Taken and Misused.

[Elisabeth’s Point Of View]

As I was pulling my coat over my wool sweater my phone started ringing, I fixed the collar of my thigh length, green pea coat and lifted my phone from my coffee table. I answered it and situated it between my shoulder and ear so I could continue with getting dressed.

“Hey Elisabeth! I’m at your apartment building right now and might I add a ‘wow’ for your place” Tabytha said. Tabytha was the girl I met and related to during dance class. She had come in with some others to show me and Stephen how the tango could be mixed with other dances. She had also told me that Stephen’s stand-off personality didn’t go away. We usually only spoke during dance practices when we saw each other, but I had decided to call her and ask her to come shopping with me. Part of it was because she was a really nice girl and another reason was because I was still freaked out about the man who had followed me last night. Walking the streets alone was not on my agenda for today.

“I’ll be down in a moment” I said, pulling on my boots, the wool lining instantly warmed up my toes.

“Alright, see ya in a minute then” Tabytha said and I said a quick goodbye and we hung up. I was rushing because I had slept in; I had slept in because I had been unable to get to sleep last night. But I was going to forget about that man, I would not let him ruin today. I tugged a light colored wool hat over my head and wrapped my matching scarf around my neck. I doubled back to grab my purse, having almost forgot it in my rush. I locked my door and slipped my key into the pocket of my blue jeans.

“You rushing to leave town or something?” a voice thickened by a Russian accent asked. I looked behind me to see Aleksander standing by the elevators with an amused expression on his face.

“No, I’m not leaving town” I replied, my memory flashing back to his grin as he drove off from the race where Darik had lost his car. Suddenly he made me scared.

“So where are you going to then?” he questioned. For some reason it felt like he was keeping tabs on me or something, like he was checking up on what I was doing. His questions sounded too pointed, like he had planned to ask them no matter when or where he saw me.

“Shopping with a friend” I said, maintaining a friendly tone. I could possibly just be jumping to conclusions.

“Any plans for tonight?” he asked, I reached out and pressed the down button on the elevator. I really wanted to get away from him now.

“Yes, I’m busy” I answered, stepping into the elevator once the doors were open.

“Wonderful” Aleksander said with that same wide grin I had seen at that street race. My breath caught in my throat.

“What do you mean by wonderful?” I questioned.

“It is nothing” he replied, the elevator doors closed and I pressed the button for the ground floor quickly. I could not shake the feeling that he was up to something, something that concerned me.

When I got off on my floor I waited a few moments to see if he got off of an elevator as well. After about a minute the doors to one opened and I ducked further behind the corner I was peeking around. Aleksander was talking on his phone as he walked towards me, oblivious to my hidden form.

“Yeah, she is still here, so is Vaughn…..no, the rest of his team have already skipped town……yes, she has ‘plans’ tonight” Aleksander chuckled at that last part. I watched as he hung up and continued out to the car garage. Who would be worried about me being here; or Vaughn for the matter. I shuffled out of my hiding spot when Aleksander was gone and hurried to the front doors so I wouldn’t leave Tabytha waiting. I kept thinking over the current situation though. What if it was what Rodrigo had been talking about at that last race, something about the people Vaughn had indebted himself too? From all of the old mobster movies I had watched with my father I knew that money usually caused all the problems in the movie. But I didn’t see how I tied into that whole thing, I only went with Vaughn to watch him street race every once and a while. Most of his illegal life was still a mystery to me. I reached my hand into my coat pocket and gripped my cell phone for a moment, contemplating on whether or not to call Vaughn. If I did I could either get my answers, or he could think I’m paranoid and suggest we cancel our plans tonight. I pulled my hand back out of my pocket, I would not ruin tonight because I happened to be too paranoid. That ‘she’ Aleksander had been talking about could have been anyone, he never said my name. There was no reason to worry; my life was completely predictable, nothing crazy ever happened to me. I took a deep breath, tonight would be perfect, I would not worry, or stress over any stalkers, or random Russian men.

I got into the passenger side of Tabytha’s car and kept repeating that mantra in my head.

“You ready to go shopping?” Tabytha asked; hyper as usual.

“For the perfect dress? Yes I am” I said with a smile.