A Baby By Bestie

15: Exhausted

"Hello?" The voice on the line startled me a bit before I reminded myself that I had called a number, hoping it would lead me to my anonymous writer. It was a young man's voice, boyish and uncertain as he spoke.

"Hi!" I said feeling my heart beat fiercely against my chest, "I'm Ariadne Johansson, CEO and founder of Ari's Publishers-"

"No..!" I was cut off by an excited squeal. "I can't believe it. This is so cool! Oh! I'm sorry, what were you saying?"

I chuckled a bit and stuffed a yawn. I am so exhausted I could sleep inside a loud speaker on full blast. "It's okay." I said, "I'm following a lead on an anonymous writer. A manuscript was sent to me a few weeks ago without a name or contacts and I'm wondering if you can help me, please?"

"Is it, by any chance, a story about a cancer survivor?" The boy asked and my face lit up immediately. Yyaaasss!

"Yes. Are you the writer?" I asked hopefully, sitting up in my chair and grabbing a notepad and a pen.

"No, my mom is. But she doesn't know that I'd sent it you."

Oh. I see. "Okay, I understand. But can you let her know? I would love to have a talk with her. I want to tell her that she has written a very beautiful piece of work. And that I'd love to represent her."

There was a pause on the other end, then a tiny sob. "Ohmygosh! Yes, of course. I'll let her know. Her pen name is Rose, by the way."

I rote that down and instructed him to organize a meeting date with my assistant. I then bid the happy child, Lucas farewell as I tried not to reciprocate his teary voice and hung up. The alarm on my phone signalled it was time to go home and I packed up my stuff and happily drove myself home. I was beyond overjoyed when I finally closed my front door, thinking of my bed as I kicked off my shoes.

I was about to call it a night when the sound of music drifted to me from the kitchen area and I recognized the song. I went in to tell Rick that I was home, and found him belting out Locked Out of Heaven by Bruno Mars. He was clearly cleaning the place with my broom in his hands that he used for both a microphone and a guitar as he sang. When he noticed that I was watching him, Rick made an elaborate show of sliding to the floor in front of me on one knee.

"You bring me to my knees, you make me testify.
You can make a sinner change his ways.
Open up your gates 'cause I can't wait to see the light.
And right there is where I wanna stay!" He grinned up at me and gestured wildly as he sang and I forced myself not to laugh.

It was futile. I gave up after a minute. "Stop! The neighbors might think I'm killing a cat or something." I laughed loudly, holding myself up by a wall.

He stood up quickly, silencing, and placed a hand on his chest as if he was wounded. "Ouch!" He said, though his dimples, held in place by his smile, told me otherwise.

"How was your day?" He asked, putting away his acoustics.

I shrugged, "It was okay. I found my mystery writer. You?"

"Boring, until now. How are you feeling?" He pulled out a chair for me but I refused to sit. I just want to sleep!

"Exhausted."

His shoulders sagged a bit, "oh, okay. Well let's get you to bed then." He wrapped his arms around me and gladly rested my head on his shoulder as he led me to my room. "Do you need anything? Tea, dinner, a light snack?"

I shook my head, no and let him tuck me in. For the first time in weeks, I fell asleep without my bestie's warm body spooning me.  I missed it, but his smell in my sheets was enough to comfort me into my slumber.

**********

I woke up the next morning with a start, my alarm clock telling me that I was three hours late for work. I took a minute longer, cursing under my breath, then started to get out of bed when a wave of nausea hit me, and I rushed to the bathroom. Several episodes of dry heaving later reiterated that I had nothing in my stomach since yesterday.

I managed to haul myself to the kitchen for something, anything to eat, passing Ricky on his phone in front of the TV.
"Good morning! You okay?" He sounded a little too happy for me.

"I'm fine." I grunted, and noticed his dimples retreat and his face saddened. I immediately regretted my response. "Oh no. I'm so sorry, Ricky. I didn't mean to snap." I had started to tear up before I knew it.

My best friend jumped to his feet and came to give me a hug, abandoning his phone on the couch. "It's okay, Ari. It's okay."

"No, it's not. I'm late and I just took my frustration out on you." I sighed. What's wrong with me today?

"It really is okay, Ari-"

"McNeil!" An annoyed male voice screamed from Rick's phone speaker causing him to jump a bit. He rolled his eyes in exasperation. "You don't look too well, may I take you to the doctor?"

I shook my head and, and, though the movement made me a bit dizzy, I still said no. I found out that I didn't want the eggs and bacon, nor the yummy looking blueberry pancakes that was sitting on my kitchen counter. I didn't want cereal either, but I forced some cornflakes down, allowing myself to gag only once before I pushed the bowl away.

I was walking back to my room for a shower when a piece of Rick's conversation almost gave me a stroke. Just the piece I heard from my end kick started my headache.

"No. I've already sent my letter of resignation. You have to find someone else."

Pause.

"Ask William. I'm sure he can- I know but he'd love to take my place."

Pause.

Rick sighed, "Okay, I'll think about it. Yeah whatever, Eddie." He hung up the phone dejectedly and stood up, meeting my watery eyes with a strange look.

"Are you still taking me to the doctor?" I asked, feeling queazy. Or are you thinking about booking a plane ticket to anywhere but here? I didn't ask.

Before he answered, I walked away, not able to stand the troubled look in his eyes. "Nevermind, I'll take myself."