Tomorrow she'd go get Karla. It'd been four whole days and she'd done everything she could think of to entice the man in the hat into appearing again, but to no avail. She'd made sure that she took a new route to work each day, hoping he'd follow her. She'd wandered the streets by herself long after it was considered safe to do so in this area of the city.
There was always the possibility that she had scared him off by changing her routines, yet at the same time she'd offered so many chances for him to act on whatever he had planned that he would have done it by now. Hell, she'd even left her apartment unlocked, as crazy as that was.
Still, nothing had come of it. She'd never admit that she was paranoid. For someone escaping from the kind of life she used to lead, a bit of paranoia was a good thing.
Still, she had to admit that she might have over done it. Not on Karla's end. There were no boundaries to the measures she'd take to make sure that the precious gift her former boyfriend had given her was safe from harm. What she was beginning to worry about was Drae.
Since the night at the club, she'd had little contact with him, even at work. She didn't want the would-be, and probably imaginary thug to hurt him just to get to her, but she could tell it was taking it's toll on Drae. He was a good guy, and with no explanation for her distance, she could see he was beginning to get frustrated.
But that was done now. Tonight she'd make Drae take her to a show, and afterward, maybe breakfast if the guy played his cards right. It was time to reward him for his patience and to see if this this relationship could make the leap from potential to kinetic.
She walked into the Stardust a few minutes before her shift was to begin and headed into the back room to hang up her jacket. Drae was there, just pulling a clean apron from the shelf. He slipped the loop over his head and looked over at the dark haired waitress. "I'm not really sure what's going..." he began, but was interrupted when she pressed her lips on his for a brief second.
"What's going on, if you were about to ask, is that tonight you're taking me to supper and a holomovie and afterwards... we'll play it by ear," she said with a coy smile, then slipped out.
Drae stood there, still mid sentence, watching her leave. "Just when I think I'm about to figure females out..."
The owner, a portly green Ortolan named Meejor poked his head out of the office from around the corner. "If you think human females are a pain, try an Ortolan."
Drae chuckled as he headed toward the kitchen. "Yeah, not today, boss."
--------------
It was dark by the time Sorah Kavel and Drae Takoto left the holotheater, yet the foot and speeder traffic on the street was as busy as ever, which was just business as usual for a city this size. Together they walked down the street, Sorah's arm tucked through his.
"Drae, I'm pretty lucky I found you," she said leaning her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry that I've been acting a bit weird lately."
"It's nothing," Drae said.
Sorah stopped and turned to him. "No, it's something, and before this... whatever this is, goes any further, you have to know what you're getting into."
The young man shook his head. "If you're going to try to tell me about your past again, I don't want to know. They're your secrets, and secrets of the past should be kept hidden away, especially if they have no bearing on today."
"That's just it," she continued. "Maybe they don't have any bearing on today; maybe they will have no bearing ever. The thing is that they could just as easily have an impact right now, and that's why I will always have keep looking behind me."
Drae leaned in and kissed her. For a moment, they stood there, together, alone on the busy street. Finally she pulled gently away. "I'm serious, Drae."
"Fine... tell me, but not tonight," he said. "Tonight, let's be in the moment and not think about the past."
Sorah looked into his eyes. For a brief moment, she almost told him she loved him.
Suddenly, he grabbed her and threw her sideways as the world exploded around her with a loud bang and the sound of shrieking metal.
Instantly she rolled to her feet, spinning to see what had just happened. It was a moment before Sorah's mind could wrap itself around the image before her. A speeder, blood-covered, crumpled, mangled, smashed against the building in the exact spot she had been standing just a moment before. Drae. Where was he? Frantically, she looked around.
Like a wave it hit her and her mind went numb. Drae was wedged in between the crumpled durasteel speeder frame and the permacrete wall of the building behind him.
"Nooo!" she screamed, and reached for the young man. Clambering across the twisted metal she grabbed at his body. She pulled his face into her hands. "Drae, look at me!" she shouted. "You look at me, damn it!"
His eyes were open, but she didn't need a medic to tell her he was already gone.
Sorah looked around at the gathering crowd. "Someone, help me, please!" she screamed, begging. Suddenly her eyes locked onto one onlooker in particular.
There stood the man in the hat. He was in the back of the crowd, speaking on a comm and shaking his head 'no.' Almost as if he could feel her gaze, he looked up and their eyes locked.
"You!" she said and pointed. Several in the crowd turned to see what she was pointing at.
The man in the black hat bolted.
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