The story of a lonesome ol'Jerome

I opened my eyes, flailing, reaching for my phone. Fuck, it was work! But it was my day off!?!

Don’t sound sleepy, don’t sound sleepy! “Hello?”

“Dr. Hageman, it’s Meredith. I apologize for calling you at home on your day off, but I thought you might want to receive this message sooner rather than later. A Mr. Andy Biersack-“ I couldn’t avoid a little intake of breath, I hoped she didn’t hear, “-came in a few minutes ago with an armful of roses, asking if you were available. I told him you were off and that I would pass the message that he had stopped by.” She hesitated. “Dr. Hageman, I think he would very much like to see you.”

My mind swam. He had found where I work, and gone there. How many people knew? “Did he say anything else?”

“No, Dr. Hageman.”

“Did you get his phone number?”

She hesitated. “No, Dr. Hageman. I assumed he was homeless and didn’t have a phone.”

I burst out laughing, I couldn’t help it. “That’s ok, Meredith. Thanks for letting me know. I appreciate the call, have a great weekend.” I hung up on her before she had the chance to ask me who Andy was, or where I knew him from.

Andy. The memory of the last 24 hours went washing over my brain like a really heavy toke. I was scared of what Andy would think of me if he really got to know me. Everyone rejected me romantically as they got to know me, that was the rule that had never been broken, not ever. But I decided it was foolish to never give something a chance. I had nearly been destroyed by my last relationship, but I couldn’t be ruled by fear.

I thought about how he was a musician. As cool a guy as he seemed to be, in my experience, that tended to give people huge egos sometimes. I hadn’t seen how Andy acted around other people. And he traveled all the time. But what really bothered me was that he already had a designated primary. And I didn’t want to be anybody’s secondary! It didn’t matter that I could have other relationships, I hated things that implied that one had more importance, or was superior to, or had greater priority than, another. Fuck!

I had to stop thinking so much. I was jumping the gun. I tried to make things logical and step-wise. First- I needed to shower/brush teeth. Then, needed to contact Andy .How? Did I need to sign up for Twitter? Then, I guess we would meet up, and we could talk?

I had just turned the shower on, when my phone rang. It was an unknown caller. One with a Los Angeles area code.

Notes