaughn made it back to the woman’s house after a few minutes. She wasn’t there yet. He wrote a thank you note on the card before collecting his things and leaving.

"Maybe one day…" She mumbled, running her fingers through her hair. She shook her head, this was ridiculous. "Right, I need a smoke break."

Vaughn began to walk through town. He wanted to get back to the gas station, where it was safe.

She walked out, lighting a cigarette and wandering the streets. She wasn't completely sure where she was going, just walking wherever her feet led her.