My Stalker

Chapter 7

I got up the next morning and made some coffee. As I waited for it to brew, I checked my email, yep, he was back.

Hey Blake,

I know you want to know who I am, and that you have been talking to everyone you suspect. So far you aren’t even close to finding me. I feel my courage growing and am getting close to revealing my identity. I just want to be sure that you may feel the same way about me that I feel about you.

As Always,

Your Number 1 Fan.

Jesus, how can I let this guy know how I feel about him, if I don’t know who he is. I have made it through my list, now where do I go from here. Have I met this guy? Do I know him? Is he some clerk at a store that is just too shy to ask me out?

I went over the last few weeks in my head. Mario, Dustin, and Evan all had boyfriends and were just looking to spice things up, while they were fun to be with, I knew I wanted more of a long-term thing. Drew was just a straight guy wanting to get off when his wife was out of town, I’m glad that we could still be workout buddies. but again, I wanted someone who would be willing to give as well receive. Logan was on the rebound plus the fact that he would be leaving town soon, meant he wasn’t a long-term partner. Alex was the most disappointing, not that I regret our night together, that was amazing. I was happy to see him come out of his shell and become his own person, he became so much more confident. My only disappointment was that he was also leaving town, I would have loved to see if we could have developed a relationship. I was glad that he had someone to be with when he got to his new home.

Now that I had gone through my list with no success, I once again was racking my brain to figure out who was sending me the emails. I started to think about guys to put on my new list. I thought about all the emails, the sender had to know me fairly well, he knew where I worked, he knew where I worked out, he knew about my trivia team. It couldn’t be someone that I had just met, it was someone I have known for a while.

Just as I was going to shut down my laptop, I got another email.

Hey Blake,

I am so sorry about all of this, I know I should have just talked to you and not put you through all of this drama. I promise you, the next time I see you, I will talk to you, I just hope that I haven’t screwed things up. I will see you soon.

As always,

Your Number 1 Fan.

Shit, I want to give this guy a chance to talk to me, I do want to see where this might go. He had better not be leading me on for much longer. I shut down my laptop and went on with my day.

Pete had gone out of town with a group of his buddies for a bachelor party, they left Saturday morning and wouldn’t be back until Sunday afternoon. I hadn’t had a chance to talk to him since I crossed Logan off the list or get his help on the next list. I decided I would fill him in on everything when he got home tomorrow. I got a call from one of my gay friends, we made plans to go out tonight with few other guys to our favorite gay bar. It had been a while since I had gone out with them, so I figured this was just what I needed to clear my head. Paul picked me up and we headed to the bar, he and I were the only single guys in the group. We had never dated, but we were good friends, he was more of a love ‘em and leave ‘em type, but he was fun to party with. Josh and Dave had been dating for about two years and Mike and Andy were recently married, they would be meeting us at the bar. As we were driving to the bar, it crossed my mind that Paul may have sent the emails, but when he started to tell me about his latest conquests, I quickly dismissed those thoughts. When we got to the bar, the others were already there, we ordered our drinks and joined them at their table. We laughed and joked with each other and had a good time. Mike and Andy were the first to hit the dance floor, Josh and Dave soon joined them. A guy that I had never met before asked me to dance, so I did, he was a nice guy, so we danced several dances and went back to the table for a drink. Paul had found his next target was busy laying on the charm. As the evening went on, my dance partner left with the group that he came with, I danced with a couple of other guys, but I wasn’t really in the mood for a hook up, so I was getting ready to leave. Paul, of course had other plans.

He asked, “hey, I think this guy wants to go back to my place, is it ok if you get one of the others to give you a ride home?”

I chuckled, “yeah, no problem. I’ll just call an Uber.”

I said my goodbyes and left for home. I lay in bed thinking about my secret admirer, I enjoyed the night out with friends, but I really needed to meet this guy. I finally drifted off to sleep.

I woke up the next morning and made some breakfast. I spent the day doing my laundry and some cleaning around the apartment. I checked my email several times, but no new messages. By midafternoon my laundry was done, and I decided I needed a shower.

After my shower, I started up my laptop and checked for any new emails, there was a new one.

Hey Blake,

In the several years I have known you, I have found myself increasingly attracted to you. I hope you feel the same about me. I know you have worked your way through most of your list, I know it’s time for me to tell you who I am, so you don’t have to waste any more of your time. I really was impressed with how you were able to help Alex out of his shell, maybe you can help me do the same.

As Always,

Your Number 1 Fan.

Shit, several years, he’s known me for several years. Wait, how did he know about Alex, I had only told Pete about that. I gave this some more thought, shit most of the things that my “fan” listed in the emails were only things that Pete would know. He was the only one that I ever talked to about these things, he knew my workout schedule, he knew about my business trip, he knew about trivia nights. Fuck, was Pete sending me all these emails?

I decided I should try to reply to the latest email, maybe he was ready to talk to me, at least through emails.

I quickly typed a reply.

Hi #1 fan,

I do want to know who you are. I can’t promise that I feel the same about you until I know who you are. I promise that I would be happy to at least meet you and even go out with you to see where things go. Please, I will give you a chance, there is no reason for you to hide any longer.

Blake

I hit send, to my surprise, I didn’t get an invalid address message. I watched my screen for a reply. A minute later, my wish was granted.

Hey Blake,

Thanks for the reply. I must admit, I have been a little bit jealous the last few weeks while you were searching for me. Hearing about you being with the guys on your list and wishing you were with me the whole time. I promise you, the next time I see you, I will talk to you, and we can hopefully work this out.

Your Fan.

Just as I saw the email, the door opened and Pete walked in, he wasn’t alone.

He saw me on the couch, “hey Blake, this is Kayla, Kayla this is my roommate and best friend Blake.”

Kayla smiled at me, “nice to meet you, Pete has told me a lot about you.”

I forced a smile, “yes, nice to meet you too.”

Pete said, “We met last night at the club, I’ll tell you all about it later. Kayla is just dropping me off.”

I stood, “sure no problem, I’ll leave you two alone.” I went to my bedroom and once again reread the email. I started to think about Pete and Kayla, what was going on with them, they looked like more than just friends. Is she someone he met at the bachelor party, while he was out of town? If Pete was the one sending the emails, why would he bring a girl home?

I heard the front door close, and Pete knocked on my door, “hey, what’s going on, how was your weekend?”

I said, “it was ok, but yours might have been better, tell me about Kayla.”

He sat next to me on my bed, “it’s kind of a long story, Craig, John, Nick and I were about an hour away from the hotel where we were having the bachelor party. Craig got a call that his fiancé Jen was in a car accident, they were taking her to the hospital. We, of course turned around and came back home and rushed to the hospital. Once we were there, we found out that she wasn’t seriously hurt, but was still going to have to spend a day or two in the hospital. Craig was going to stay with her of course, but John, Nick and I decided to hit the club and enjoy the weekend as planned. I met Kayla and we danced all night, and I ended up spending the night with her. My dry spell is over, we really hit it off.”

I chuckled to myself. I said, “good for you, she did seem like a nice gal.”

He smiled, “she is, I really want to see where things go with her.”

Pete was beaming, I hadn’t seen him act like this with any of the other girls that he had introduced me to. This sure threw a wrench into my stalker situation, it must mean that I was wrong, and Pete is not the sender of the emails.

He looked at me, “hey so tell me, have you gotten any further on your thing, I mean did you talk to Logan? Have you gotten any more emails?”

I nodded, “yep, to both questions.”

He said, “ok, details.”

“Logan just broke up with boyfriend and is moving away in the fall, he didn’t send me the emails. I got a couple more today, and I was able to reply to them. I just got another one before you came home, and I have been trying to decide how to respond.” I told him.

He said, “really, you were able to respond, what did he say? What did you say?”

I said, “he said he was getting close to telling me who he was, and I told him that I was willing to meet him.”

Pete thought a moment, “well, it sounds like you are getting closer, I wish I could help you figure this out.”

I laughed, “you want know the weirdest part of this?”

He asked, “what’s that?”

“As I read and reread all the emails, I was trying to put all the clues together. After I crossed all the guys that we thought it might be off the list, I started a new list and after the last two emails, I thought I knew who it was.”

His eyes widened, “really, that’s great, who do you think it is.”

I shook my head, “I thought I knew, that was, until you came home today.”

He looked confused, “what do mean?”

I paused, “I was starting to think it was you.”

Pete was surprised, “um, why did you think that?”

I ran my hand through my hair, “it was just all the details that the sender knew, the emails all came while you were gone. The last email said he has known me for several years, you hadn’t really dated in the last few weeks, I guess you were the only one that came to mind.”

Pete put his hand on my leg, “I’m sorry Blake, it’s not me. I love you man, but if I had felt that way about you, you know that I would have talked to you about it a long time ago. We have never had any secrets about this kind of thing.”

I nodded, “yeah, now that I have said it out loud, it does sound stupid.”

He said, “It’s not stupid, hell I’m even a little bit flattered.”

I said, “well I hope this doesn’t make things weird for us, you know I won’t try anything with you.”

He smiled at me, “if I thought that I would have never agreed to let you move in with me four years ago, we’re good.”

I was relieved, “thanks, I love you too. I guess it’s back to the drawing board, I need to start a new list.”