After: The Voicemail
Ashley
I ate more lasagna the first week Nick was gone than I've ever eaten in my entire life. I sat on the couch but the couch was cold because he hadn't fallen asleep on it for his afternoon nap and I did laundry but it only took half the time because it was just my stuff. I found myself arguing with myself about what programs to watch, pulling for Nick's favorite things and sometimes caving in, even though I didn't give a damn about SportsDesk.
At dinner, I microwaved more lasagna and sat at the dining room table and stared across it where he usually sat and I talked to myself, listening to the clock ticking.
When I went to bed, I climbed in and messed up his side of the blankets, then crawled over to my own and hogged all the pillows just to piss him off, and fell asleep hugging one. But it didn't rise and fall and there was no heart beat, so I couldn't convince myself it was him. In the middle of the night, I got desperate enough to shove this old teddy bear underneath that simulates a heart beat - you know, one of those ones for infants - and I turned it on but the heart beat was too perfect and Nick's was a wavering, hilly sort of thing that never kept a rhythm perfectly.
Nick's was like an acoustic show while this teddy bear was a perfectly polished pop song.
I threw the bear across the room and grabbed the phone from the nightstand and dialed his number.
When the voicemail picked up I let out a sigh.
"Hey, it's me, Nick. Leave a message and I'll call ya back."
"I miss you," I told him, "I can't wait to see you again. I love you."
I hung up and put the phone back on the nightstand and laid back down, hugging the pillows again, and closed my eyes.
Nick
I was on stage.
A microphone stood before me and I had my guitar around my neck. I pulled a guitar pick from my pocket and adjusted the height of the mic. A spotlight shone out from the dark ahead of me, blinding me as I stared up into it, the rays of light shooting out so vividly it felt like a tangible thing. There was a murmur of conversation in the crowd that pooled around the stage, their faces upturned in anticipation.
I brought my hand down against the strings and the hum of the guitar rang across the room, strong and vibrant.
My eyes searched the crowd... looking at each face... trying to find that one face that I wanted to see more than any other face.
But Ashley wasn't there.
My cell phone vibrated in my pocket and, because I wasn't sure what I was going to play, I checked my phone real quick, and there was a voicemail from Ashley. I clicked on it.
Her voice filled my ear. "I miss you. I can't wait to see you again. I love you."
"I love you too," I said, even though I knew she couldn't hear me. I took a deep breath, put the phone back into my pocket, and turned back to the microphone and the fans, who were still waiting patiently, expectantly. I put my hand on the microphone to steady it... then swiped my fingers across the guitar strings... and started singing.
"Love... I get so lost... sometimes...
Days pass... and this emptiness... fills my heart...
When I want to ruuuun away... I drive off... in my car...
But which ever way I go.... I come back... to the place you are...."
Story Notes:
The fourth (and final) story in the Nick & Dogface series that includes Launch, Landing, and Leave.
This story also has side stories being developed. See the story on my website for the side stories. I'll publish the side stories here after Love is completed.
This story also has side stories being developed. See the story on my website for the side stories. I'll publish the side stories here after Love is completed.
