Hero

Chapter Five

I stared into the silvery metal that now take the place of my legs. They mocked me with memories of pain and dark times. I blinked away the tears and turned away from the taunting reflection. Somehow I managed to swallow down the lump that formed in my throat and was now staring at the number I punched into my phone. The demon that lives inside of me told me to put my phone down, that this must have been a mistake because no one would want me. But the little sliver of hope lit me up like a Christmas tree despite everything and I hit call.

I sucked in a deep breath and sat on my bed as I counted each ring where he didn't answer.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four... five

With each ring I felt a small piece of me begin to shave away and then the ringing stopped and I heard rustling on the other end. A thud from the other end rang out and a whispered shit. Then a very groggy, "hello?"

"Um, hi."

It was quiet for a little while on the other end before he answered, "who is this and why are you calling me at 1:30 in the morning?"

The annoyance in his tone made my stomach feel like an empty pit of false hope, "Um, it's Piper. You wrote your number down.. I'm sorry."

I was about to hang up when he said more alert now, "Oh, Piper! Hi! How are you feeling? Why are you awake? Don't be sorry."

"I'm fine. Maybe a little sore and I'll definitely have bruises later."

"I see." We shared an awkward silence.

"Did I wake you?" I said feeling bad.

"Yeah, but it's alright. I didn't think I'd be hearing you voice when you didn't call."

"Yeah, I fell asleep. I didn't even know you left your number. Why'd you do that by the way."

"Like I said before, I'm interested in the Piper life story." I smiled and a small schoolgirl giggle escaped my lips surprising me. "There is no way that is your laugh!"

I laughed again, "it is, why?"

He was quite then, "it sounds like bells. I like it."

I knew there was a big goofy smile on my face but I couldn't chase it away, "Oh."

"Yeah, oh." We shared another silence which wasn't awkward anymore, kind of nice actually. "So when can I see you again?"

"I dunno. All I do is stay at home."

"I see, so you're a good girl then?" A playful mock in his tone made me silence giggle again.

"Hey! I am not!"

"Oh you so are! I love it."

"Okay, so if I'm a good girl, does that make you a bad boy?"

"Maybe." I smiled.

"You're a dork."

I heard him laugh quietly, "I can't be a bad boy and a dork. Those two don't mix."

I laid back on my bed, "Well now they do."

"Do they now?"

"Yes." I said with a giggle.

"And why's that?"

"Um, because I said so." I said in a sassy tone.

"If you say so good girl." I smiled but stayed silent. "Am I keeping you awake? You should go to sleep, I'm sure you're tired."

"I'm pretty sure I'm the one keeping you awake but yeah I'm pretty tired. So goodnight?"

"Yeah. Good night." I waited until he hung up before I took the phone away from my ear. My hands automatically started unhooking my legs and pulling them off and gently placing them on the floor beside my bed. I rubbed lotion over the nub and laid back with a smile glued to my face. I closed my eyes and dreamt of brown eyes and tattoos.

***

I woke the next morning, or should I say afternoon, with the  smile still on my face. My body felt totally refreshed an relaxed for the first time in a long time. The first thing I did was check my phone. I had a brand new follower on my Twitter, Instagram, and snapchat from Ronnie. 6 New snaps from him, and 22 new text messages from him.

"Kate!" I screeched for my best friend because she'll be more pissed the longer I wait to tell her.

I heard her feet running down the hallway then she burst into my room, "What are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine. I just have something to show you." She let out a heavy breath and sat down on the bed beside me. "You'll never guess who's number was on a signed photo I got last night?" She stood quiet with wide eyes, "Yeah, it's Ronnie! Look!" I opened the first snap that was sent at

Seven in the morning when I was fast asleep. It was him without a shirt on laying in bed and it was captioned "wake up already, I wanna talk to you good girl :)".

Kate squealed then said, "good girl?"

"I may have called him last night while you were asleep and we talked for a long time. He thinks I'm a good girl."

"Well, he's right there." We both laughed, "but Pipe, I want you to be careful around him, you hear me? He's amazing and all but I don't trust him as far as I can throw him with that reputation."

"Okay." I said quietly. Ronnie isn't the kind of guy you bring home to your parents. He looks scary, his music can be kind of savage sometimes, and he's got the reputation of a murder and woman beater. It kind of made me nervous thinking about it but there's no way any of that is true. His sweet so far. We heard the doorbell ring in the distance, probably Tyler or Josh, both oh which I don't want to see right now so Kate went to go let them in.

I looked back down to my phone and smiled again. I decided not to call him but respond to a text because I need to eat and I don't want to talk with a mouth full of food.
"Good morning bad boy :)" I hit send  and started to put my legs on when Kate called me. I finished with my legs and pulled on shorts, "coming!"

I stuffed my phone in my bra and hurried to the door where I found a man wearing a navy blue outfit holding a giant vase filled with beautiful Lillies and Roses.

"Delivery for a miss Piper Duffy?"

"Um, Yeah that's me." I signed his clipboard and took the flowers, "have a good day." I shut the door behind him.

"Those are from Josh, right?"

I placed the big vase on my kitchen table and searched though the flowers for the card. "Good girl, be ready at 8 o'clock tonight :)" I felt my jaw hit the ground in total shock. First of all how does he know where I live? Secondly I don't even know him. And lastly, I can't believe this is real life.

"Earth to Piper. Josh, right?"

I turned slowly and met her eyes and I knew that she knew who they were from, "Ronnie." I said like I was a child testing out the name for the first time.

"How-"

"I have no idea."

I unlocked my phone and dialed his number. He answered almost immediately, "Hey there."

"Hi. How do you know where I live?"

"Wow, you made that sound so creepy." He laughed, "You have your location on Facebook. I wanted to surprise you."

"Well mission complete. They're beautiful, thank you Ronnie."

"It was my pleasure, Piper." I heard the smile in his voice.

"Oh, and the card-"

"Ah, all in due time good girl. I will see you tonight."

"Wait-" but he had hung up.

I turned to Kate who just finished reading the card with a questioning look like she knew what was going on but she just shrugged, "well, go start getting ready!"