The Masquerade Ch. 05

"I have water, cranberry juice, lemonade and diet soda. What would you like?" Alex said as she moved things around in her fridge.

"Lemonade, please." Mark replied, grabbing their plates and bringing them to the dining table. Alex grabbed the apple and cheese and lemonades and sat next to Mark. Then she popped up.

"Go ahead and start. I need some pants so I don't stick to the chair." Alex said, moving quickly to her room. She slipped on her jeans from the floor and returned to find Mark taking a man-sized bite of his salad.

"Men take such big bites." Alex laughed as she sat.

"Bigger mouths." Mark said, his eyes glinting in humor.

"You got that right," Alex shot back. She laughed when he pinched her side.

They laughed their way through lunch and cleaning up. Their hands frequently giving lingering caresses while their eyes cast side long glances. Mark told her stories of him and John in their college days, and she told him about growing up with Louise. Their hour came to a close and Mark looked at the clock and sighed.

"I've got to go, honey. I have office hours in a bit." Mark said, coming to stand in front of her, wrapping her in his arms as she looked up at him.

"And I've got to take a shower and get ready for class tonight." Alex raised herself up on her toes and kissed his chin, as far as she could reach when he didn't lean down to her. His eyes danced merrily and she laughed. "You know, that's no fair. You can lean down and kiss me any time you want, but if you don't come down here, I can't reach your mouth when we are standing."

"You telling me you wouldn't be able to keep me from kissing you if you wanted to?" Mark asked.

"Well, fine, but why would I want to keep you from kissing me?" She laughed at him. "God, I hope I'm never stupid enough to be in that position." He laughed back at her. He leaned down and caught her mouth with his. They kissed slowly, savoring the feeling of his mouth on hers, their tongues sliding against each others and their arms around each other.

"That should tide me over for a bit," Mark said, slightly out of breath when they parted.

"Mm hm." Alex said, her eyes dancing. She stepped back from him and started walking to her bedroom. He followed her, admiring her frame. She glanced back at him, and he grinned at her. She blushed a bit, and then picked up his shirt from her bed. He dressed, watching her as she found new clothes. When he was finished buttoning his shirt, she stepped close to him and kissed him softly. They walked hand in hand to the door.

"I'll call you tonight?" Mark asked

"Okay, but make it later rather than earlier. I won't be home until almost nine."

"Right. Nine it is. It's a date." Mark said, brushing his lips to hers. She opened the door for him, staying behind the door so no one could see her in her bra.

"Bye, Mark."

"Bye, Alexandria," his smooth voice wrapped around her as she shut the door gently.

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Alex was pleasantly tired on her way from from the adult karate class. Since she hadn't had time for a workout before classes today, she decided today would be a participation day. She had a lot of fun performing bunny hops, bear walks, crab walks, and runs with the kids. And the kids had fun trying to keep up with her. Then she took the adult class through karate tag - this was a running exercise where you ran around the room at a jog, and the person first in line then had to sprint to the end of the line. Once they got to the end of the line then next person sprinted. It was great for keeping people in shape, and also for making them sweat. And that is what karate was about. Discipline, working hard, sweat, and being in great shape.

Alex loved sparring, pitting yourself against an adversary and making each other work your hardest. But if she were to be honest, her favorite part of karate was kata. The graceful lines, the movement just so and working your body into the perfect stance until each individual performing the kata was performing the same way. There was nothing like the energy of a group of people working toward the same goal of perfect lines in each movement.

Alex always loved what she did. Karate was her life, but days like today were why she decided to teach. Each individual had given up energy to the room and made everyone that much better. They had worked hard with and against each other; they learned. The after class talk was more energetic than usual and people were happy. A couple of her college age students had invited her out for drinks afterwards, and normally she would have taken them up on it, even if she would be tired at her morning shift. They were great people, worked hard, were respectful, yet playful. But she was excited to talk to Mark tonight as she had been to teach this class.

Alex waved to the last stragglers after class and walked to her car. She saw a green truck parked under a street light just outside the parking lot. It wasn't one of the cars of her students, she recognized all of those. She marked it's license plate, mostly remembering the message from Shelly this morning and put it out of her mind.

She got into her car and started driving home. Alex put on some music and sang along as she drove down the street. After about five minutes she noticed the green truck was behind her. She was still ten minutes from home, but she certainly wasn't going to drive home in case he was following her. She took a turn and headed towards the grocery store. She cursed as the truck followed her at the turn. The next turn she took without her turn signal, and noticed him follow her yet again.

Now Alex was starting to get pissed. She was going to be late home for her nine o'clock phone call with Mark. She turned again, into the parking lot of the grocery store. The green truck followed her in. She couldn't see the driver due to the headlights. She circled the parking lot, looking for a spot near the doors that didn't have another spot near for at least five spaces. Finally she saw someone pull out from a spot near the door. She circled around again and pulled into the parking place as the truck sped past her car. She got out and went into the grocery store. She went to the nearest cashier.

"Excuse me miss, could you alert the manager that I might be in some trouble. I was driving home when I saw I was being followed. He followed me into the parking lot and just parked. I'm going to go back outside. I don't want to disrupt anything in here. But I would appreciate it if you could get the manager for me." Alex saw the girl's eyes get bigger and bigger as she talked, but turned and walked back out the doors before the girl could respond.

She saw the green truck park halfway down the parking lot. A man a few inches taller than her and stocky climbed out of the truck. As he neared she saw he was fit, his face was square and he had wide lips and a narrow nose. His cheekbones were sculpted and his eyes round. He had blondish hair. Alex thought quickly, trying to place him as he seemed familiar.

As the man neared his walk become almost predatory. Alex couldn't see his eyes, but knew them to be hazel. Her unwanted suitor from the Masquerade.