Am I Being Followed? 1.1

This story is a dream I had and will be posted in segments due to the length of how it turned out.

**Disclaimer**

Do not distribute or post elsewhere without my approval

This series may contain

Blood, Gore, Violence, Seeing things, Dangerous situations, and mental breakdowns.

Please read with caution as it is still in progress and as I remember specific parts of this dream it could change what the disclaimer will hold

On our way to the mall, I start noticing the same feeling of being followed as I did early in the morning, I turn and see a little creature, that reminds me of a gremlin but with much lumpier skin and a little bigger, that is staring at me from a railing across the street. As I notice it a bus drives by and then the creature is gone. Tom nudges me a little, "Are you okay Autumn? What are you looking at?" I shake my head and tell myself that it wasn't there, "Oh, I just thought that couple at the table outside that restaurant, look really cute. Don't you think?" As I smile and point at an elderly couple that are smiling and laughing as they talk. Tom stand behind me and brings his head down to my eye level over my shoulder and smiles, "They are! Maybe one day we'll have that." I look at him and we're both blushing, we're as red as tomatoes at this point. I smile and say, "Maybe."

We start walking towards the mall once again, but this time we're in silence. I start thinking to myself, “What did I see just now? Why did I see it when it seems no one else can? Should I have told Tom? He probably would’ve just called me crazy, or told me I was just seeing things.” I look up and see the mall doors. I had almost forgotten why we were walking. After we walk into the doors the first thing we do is stop at the directory and plan out the order of how we want to do this.

As we walk up to the directory Tom asks me, "So, do you want to start with food or clothes?" I think for a second about how we should do this, "what if we eat first and then get clothes? That way I know that the clothes won't be uncomfortable after eating lunch." He stares at me for a couple seconds before grinning at me, "Brilliant, so what are you in the mood for?" I give him a look letting him know that he had asked a really hard question for me, then my stomach rumbled pretty loudly. I blush as I realize I hadn't eaten anything yet today. He laughs a bit and while smiling says, "Well, you sound hungry! You know what, I have a place in mind." He smiles and assures me, "You'll love it!” He reaches his hand out, “I don't want us to get separated on the way." I smile and accept his out reached hand and our fingers easily entwine together.

I follow behind him trying not to hide within myself, because I wasn’t used to this kind of behavior. I was completely at a loss of how to respond to how he was treating me. I try putting my thoughts aside as we draw closer to the restaurant section of the mall.

As we arrive at the restaurant, I instantly feel out of place, solely because of how high class it is. Growing up in small town USA and only having this job for about a month, I was way out of my normal. Tom notices my reaction and stops to look at me. He steps up to me then gently lifts my chin up to meet his gaze, "I know this can be a bit overwhelming, I can request a room away from people so you can be more yourself here, if it will make you feel more at ease." Looking up at him as I grin, "I would really appreciate that." He smiles and kisses my forehead ever so gently to help calm me down before going in.

I let him lead the way while I have a gentle hold onto a piece of his over coat. He stands confidently while conversing with the hostess that is about to lead us to a private room away from the general public so we can eat and mingle in peace. I don’t think I could have asked for a more understanding, caring and attentive frie… wait… would it be boyfriend now or something else? I couldn’t care less what the label above our relationship reads to others, I’m just glad to have him by my side.

As we make our way to the private room in the back of the restaurant I notice that there are only tables with elegant chairs with several different types of cutlery that I’ve never seen before, and everything was either white, black or gold in color. This is VERY different than what I’m used to; normally there would be booths with a simple spoon, fork and knife to devour the huge delicious looking meal ahead, normally with colors of red, blue and off white or beige from the everyday wear and tear of being handled recklessly on the daily.

We turn a corner and finally reach our table that is tucked away in an even fancier room than the dining rooms that we had passed through to get here. Tom motions with a smile for me sit in the chair that he had pulled out for me. My first thought was “Why would he do that? I could’ve done it myself.” But I take a mental step back and remember that pulling a woman’s chair out before they sit is considered courteous back in the day, so I think for a minute. I finally decide to shrug and give a playful smile, before walking over to the chair across from the one that he pulled out for me and plop down and cross my right leg over the left and put my chin in the hand of the arm I decided to rest on the table while I wait to see his reaction.

He just watched me do all of that with a slightly confused look on his face, then after he saw me rest my chin in my hand, he gave a slight chuckle and sits down as he says, “I guess that’s what I get for getting a private room so you can be more yourself. I’m glad to see you’re already much more comfortable than you were before we walked in.” As I pick up the menu, I say, “I don’t know what you were expecting; I’m always like this around you.” I start to feel like I’m being watched again so I look up and this time I catch Tom staring at me and smiling, but as I catch him watching me he quickly starts looking at his menu, “So, do you know what you’re going to order yet?” He asks me to try and stop me from asking about him getting caught staring at me. “I was thinking about something I haven’t tried before… Which still leaves pretty much everything but the chicken tenders.” I seem to sound like I’m joking even though we both know it’s true.

Tom notices that I’m a bit overwhelmed from the amount of options that I see on the menu and then gives me a smile, “Okay, so I have an idea of how to solve this problem; do you trust me?” I give him a look that shows my obvious confusion, “Honestly, if it will get food in my belly, I’m up for whatever you have plan wise. You’ll probably need to know that I don’t have any food allergies, so go wild” I put my menu down as I’m finishing my sentence and the waiter walks in to bring us some water to start off with and to take our order. Tom has been typing out the mystery order on his phone so that I won’t know what he is ordering for us.

As we’re waiting for our food to come out we start discussing what we’re going to need for our after mall trip. We already knew beforehand that we were going to need food for the video game and movie/anime binge. For food we couldn’t decide with burritos or take-n-bake pizzas, so in the end we decided to just get a couple of specialty take-n-bake pizzas from a local pizzeria and a few burritos from an authentic Mexican restaurant down the street from Tom’s apartment (If it can even be called an apartment with the size of it, but we’ll get to that later.) He scheduled the order for later tonight so that we just had to pick it up on the way to his apartment after picking his car up from the office.

While being lost in the conversation, I completely forgot that we had also just ordered food; our waiter which was carrying in 2 large plates that are completely full with food that makes it look more like sample platters of everything that they make, while another waiter brings in a tray with a few different colorful drinks, both soda and alcoholic drinks. The waiters start placing everything swiftly and elegantly on the table while I just watch with wide eyes as they go about their business.

After the waiter put the last of our food and drinks on the table they give a quick yet gentle bow before leaving the room while closing the door behind them. “I didn’t know that there would be this much! How am I supposed to choose which plate?!” He tries to hide him laughing about my reaction before looking at me, “Well, I figured we’d just share; there’s plenty of a variety that if you don’t like something then there wouldn’t be really much of a waste. Plus, I like everything here anyway, so I could just eat whatever you don’t.”

I squint at him for a second and wondering how long he’s had something like this on his mind. “Have you been planning this for a while? Because that is actually a pretty good idea.” With an over exaggerated gasp, he puts a hand on his chest, “How dare you question my intelligence, I have good ideas quite often, thank you!” I put my hands up and smile, “Alright! You win! Don’t tell me. I am having a good time by the way.” I lean back in my chair and cross my arms over my chest and think for a minute while just staring at him. “This is why I like being around you, you always catch me off guard.” After I said this, Tom gave me the most heartwarming smile he could ever give. After a couple seconds he says, “Let’s eat so that I can beat you at video games sooner.” I give in and start deciding which food to start with.

We start eating and making jokes. Before we know it, all of the food is gone and I had finished off all of the alcoholic drinks because they tasted really sweet. I only feel a little buzzed, but comfortable and safe because Tom is there. When the waiters come back to start removing some of the clutter, Tom asks for the check so that we can get headed towards our main reason for coming to the mall in the first place; buying me new professional work clothes.

To be continued...