For the Love of Him

The Call

5:14 p.m

Raheem’s house

     Raheem trudged lazily up the stairs, exhausted from his day at the office. His mind was still whirling with all the information that Carly stuffed into his head, but the only thing he wanted to think about was sleep.

       He pushed the heavy, wooden door open and flung himself on his bed. A sea of silk sheets cushioned his fall and engulfed him whole. He sat up, pulling his body toward the headboard and grabbed the remote off the nightstand. The TV clicked on to reruns of Law & Order: SVU, but Raheem couldn’t seem to pay attention. In the corner of his eye, something red shimmered in the distance. He turned his head toward the far corner of the room and eyed the object curiously.

       Raheem crawled out of bed, reaching the shiny item. He bent down and picked it up, feeling the smooth texture. A faint aroma of vanilla escaped the threads and tickled his nose with familiarity. He unfolded the ball of fabric and realized it was Adrienne’s party dress.

           She must have left it after the party. He thought to himself.

It hadn’t occurred to him that she had been wearing his clothes the night she stormed out of the house. Raheem couldn’t believe it was the first time she had even crossed his mind since the fight, and it made him feel terribly guilty.

           He held the dress tightly in his hands, pulling it to his chest. He leaned against the wall and slumped in the corner where the clothing once laid.  A wave of sadness washed over him and a tear slowly fell from his eye and trickled down his cheek. He fiercely wiped away the tear, but it didn’t do any good. Tears started to flow from his eyes like water bursting from a dam. He crunched up in a tight ball and wailed until he thought he could sob no more.  He felt sorry for himself and missed Adrienne more than ever now.

        Why had he taken her for granted? Why hadn’t he realized that he loved her more than anything? No matter how hard he tried, Raheem couldn’t find the answer to any of these questions and it all just angered him. After a while of crying, the dress was soaking wet with tears and he was determined to stop feeling pathetic. He had to do something.

       Raheem grabbed his cell phone from his pocket and looked up Adrienne’s number. He hadn’t spoken to her since Saturday, and he had no idea if she was even going to answer the phone, but he had to give it a try.

       The phone began to ring as he put it to his ears. One ring, two rings, three rings, four, Adrienne still didn’t pick up. Raheem dreaded the thought of leaving a message. He didn’t know where to begin. How could he admit to her how much of a douche bag he had been? It was bad enough he was calling her, and what if someone else heard the message?

          “Hey, you’ve reached Adrienne. I can’t come to the phone right now, so leave me a message.”

            Raheem’s heart sank at the sound of Adrienne’s recorded voice. She sounded so happy and cheerful. He missed hearing her voice so much, and the urge to call her again, just to hear the recording, raced through his mind. 

            “Umm… Adrienne, it’s me, Raheem. I-I…I need to talk to you. Please, call me back or text me. Write me a letter. I don’t care. I just need to talk to you… Bye.”

      Raheem hung up the phone and flopped himself back on the bed. A sigh of exasperation escaped his lips and the thought of Adrienne ignoring and call and message sat in the back of his mind—taunting him.

        She has to call me back, he reassured himself, she just has to. All I need to do is wait.