Wake me up, I've been dreaming,
Because I haven't heard from you in days.
Hazy now, this fog just follows me around,
And it's only you that burns it away.
- Cartel "The Perfect Mistake"
* * *
Chapter 1: Present
Vibrations reverberated throughout the miniscule apartment. The sound dulled and then died, not even registering on the tiny figure wrapped in a heap of hand-me-down quilts her grandmother had sewn together during the Great Depression. Winter was far from blowing in on Manhattan Island, but that never stopped Lexi from surrounding herself with a little piece of home. Again, the electronic noise pierced the early morning silence. She groaned, nearly rolling off the twin sized bed. Her hand fumbled clumsily for the alarm clock, slamming on the snooze button several times before realizing that the damn thing wasn't even plugged in let alone set for an early Saturday morning wake-up call.
She peeled her eyes open searching desperately for the obnoxious noise before zeroing in on her crummy old cell phone. It was situated between a box of old photographs, last night's cup of coffee, and her laptop, which had turned itself off when she hadn't been kind enough to plug it in for the night. She stared across the room debating whether this or anything else was important enough to get out of her cozy nook this early on a Saturday morning as the third ring blared through the apartment. Shoving the covers off of her bare legs, she painstakingly stumbled out of bed, immediately stubbing her big toe on her nightstand. Swear words escaped her mouth and she barely kept from falling over as pain shot through her toe. Reaching out for the cell phone, she extended her arm and barely saved it before it vibrated over the side of the cluttered desk.
"Mmm hmm?" she mumbled groggily into her phone before succumbing to the throbbing pressure in her foot, and collapsing on the grey area rug she had borrowed indefinitely from her college roommate when she had moved out.
"Lexi." It was a statement not a question. The voice was vaguely familiar almost seductive, but it was ridiculously early so she wasn't going to blame herself for not immediately recognizing the deep masculine tone.
Lexi pulled the phone from her ear and looked at the time. She groaned when she saw it was only six; four hours before she had to be awake. The number glaring blindly from the screen wasn't programmed into her phone, but this came as no surprise. She had accidentally dropped her phone in a toilet two months earlier when left alone in a nightclub. The phone had miraculously survived, but none of her numbers had. She had spent the next week recovering: the numbers and consciousness.
The fact that she didn't recognize the number wasn't what perplexed her, but that it wasn't a local New York area code. Strangely enough, it was an Atlanta area code, and the only people she still talked to from home were her parents. When she had replaced the numbers in her phone, she hadn't retained a single Atlanta phone number other than those. After moving to New York two years ago, she had tried to let go of her past and move on to what she hoped would be a bright future.
"Lexi, are you there?" the unidentified voice repeated into the phone. "I know…"
"Who is calling?" she asked cutting him off abruptly mid-sentence. "Do you realize it's six o'clock in the morning on Saturday?" she questioned mystery man further. "Some people do like to sleep in," she spoke sharply into the cell phone adjusting her seat so as to assess the extent of her injury.
"Yeah, look, I'm sorry," he implored her. "I didn't mean to bother you. I would have never called if I didn't absolutely have to. I feel really bad about this Lexi. I hope you aren't still angry at me, but I really did have to call you," he said sincerely.
She almost felt bad for speaking so severely to him especially since she was too groggy to recognize the voice. And to be honest, she thought he sounded a little pathetic. She rubbed her tired eyes before allowing herself to speak again. "Sorry," she mumbled. "Who did you say this was again?" There was silence on the other line. She sighed heavily knowing that silence meant that this wasn't going to be someone she wanted to speak with. "Look I dropped my phone and it erased all of my contacts. You're not in my phone."
Silence ensued on the other line before he emitted a tiny sigh and said, "Lex, it's Jack."
Chill bumps broke across her arms and neck as his name registered and she was able to finally place the voice. The sound of her heart palpitating inside her chest could be heard out the door, down the hall and quite possibly outside in the nearby construction zone through the jackhammer slamming against the concrete…not to mention through the phone. Her mouth felt like she had been chewing on chalk all night and her stomach had suddenly been assaulted by butterflies whacking their tiny wings violently against her insides. All she could do was cough in disbelief. Her mind was whirling with indescribable possibilities for the purpose of his phone call - each new idea seemingly more ridiculous than the last.
Deep down, she knew her reaction was not only uncharacteristic of her usual cool demeanor, but also completely uncalled for. So what if she hadn't heard a word from him since their last encounter over a year and a half ago? That didn't mean that he couldn't drop her a line at six o'clock in the morning on a random Saturday. After all, they had been friends…of sorts for nearly six years now.
"Look, I know I shouldn't have called so early. I didn't mean to intrude," he said quickly.
She was terrified that he might hang up after only a few short minutes of his time. "What? No. Of course you're not intruding. I just wasn't expecting…well you. I wasn't expecting you," she could hear how breathy and uneven her voice had gotten and wanted to kick herself with her hurt toe for being such a girl sometimes.
"Yeah. I'm sorry I've been out of touch." She didn't even want to think about what would happen if he had meant to be out of touch. Maybe he never would have called her again. "It's just that I need you."
She froze not able to comprehend what she had just heard. Her mind poured over the countless possible interpretations of this statement. "You what?"
"I mean, I need you here."
Her eyes bulged out. She could feel them drying out, but somehow couldn't bring herself to blink. She couldn't process what he was saying. He needed her? Not just needed her, but needed her there with him. Needed her home. She shook her head realizing she must be misunderstanding him. There was no way that after everything that had happened between them that he would ever call her like this. "I'm sorry…what?"