Sarange: Sarandon Lange

Time After Text

Jessica walked down the long flight of stairs from her dark room to the loft below, she looked out of the sliding terrace doors and noticed the sun begining to set in the sky. The New York City lights were all ablaze, people scuttling here and there in the street below. "Wow, what time is it?" She thought to herself. Her stomach started growling and it occurred to her that she hadn't eaten all day. She had spent almost all day working on developing her latest roll of film. She made her way to the kitchen and it hit her like a ton of bricks, "Shit, lunch... that was today. She's gonna kill me."

She searched the kitchen for her phone with no luck. The reading nook, it has to be there. She walked into the living room area, past the fireplace, to where she had her coffee and read the paper earlier that morning. Sure enough there it was and among the missed phone calls and texts from her kids and other acquaintances there was four texts that grabbed her full attention.

8:37 a.m. "Good morning, beautiful. I slept in but looking forward to lunch later today. xoxo" 

9:13 a.m. "CAVA at 11:30, right? I'm just double checking. xoxox"

11:05 a.m. missed call from Susan

11:50 a.m. missed call from Susan

11:53 a.m. "Okay, so I've been here for at least 30 minutes! You aren't picking up or texting. Where are you?"

2:42 p.m. "You better have a damn good reason for standing me up today. I came by your apartment and no answer. Tried calling AND texting and nothing. So rude, Jess! I'm going out with Bryan this evening. Don't even bother."

Jessica checked her watch and grimaced.  6:09 p.m. She immediately tired calling her lover and there was no answer. She tried once more and was forwarded to voicemail. The situation was worse than she expected. She began texting "Hi, sweetheart! I am so so sorry about today. I was working on some photographs and time got away from me. I hope you aren't as angry as you probably should be. Call me, we can do dinner??"

Jessica picked up her book and settled in, expecting not to hear from Susan for the rest of the night, she deserved that. How could she have forgotten, especially after hearing the excitement in Susan's voice. They are rarely seen in public together and Jessica accepts full responsibility for that. It has created much contention in their relationship but Jessica just cannot bring herself to fully admit to the world that she is in love with a woman. There are times when she has a hard time admitting it to herself.

7:28 p.m. "I told you not to bother, Jess."

7:34 p.m. "Okay, I'm not mad, just hurt but I get it, you were working. I'm not giving you an out. You owe me. What's for dinner? Want me to grab take out?"

8:07 p.m. missed call from Susan

8:13 p.m. "Jess, wtf?"

Jessica awoke to the sound of her book hitting the floor. "Shit." 

"Oh Fuck!" She checked her watch again, 9:17 p.m. "No, no, no!"

She grabbed her phone but before she could get her glasses on to check it she heard a pounding on her door. Susan. 

Jessica ran to the door and looked through the key hole. It was indeed her lover and she did not look happy. She opened the door. Susan began, " What the fuck, Jessie? If you didn't want to see me today you could have told me! I spent my whole day waiting  for you to decide if you wanted to spend time with me or fucking around with your photos. I shouldn't have even came here, you..." Jessica cupped her lover's face, "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I fell asleep. I promise I never meant to hurt you and I most certainly was not ignoring you." Susan relaxed into her lover's touch. She inched forward and their lips locked in a soft sweet kiss. The red head gave the blonde a side ways smirk "You owe me, Lange!" Jessica giggled and put a hand to her face. "I mean it, seriously. It's a good thing I love you because I would never be stood up by another person, ever." 

"I said I was sorry, darling. Come on I'm starving and while you are on the menu, I'm saving you for dessert!" Jessica said with a wink.

"Oooh, are you sure we can't skip straight to dessert?" The red head licked her lips and took her lover by the hand leading her towards the bedroom.

Jessica could do nothing but smile and follow.