Her Cell Phone

Her Cell Phone
“So, I saw you with someone last night,” Thomas said on our way to class.
“Yeah, so?” I questioned.
“Come one, give me the details. Was she a celebrity? I was too drunk to really tell,” he said with a smile.
“You know, maybe you should stop drinking. It might be your undoing one day and what,” I replied.
“Oh forget the minor details. So who was it?”
“Nobody, now can we please get to class?”
“Fine, let’s see if I ever invite you to another party,” he said jokingly.
As I sat in my thermodynamics class, all I could think of was the night before. There were no words coming from my professor’s mouth. I could see his lips moving, but all I would here is silence. My mind continued to wander throughout the whole lecture. Class was dismissed early and Thomas began his pestering.
“I saw how interested you were in class today. Someone seemed to be quite preoccupied. So do you mind telling me who you were with last night? I made a bet with Elizabeth saying that it was a guy.”
“Well thanks Thomas for having faith in me. You and Elizabeth are pretty close, how long have you two been together?”
“For several weeks now, but don’t change the subject!”
“Do you know who Miss C is?”
“No way! Miss C, the actress gone singer? Don’t mess with me; you did not talk to her. Who was it, really?” he asked in disbelief.
“Yeah, I was with her last night and I took her home,” I said with a smile.
“Whoa, did you guys . . . you know?”
“No. Chivalry is not dead Thomas. I just took her home and I was on my way,” I simply replied.
“Well, that was a one in a million chance and you blew it. You know, you probably won’t ever see her again.”
He was right and I was trying to avoid thinking it. I never even asked for her number and just randomly dropping by her house was out of the question. I would feel like a stalker. Besides, she probably forgot about me.
“I’ll live Thomas, thanks for your input . . .”
“Oh come on, let’s go to the bar later on tonight and see if we can get you with someone new.”
“You know that I don’t drink and we have a test coming up, I think I will go study instead.”
“You . . . are . . . so . . . boring! Whatever, it’s your loss, but if you change your mind call me.”
“Okay Thomas, well I drove here today so I’ll see you later.”
I remember it being a particularly long walk back to my truck. From afar I could easily spot it out with its windshield stickers. I dragged my feet all the way to my vehicle with the thought of never being able to see her again. C’est la vie, I thought. Memories are always good things. After several minutes of wallowing in self pity, I finally got into my truck. When my engine finally turned over I put in one of my many mix CD’s. With my luck, it was the CD with all my depressing songs. I have a minor case of obsessive compulsive disorder and whenever I make a new CD I have to have songs of the same genre on it. I left the parking lot listening to songs that had the power to forever keep me in a state of darkness. I let it be, I was in no mood for upbeat music.
As I pulled into my driveway I heard a cell phone ring. It wasn’t mine. The ringer was different, the vibration was different, and it wasn’t in my pocket. I checked the passenger seat and there it was; some random cell phone. It was hers! She must have dropped it while she was dozing off this morning. I did not know if I should have answered it or not. It could be someone important and I could ruin it for her. No, I should not. “Integrity” was a word that a biology professor lectured on and I tried hard many years to keep. I failed; I had already picked it up.
“Hello?” I asked the person on the other line.
“Mr. P! Thank god, I thought I left it somewhere else and the paparazzi might have gotten it,” the voice said from the other line.
“Who is this?”
“Already forgot me? I will give you a hint ‘No, I want to stay like this forever’.”
“Miss C! I’m sorry, please don’t get mad for answering your phone. I thought about it and then I started to think about my professor and . . .” I began to ramble.
“Don’t worry about it. I am just glad that you answered my phone. I feel so lost without it. Haha, I know, I am pathetic.”
“It’s okay; I am the same way with mine. So, would you like me to send it to you or are you going to have someone pick it up?”
“Well, if I was that shallow, I would have someone to pick it up and if I was worse, I would have you send it to me. How about I meet you somewhere and we make a date out of it? I think it is the best way to repay the savior of my phone.”
“That sounds great! But aren’t you busy? You don’t have to take the time out of your schedule.”
“Oh, I am sorry. Did you not want to see me? I totally understand. I guess I will just ask you to send it to me . . .”
“No, I didn’t mean to offend you. I will gladly go out with you.”
“Good, I will pick you up at five. Where do you live by the way?”
“I live in Irvine. Westminster Street, look for the house with the truck that has a lot of stickers on it.”
“All right, I remember how it looks like.”
“Great, I can’t wait.”
“Cool, it’s a date then.”
That gives me about four and a half hours until then. I ran into my house once again feeling like a young boy on his first date. In a matter of minutes my room was a complete mess of clothes all strewn about. Great, I thought to myself, I have millions of dollars and I do not even have a single decent outfit. I didn’t even know where we were going. I was beginning to stress out. I needed to calm down I put all my clothes back neatly in their proper place and I went to take a shower. I felt so relaxed after I got out. I began to rethink my outfit. Hmm . . . Maybe I should have her choose my outfit. It would be interesting; she did say that she was going to be spontaneous.
I only killed about an hour, what am I going to do until then? My house was clean; I hardly ever do anything in there but study and go in my office. There was my piano; I have not played on it in ages. Ever since I became a grad student, I had no time to practice. I travelled downstairs to my living room. There it was, accumulating dust and hoping to one day be played. Today was its lucky day. I sat down and opened her up. She was still in tune, surprisingly. I began playing a song that I started so practice several years ago. A few measures in and I began to mess up. I searched my piano bench for the music and there it was, right on top. It looked a lot more menacing then I remember. About a half an hour passed and I only mastered one extra measure. I really should have taken more lessons when I was younger, I thought.
I continued to practice and practice. And practice. I was suddenly interrupted by Miss C’s phone ringing. It was her calling.
“Hi, do you mind if I change at your place? I generally go out with clothes that can hide me. I love my fans and all but I want my own personal space,” she said.
“Sure, are you on your way?”
The doorbell rang.
“Hold on, someone’s at the door,” I said.
I looked through my peephole. There was someone with a dark baseball hat standing outside. They were dressed in a sweatshirt and baggy blue jeans. I couldn’t see their face due to the bill of their cap. I wasn’t expecting anyone at the moment. Jeeze, I hope it is not a door-to-door salesman. I opened the door.
“Sorry, I am not interested,” I automatically said.
“How rude! Is that how you greet your date?” the stranger in the cap said.
“Excuse me?”
They finally looked up and my jaw dropped. It was Miss C!
“I am sorry, I thought you were a salesman,” I apologized.
“Haha, it’s ok. I was hoping for that reaction.”
“You are here a bit early, I wasn’t expecting you for another . . .” I looked at the clock. It was already five!
“I believe that I am right on time” she said with a smile.
“Haha, yeah you are. I guess I lost track of time when I was practicing.”
“What do you play? Can I hear?”
“I was playing piano, and I don’t really think you would want to hear it. I am not very good.”
“I see, well some other time then. So, can I change?”
“Sure, you can change in the guest room.”
As I led her up the stairs, I began to think of how incredibly lucky I was. How many graduate students could actually say that they had an actress in their house?
“So, is it just you who lives here?” she asked as we reached the top.
“Yeah, it is just me. I don’t even know why I bought such a big house. I barely use any of the space in here as is. Well, here is my room. Want to do me a favor?”
“Whoa, a little bold aren’t we? You just had my phone bucko, not that special,” she said jokingly.
“Well, aren’t you the great comedian, but my request was for you to pick out my outfit. I didn’t know what to wear,” I began to blush.
“Aww, aren’t you cute. Sure, just tell me where your clothes are. I don’t want to find something deep and dark about you.”
“Don’t worry. The only thing that might be bad is that my trash can hasn’t been emptied out yet. My clothes are in my closet over there. Now, can I trust that I will not be wearing something ridiculous?”
“Cross my heart, hope to die,” she replied with a wink.
I went back downstairs and began to play. Everything began to come to me. I remembered how to play the song again! Even the parts of the song that I didn’t learn came easily to me. Granted, I messed up a few times but I was able to fix it after a few repeats of the measure. I replayed the song. When my fingers first pressed down the keys to create the first chord, I suddenly fell into a dream like state. I could see myself in third person. All of my emotions began to flow out of my fingers and onto the keys. Each key I pressed down was another emotion released. I was never this into playing piano, I was never even this good at playing piano. I finished the last note of the song and I heard clapping from behind me. I turned around and she was standing at the bottom of the staircase, leaning on the banister. She was fully changed. The only thing that was the same was her jeans. She had on a red spaghetti strap and in her arms was a white track jacket. She was absolutely stunning just standing there.
“Bravo. You lied. You said you weren’t very good. That was beautiful,” she said.
“Thank you, but I usually can’t play that well. I don’t know where it came from.”
“So I chose your clothes. I hope you like them.”
Behind her, on a hanger was a set of clothes. It was a suit jacket and a blue button up shirt. I didn’t even know that I had those.
“I don’t see how you could not choose clothes. You had a wonderful array of clothing up there. Oh, and the jeans you are wearing now should be fine. Now, go change. I am getting kind of hungry.”
“Well, isn’t someone a bit picky? All right, I will be back, feel free to do whatever you want while I change.”
I ran up and changed quickly. When I was buttoning up my shirt I began to hear a familiar tune being played on the piano. It was from Casablanca, the song was “As Time Goes By”. When I finished changing I walked back downstairs. She began to sing. I quietly sat on my couch and listened. Her voice was so soothing. I just wanted to stay like this. I stood up and walked behind her. My arm softly touched her shoulder. She turned to me.
“You look quite handsome. Want to get going?” She asked.
“Sure, you play beautifully.”
“Thanks! I have always been in love with the piano.”
“So whose vehicle are we taking?”
“Let’s take mine, we already rode in yours.”
“Okay.”
We stepped out and on the curb was a black Mustang. I don’t know much about cars but I know enough to know that it was very expensive. The interior was filled with leathers and state of the art electronic systems. Compared to my truck, this car was full luxury on wheels. What surprised me the most was her transmission, it was stick! She got in and with a somewhat ominous smile she said “Let’s go”. We sped off, in a matter of seconds my house was already out of sight.