Seeking the One

Rhea 2

Rhea scoured her closet for something suitable to wear in the event that Julien would keep their prospective plans for coffee and pie. What said “This is our first meeting, but now you want to love me for life”? She wanted to look respectable, but also like someone he’d want to see again. While she wasn’t much on her own, she did have taste, and she wanted to flaunt it. For the first time in what seemed like forever, she was experiencing something other than the monotony she waded through daily. Always the Narrator, never the Tyler. Rhea hadn’t even heard his voice yet, but she imagined Julien whispering her name. Would it sound like velvet rolling from his tongue? She didn’t know, but she was ready to find out. Goosebumps rolled down her arms, the hair on the back of her neck stood at attention. Rhea draped her favorite jeans over the oversized footboard of her bed alongside a royal blue silk and lace button-up. She wanted to be fully prepared, so picked a light knee length cardigan to match. With hurricane season came a slight chill.

An STO message notification snapped Rhea back to reality. Her heart jumped and took root somewhere in her throat. She palmed her device as a small shock of panic washed over her, and for a moment, she felt the familiar storm brewing in her chest. Rhea feared that Julien had come to his senses and decided to cancel their meet-up. To her relief, Julien was simply confirming, once again, that they’d be meeting up in Ground Pound Caffe at 5:40. Rhea scrolled through the conversation again and again. Read and reread their words until her phone cried a warning of a dangerously low battery. “Fucking piece of shit 7-11 charger. Plugged in all morning and of course it hasn’t been charging, because fuck me, right?” With a huff she tossed the cord in the general direction of the wastepaper basket that resided in the corner of her room. Rhea made her way to the kitchen to dig her wireless charge station out of the junk drawer. A persistent clanging sound made it's way up from what sounded like the pipes leading to her kitchen sink. Rhea made a mental note to check out the racket, last thing she wanted was to have to bring a maintenance guy in. Jericho gave her the creeps and always hung around just a little too long and a little too close. She set the uncomfortable thought of Jericho aside and took pause when she was greeted by a photo booth picture strip in the junk drawer. Grinning back at her were two people she hadn’t seen in years. A happy and in love couple stared into each other's eyes. They smiled, they kissed, they made goofy faces. She allowed herself to remember when she and Amir took them. She sadly sighed and flipped the strip over. Squinting at the red faded writing in Amir’s flawless hand, she heard his voice in her head as she read “My baby and I- SeaWorld 1st anniversary vacation 2002. I love you now, I love you always, I love you forever- A.” A tightness took hold behind her ribs. Her heart was hurting and she hated the feeling. How could two people so in love fall apart as they had? A fat salty tear rolled down her lip and she quickly licked it away as she let the strip flutter back into the drawer. Maybe one day she'd be able to throw the young couple away, but not yet. After a little digging, she found the charge station crammed into the very back of the drawer. She quickly plugged it in next to her coffee pot, bumping the drawer closed behind her with her hip. The charge station wasn’t as fast as her now deceased turbo charger, but it would have to do until she could round up another cord. If she didn’t fuck with it, she may actually have a half charged phone by the time she was ready to head out.