Mending The Broken

Part One

A little less than two full hours had passed, and Angelo keyed into his phone the strange Elizabeth girl's number, then pressed the little green telephone button and paced anxiously around in his computer room, like a new father in the hospital waiting area, waiting for an answer.

Elizabeth was walking down a busy city street when she felt her phone vibrate. As she slowed her pace and moved over towards the side of the alleyway, she glanced at her cellular phone only to see that a call was coming in from a strange new number that she did not recognize. Out of bad habit and good reasoning, she rejected the call and stuffed her phone back into her pant’s pocket. If someone wanted to speak to her, Elizabeth needed to know why.

Her answering machine responded to Angelo. "Elizabeth's Trademark Time Traveling Agency-sorry we couldn't answer your call in time. If you tell us why you called, we'll be sure to call you back-either yesterday, or tomorrow, whichever happens first." *BEEP*

He hung up the phone call without leaving a message for Elizabeth. And about an hour or so later, she called Angelo’s number back.

Angelo heard his phone ring, and, noticing it was her number instantly, the gears in his head began to turn, which made him decide to let the call timeout, before waiting for about a minute before calling her back, a slight grin creeping up upon his face as he forced her to play phone tag with him. "Who dares call me on this number?" She barked after answering the moment her cell phone rang. Angelo sat back in his comfortable computer chair and instantly adopted a canned voice, sounding very much like a recording.

"Tired of those long, lonely nights, your hand and your laptop the only thing keeping you company? We'll connect you with the hottest singles in your area, for just fourteen-ninety-nine a month! Act now and get your first session half off!" He said.

Elizabeth groaned loudly. "You have gotta be shitting me. This is the legit tenth time you assholes have contacted me about meeting black Christian singles in my area. For the last f*****g time, I AM NOT INTERESTED." She instantly hung up on him.

Angelo chuckled to himself before sending her a text explaining it was him.

She sent back three periods in response.

Angelo went back to cleaning his apartment, every few minutes or so checking his phone for another response from her. When he didn’t get a reply half an hour later, he picked up his phone and decided to call her again.

The streets outside were just as busy as usual, with various colored cars bustling about, each honking out their impatient last nerve with and to another. The people on the street were just as loud and arrogant as the vehicles, with their obnoxious music turned up far too loud and their constant chatter amongst themselves being an annoying reminder of the modern era’s teenage atrocities.

Elizabeth leaned up against the wall of a large brick office building, eyes closed, pale ears open and listening to the enormous world around her. The cool summerlike wind coaxed her to slow her breathing, the aching in her legs tempting her to lie down, and the soft light of the clouded sun wanting to lull her to sleep. Only the horns of the cars passing her on the street kept her awake.

The loud car horns and her vibrating cell phone.

It was ringing.

Elizabeth answered the call, not bothering to look at the caller identification to see who it was. “Call me Liz,” she said as soon as she heard a breath on the other end of the line.

“Alright then, Liz. It’s Angelo. How are ya? How’s it going?” A familiar and warm Italian voice questioned her through the phone.

“Oh, it’s going.” Elizabeth replied, fiddling around with the broken zipper living on her brown jacket as the lights from the street bounced around her. “What about you?”

Angelo chuckled a bit too loudly. “Oh, I’m surviving. Where are you now?” He asked her in a seemingly ‘matter-of-fact’ way, even though in reality, he was full of worry for her well-being. He knew how cruel the world could be, and he felt a sense of responsibility for Elizabeth from the first moment he laid eyes on her. Angelo walked over to his ‘office area’ at a semi-leisurely pace, and turned on his computer towers as well as the monitor.

“Uh…Hold on a sec...” Elizabeth looked up at the green reflective street signs above her, squinting a little in order to see the white words a bit more clearly. “I believe I’m on the corner of Graham Avenue and...Crey Street?”

“You don’t sound too sure. Where are you, really?” Angelo waited patiently for his home computer to boot up completely before typing in his password and pressing enter once on the login screen.

“I think it says Crey Street.” Elizabeth moved closer to the tall metal pole that held her answer for her whereabouts.

“Well, can you check?”

“I am, I am, don’t get your panties all in a twisted bunch. Let’s see. Ah. It says ‘Grey Street’. Pardon, my bad.”

“That’s alright, Lizzie. Do you want me to pick you up?” Angelo opened up Firefox before spinning his chair around.

Elizabeth grinned to herself, completely unaware that she was doing so. “Nah, I’m good, but I may take you up on that offer a little bit later.” She said, biting the corner of her lip.

“You sure?” Angelo stood up from his mahogany desk and took a step towards his coat. “Because I can come and pick you up if you-”

“Angelo…” Elizabeth gave a warning tone in her voice, though she obviously was just teasing him.

“Sorry.”

She sighed, letting the deep breath she was holding to escape from her lungs. “I’ll talk to you later, okay?” Pushing herself off of the brick of the building, Elizabeth began walking toward a nearby coffeeshop.

“Very well. Bye.” Angelo said as he made his way back towards his desk.

“Bye.” Elizabeth replied before she hung up their phone call. Making her way into the coffee shop, she was instantly hit with the overwhelming aroma of coffee beans and creamer mixed with steaming hot water.

"Let's see...Ooooo, new cringe compilation..." Angelo said before double-clicking.