Page 17 of Call and Response

A good balance to spending the next day by myself.

After burning a whole day keeping myself too busy to let my mind run free, I really needed to think.

I turned down any social offers, and turned off my social media notifications, and made sure my fridge was stocked with anything I might need. I didn’t need any distractions while I locked in, putting all my mental energy into the pressing question ofwhere I was.

So I could write from there.

Theoretically.

In reality?

The blinking cursor on my laptop screen taunted me.

The blank pages in my fresh notebook taunted me.

None of the instrumentals or beats I blasted in my headphones were moving me.

I needed GPS directions to figure out where I was on my behalf or something,damn.

That was the only way I was puzzling through this, clearly.

I pushed myself up from the couch, glancing at my watch as I made my way to the fridge. The day was nearly gone, without a shred of progress or clarity.

It felt like the universe was trying to tell me something.

I let the fridge door swing closed without taking anything. I didn’t actually have an appetite; I was just looking for a distraction.

Which made the knock at the door very, very exciting.

I wasn’t expecting anyone, but had every intention of welcoming the company. I didn’t even bother checking the peephole, just unlocked the door and snatched it open.

I wasnotanticipating Audra at the threshold.

A little smirk played at her full lips, clearly amused by whatever expression had registered on my face.

“I thought you said two days?” I blurted, and she shrugged, pushing past me into the door.

“This is day two, isn’t it?”

“That’s—”

“Not the same thing, I know,” she said, stopping in the foyer to face me. “But I was restless, so…” She gestured at the laptop bag strung across her chest. “Here I am. Let’s write. Unless… Do you have company already? Or…expectingcompany?” She glanced at her watch and smirked. “I guess it isthattime of night, huh?”

“What?No,” I insisted and immediately regretted when she laughed at my response.

“Relax,” she said, taking off her bag as she continued into my apartment, looking around. “I’m teasing you, trying to get comfortable. We have to be comfortable with each other for this process to work, you know?”

“Yeah… for sure.”

I watched as she dropped her bag on my kitchen counter, then moved to my fridge. “What do you have to drink? Any sparkling… Ooh, you’ve got Topo Chico, may I?”

“Help yourself.” I chuckled, since the bottle was already in her hand. Before I could tell her, she spotted the bottle opener magnetized to the side of the fridge and had popped it open. “While you’re hydrating… you wanna tell me how you know where I live?”

She shrugged. “I just asked Royal,” she explained. “I got zero pushback. Good thing I’m not here to kill you.”

“No kidding.”

“To be clear, though, you mightfeel likeyou’re dying for a bit at first,” she teased, keeping eye contact with me while she took a long swig from the bottle. “In a good way though… if you’re into that kinda thing.”

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