For You

It only had been two days when the phone rang. I was sitting at the dining table in my small apartment, staring blankly at the day old newspaper in front of me. Dad had called constantly all of yesterday, suggesting that we should do something together. I let the call go to voicemail today to avoid him.

The answering machine beeped and I heard my voice cheerfully say, “Hi, you’ve reached Ella. I’m not here right now, but I promise that if you leave your name and number, I’ll call you back as soon as possible! Thanks!” I scowled at how happy I seemed. The old Ella seemed like a distant memory now.

A male voice took over the machine and I didn’t recognize it as Dad’s. “Hi, Ella, a couple of days ago you called the agency Friends in Need, right? Well, I’m your new friend…” I listened as he recited his name and number. He seemed really nice.

I waited to call him. I didn’t call back until the sun was starting to set, which seemed relatively early in the winter. The phone only rang once until the other person picked up.

“Hello?” They asked breathless. There was a lot of talking in the background.
“Hi, is this Joe?”
The other line was quiet for a moment. “Yeah.”
“This is Ella,” I told him, nervous.
I heard him shush the people around him and he replied chuckling, “I was beginning to wonder if you’d ever call me back!”
I blushed and faked a chuckled through the phone for his sake. “Yeah, sorry about that.”
“Listen, I’d really like to meet you or something. Do you want to get together tomorrow and hang out or something?” I was quiet for a moment, and then he added, “It’s completely up to you. No pressure.”
“Yeah, I think I can do that,” I replied.