Caden heard the phone ringing. She had been hearing the phone's ring since that afternoon but had ignored it effortlessly. She turned over on her couch and stared at her DVD clock. It was eight at night. She had slept through the day, getting up a few times to use the bathroom, and then had gone right back to her bed on the couch, restlessly turning for a few hours trying to find a comfortable position.
Her phone began ringing again and this time her pursuer let it go all the way to her answering machine. She sighed, waiting for her mother's voice reprimanding her. Instead she heard Shane's warm voice, "You figure you would learn your lesson the first time something happened and you didn't answer your phone, but count on Cady not to pick up. So should I play weak and powerless to get you to answer? Okay, hold on, I'll do it. "He took a deep breath. On the couch, Caden smiled in anticipation. She had never heard the man even pretend to be helpless so this would be good. "Ouch," he said. The monotony of the statement made her bust out laughing. "Ouch. Caden, my arm has just been cut off. Oh, ow. Help. Please call me back before I die." He continued his monotonous ranting for another few seconds before the machine beeped, cutting him off. Caden rushed to the bathroom pressing the save button on the way in. She had laughed so hard she thought her bladder was gonna burst.
Quietly scrutinizing, Cady watched herself in the bathroom mirror while she washed her hands. Her light chocolate skin looked dark in the bathroom light. Her new hair cut looked untidy and stuck up in all different directions but still, strangely, suited her. Her gray eyes seemed tired. She had slept probably more than what was necessary for a normal day. Her jeans looked ruffled. She had gone straight to sleep after arriving home last night and hadn't bothered to even change her clothes. She dried her hands on her jeans and stripped them off, leaving them on the bathroom floor. She would take care of them later. Her stomach growled in agreement as she made her way down the hallway towards the kitchen. As she passed the kitchen, the phone rang again and she picked it up in a smooth motion.
"Can we save the arm?" Caden asked, not needing to check the caller ID or ask who it was. Shane laughed on the other line. "Yes, yes. The arm can be saved. No thanks to you, of course." Caden removed the mayo, mustard, lettuce, and turkey from the fridge and set it noisily on the counter. "I was having a relaxing day. Sorry 'bout the arm."
"I'll live. Any word from Deity?" He asked, getting to the point. Caden dropped the knife she had pulled out and it barely missed her feet. "Fuck!" she yelled. "No," she replied, bringing it back up. "No, have you?" She sighed.
No. He hadn't. And he wasn't going to.
Deity wouldn't call until something went really wrong. Until she was halfway dead in a ditch or knocked-up on the other side of the country. She was independent by nature but Caden didn't feel the need to remind Shane of that.
"Just give her time."
"What were you two talking about when she left?" He asked.
"You. I was asking her why she wouldn't go out with you, just once. A movie and dinner."
Shane waited a second before asking his next question. "What did she say?"
"She said you were the enemy. You arrested her and she doesn't want to be with someone that she doesn't know she can trust." Caden slapped some mayo on the bread of her sandwich. She threw on a few slices of turkey and a lot of lettuce. "You don't have to play matchmaker with me and her. If I'm not what she once then...I hope she finds someone that she wants."
Caden lifted her sandwich, caught a few falling pieces of lettuce, then shoved a whole corner into her mouth. Shane waited patiently for her to swallow. "I will never understand how you stay skinny," He murmured.
"Shane," she addressed him finally. "She's still young. Almost ten years your junior. Your partying hormones are gone. You're ready to settle down. Dee isn't. She wants something different than you. She wants... she just doesn't want a relationship." She filled her mouth with another big bite while Shane talked. "I'm not looking to settle down and marry her-" a small silence passed "-yet. I just want her to be safe and with someone that cares about her. Caden you see how she is. She'll be dead by the time she's 25 at this rate. I'm pretty sure the only drug she hasn't done is heroine and God forbid she gets over her fear of needles."
"I tr—" The loud chime of the doorbell echoed throughout the condo, cutting of C.K.'s sentence. "Someone's at your door." Shane said. Caden scoffed, setting down her sandwich. "Nu uh. I would have never known. Thanks." She walked to the front door, peeping through the hole. It was black. "If you're outside my door," she warned. She flipped the lock and opened it halfway, exposing only her upper body. "I'm going too—Jon." Shane laughed on the other line. Caden stood frozen at the door, letting it swing open completely. Jon stood with two bags in his arms. One plastic and the other paper. Instead of his eyes meeting her gaze, they drifted down to her bare legs. He looked his fill barely making an attempt to avert his eyes. Finally his eyes met hers, cloudy with something that she didn't want to name. "Spider man," he said, his voice husky. Caden burned with embarrassment. She grabbed the door pulling it in front of her lower body.
"Hey, let me call you back." She said to Shane. He was still laughing, not being able to see what was going on, but knowing.
"You better," he warned. Caden went to push the button when she heard him yell. "What?" She asked, putting it back to her ear.
"I really didn't call to talk about Dee. I called about that rape thing she mentioned." Caden sighed. "Alright." She groaned trying to talk over him but his deep tenor still overpowered hers. "And you are going to call me back and you are going to tell me what that was about."
"Bye, Shane." She hung up before he could add anything. Jon still stood looking at her, a small smile playing on his perfect lips. Caden put up her index finger, silently asking for a minute. Jon nodded. Caden left him at the door for a second then came back. "Actually I need to shower, why don't you come in here and just make yourself at home." Caden ran from the door this time, sprinting into her hallway then into the bathroom. Over the bathroom fan she heard the front door slam and Jon set down his bags.
C.K. stripped off her shirt and bra, tossing it next to her jeans. She stared at herself in the mirror. "You just had to wear the Spider Man ones." She criticized herself, poking at the elastic of her little boy's underwear. She hated feminine panties. Ever since she had been a teenager she favored little boy's underwear. They had always made her feel sexy, simply because her butt actually looked big in them.
'Jon likes Iron Man' she reminded herself. 'You should have worn the Iron man ones.' But she didn't hold it against herself. How was she supposed to know he was going to show up? She dropped her panties and hopped into the shower, turning the water on as hot as it will go.
C.K. made sure not to shower long. She scrubbed quickly but thoroughly and came out, not wanting to keep her unexpected guest waiting. Her stomach growled uncontrollably as she threw on some new clothes. This time she made sure to wear her Iron Man underwear, just for her own reassurance. Caden sat down on her bed when she finished. Outside Jon wasn't trying to hide the fact that he was walking around, looking at the art that she had just put back on her walls. The art that Jason had hated.
"Where did you get this one from?" he called out, knowing she was in her room. That was her cue. It was time for her to come out and entertain; never mind the butterflies that hit the walls of her stomach. "Which one?" She asked checking herself in the mirror again before walking out to meet him in the living room.
He stood in front of Caden's favorite picture, glaring at it, scrutinizing it. She came beside him, looking at it. He glanced at her and she returned it, a proud smile on her lips. "A man in central park painted it." She explained, folding her arms. "He said he painted it thirty years ago and to this day no one ever bought it." She shrugged when he turned to her. "I loved it. Still to this day can't figure out why no one bought it."
Caden walked leisurely into the kitchen, continuing the conversation as she opened the paper bag he brought.
Chinese food.
Thank the Lord.
She was starving. Beyond starving. Ravenous. Her turkey sandwich had done nothing to sate her appetite. "I got general Tso's chicken and fried rice. The egg foo yung is mine." When Caden lifted it from the bag he walked over, taking it from her hands. "What's in the plastic one?" Caden took a peak and smiled. "Peanut butter Cups Ice Cream....my favorite." Jon shrugged. He moved into the kitchen and leaned up against the wall next to the fridge. She covered the ice cream back up.
"So, what brings you here?" She placed the ice cream in the freezer.
"Visiting. Are-" he chuckled to himself "- are you wearing pants under that?"
Caden looked down at herself. She had thrown on a large sweater that barely went mid-thigh. She answered him by lifting up the sweater to show yellow shorts. Really short shorts. Jon laughed again to himself. He walked into the kitchen and a small squeak let her know he had taken a seat on her couch. She grabbed her food along with a fork and joined him. He had already dug into his egg foo yung.
"Someone's hungry," she taunted, giving him a playful smile before taking a bite of her chicken. The tangy sauce was a relief to the bland taste of her sandwich that still lingered in her mouth. She chewed for longer than what was needed and shoved a few forkfuls of fried rice in with the chicken, uncaring that Jon was sitting next to her. Well, she hadn't cared until she looked up and saw him watching her, his hazel eyes carrying a smile.
"Someone's hungry," he said quietly. His egg foo yung was set aside on the coffee table along with his cop sticks and he watched her intently, a small smile tugging at his lips.
Caden opened her mouth to speak, forgetting that she had shoveled a few forkfuls of good in her mouth, and began coughing on a grain of rice. Jon leaned forward, eager to help but she held up a shaky hand.
"I'll be alright," she rasped out in between a few more coughs. "It's just rice." She took a few cautious breaths, hands gripping her neck, face half way down on the couch.
One Breathe.
Two. Three. She was alright. Jon placed his hand on her back and began languidly rubbing back and forth. The warmth from his hand radiated through her whole body. 'God, what kind of idiot chokes on a grain of rice?' She asked herself. Her face, still inches away form the seat of the couch, burned hot.
"Cady?" Jon asked. She could feel his warm breath on her ear and it was then she realized that she was keeled over on her couch. She looked as if she was having bad cramps.
"What?" Caden straightened up, looking in right in the eyes as if nothing had happened. Jon flashed his teeth in a half mouth smile. "Nothing. You just stopped breathing. I got worried."
