Keep Holding On

”Good morning sunshine!” Helen bounced into Roxanne’s room, her voice nearly singing her greeting. Roxanne rolled over, the sheets tangling around her naked body, and groaned into her warm pillow, “Go away.”

“Come on Roxie-Poxie,” the blonde sat on the edge of the full-size bed and shook her friend, trying to get her to wake up, “It’s eleven in the morning! Time to get up!”

“Why do you care? You sleep in till like three usually!” Roxanne rolled away from her friend and dug herself further into her mattress, “And don’t call me Roxie-Poxie!”

The more than awake young woman giggled, “I can’t help it! But I don’t sleep in till three on days when a hot guy is waiting for me in the living room…”

“What are you talking about?” the brunette leaned up slightly at her friend’s words – though it hardly mattered what would come out of her mouth next, by now Roxanne knew there was no way she was going to be able to go back to sleep.

“That guy you brought home last night? Remember?”

The brunette thought about it. She remember sitting at the bar, watching Helen disappear into the sea of dancers, then a hand at the small of her back… ”Oh,” she whispered, bits and pieces of the previous night hitting her in waves. Her brown eyes widened when she remembered that she didn’t come home alone last night, then let out a loud “OH!”

“Yeah, well he’s in the living room, watching TV,” the blonde told her friend, ignoring the look on her face, “Usually one-stands you know, leave, but he seems-“

“Wait, he’s still here?” Roxanne turned her head towards Helen and held the sheet tightly around her.

“Yeah, I think I already said that…” the blonde giggled, “And, I must say, you finally got laid! You’ve been way to uptight-“

“Helen, focus,” the brunette maneuvered her body so that she was facing her roommate, “Has he said anything? Anything at all?”

“Um… yeah.”

Roxanne’s head throbbed, her lower half not feeling any better. She wished that her friend – her best friend – was a bit more help.

“Just… tell him I’ll be out in five… I need to get dressed.”

“Okaie-dookie Roxie-Poxie,” Helen brightly beamed as she jumped up and nearly dodged the pillow that was being thrown at her.

Roxanne fumbled out of her bed and quickly searched for something to wear. She, to be honest, didn’t care if her clothes even matched. She just wanted to know why that guy – Dion, wasn’t that his name? – was here. She couldn’t remember much about him, he hadn’t really talked about himself.

After slipping on her undergarments, black yoga pants that supported the brunette’s favorite baseball team – the New York Yankees –and a baggy, grey hoodie that had a leopard printed on it, she rushed out of her room and into the living room.

True to Helen’s word, Dion was sitting on the couch, his arms outstretched over the edge. The blonde hovered near-by, that look on her face that Roxanne recognized as “I’m totally hammered.”

“Helen have you been drinking?” the brunette spoke up, causing the attention in the room to travel towards her.

“Roxie-Poixe, have many times have I told that I don’t drink, even socially, till after five p.m.?” the blonde took a step towards her friend and nearly tripped, but caught herself on a chair.

“Then why are you acting like you’ve been drinking all morning?” the brunette suppressed a groan at the use of the God-awful nickname her roommate used. She loathed being called that.

With a shrug, the blonde ventured into the kitchen in search of something to settle her stomach. The darker-haired woman now turned her gaze towards Dion, who was now starring at her with an amused expression in his blue eyes. Just like the previous night, as she locked gazes with him, Roxanne could feel the worry lift from her shoulders – almost like she did whenever she got buzzed. The familiar slightly fuzzy haze took over as she walked over towards him and took a seat next to him.

“How long have you been up?” she asked him. For now, there was a reasonable, “safe” distance between them – a whole other Roxanne could have fitted in the space between them. Their bodies’ were turned at a forty-five degree towards each other as they made small talk.

“Oh, not very long,” he politely answered, “Your friend woke me up when she got back, she asked me to stay for lunch.”

Roxanne threw a glance over at her friend as she spoke, “She, uh, failed to mention that.”

“She asked after she woke you up,” he was quick to defend. The younger woman zipped her head towards him, her dark, thick locks seemingly flying through the air for the moment. She noticed, as she gawked at him, that there was a mysteriousness look in his blue eyes.

“Oh, that-“ the sound of knocking at the door cut off the rest of her sentence. Both Dion and her looked towards the door, then back at each other before she volunteered, “I’ll get it.”

Standing too quickly, Roxanne felt a sudden wave of nausea hit her. She shook her head and held her churning stomach, then took slow steps towards the door.

The second her hand grasped the door knob and turned it, opening the front door to the apartment, the haze clouding her vision was gone. Her brown eyes squinted at the sudden light that poured into the room. She saw the silhouette of a man and took a step back, hoping that she could get a better look at him.

Roxanne noticed the sandy blonde hair, the sky blue eyes, and the grin that made her heart melt. She smiled up, breathlessly at the stranger.

“Um, does a girl named Helen live here?” he asked, his voice was like velvet to her ears, “She left her purse at the-“

“I was wondering where I left that!” Helen interrupted, suddenly by the door. She, not so sweetly, pushed her friend out of the way and took her place. Roxanne tilted her head up and saw Dion’s blue gaze. As he helped her stand, they both over-heard Helen’s giddy voice say, “Well come on in, silly, and meet my roommate and her new garçon-jouet!”