The phone rang. Lila fumbled around for it in the pitch darkness, her eyes still stuck together with sleep. She found the receiver, almost knocked it off the stand, grabbed for it, and finally managed to hold it to her ear. "'lo?" she said sleepily.
"Répondez s'il-vous-plaît," said the voice on the other end. Then a click. Lila was left holding the phone in total confusion.
She got up, and set the phone back on the hook. Still blinking sleep out of her eyes, she opened the door and walked out into the hallway. Thankfully, her room-mate hadn't been woken up by the strange phone call. They got along well, but she didn't want Brian getting an eyeful of her wearing nothing but a pair of panties. He might get the wrong idea.
She walked into the living room of the apartment, still trying to puzzle out the meaning of the strange call. "Répondez s'il-vous-plaît." That was French, wasn't it? She grabbed her car keys, trying to dredge up memories of a year of junior-high French class. Nothing seemed to be coming to mind. She wished she could just go back to bed--as she passed the clock in the tiny kitchen, she saw that it was well after midnight. But that phone call nagged at her. Instead, she walked out of the apartment, closing and locking the door behind her.
The voice did seem somewhat familiar, Lila thought as she padded down the hallway in her bare feet. Maybe it was one of her friends, making a prank call. "Répondez s'il-vous-plaît." It sounded familiar too. She pressed the call button on the elevator, feeling a slight tingle as the air conditioner blew a faint breeze onto her bare nipples.
When the elevator arrived, she got in and pressed the button for the parking garage. "Répondez s'il-vous-plaît." Right, right. That was what the acronym RSVP stood for. Répondez s'il-vous-plaît. Please respond. That still didn't make a whole lot of sense. Who would say, "Please respond," in perfect French, to a college sophomore in Jacksonville, then hang up before she could answer?
The buzzer dinged, and she headed out of the elevator towards her car. For a brief moment, Lila tried to remember if there were security cameras in the parking garage. If there were, she was probably giving them a bit of a free show. But the idea didn't seem to bother her too much; she had other things on her mind. Some French person had called her up, asking her a question--no, not even a question, just asking her to say something--but hadn't given her a chance. It didn't make any sense. Of course, she realized! It was probably just a prank call. A meaningless gag. Her mind finally settled on that score, she got into her car for a little drive. Just something to clear her head before going back to sleep.