I hadn’t seen Danielle in so long and the opening of my art gallery was in twelve days’ time. I was free today and had nothing serious to do so I decided to pay her a visit and I was glad I did.
I didn’t call her to let her know that I was coming and she was so happy to see me. Luckily for me, she also didn’t have plans, else my coming here and surprise would have been a waste.
We were currently in her kitchen trying to make some cookies but I did even know what it was that came out of the oven. We were laughing so hard as we looked at whatever it was that we brought out of the oven.
“Look at what you baked Hazel, you are such a disappointment” she wheezed out and I could not stop myself from bursting into laughter again. She was also trying to control her laughter as she pointed to the tray on the kitchen counter.
"Me? You practically mixed everything. I was just here for moral support” I gasped. Danielle was literally THE spoiled child you see in Hollywood royalty movies. Being the only daughter of an oil mogul, the woman had never done any hard work in her life just like me.
“Your energy was wrong. Yes, that’s it, your vibes was wrong and that’s why it came out wrong” She pointed an accusing finger at me and my eyes widened with humour.
“You are crazy. What does my wrong energy have to do with the cookies coming out wrong?” I asked in between laughs. My stomach was already aching me with how much I was laughing.
“Do you need me to make another batch?” Her chef asked us from where she was sitting in the corner looking really uncomfortable. I have seen her cringe and wince more than I can count in the last hour we have been here and I don’t even blame the woman. The kitchen looked like it was raided by zombies.
“There is no need. I don’t even crave cookies anymore. We’ll just take some strawberries and eat them while we talk in the lounge” I agreed. As much as we would love to have another cookie, making them would take a little bit longer and I honestly didn’t feel like having cookies anymore.
“That’s better. I haven’t eaten strawberries in so long and now that you have mentioned it, I am suddenly craving some” She gave me a thumbs up before walking to the fridge and pulling out the strawberries that were there.
“Can you get us a bottle of red wine and two glasses? We’ll be on the balcony upstairs” she asked the chef who smiled in reply before walking out of the kitchen to go and fetch the wine.
“Shall we?” Danielle asked me with glee, offering her arms to me. I linked my arm with hers and we jogged out of the kitchen like high school kids, giggling on our way.
When we got to the balcony, the chef came in as well, placing the bottle of wine and glass cup on the table before leaving us alone.
“I want to say the view from up here is impeccable but there is no view” I wheezed out and we burst out laughing again. This time, I even caught sight of tears in Daniell’s eyes as she laughed uncontrollably.
“That’s mean of you. My view is truly magnificent” She whined in between laughs but she knew I wasn’t wrong. Though the balcony was upstairs, all you could see was the large empty space. Well, not empty but just the path that led to the front gate.
“If you are calling the gate magnificent, that’s all on you” I warned her.
“Don’t make me laugh anymore, I don’t think my stomach can take it anymore” she wheezed out but she was still chuckling. I loved spending time with her because I could talk about anything so freely without the fear of being judged.
“So tell me everything. I can see it on your face that something is bothering you. Now talk to Mama, I’m all ears” This is another thing I loved about her. We’ve become so close and she was now able to read me like an open book. There was barely anything I could hide from her.
“I think someone has been watching me and following me. I’ve felt eyes on me for more than a week now and three days ago I locked eyes with someone across the street and my guts tell me he is the one that has been watching me but when I told Atticus about it, he didn’t believe me and said it was as a result of my stress”
“Oh wow…that’s a lot but first of all, the stalker, let’s talk about that. How and when did you notice someone was watching you? This could be serious” She picked up the wine bottle and poured both of us a glass of wine each.
“I was taking a walk when I first felt eyes on me but because I couldn’t see anyone I shrugged it off but ever since then I’ve always felt like I was being watched constantly and I have to watch my back every time” I picked the glass cup and took a sip of the wine and let the taste assault my senses.
“That’s crazy girl, this is not something that should be taken so lightly and I am honestly disappointed in Atticus. He should be trying to find whoever it is and not wasting time doubting you and what you saw” she scolded and I knew she was angry judging from the frown that was suddenly on her face.
“He said he would have the security look into it but it doesn’t change the fact that he is doing it just for doing sake and not because he believes me and is truly worried about me and that’s what’s hurting me more”
Honestly, I wouldn’t have minded if Atticus didn’t put anyone on the case but just believed me. To me, it made me feel like I was not someone that could be taken so seriously.
“I totally get what you mean and you have the right to be angry because the whole thing is truly upsetting” Her tone turned sympathetic and I knew it wasn’t just out of pity.
“I don’t know what to do and I'm truly scared. I don’t know if it’s because I have been watching crime documentaries and imagining the worst thing possible but I don’t like feeling like this, like I have to watch my back every single minute.
“You have to calm down and try not to imagine the worst thing possible. It may be just a harmless stalker and not someone who is trying to kill you” She got up from the chair she was sitting on opposite me and came to sit beside me before pulling me into a hug.
“Everything will be fine I promise, you have to trust me and also your husband. It may look like he doesn’t care but he does. I am not trying to make excuses for him but he is not very good at expressing himself and when he does, it doesn’t come out right sometimes” She rubbed her hands up and down my back in an effort to calm me down
“I am really trying to understand the kind of person he is but it is very difficult to do so when he acts like this. I try not to jump to conclusions on certain matters but he is so damn infuriating” I pulled back from the hug to look at Danielle with a pout on my face.
“I definitely know what you are talking about. My husband is the same way, sometimes I just want to pull out the gun and shoot him but I love him too much to kill him”
“Thank you, Dani, you always know the right thing to say or do to take my worries away. I think
I’ll take your advice and not put too much thought into it. I’ll just wait to see what Nathan and Justin come back with. I hope it’s just a harmless stalker like you said” I pinched the bridge of my nose in exasperation.
“Me too babe, I really hope it’s nothing to worry about. Now let's leave that and talk about you and your husband. How are you doing?”
Danielle had given me a pat on the back which was hilarious when I told her I moved in with Atticus in his room and succeeded in making him stop seeing Samantha.
At first, she didn’t believe me but Jessica was never one to be able to control her mouth so she spilled that Samantha was so fucking livid that Atticus never came over anymore.
According to Danielle, she had to bite back her tongue so she wouldn’t say the wrong thing to Jessica, after all, she was just saying what she heard
“It's great if you extract our argument about the stalker. Things have become so natural between us.”
“Does this mean I should be expecting Mini Hazel and Atticus soon?” She teased
“Get out, I don’t want a baby now” Danielle was filling my head with thoughts I don’t want.
Because of her now, I couldn’t stop my mind from conjuring images of mine and Atticus' babies running around our big house but the question should be “Does Atticus want babies too?”