* My first story in English which was put together rather quickly. Hope you don't mind that it starts off slowly.
Please share your thoughts in the comments.
Thanks for reading!
*****
"You got to help me out here!" Alexander pleaded.
"Helping you out is the last thing I have to do. Consider yourself lucky that I even took this call. Should have blocked you a long time ago!"
There was no chance, Lillian thought.
"Come on! Don't be like that! I'm really desperate. My landlord threw me out. Suddenly she's afraid of Europeans. I might carry the virus, she says."
"You're saying she found out that there is something toxic about you? Welcome to the club! She's a bit late though."
"Lil, honey! Come on! Don't be like that! I'm fucking homeless."
"Well, just go back to Europe! As far as I'm concerned you should have never come here!"
"I don't have the money, and there are no flights going out."
"Then take a hotel. This is not my problem! You are not my problem anymore. You must be crazy to think that I could take you in again! Don't want anything to do with you!"
"Lillian, I don't want to move in with you. I was thinking about that cabin, your parents own. Can I maybe stay there? Please? Only for a couple of weeks, until this Corona thing has blown over? Please? I'm really in need of some help here!"
"Sorry, pal. I don't want any part of you in my life. And besides the cabin is not available anyway. My little sister is staying there. End of story."
"Oh, okay... But I mean, it's a big cabin. It's easily big enough for two people. And I don't need much. Can't you just ask her?"
"You want to move in with my little sister? Forget it! Just forget it. I won't let you near her."
"Come on, Lillian. Your little sister is not that little and innocent. I remember your stories about her. You think she is a psycho! Your words! A fucked up bitch you called her!"
"She is still family. You are not. And by the way, you are a fucked up pervert!"
"Okay, listen. I didn't want to do this, but you are leaving me no choice here. Remember, that you still owe me? For New York? You remember that, right? You said you'd owe me for what I did there. I'm calling that favor now. Please!"
There was silence on the other end of the line. Alexander knew he had a point and so did Lillian. Their relationship had turned toxic but there was still a glimmer of the passion they had shared once and it was this tiny memory of their better days that finally moved Lillian.
"All I'm asking is that you ask her. Okay? That's all. If she says no, I'll... I don't know what I will do, but you won't ever hear from me again!"
"If I do that, then we are done! I'll block you on my phone, on Instagram, on Facebook, everywhere! I'll get a restraining order!"
"Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I really appreciate it!"
But Lillian had already hung up.
Alex didn't expect to hear from Lillian for another day and maybe never, as he didn't know whether she would actually make the call, but 20 minutes later his phone rang.
"She says, it's fine."
"Great! Thank you very much!"
"Under one condition."
"What's that?"
"You can stay there with her, but on her terms."
"What does that mean, her terms? What are they?"
"Dude, I don't know. Her terms! Not mine! Her terms! I wouldn't give you the fucking time of day! You can stay there but she makes the rules!"
"Okay. Sounds... interesting."
"I knew that this would turn you on. "
"What do you mean?"
"You know exactly what I mean. Your kink. Your perversion. You like women treating you like shit. You get off on that. Fucking creepy. Never liked that about you. What kind of a man lets his woman walk all over him?"
"So?"
"So she knows about you. And your kink."
"You told her? Are you crazy? I mean that was between the two of us!"
"Apparently not. And she needs to know who she invites into her home. Relax, it's not all that new to her. I told her about you ages ago. When we were still a thing. She was always weird like that. Into gothic stuff and black and all that morbid shit. You'll probably get along just fine."
Alexander didn't know about that, and in his situation he didn't really care. He just needed a place to stay. Actually, Alexander didn't remember much of Lilian's sister. He had met her once. Very briefly when he had picked Lillian up. She opened the door and they exchanged a few words. He hadn't paid much attention though. All he remembered was her pale skin and the dyed black hair, and she had worn black sweatpants. She had a small, cute nose, he remembered that. And her name: Samantha. That was essentially all. Lillian didn't talk much about her. He got the impression that they weren't all that close. Alexander sensed that Lillian might even be a bit embarrassed about her sister's nerdiness.
"Oh god, does it turn you on, when I talk to you like that? Are you hard right now? You're better not jerking off right now!"
"No, trust me. You are not turning me on. You are plain rude. There's a difference."
"Fine, asshole! Whatever. But you better behave yourself with my sister!"
Before Alexander could reply she had already hung up. Maybe Alexander hadn't always treated Lillian as nicely as he could. But when she hung up, he questioned his taste a little regarding her
Well, he got, what a wanted. A place to stay.
That was the end of the conversation, and the end of a relationship that had started quite passionately and ended in the same way. But every ending is the beginning of something new and this unpleasant ending of one relationship marked the beginning of a new one, which offered more excitement but also a little more struggles to Alexander's life.
But all that was many hours of driving on empty roads away:
"So you are the infamous Alex. And we are going to bunk together for the next couple of... weeks, months, maybe years?"
"Let's hope it's not years or months. I mean, it's just a virus, right?"