9 Normalcy

Selene felt like she was in a good mood when driving home. Dropping Dean off after a quick drive-thru breakfast made her feel light and airy. Almost like all her past mistakes hadn't compounded her into the giant fuck-up she always felt like in every relationship.

She hopped out of the Durango, locking the doors behind her with the clicker before she started up the steps. Hopefully Lex hadn't left yet.

Roku saw her get out of her car looking happy. That was a good thing right? Why did he feel so terrible about it?

Selene came up the steps, smirking to herself as she pulled out her phone to stare at the time and she sighed, looking up till her eyes settled on Roku and suddenly it all came to a crashing halt.

He froze when she looked at him. He couldn't look away from her though. He missed her so badly.

She set her jaw, tightening it till her teeth clenched and she lowered her head to come up the stairs till she was walking past him in the hall. It was even harder ignoring him when he was right next door. "Hey," she muttered, trying to get past.

He let her walk past him, but didn't turn to watch her. He lowered his head. His voice caught in his throat so he just continued down the stairs seemingly ignoring her.

Selene felt her teeth clench as he walked past her and she felt her hands shake. She tried to steel herself when she noticed someone unfamiliar at the end of the hall that made her feel confused. He looked familiar, but she was so caught on Roku that she couldn't place the danger she'd felt from the last place she'd seen them. "Why the hell do I have to put up with this?" she whispered, unlocking the door quickly. She went to open it when she felt someone up behind her.

It was so fast, she almost thought they'd been further till they grabbed her wrist.

"There you are." Scott whistled.

Selene whipped around to stare up into the face of the guy from last night. How the fuck did he find her?! Her heart beat loudly in her chest as she went rigid, standing in front of him in complete shock.

"I've been looking all over. I knew you were familiar." he cracked a grin. "Where's your little friend? I smell him all over you."

The hair on the back of Roku's neck stood on end. Something wasn't right. He could feel the danger and looked around. Selene! He turned to quickly run up the stairs to check. Hopefully it was nothing and she was just in her apartment.

Selene didn't understand what he was saying. His dialect was all wrong. Who? Friend? Dean? Her head was in a whirlwind of questions as Scott yanked her back from the door, clamping a hand over her mouth.

"Ah-!" she felt her head whip back as he slammed her up against the wall next to the door.

"Hold on." he smirked, looking over to the stairwell. He could smell his presence start to waft up into the hall. He was coming closer.

Roku stopped at the top to see the man holding Selene against the wall. He growled low in his chest. "Let her go," his voice was deeper, gruffer than usual. His eyes started glowing blue.

He smirked, pulling her away from the wall roughly to throw her back against it and Selene gasped, crumpling to the floor as she grabbed her chest and started to cough.

"There you are. I knew it." he stalked up to Roku. "Little putz, fucking around in our town." His smile faded.

His anger exploded seeing him hurt her. Roku glared at him and started forward ready to fight.

Scott grinned, seeing him rage. "I wanted to fight anyway!" he laughed, letting Roku take the first swing. He slammed into him with the full force of his weight, pushing him towards the wall.

Roku wasn't weak by any means. He wouldn't be cornered. With a balled up clawed fist he swung fast at Scott.

Scott took it, letting him swing at him till he picked Roku up and slammed him against the wall of the building. He pinned him there, laughing between a low growl that was uttered deep in his throat. "What's a matter, brother? Feeling threatened?" He tore at the back of Roku's shirt, digging his claws in.

Roku refrained from showing any pain. He shoved the guy off and kicked at him, knocking him into the wall, making him teeter over the edge of the balcony for a moment.

Scott caught himself, looking down the flights before staring back at Roku, rather breathless. "It doesn't matter if you beat me here and now," he grinned. "So long as you stay here, you're little precious, plaything over there is free game for us. We do whatever we want here. It's our territory." He used his fist to smear the sweat from his face.

Selene got up, staring at them both before she grabbed for her keys, trying to get out of here. Like hell she wanted to be caught in between all of this!

"Fuck your territory. You or anyone else touches her and you'll beg for death."

"Yikes," Scott laughed hoarsely. "Did you pull those threats out of some sort of white knight book?" he snickered. "You can't do anything." He started towards the stairs, sliding well out of Roku's reach. "You'll learn that soon enough. There's one of you and thousands of us."

"We'll see," he growled at him.

Scott sputtered a laugh, mocking him. "We'll see." he mimed back to him. "Yeah, you're right. We will." he told him, stalking off down the stairs.

Selene got up slowly, her hands were shaking as she thought over the night before and it pissed her off this all came back to Roku! Again with him! "Is this some sort of joke?"

Roku looked at her. "No," he told her as he walked back to her. He wanted to make sure she was okay.

Selene yanked her hand from his reach and stood tall, though she felt weak, "Roku. I don't know what the hell you have going on but keep me out of it." she trembled at the idea of them harassing her because of him. Selene felt terrified over that thought, "I'm serious. S-Stay away."

Roku tightened his hand and lowered it. There it was, all over again. "Stay away from the parties."

"What the hell do you mean stay away from the parties? Are you stalking me or something?" she stared at him in disbelief.

"No. They're dangerous. Stay away from them." He stepped back. "Trust me on this." His eyes pleading for her to trust him.

"They?" she made a face crossed between confusion and disgust. "Woah, woah woah. Are you trying to tell me how to live my life? Am I hearing this right?"

"No! I'm telling you- More people like him will be at those parties. Stay away from them."

"It wouldn't be a problem if I wasn't associated with you! I don't know what the hell you're telling people behind my back or what gangs or whatever you're involved in, but keep me out of it. I didn't ask for this shit." He had some nerve, telling her what to do.

"That's not it. This isn't petty gang shit, Selene. This is serious!"

"I'm serious!" Selene huffed, feeling frustrated. "You don't get to involve me in your bullshit! This isn��t my fault!"

"This started before I even got here! I know it's not your fault!" He had to calm down or he would shift in front of her. He was sure his eyes were still glowing though. "I'm trying to save you!"

"I didn't ask to be saved!" she screamed back at him, staring into his eyes. Why did they seem so vivid and bright? "I just wanted you to not abandon me back then! Why the hell did you leave?! You don't get to just show up whenever you want and tell me what to do!" Selene sniffed, wiping her tears away quickly. "I'll go to whatever fucking party I want! You stay away from me and fucking fix that bullshit you started! I'm with Dean! I'm not your anything!" she whipped around, grabbing her keys as the door started to open.

Selene pushed past Lex, running to her room quickly to slam the door shut behind her.

Lex looked at the stranger as Selene rushed past him. "Can I help you?" he growled at him.

Roku turned away from the door to stalk back down the hall to the stairs completely ignoring Lex. He needed to talk to Zaleska about this. She was the only one who really knew the situation with Selene.

Lex looked back at Sarah who was already going after Selene.

"Hey, what happened?" she asked outside her door.

"I don't want to talk about it!" Selene screamed from her bed, shoving her face in a pillow. "I really really don't want to talk about it!"

Sarah frowned and didn't press it anymore. She turned and walked back. "Who was that?" she asked.

"I don't know. He stormed off."

"Call Derik. Let him know Selene has a stalker." The more protection she had the better, right?

Selene could hear them outside of her room and she hated how things seemed to turn. Why couldn't she have a normal relationship? With anyone! Oh god. Did she need to re-evaluate her relationship with Dean? A background check? "Fuck my life." she groaned.

Lex nodded. "I'll call you later. Let me know if anything else happens.��

"I will." She took the door as Lex walked out. "Hey! Thanks for the pancakes." She smiled.

Lex grinned back at her. "Any time."

Selene waited for the door to close before she picked her head up and walked out. All the screaming had given her a headache and on top of that, she was hungry. She opened the door, peeking out before walking to the kitchen to open the fridge door.

Sarah looked up when Selene walked out. She bit her lip wondering if she should even try to have a conversation with her. "There's still pancakes left."

"That works. Where are they?" Selene asked. Her face was still bright red from yelling and her eyes were a bit puffy from crying. Today was an emotional rollercoaster.

"On the counter over there," Sarah said pointing to the back of the kitchen next to the stove.

"Thanks." Selene picked one up, stuffing part of it into her mouth as she poured herself a glass of chocolate milk. She knew Sarah was going to ask later if not now. "He's my ex." she told her, after pulling the small cake out of her mouth. "He's our new neighbor." She felt bitter even admitting it.

"Wait… Which one? The ex fiance?" she asked, coming over to lean on the counter.

"No," she growled, "not him. Roku." Selene said more sadly. "I didn't tell you about him but he's the one who kept my ex fiance away when he was being a creep. We used to work together at a bar in Japan." She pulled the cup over to the kitchen counter and sat down on one of the bar stools. Selene pushed her hair out of her face. "Except… I haven't seen him in years because he disappeared after I got in an accident. And now he's our neighbor and it's fucking weird."

Sarah laid her head in her hand and looked at Selene. "So… why is he here?" she asked.

"I don't know." Selene deflated. "Honestly, I wish he never showed up." She leaned over the table, holding her head. "Some creep came up and slammed me against the wall to start a fight with him but the creepy part is he was one of those guys from last night that harassed me on campus." she sniffed, feeling her voice crack. "I thought they were going to rape me or something and it's all because of Roku. I didn't ask for this!"

Sarah sighed heavily and shook her head. "Are you sure it's because of him and you're not just putting that on him because you're mad?" She held her hand up. "I just ask, because if we need to kick this guys ass…"

"Of course I'm pissed at him!" Selene's voice was high. "He fucking disappeared on me out of the blue. I'm angry with him and he has the gall to tell me I can't go to parties or be out on my own because of some assholes who have beef with him!"

Sarah raised a brow at that. It seemed like this guy was over protective, but seriously overstepping boundaries. "Did he ever explain why he left?"

"No. He just spouted some nonsense that I wouldn't understand or something. He's being completely secretive." she sipped at the milk. "It irritates me just thinking about it. Who the hell does he think he is?" she felt her throat well up as she blinked away a few tears.

Sarah came over to sit across from her. "I get it. I'm sorry. Lex and Derik will kick his ass if you want," she smirked.

"I don't want anyone to kick his ass!" Selene stared at Sarah. "I don't even know what I want from him anymore. I just get so pissed seeing him. Why couldn't he be honest with me?" she lowered her head in her hands. "I've been feeling like it was my fault all this time and now he's just there again. It's weird and it makes me feel so insecure that I can't help but feel frazzled around Dean."

"Is that why you're 'taking it slow' with him?" She still had feelings for Roku.

"I feel like I'm going to fuck something up if I just go headlong into it." Selene put her forehead against the table. "It sucks. I'm afraid if I even tell him Roku showed up, Dean will just leave me. It's the worst. I was finally ready to move on."

"I think you need to have better closure with Roku, or you won't be able to have a relationship with Dean." It wasn't about being slow necessarily.

"How the hell do I do that?" she snapped. "I don't even know where to start. I'm so pissed at him."

"Make him tell you the truth. Don't let him beat around the answer."

"I do but he just starts on this madness that I don't remember things right. I know what I saw." she told her. "I didn't have amnesia. I got fucking shot."

She nodded. "Well… make him explain what you forgot then if that's what he thinks happened."

Selene rolled her eyes. "Why, so he can get away with such a bullcrap story? How's that the truth?" Selene stopped, then and she started to look around the kitchen. "Do you still have those juju beans?" She was craving sweets terribly.

Sarah gave up after that. Selene was going to do whatever she wanted either way. "Yeah," she stood up and went to a cabinet in the kitchen pulling a box. "Here."

"Finally." Selene leaned back in the chair, taking the box to pop it open. She stuffed a few in her mouth. "Yeah. I don't know what I'm going to do about him. I know it's not going to be us just being neighbors though." she glared at the box. "Ugh. I wish this wasn't happening right now."

Sarah nodded. "Agreed. We finally have a break from school and all hell breaks loose."

"Tell me about it." Selene moaned. "It's the story of my life."

She huffed a laugh and sat back down. "Well at least you didn't end up in the hospital on the last day of school." She rolled her eyes.

"Hey, we can go at grips over that. Everyone here has officially been admitted to the hospital at least once. And got a blood transfusion." Selene grinned at Sarah.

"Fair enough."