The Call

I lay peacefully in bed. I wanted to forget the day behind me and begin anew with another day tomorrow; albeit an early day.

A girl and work colleague, my BEST FRIEND and I, were "done;" she had said so herself. I had done everything I could to save her from the pain of other guys mistreating her and ultimately breaking her heart. Why had it not occurred to me that the guy that she feared the most was ME?

She had finally spoken the truth that I had deserved to face so long ago and had walked out of our shared workspace of the bar and of my life. She was with the very guy who had hurt her so many times before (emotionally and OTHERWISE) and, yet, her friends had blocked the door for her lest I try to pursue. Chase Nightingale, local jailbird and tatted tough guy (who I had yet to witness even attempt to swing hands at a MAN who wasn't scrawny old me) was the trustworthy party that evening; I wasn't.

Enough. Two years of trying to rebuild a wrecked friendship was enough. Two years of looking and digging and searching for the one spark WORTH repairing. Was Shea worth it; was I...?

My phone suddenly shattered my twilight musings (what other good WAS lonely twilight?) My alarm was going off sooner than I would have thought, so, at some point, I must have slept. Wait; that wasn't my phone's preascribed alarm...

...The electronic cellular face read "2:50;" it also read a caller's name. I looked at the caller ID. My heartbeat remained normal for my waking hours if not my resting heartrate; but, then, I had just been startled awake by the lights and noise. A hand reached clumsily from beneath the covers for my phone and pulled it to my ear.

"Heh-Hello?" I managed.

"Hey! Were you asleep a minute ago?"

No, it was only 2:50 on a Thursday morning two and a half hours before my real alarm clock would go off to remind me of an early shift at my primary job; I had been at an orgy that had gone respectfully quiet so that I could pick up my phone.

"Yeah; I kinda was." I answered, flatly. "Weren't you asleep?"

"Oh, yeah; I must be sleep dialing as well as talking."

...Was I wrong or had she not initiated this call just to speak so rudely? Oh well; touche.

"What's up?" I managed, stretching in the dark twilight of my bedroom.

"It's Chase." the effeminate, wounded voice, answered.

"I gathered." I blurted out in my tired frustration.

"...Okay; I deserved that." Shea countered with a shaky chuckle.

"Shea...can I be honest?..." I suddenly interrupted myself.

"...No; I was dialing the phone in the middle of the night to hear a lie." Shea shot back; "To wit, I called you instead of...well, you know..."

"...Chase." I answered.

For all that I knew, Chase's only offense this time was to lie to her (again). It, obviously, didn't make him any hero; but Shea Garfield knew how to heal herself from a broken heart. Her learning curve would be to then stay away from the same disgusting people who wouldn't stop lying and generally verbally and mentally abusing her. It would have been something else if he had taken a swing at her; it also wouldn't have been the first time, nor would she have been his first female punching bag.

"...Yeah." Shea confirmed. "I caught him with Erin tonight, Hal; it was bad. They've been letting this go on for months."

Shea's on-and-off boyfriend and constant abuser and her best friend since childhood. This was a special kind of pain that she was going through; and she was spilling her heart out in a twilght call to me. She had never believed me before; but all that I had ever wanted was for her peace, serenity, happiness, and safety.

"...Do you want to get coffee before your shift tomorrow...I mean today?" I blurted out the question.

"...Now, Hal, you know I'm not a coffee girl; but, you know what, that might be the best invitation I've heard in a while." she gushed. "2:00 tomor...well, this afternoon? Then, I do want you to come in and hang out with me during my shift tomor...oh, screw it; I mean tonight. You know...in case...well..."

I pictured my scrawny arms and Chase's muscular frame (Again, I was about the only guy who he even attempted to smack around because he was well aware that he could).

"...Emotional Support Human." I agreed.

"The meal will be on me; no arguments." Shea decreed. "I'm telling the girls too."

I nodded in agreement before I realized that this was a phone call and a verbal cue might be better.

"Sounds good." I answered.

We talked for a while longer, then, before I knew it, my alarm was bleating in my ear. I had just had a two and a half hour conversation with Shea, she felt better, and I was invigorated to greet the day on zero sleep...