The fingers of her right hand softly drummed the oak desk as Erin starred intently at the blank piece of paper before her. She had been sitting in front of the workspace for nearly an hour now and still the paper hadn't the slightest hint of ink upon it.
Erin was a fourth year university student majoring in psychology. The semester had started only a couple months ago, but she was already frantic about her thesis due end of term. She sighed heavily, as if suddenly realizing the paper was not about to write itself, she took herself from the desk and sat comfortably in her bean bag chair with her cordless phone in hand.
Without looking, she mindlessly dialed the numbers she'd dialed so many times. The phone rang once and a familiar voice came. "Still having trouble with your thesis Erin?" Ashley asked sympathetically.
"Pretty sad, isn't it?" Erin asked. "Don't even have to ask who it is and you know it's me calling."
Ashley chuckled, "I don't know anyone else who'd call me at 12:30 in the morning."
"It's not..." Erin panicked, looking at her clock. "I'm so sorry, I didn't realize how late it was!"
"Oh shut it," Ashley laughed again, "You've got a lot on your mind lately, and I'm your best friend. Wake me if you need to, I'm here for ya. Besides, I couldn't sleep anyways so I've been watching TV the last few hours. I was awake."
Erin relaxed, "Thanks Ashley, I just can't seem to get my mind off of him."
"Who? Billy or your Grandfather?" Ashley asked.
"I'm over Billy... well, still hurts, but my Grandfather moreso. We were really close, ya know? He taught me how to play Backgammon when I was a little girl and we played every weekend together." Erin sniffled, "First weekend in almost 15 years that we haven't played."
"Erin hunny, he was in pain, and now the pain is gone. Take comfort in that fact." Ashley reassured.
Erin began to cry on the phone uncontrollably. Between losing her Grandfather, her exe-boyfriend leaving her for her cousin and this paper she just could not seem to start, the world was weighing heavily on her shoulders.
"Erin, I have an idea to help take your mind off of everything."
She stifled another sniff and relaxed a bit, "Anything Ashley, anything to help me get my mind off of things, even if for just a few minutes. I can't even sleep as of late."
"Get dressed up, comfortable, but nice. Dress like you're going for a night out with the girls. I'll send a text to your cell, just go from there. Promise it will help ya." Ashley said mysteriously.
Erin did not even bother to argue, just said her 'okays' and 'goodbyes' and hung up. She walked to her closet and rummaged through her clothes, trying to find something comfortable and relatively fancy. There was little thought put into it, not knowing the occasion, so she grabbed her soft yellow silk blouse and navy blue knee high skirt. Erin had an odd fascination with matching her panties with her shirt, so she slid on a pair of yellow underwear.
Erin had long, smooth legs, and Ashley was always jealous of them because she could easily get away without panty hose, not a single blemish on them. She tied back her think brunette hair into a quick ponytail and applied her make up and she was ready to go. She took another quick look in the mirror, adjusted her C cups one last time and headed outside with her cell.
She glanced at the text message; there was no information, just an address. She knew the street well though; 10 minute walk and the streets were always well lit outside her campus. Her mother would freak if she knew what time she was outside, walking by herself, but this town had always been a great place to live since she first started school here. It wasn't like the big cities where people were picked up off the streets on a daily basis, never to be found.
Erin tried desperately not to think of Billy, her Grandfather or her paper. She had done a great job covering up the fact that she had been crying and did not wish to spoil that. She focused on the soft, cool breeze brushing past her ears, unhindered with her hair tied back. The fresh, clean air was almost intoxicating. It amazed her how such wonder had always gone unnoticed, yet anything that could make her think of something other than her problems was intoxicating. That thought took her back to her psychology classes, wondering what the various professors would say about her using anything to take her mind off her problems.