Ruby left the vault of the subway
terminal and ascended slowly amidst the crowds to the upper level of
the city. She silently made her way through the streets, alive with
the sounds of taxi-cab drivers honking, the bustle of the Christmas
season flowing through those passing by, the hurried feel of the
city, and quickly she made her way to her apartment complex.
In the elevator, she crossed her
fingers, hoping for a message on her machine when she got home. When
the light dinged on her floor, she hurriedly exited and made her way
to her apartment door.
Gingerly setting her guitar case down
on the sofa, she moved over to her kitchen. There on the answering
machine was the blinking red light signaling that “someone” had
called. She sucked in her breath, silently praying to hear the
familiar voice of him, Rob, that is. Closing her eyes, she pressed
the play button.
“Hi, its me,” came the voice of
Tera. “I can't wait to see you. Just to remind you my flight
comes in at 11 am tomorrow at LaGuardia, can't wait to see you!!
Love you, bye!”
The answering machine came to a halt.
Silence filled the apartment. He had not called. It had been two
weeks since she'd even heard from him, she felt her heart crumble and
her stomach form in knots. It was hard even to get excited to see
her best friend. She moved over to her refrigerator and opened it,
scanning for god knows what. Cold mac-n-cheese seemed the best
solution at this moment.
Without bothering to heat it in the
microwave, she grabbed a clean fork from the drawer and moved into
the couch, digging into the tupperware that held the food. She
huddled down, grabbed the remote, and let her mind roam as the
channels surfed before her eyes.
Outside in the city, snow started to
descend, leaving a white residue of cold memory in its wake. She was
taken back, back to her first meeting with Rob. Outside class at the
coffee shop, they had run into each other, joking about the weather
and the inexpensive décor of their surroundings before ending up
romping together in the bed of a hotel-room. Thus began the nature
of their relationship, but Ruby always hoped, longed for, wanted it
to be something more. She sighed as she turned her attention back to
the TV, a mindless sitcom opening began in the background and her
eyes dulled as she watched it, staring before her. She fell asleep.
The phone was ringing. She sat up,
suddenly. The tv was blaring some infomerical and everything else
was dark. She got up and stumbled towards the noise of the phone.
Picking it up, she rasped into the phone,
“Yeah?”
“Well, hello there, you,” came the
familiar voice which brought a thrill to Ruby all the way down to her
core. “Did I call to late?”
“No, no,” she said quickly and
without thinking, her guard down with her excitement that he had
finally called. “What time is it anyway?”
“Just past ten,” he said. “So,
how the hell are you?”
“Doing all right,” she lied. “What
have you been doing?”
“Um, busy with work, you know,” he
stated and a little too quickly. She wondered how much of this
statement was true. “You want to hang out?”
“Yeah, come on by,” she answered
and a little too quickly. Her insides were already throbbing with
excitement and desire.
“See you soon,” he said and they
both hung up. She moved around her apartment, quickly cleaning up
all that she saw, lighting candles to heighten the sensuality of the
room, before heading off to shower and freshen up.
About a half hour later, she heard a
knock at the door. She answered, her robe falling open to reveal her
newly bought red lingerie, inviting him inside.
He left the next morning, crawling out
of her bed after kissing her softly on the lips, seemingly before the
sun had risen. She wondered when or if she would see him again.
Pulling herself together, she got up,
started the coffee, and began her day. Changing the sheets on the
bed was the first priority before she shared it with Tera for the
four days she was here. Ruby gulped. Four days without sharing a
bed with Rob.
At a little before 2, she made her way
through LaGuardia, standing at the gate watching for her friend to
appear running towards her full of excitement.
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