Shot of Vodka, Shot of Pain

A few days later I was on the verge of a breakdown. Crying at my office, secluded in a bathroom, was not how I imagined my day to be going. It started when Jesse noticed the text from Jimmy that I never realized I had.

"You have a missed text," he told me over breakfast and pointed out the flashing icon at the bottom of my screen. Being nonobservant, I never noticed it was there.

"Huh, well color me surprised," I said and went to open it up.

"You should say color you blonde," he said with a smirk on his face. I stuck my tongue out at him and opened the message.

"It's from Jimmy.Pagan it was great seeing you, even though that boyfriend of yours is an asshole. Hope to see you soon, sans boyfriend. Well he got his wish," I said and put down my phone.

"What do you mean?"

"He treated me to lunch yesterday. I can't believe after all these years he remembered my birthday. He just texted me again.Didn't see you at the bar last night. Doesn't Jesse know he can't keep you to himself? See you soon. Well that's a little weird," I said.

"Don't text him back. Just let it go for a day or two and hopefully he'll forget it," he said.

"Forget what?"

"His little crush on you. Apparently you made quite the impression on him," he said and lifted up the newspaper.

"What can I say? I am ravishing," I said and tossed my hair over my shoulder.

And breakfast continued as usual.

When I got to work, there were flowers at my desk. I initially thought it was Jesse but I saw the card. It was from Jimmy.

Lunch @ Delminicos?

This was becoming stranger then it was already. I tossed the card and set the flowers near the window before diving into my work. An hour after lunch, another boquet arrived. Again they were from Jimmy.

Missed you at lunch. Dinner?

I called Jesse. He didn't like it one bit. He said he was going to pick me up from work and drive me home himself. I thought maybe he was overreacting but I let him feel manly and agreed to be driven home. Morgan was supposed to take my car back after she got off so I left my keys with the front desk and went outside to meet Jesse. As I climbed in the car I could have sworn I saw Jimmy across the street staring at me. When I turned to look again, he was gone.

The next afternoon while out for lunch, I spotted someone familiar through the crowd of the coporate suits. Rachel and I were friends in high school, but never really close. When I waved at her to come join me for a second I never thought I'd be desperate for a gun.

"So what happened with you in Jimmy?" I asked her.

"You haven't seen him have you? I heard he moved here recently. Just stay away from him," she said and shuddered.

"I actually ran into him at the bar he owns and had lunch with him the next day," I said.

"Just stay away from him," she repeated sternly. There was a hard look in her eyes that told me I should be following her advice.

"Care to tell me why?"

"Jimmy changed after we graduated. He's no longer the fun loving guy we used to know. As soon as second semester of our freshman year of college started, he did a complete 180. He could never let me out of his sight. He was clingy, over protective, made every guy his enemy if they even talked to me. When I broke up with him, he started stalking me. I'd get flowers from him and little notes. I'd go to the library and he'd suddenly appear. I'd go to my mom's and he'd be there five minutes after I was. I eventually got a restraining order before I moved to go to a different school. Even then he bombarded me with emails and letters. After a while it stopped, but that's when I learned he had a new girlfriend. They broke up and he started doing the same thing to her. She contacted me and was desperate for help," she said.

Oh snap!

A look of shock and fright crossed my face.

"This is not good," I said

"You ever need anything, give him a call. He's been helping me throughout this whole ordeal. He knows how Jimmy operates. If it gets too intense, he'll know what to do," she said and passed me a business card with Detective Ryan Catter printed on it. I secured it in my wallet and when I walked back to the office I called Jesse. I replayed the whole story for him and he again picked me up from work. I didn't know how far Jimmy would actually take this, but I was scared.

When my nerves finally relaxed the next day and Jesse had delivered me safely to work, I finally started to get my head back into work mode. When the phone rang, I thought it was just another business call. Turns out I was lying to myself.

"You can't ignore me forever Pagan," Jimmy said.

"Listen Jimmy, the flowers were nice and all, but I've got a boyfriend. This has got to stop," I said in a calm, cool and rational voice.

"What if he was no longer around?" he asked. His tone was curious.

"Jesse will always be in my life no matter what capacity it is," I said.

"I meant, what if Jesse suddenly disappeared?" he said. Now he had the calm, cool, and rational voice.

"Jimmy-"

"Just think about that Pagan," he said and hung up the phone. I gathered myself to together, walked past the office of people to the one stall wheelchair bathroom. When the door was shut and locked I started crying.