chapter six.

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"So what's the plan for today?" I asked Mallory after she got into my car and we greeted each other.

"Well," She started as she now put on her seat belt. "Remember yesterday when you said you'd not only be my friend but my body guard?"

"Yeah," I nodded. As weird as it may have seemed, I meant every word I said to Mallory yesterday. I didn't want her to feel uncomfortable or scared out in public, so I was happy to help her in what ever way I could.

"Well then, we are going to the record store." She sent me a smile and I raised my eyebrows in shock.

After what happened yesterday, I was surprised she wanted to go back so soon. "T-The same record store?" I stammered.

"Yeah," She now nodded. "They have some vinyls for a really good price and I need them." She lightly chuckled.

"Alright," I nodded as I looked up the store and put it into my maps. Once my GPS was activated, I pulled away from Mallory's apartment and headed to our destination.

**********

We arrived at the record store and I put my car in park before Mallory and I both took off our seatbelts. It was a short ride there, and we just made small talk the whole time. As much as I wanted to, we didn't talk about last night. She seemed nervous enough, and I didn't want to make anything awkward between us by bringing it up.

"So, the guy from yesterday," I started as I looked over at her, and she quickly looked up at me. "What did he look like?" I asked her softly. I didn't want to stir up any anxiety as she thought about him, but I needed to know so I could protect her from him.

"He uh," She started as she broke eye contact. "He was tall, taller than me anyways, b-but uh, I think shorter than you. Uh, kinda pale. Dark, short hair." She described, but to me that was just every white man ever. "If I see him," She started as she looked over at the store. "I'll let you know."

I nodded in response and we both exited my car. We walked up to the store together and I opened the door for her as she walked inside, I followed right behind her.

"So, you're really into vinyls, huh?" I asked as I looked around the store. It consisted of mostly classic rock and old school albums, but had a section labeled new releases where they had some of the latest music.

"I got a record player from my parents for Christmas a few years ago. It's one of my favorite things that I own." She looked up at me as I followed her to wherever we were walking. I nodded as I continued to look around the place. There was a good amount of people in here, none of them stood out to be the pervert from yesterday. "Here they are." Mallory said as we walked up to a rack.

I watched her as she pulled four records off of a shelf. Queen, Luke Bryan, John Mayer, and Jack Johnson.

"You have quite the music taste." I chuckled as I watched her observe the albums.

She cracked a smile as she looked up at me. I loved the way she looked up at me. "Just a few of my favorites." She said as she now held the records close to her chest. "Is there anything you wanna look at?"

"No," I shook my head. "Was this it?" I asked her, wondering if that was all she wanted to do today. I was hoping we'd spend more time together rather than spend two minutes in a random store.

"This was it here," She mentioned as we began walking to the checkout counter. "But I was thinking we could grab a late lunch or something. Is that okay?"

I felt a smile spread on my lips as I nodded. "That sounds perfect."

We approached the counter and Mallory placed the albums out for the cashier to ring them up. I continued to look around the store as Mal finished up paying. Once the cashier handed her the bag of vinyl records and her receipt, we stepped away from the counter.

"Looking just as sexy as yesterday." We heard a masculine voice from behind us.

Mallory and I were almost at the door to exit, but we both froze in place at the same time. She looked up at me as I looked down at her, I could tell she was already terrified.

I turned around to see the guy that Mallory described and he had a grin plastered on his face.

I clenched my jaw, wanting to punch the shit out of him in that moment, but we were still in public and I couldn't draw any attention towards us.

"Drew," Mallory whispered as she hooked her arm around mine. "C'mon, let's just go."

I looked down at her, seeing how scared she looked.

"You gonna listen to your bitch or what?" The man said and I immediately snapped my attention towards him.

"The fuck did you just say?" I sneered as I stepped towards him.

"Drew-"

"How is she in bed? Huh? Couldn't help but stare at that ass in those biker shorts yesterday." He mentioned and I jolted towards him, ready to pound his face in, but Mallory held me back.

I furrowed my eyebrows at him as I clenched my jaw tighter, trying not to make a scene.

"Is there a problem here?" An employee came up to us.

"N-No," Mallory shook her head as she began to pull me away. "We were just leaving."

The employee nodded her head as we exited the store. I looked behind us to make sure he wasn't following us out of the store. Once Mallory and I got to my car, I opened the door and she got in. I closed her door and went over to my side and got in as well. As soon as I got in, Mallory locked the doors with the control switch on her side.

She let out a shaky breath as I watched her look down and fiddle with her thumbs. My heart ached that she couldn't even go to the store for five minutes without someone talking about her body.

"Hey," I said softly after a minute of silence. "You're okay,"

She didn't move from her position as she slowly began shaking her head. "No," She whispered as she closed her eyes. "I'm not."

"You are," I nodded as I reached over and lightly held onto her hand. "You have me."

"I shouldn't need you," Her voice cracked as she looked up at me and I could tell she was about to break any second. "What if I didn't bump into you yesterday, huh Drew? What if you told me to watch where I was going and we went our separate ways? I shouldn't need you to come with me every time I have to go somewhere. It's not fair to me to depend on someone like that and it's certainly not fair to you." She expressed.

"Mallory, if I didn't want to, I wouldn't-"

"That's not my point." She shook her head as tears brimmed her eyes. "I-I just, ever since I was a teenager I couldn't wait to live on my own. A-And now I'm alone and I'm scared. I'm so fucking scared, Drew. I-I had no idea it'd be like this. I-I didn't even start my internship yet and I-I'm already looking at flights to go back home. I just don't think I can do it." Mallory explained to me and I felt my heart ache even more.

"You can do it," I told her. "If you want this, you have to prove to yourself that you can do it. I-I'm so incredibly sorry for what happened in there yesterday and just now, but you are so much stronger than that, Mallory. I-I know it's gotta be hard a-and I'll never know what it's like to be a woman, but please don't let him ruin this for you. I can tell you have worked way too hard to get where you are now. You can't let some douchebag stand in your way. Hell, you're Mallory... uh..." I thought for a second as I realized I never learned her last name.

"Hudson." She grinned as she wiped a tear from her eye.

"Mallory Hudson! The Mallory Hudson for crying out loud! You were born for this. You can take on anything. I know you can. A-And if you start your internship and realize you still don't want to be here, then I wouldn't stop you from going home or wherever you want to be. But please give this a chance. You never know, you might surprise yourself."

Mallory let out a soft giggle as she sniffled, wiping another tear away. "Drew Starkey, talented actor or motivational speaker?" She questioned with a soft smile.

"I'll be whatever you want me to be." I said softly. "Just please, please know that you can do anything you put your mind to. And don't let shitty people get in your way. I-I know what he said makes you so uncomfortable, I know it makes me uncomfortable, but don't let him ruin this opportunity for you. I'll be here for you, wherever you wanna go, whenever you wanna go, let me know and I'd be so happy to go with you until you feel safe." I explained to her, meaning every single word I said.

This was such a tough situation. I had no idea what she was going through, and I didn't even know what to say, but I was trying to make her feel better in any way that I could.

She lightly nodded her head as she looked down at her fingers. "Thank you." She whispered.

"Of course." I now whispered as I gave her hand a light squeeze. It was quiet between us for a second before I felt my stomach rumble. I remembered earlier she mentioned we could get lunch and considering I hadn't eaten breakfast, I was starving. "D-Did you uh, did you still wanna get lunch?" I asked hesitantly, not wanting to change the topic from what just happened.

Mallory looked up at me, another smile creeping onto her lips. "Yeah," She nodded. "I'm starving."

"Oh thank God," I let out a sigh of relief knowing I wasn't the only one. I let go of her hand so I could put on my seat belt. "Did you have any place in mind?"

Mallory chuckled as she shook her head. "I have no idea, you live here so you know what's good. You pick." She told me and I nodded my head, knowing exactly where to take her.

"I got just the place." I told her as I now backed out of the parking spot.

Once I pulled out of the parking lot, I headed to a restaurant that I had in mind, and that would hopefully cheer Mallory up.

I held my hand out across the console, my focus still on the road, and I noticed her look down at my hand before looking up at me. She looked back down at my hand and held onto it with her left hand, our fingers locking in place like they did last night.

*****

a/n:

AHH i can't believe i'm less than 50 reads away from 1K?!?!? that's actually crazy to me and it's making me so excited. thank you guys so much for reading and voting and commenting i can't even express how much i appreciate it

also i hate mondays but i could not waittt to get this chapter out to you guys. i hope you guys liked it! i have some ideas stirring up and i'm so excited to write them out.

next chapter will be released wednesday!

-nicole<3

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