Hey Guys,
I appreciate the interest you've all shown in this story. I apologize for the long spell between chapters but I'm doing the best I can with the time I have.
I hope you enjoy.
********************************
Ryan tried his best to put Allison out of his mind, and almost succeeded. He'd had a busy week at work and he flopped down on his bed on Friday night totally exhausted. He'd had just about enough human contact for an entire year and he'd be the happiest man on the planet if he didn't have to see another face for the rest of the weekend. Ryan lived for the weekend, shutting himself in his bedroom and being the master of his own little world. Nothing could touch him here.
"Ryan!"
Except his mom.
"What do you want for dinner?" she shouted up the stairs.
He ignored her, hoping she'd leave him alone and go away.
"Ryan?" she opened his bedroom door and peeked in.
She had absolutely no sense of privacy.
"What is it, mom?" he asked, not bothering to look up from his phone.
"What do you want for dinner?"
"I don't know, just cook anything you want," he replied flippantly.
Why did she bother him with such inconsequential stuff?
"Whenever I do that you complain you don't want to eat what I've prepared. I don't have time to cook twice Ryan, just tell me what you want." She stood with her hands on her hips.
Reluctantly Ryan forced his focus to food. What did he want to eat? He could get something from a fast-food joint but that would mean going out. That was a big no-no in his book. He could have it delivered but then his mom would start on him about how he preferred unhealthy garbage instead of a decent home-cooked meal.
"I haven't got all day Ryan," his mom sounded agitated.
"Just cook whatever you want mom," he said exasperated.
"Fine. But if you don't like it, tough luck. You're going to have to eat it." she said as she walked out and lightly slammed the door.
Ryan put his phone away and just lay on the bed, reveling in the silence. Silence was golden. Letting the stresses of the day fade away, he absently went through what TV shows and movies he had pending to watch in his head. He hadn't gotten around to the latest season of Game of Thrones. That would occupy him for a while. He'd also gotten a new game for his PS4. Ah the joys of being a couch potato. This could turn out to be a pretty unproductive weekend if he set his mind to it, just the way he liked it.
He thought about what normal people did on weekends. Probably go out with friends and have a good time. He didn't have any friends. Not anymore. His mind drifted to a time when he did have some friends, or at least what he thought were friends. Before his mind wandered into dangerous territory he shook his head and came back to the present. He seemed to be drifting away a lot more than usual lately.
He was about to get up to retrieve his laptop when his phone buzzed. He let out a groan and covered his head with his pillow. This couldn't be happening. He just knew it would be someone at work asking for a favor, or some emergency that had cropped up. He was the Go-To guy in the event of a problem. In other words, he was the doormat of the office. Need a favor? Ask Ryan. Got a problem? Ask Ryan. Emergency? Ryan. One of these days he was seriously going to learn how to say no. Maybe there was a self help class somewhere that taught that.
The insistent buzzing didn't stop and he finally, grudgingly checked the caller ID. It was an unknown number. Even worse. He hated unknown numbers and dealing with strangers. Someone must have lost power and his colleagues must have given them his contact to sort it out. No-one wanted to go on a call-out on a Friday night. Call-outs were the most irritating part of his job. Everyone assumed that just because you were an engineer you could fix everything from a blender to an earth mover.
In his line of work, since they designed the power distribution, they were the first people to be called in case of an outage. The most irritating part about it though, was that once you were on location, most clients expect everything to be resolved instantly. They don't realize first you have to perform diagnostics and figure out the problem. Engineers aren't God, they need to perform some tests to find the faults.
Sighing heavily he swiped to answer and put the phone to his ear,
"Hello?"
Silence.
He checked to see whether the call had been disconnected but found the seconds still ticking.
"Hello?" he asked again, hoping it was a wrong number.
"H...Hi," came a small voice from the other end.
"Who is this?" Ryan asked tentatively.
"Uhmm... I don't know if you remember me...you came over to our place the other day, about...," she hesitated for a second, "...you know what? This was a bad idea. Never mind, I'm sorry for bothering you,"
Ryan recognized the voice and spoke before the other person cut the call,
"Allison?"
There was a long pause before she responded.
"Yeah,"
"Hey, how are you," he said gently, sitting up on his bed now.
He was mildly surprised she'd called and realized if she had cut the call, she probably wouldn't have had the guts to call again.
"I'm alright," she said, though she sounded anything but.
"Did you.... did you really mean what you said the other day? About.... you know," she said slowly, sounding like someone who'd reached the end of their rope and had no other choice.
He knew that feeling almost too well.
"I did Allison, and I can try and help you." He knew he should say more, "you've tried everything else haven't you? What's the harm in giving me a shot? If it works, you'll be better for it, and if it doesn't, you haven't lost anything."
"It's... it's been a really bad day," she said and he could tell she was almost at the verge of tears, "I just...... I just wanted to..... I don't know,"
He could feel the desperation even through the phone.
"Allison, is it ok if I came over?"
He knew he was risking spooking her but this talk could not happen over the phone.
"Right now?" she asked, a bit surprised.
He looked at the time, it was eight in the evening.
"If you don't mind of course. It's better if we talk face to face."
There was a pause and Ryan thought she was going to refuse.
"Actually right now isn't a good time, my dad is at home and..." she left the statement hanging.
Ryan remembered how indifferent her dad had been the first time he'd visited and felt there was something more there than met the eye. Still, it was too personal to ask something like that just yet so he diverted.
"How about tomorrow morning? Is that good?"
