Housemates

Lana.

Arianne

I stared at my phone ringing, the screen illuminating the dimly lit room. A call from Lana at 9 pm at night has got to be the most unexpected thing to happen this week. Something in me told me it was important.

I took a deep breath before answering the call. Steeling myself for the conversation that was about to unfold.

"Lana?" I said, my voice filled with concern.

She didn't reply. I can tell she was there from her heaving breathing and sniffling but she didn't say anything.

Was she crying?"

"Are you okay?" I asked getting worried.

Still nothing. There was a brief silence on the other end, as if Lana was summoning the courage to speak.

And then in a voice laced with vulnerability, she spoke, "can you please come over?" Her voice shook as she got those words out.

"On my way" I tell her immediately getting up from my bed and putting on my shoes, running downstairs to leave.

I'm forgetting one thing.

"Aaron!!" I yell running back into the house.

Ella and her husband were unbothered watching a show in the living room. I ran upstairs to Aaron's room.

"Aaron!"

"What?" He asked not caring about the fact that I was screaming.

"Give me your keys Lana needs me" I tell him.

He points at his desk where the keys were placed I quickly grab them thanking him and running downstairs again and starting the car.

I take a moment to catch my breath before driving out.

In less than ten minutes I'm infront of Lana's house.

I send her a quick text letting her know I'm down.

'Wait I'll come to you,' she replied to it.

I patiently wait for her, feeling tense and worried on what might've happened to her. The call was unexpected, but the urgency in Lana's voice couldn't be ignored. Her distress seeped through the phone, tugging at my heartstrings with invisible hands. She needed me.

The girls and I have been friends for a while now. But Lana's the person I feel closest to out of the three of them.

Finally the front door of her house opens and Lana's tiny body walks out from it. She's hugging herself looking down at the floor. Judging by her face she's been crying for a long time.

She opens the passenger door and gets in, not saying a word. We sit in silence until she breaks it.

"I'm sorry for calling you like that," she apologizes tucking her hair behind her ear.

"You don't need to apologize," I reassure her. "What happened?" I asked her.

"My mom and her boyfriend got into a bad fight today" she confesses, trying her best not to cry again.

Lana's parents were never together, she was the result of a one night stand. But luckily her mother was lucky enough to meet a guy some time after giving birth to her and have been dating ever since.

From what Lana's has told me before, shes grown attached to him and sees him as a father figure.

"Oh no im so sorry," I go in for a hug but she rejects it saying she doesn't want to cry.

She told me she needed someone to talk to about it, an outlet, and I can't help but appreciate the fact that she trusted me of all people with it.

As she spoke, my mind raced, trying to grasp the magnitude of her pain. I listened intently, to her venting about the fight and how it made her feel.