Shutout

Savior

"I'm sorry, Babes. I'm out of town," Ramona looked up from her phone, where Briar's pity filled face appeared through a FaceTime call. She quickly swiped the back of her hand over her cheek, wiping away a falling tear.

"Okay, okay, it's fine, don't worry." Ramona replies. Her voice cracks slightly. "Uhhh maybe I can ask Jamie and he can come get me?" She closes her eyes briefly, taking in a deep breath.

Briar immediately grimaces, sighing through her words, "He just got his wisdom teeth out, last time I talked to him he was all loopy and his mom gave him some hardcore sleeping meds. I doubt he's gonna pick up and even if he does, he's not gonna understand what you're saying with his little pea brain on all those drugs."

Ramona bites her lip and looks away from the screen. She scans her surroundings, she's sitting on the curb around the corner from her house. It was 2 am, Ramona was woken up with a crash. The sound of a plate breaking downstairs. Followed by a chorus of screaming. Ramona didn't stay long enough to hear what her parents were fighting about, opting to slip out of her window instead. Ramona Bell didn't sneak out to go to a party or meet up with boys, she snuck out when she couldn't sleep because she couldn't stand the sound of her parents arguing. She snuck out so she could call Briar or Jamie and have them bring them to their place for the night. So she wouldn't have to spend the whole night staring at the ceiling, wondering what she could do to make the screaming stop, if she could make it stop.

"I gotta go, my mom's making me go with her to some fish foot thing at like 6 am and you know I'm cranky when I don't sleep. I'm sorry, text me if it gets really bad and I can try to convince my mom to drive home. Or something." Briar was away at a weekend getaway to a spa resort with her mom. And as much as Ramona would like to force her to come home and save her, she knows her problems aren't big enough to ruin Briar's weekend.

Ramona smiles sadly, "No, it's fine. Have fun, I'll see you monday." She hangs up before Briar can respond and pulls her knees into her chest. She folds her arms over her knees and drops her head before promptly starting to sob. One thing about Ramona's sneaking out tendencies is that she only knew how to get out. Slide out the window and slowly climb down the tree. It didn't work the other way. At a certain point of climbing Ramona just had to jump down from the lowest branch, a branch that she could not reach from the ground. So now her options were to sleep on the sidewalk or walk in the front door and get caught in the middle of her parents' argument, both undesirably unattractive options.

Her brain can't catch up with her fingers before the phone starts ringing and Ramona realizes what she's doing.

"Mmm, hello?" Ramona squeezes her eyes shut without responding, running her hand over her mouth as she tries to process what she just did. Her breaths are short, trying to shield the sound of her crying. "Mona, you there?" Beau's voice is raw, deep, the call clearly woke him up. It sends a shiver down Ramona's spine.

Ramona finally opens her eyes, coming to terms that she is not dreaming and she does actually have to answer, "Uh, hi. Sorry, you were sleeping. I wasn't thinking, um, I'll stop bothering you. I know you have that math test on Monday, seeyousoongoodnight."

Ramona's about to hang up when Beau's voice interjects into the silence of the night, "Tell me what's up, Mona. And don't worry, I'll ace that test no matter what..." He pauses for a second. "As long as you can meet up at lunch Monday to clarify like pretty much everything."

Ramona laugh is wet with tears bit as soon as she laughs she loses control over her breathing and a few candid sobs break through, "Yeah, I can meet up."

"Mona"

"Listen, I gotta go. Talk to you later."

"Tell me why you called."