Eleventh Hour

«four»

Edrissa's phone vibrates on her nightstand, pulling her from her sleep. She lazily slaps her hand around and answers without looking at the caller ID.

"Hello?" She says groggily. There is only silence on the other end of the phone, except for some rustling, and then more silence. "Hello?" She calls again. Through bleary eyes, Edrissa pulls the phone from her ear to check the display. Lena's name appears and she wonders briefly if this is a prank call. "Lena?"

A loud sob came through the speaker and Edrissa sits up in bed, immediately wide awake.

"Lena? What's going on?"

When all she hears is more crying and sniffling she panics and thinks of everything she did to Alenna the day before.

"Lena, talk to me - are you okay?"

She pauses for a minute, hoping that Alenna would reply, but when all she got was nothing, she speaks again.

"Where are you?"

"Home."

"Are you okay? What happened?"

"Drissa.."

Edrissa can feel her heart break. "Lena, what's going on?"

"I- I got into a fight,"

"Uh huh."

"with my mom. She said- she said,"

"Calm down, calm down."

"I don't think I can be calm right now, Drissa." She forced out a laugh.

"Lena, please, go over this slowly, no need to rush."

"My mom said that she- fuck. No, no. Uhh, she said that she doesn't- like" Alenna pauses for a while, Edrissa can hear her breathing steadying. "She doesn't like band, more specifically me being in band."

"Okay, then what did you say?"

"I told her that I like being in band, and it's something that I actually look forward to every week."

"Then why did she get mad?"

"She said she doesn't know why I'm defending band when it's ruining my life." Alenna lets out an audible sigh. "I told her it doesn't matter as long as I'm having fun, and since when is band ruining my life?"

Edrissa can't help but to feel bad for her best friend.

"And then she goes on about how much she hates me being busy, like, she's busy herself!"

"Lena-"

"Then she says that I'm not respecting her, and that she's my mother and she knows what's best for me. As if that's not the biggest load of bullshit I've ever heard in my life."

"Lena, let-"

"Then she says she won't pay for the comp admission fee, and I- I just, I got so mad that I locked myself in my room. So I've been crying for the past few hours and I didn't get to eat dinner."

"Lena, I'm sorry."

"Don't be, it's not your fault. I'm just really, really angry right now, and I just need someone to talk to."

After a few minutes of silence, Edrissa speaks up, "Lena?"

"Yeah, I'm still here."

"You okay?"

"No."

"Lena, I'm sorry, really."

Edrissa hears a sniffle from the other end of the phone. "Alenna.."

"Sorry, I'm just really- I don't know. I don't know what I'm feeling, and it's so annoying because I don't know how to feel and how to react."

"I understand, do you need anything? Do you want me to bring you coffee tomorrow? Do you want me to-"

"No, no, you don't need to. Your presence is enough."

Edrissa feels moved by this. "I'll be here for you."

"Shit, man. I feel like I'll be kicked out of the house soon. I rarely talk to my parents, since they work full time at their company, and my brother is always over at his girlfriend's doing God knows what. I'm always alone at home, and when someone else is home I always get into an argument. I suck at being a family member."

"You don't suck, it's just your family doesn't quite understand what you're going through. You're not the problem here."

"I swear, my dad has threatened to kick me out of the house a lot of times."

"Isn't that illegal?"

"I don't know. Or maybe they'll put me up for adoption."

"No, no Lena, don't think like that." Edrissa can't believe what she's hearing.

"But that's the truth, Drissa, I give up with my family, okay? If only they knew what's going on."

"Lena, you know your parents love you." She doesn't know what her best friend is thinking, but she has to assure her somehow.

"They never take my feelings into account,and if they really do love me, they'll actually make time for me. I've learnt how to live independently since I was like, six."

"Don't say that."

"No, Drissa, I'm a hundred percent sure they don't love me. I also think that I'm an accident. They don't even want me."

Edrissa frowns. "Lena,"

"You know I'm right, just admit it, will you?"

"You're not. Look, Lena, even if your parents don't love you, a lot of other people do."

She's pretty sure Alenna's not listening to what she just said. "Lena, answer me."

"I'm sorry."

"What are you apologizing for?"

"For everything."

"You didn't do anything wrong!" Edrissa protests.

"Yes I did."

Edrissa lets out a huge groan.

"You don't need to apologize, I'll forgive you anyway."

"Drissa, I hate myself, I hate being in this household, I want to live with my grandma." She paused then added "No parents, no brother, just me, and her three dogs."

"You sure? Then you'll never see me again, and you won't be in band anymore, so your mom got her wish."

"Why is life so hard?" Alenna complains.

"It's hard, but I'll be with you."

Alenna chuckles, "You fucker, stop being sappy that's Jenina's part."

Jenina is always the one with flirtatious tendencies, Edrissa doesn't blame her.

Edrissa feels relieved that her friend cheered up a bit, but she knows that deep down, she's still hurt.

"Lena, I just want to know that you're fine, okay?"

"I'm fine ma'am. Just had an episode there. I mean, what's my life without drama?"

Edrissa forced out a small laugh and says, "I love you, Lena"

"Love you too. I'm sorry for calling you at like, 3 am."

"Don't worry about it, as long as you're happy."

"Can we pretend this never happened?"

"Yeah, sure, see you tomorrow."

"Goodnight Drissa."

Just like that, Alenna hangs up and Edrissa falls back into her bed, thinking about the conversation she just had with Alenna.

She realizes she had been so selfish, talking about her own problems all the time, changing subjects, and not actually listening to Alenna's problems.

She's really lucky to have Alenna as a friend, she doesn't know why, but thinking about Alenna makes her happy.