Silent Night

7 - Decorating the Town

STEF POV

"Hey, Stef, do you mind if I leave now? I've rolled all of the silverware and mopped the floors. I promised to help decorate the town for Christmas," Callie says as I am fixing the broken oven door I had kicked in once again this morning.

My emotions are all over the place, and I've been even more annoyed since I saw Lena and Frankie walking in the snow earlier, chatting and laughing as they headed towards Diane's Cafe. I don't know what I was thinking. Lena is about the most stubborn woman I have ever met, and the mere fact that I broke up with her was all it took even if she called me the night I broke it off with her.

FLASHBACK

I sigh as I kick closed the door to my apartment which was above my diner. I never had seen a need to find any other place even if Lena had teased me saying I lived like a bachelor, no decorations anywhere. I just had never seen a need for that kind of thing as I kick off my shoes and head to my fridge and pop open a beer as my phone rings.

Of course, I don't feel like talking to a single soul and decide to let the answering machine pick it up as I freeze in the middle of my little kitchen when I hear Lena's sad voice.

"Hey, Stef, I don't know why I'm calling you. Well, I do know why, but I want you to know that I heard you loud and clear when you said you were out. I am not trying to disrespect that. But remember that one movie where Zelda and Marty broke up because Marty was going to move to London, and Zelda was super sad and called Marty to come and sit with her because she needed her best friend. So, Marty came and sat with her until the sun came up and she drove him to the airport, and they were both quiet, but they were there for each other? Well, I'm sad, and I know you're not going to London, and I know that you aren't even leaving the state, but I can't stop crying and I need my best friend. I mean we don't have to talk at all. That's not what I'm even asking. I just wondered if you'd come over and we sit in silence until the sun comes up, and I can even drive you back to your diner before your next shift. That's all. I'm not asking to talk things through. I just wondered if you could come over, Stef. Please, come over. I need my best friend. Please come-"

The message cuts off now as I about drop my can of beer and hurry to put my shoes on before jumping in my truck and driving over to Lena's house. She didn't sound good in that message at all. In fact, she sounded so bad that I was beginning to be worried as I find the key she hides in her garden gnome and let myself in.

"Lena! Where are you?" I frantically look for her as I go in Frankie's room and don't see her before I take two steps at a time to her room as I see her bed which looked as if she hadn't made it in days, her bedside light still on.

I hurry into her bathroom and don't see her there either which only seems to alarm me even more. "Lena! Where are you, love? Are you hiding? I see your jeep in the drive!!!!!" I yell out as I run down the steps only to see her walking in the front door as she gasps when she sees me.

"Oh shit! Stef!" she laughs awkwardly as I look her over, and she's in her pj pants and one of my left-over flannel shirts, her hair pull back as I even see she is only wearing her slippers, her arms folded.

"Are you okay? Why are you dressed like that?"

"Yes. I'm...I'm okay. I just...oh god. Did you hear my message? Shit, you must have! That's why you're here! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I'm not that girl! I don't chase people, and I respect their boundaries, and I temporarily lost my mind. I...I don't know what I was thinking at all! That's not me. Some body snatcher must have taken over, and I...I snapped out of it. I just... here," she holds out a tape as I frown before I realize that it's the tape to my answering machine.