AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter One
Paula stood at the edge of the dancefloor and watched as Marley and her new husband dancing to their song, the rest of the wedding watching them. So many smiling people, looking very happy.
Paula could feel happiness that her friend was getting married. But she was feeling really antsy.
Sam was watching her. He was the only one not watching the happy couple. Every time Paula glanced around, hoping that he had gone, he was looking at her. And it felt like he was moving closer. Paula felt like she was playing a game of ‘red light, green light’.
Why couldn’t he leave her alone? It was bad enough that he was at the wedding, especially after what Paula had told Marley and Jason about what had been going on, but she hadn’t wanted to make more of a fuss. Her friend was stressed out, as it was, and she didn’t want to make it worse. To his credit, somewhat, Sam had kept his distance from her so far. He had kept with Jason’s friends, and he hadn’t approached her.
But it wouldn’t be long. He was making his move. Paula really needed to get away and find someone to stick with her to keep Sam back.
What part of ‘no’ didn’t he understand?
“Paula?”
Paula jumped when someone’s hand waved in front of her face. She looked around, and saw her brother standing beside her. She hadn’t even noticed that someone had joined her.
“Charlie?”
“It’s me.” Charlie peered at her. “Are you okay? You’re looking really nervous.”
“I’m…” Paula thought about lying, but she knew her older brother would figure it out. She gestured in Sam’s direction. “He’s getting closer. I’m worried he’s going to make a move and ask me to dance.”
Charlie frowned.
“You could say no.”
“You think that’s served me well in the past with him?”
“Fair point.” Charlie sighed. “I thought he would have gotten the message after I told him to leave you alone. Doesn’t Marley know that he’s a creep?”
“I’ve told her that I want nothing to do with him, but Marley keeps saying that he’s harmless. And when I say Sam keeps following me and turning up when I’m not expecting him, trying to ask me out, she just says he’s only trying to be nice, and we would make a sweet couple.”
“She was the one who tried to set you up with him, wasn’t she?”
“Yep.”
And it had been a disaster. Paula had been introduced to Sam at a bar when she went out with her friends. It took her about an hour of polite conversation and trying to ease away to realise that everyone had left them alone and that she had been set up. Even after she told Sam bluntly to leave her alone and stormed off, she was still seen as the bad guy. After all, he was handsome and he had a good job. What did she have to complain about?
Paula couldn’t explain it, but something in her gut said that Sam was bad news. She trusted her gut instincts, and she wasn’t about to ignore it now. Her friends told her she was an idiot, but Paula didn’t care.
Besides, he could never compare to…
I’m not going to think about him now. That will just be distracting, and I can’t have that now.
“Do you want me to speak to him again, Paula?” Charlie asked, giving Sam a hard stare. “I can be a little more insistent this time.”
“Don’t. I don’t think it’ll do anything.” Paula glanced over, and saw Sam matching Charlie’s stare with one of his own before shuffling away. “I’m not sure what’s going to get him to stop, but I do know the last time you told him to fuck off he hounded me with so many messages.”
“I thought you’d blocked him.”
“He keeps getting a different number, or using our friends’ numbers. At this point, I’m going to be blocking everyone we know, but that would mean I isolate myself from my friends.”
“Why are they so determined to get you two together?”
“I honestly have no idea. They just seem to think we’d be a cute couple.”
“That’s not enough.”
