Here I am

An unexpected call

Ramona’s point of view

                Here I was, in my new house. I recently moved across the country closer to my hometown and my family and friends. It was a change I needed in my life after my five year relationship ended. I needed to flee my old Midwest city to be somewhere I belonged. At 25 I bought a house, which I was really proud of, after reeling about my break up over the last year. I sat outside smoking a cigarette internally congratulating myself for getting most of the house ready. The floors were re-done, a lot of wall paper had come down, paint had gone up, and I had furnished the house with some new furniture and some old family heirlooms. The house was really beginning to feel like it was mine and like my home, instead of a place where I was staying.

                As I sat outside on my porch, the sun warmed my face. I made a mental note of how long I had been outside so as to not get sunburned.  My recently dyed pink and purple hair was glistening in the sun as I bobbed my head to the music flowing through my headphones.  There was a slight breeze that cooled me in the late afternoon sun. I live in a small town now, less than 3,000 people, and I always wondered if the people walking by noticed me. I think of myself as a solid 8 out of 10, my hair goes down to the middle of my back, I stand about 5 feet and 3 inches tall, and have piercing green eyes and have alabaster skin that goes with pretty much everything.  I weigh 145 pounds, I actually lost 30 pounds after my break up, although with all of that lost weight, I lost some of my curves as well.

                I was so proud of this house that I bought. It is spacious, 1,700 square feet all to me.  It has a living room, sitting room, a formal dining room, an eat-in kitchen, two bedrooms, a laundry room, and my office, where I work from home. Although I live a few hours away from my friends, they all know my house is a safe haven. My guest bedroom is always open to anyone who needs a place to stay. I am not one to judge, and since I have to means to do so, I try to help where I can. I haven’t really entertained anyone in the house, because it is so far away from everyone, but I think it is comforting to them to know they will always have a place to stay.

                After finishing my cigarette, I went inside my house; it was time to make dinner. I whipped up one of my signature dishes, chili with ground turkey and homemade honey cornbread with jalapenos. After finishing my dinner, I did the dishes and relaxed on the couch ready to watch some TV. It was almost 8:00 PM, and I could feel my eye lids getting heavy. I was mentally preparing to get ready for bed, it was a Friday night, but I worked all day and I was exhausted. I was pulled out of my thought by my phone’s vibration. My friend, Simon was video chatting me. I had to laugh, we have been friend for over 10 years, but he ALWAYS lost my phone number so he ending up having to video chat me through social media.

                “Hellooooooooooo Simon!” I answered the call.

                Looking at Simon’s face, I could tell this wasn’t a social call, he needed something. His face looked pensive, like he couldn’t figure out the right words to say. He stayed silent for a few moments, and I waited for him to speak. The silence was deafening.

                “Simon. What is going on……….?” I finally said, my voice trailing off at the end of the question. I had never seen him like this. I watched him open and close his mouth a few times, as if getting ready to speak, and then he took a deep breath.

                “Myfriendneedsaplacetostay” he managed to choke out so fast, I couldn’t understand him

                “What did you say Simon? Slow down!” I responded.

                “My friend needs a place to stay.” He repeated, but this time calmly, so I could understand. I breathed a sigh of relief. I thought it was going to be something serious.

                “Don’t scare me like that Simon!” I just about screamed at him “What’s going on with your friend? Why does he need a place to stay?” I responded, after calming myself down a little bit

                “I can’t really tell you, Ramona. He just said he is looking for a place to stay for a few days, preferably away from here.” Simon responded, looking like he was hiding something from me.

                “Okay…. When is he coming? Can I at least have his name?” I questioned. I’m sure the look on my face gave away the fact that I knew Simon was hiding something from me.

                “He is coming tonight, if that is okay? His name is Skye, I met him through work, but we are done working for the season, so he doesn’t have to be back in town for at least a few weeks.” Simon responded flatly.

                “Okay, he can come tonight. Give him my address and I’ll see him in a few hours” I told Simon and quickly disconnected the call.

After disconnecting the call I hopped in the shower, I was sticky from the sweat that came from working all day and cooking. I turned the water on and let it heat up to scalding, just like I like it. I got undressed and got in the shower, I looked over all the tattoos I have on my body. I normally wear long sleeves and jeans, so they are always covered. I admired my sleeve, which consists of birds with a tree and sky as the background, and the other tattoos scattered across my body. I re-focused myself and finished with my shower somewhat quickly. I threw on some jeans, a tank top, and an orange flannel.

After getting dressed, I got to work on the house, it wasn’t exactly a mess, but it definitely could use some straightening up. I turned Pandora on through my TV and started dancing and singing. Feeling like I was a princess or something. My stomach started to turn from the nerves, a man I had never met, but that my friend had vouched for would be here any minute, I hoped I looked okay. With my music still blaring I heard a faint knock at the door and my heart skipped a beat. He was here.

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Skye’s point of view

I had gotten into something pretty serious, along with other stuff going wrong in my life, and I found myself needing a place to stay. I reached out to my co-worker and friend, Simon. He said I could come over, so I headed there. It was a quick drive and I walked right in to his apartment.

     “Hey” I called out over the noise of people talking, food cooking, and the television.

“Hey Skye” Simon called out from another part of the apartment, the kitchen I assumed. I followed the scent of food cooking and found Simon cooking.

“Hey man, thanks for letting me come over, everything just got out of control and I need a place to stay.” I said to Simon.

“Yeah, about that….” Simon’s voice trailed off. “We already have a full house; we are two to a bedroom. It is already too crowded here for you to stay here.” Simon said, as if it was no big deal. I could feel both fear and anger creeping up in me.

“Then why have me come over?” I questioned, disappointed that I had driven out to his place.

“Well….” Simon said like he was building up to something “I have a friend, Ramona. She has made it abundantly clear that her house is a safe haven. If you don’t have any business that needs to be done in town, you can stay with her. She lives about 2 hours away from here. It’s not ideal, but it’s a safe place to stay. Plus, she’s pretty cute.” Simon winked at me.

 I had heard of Ramona, Simon talked about her a lot. They are best friends, have been since their junior year of high school. She has helped him through a lot, even helping him with has grand prom-posal his senior year. If I remember correctly, they’ve been close friends ever since they met as camp counselors. For some reason they were drawn to each other, but, according to Simon, it wasn’t in a romantic way, the best way he could describe it was she was his soulmate, but the friend version of that. Remembering all of this, I instantly felt like Ramona was someone I could trust.

“Okay. Can you call her and see if I can stay with her then?” I questioned, wanting to know if I had a place to stay for the night.

“Sure. Let me call her real quick…” Simon’s voice trailed off again. “Damn!” Simon shouted.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“I lost her number AGAIN. I really have to get better about that. I’ll just have to video chat her instead.” He said, somewhat annoyed at himself.

I stationed myself in Front of Simon, so Ramona wouldn’t see me; I didn’t want to seem as desperate as I truly was. I heard the all too familiar sound of the video chat ringing, and I waiting holding my breath to see how this would turn out.

“Hellooooooooooo Simon!” Ramona answered the call. Her voice sounded sweet. She was expecting a social call from Simon. Simon’s face was giving everything away, he looked like he was searching for the words to say.

                “Simon. What is going on……….?” Ramona said, breaking the silence, her voice trailing off at the end of the question.

                “Myfriendneedsaplacetostay” Simon managed to choke out so quickly that it was hard for me to understand him, and I was standing right in front of him.

                “What did you say Simon? Slow down!” Ramona responded.

                “My friend needs a place to stay.” Simon repeated, but this time calmly, his body looks like it had relaxed a little bit, I wasn’t even aware that he had tensed up.

                “Don’t scare me like that Simon!” Ramona just about screamed at him “What’s going on with your friend? Why does he need a place to stay?”

                “I can’t really tell you, Ramona. He just said he is looking for a place to stay for a few days, preferably away from here.” Simon responded, looking like he was hiding something from me.

                “Okay…. When is he coming? Can I at least have his name?” Ramona questioned, I wished I could see what her face looked like, he voice was almost enchanting to me.

                “He is coming tonight, if that is okay? His name is Skye, I met him through work, but we are done working for the season, so he doesn’t have to be back in town for at least a few weeks.” Simon responded flatly.

                “Okay, he can come tonight. Give him my address and I’ll see him in a few hours” Ramona told Simon and quickly disconnected the call.

Simon put the phone down with a goofy smile on his face. 

“See! Now you have a place to stay, until you are ready to come back. Here is her address. You better get driving, it’s about a 2 hour drive from here, and you don’t want to keep her up to late, she turns into a raging b***h when she doesn’t get enough sleep.” Simon chuckled and handed me the information.

“Hey, thanks man, I really appreciate it.” With that, I took the information and headed back to my car. I programmed my GPS with her address, turned on my music and started driving. I hoped to be there just after 10 PM, with Simon’s warning in mind, I didn’t want to keep her awake for too long. Soon enough I pulled up to her house. It was very old fashioned and had a green exterior, she left her porch light on for me, so I could see the house number. I exited my car rather quickly and could hear some music coming from the house. I walked up the four steps to the front door and knocked.

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