Just Breathe

Chapter 4 {Phone Call #2}

It was 4:30 and Jonathan had been sitting at his desk since 8:00 just waiting for that girl to call back. It was as if his phone station existed for no other reason than that one girl. He had received no other calls and he was rather happy about that but he was looking forward to this one girl's call. He wasn't looking forward to the fact that he would have to tell her Jacob no longer worked here, but he was actually looking forward to her sarcastic tone and dry sense of humor. She kept him entertained and maybe his time spent here wouldn't be a complete waste of time if he could help her in some way.

"Thirty....twenty-nine....twenty-eight..." and just like clockwork, she called at exactly the same time as yesterday. He was almost positive she called at this time just because she knew he was getting ready to leave. He had a feeling she enjoyed pissing off this Jacob guy and now; he was her new target. "Do you enjoy making me stay here longer than needed?"

"Who says you have to? You could leave, hang up, but you're not going to...now are you?"

"What makes you so sure I won't?"

"Because you find me intriguing."

"I thought depressed people weren't supposed to have such a big head?"

"Hey, you're the one that finds me intriguing."

"I do not!" He sighed and found himself right back where he was yesterday; frustrated and confused. "Look, I spoke to the people at the front desk after we talked yesterday and they said Jacob left due to family problems. I don't think he's coming back." He lied. What had happened yesterday was strange to say the least. He didn't have any answers and he didn't think it was a good idea to leave this girl with more to worry about.

"Oh." She spoke softly and he could hear the hurt in her voice.

"If it makes you feel any better you still have 363 days of me." He smirked, quickly moving the subject along.

"It doesn't."

"Are you always so rude and bitter?"

"I'm suicidal, remember?"

"Yeah...about that...why? I mean, I know life sucks, but I've heard things get better. Why not just tough it out like the rest of us?"

"What do you think I'm doing right now?"

"Being stubborn and unappreciative."

"Wow, it's a good thing I'm not standing on a ledge at the moment. You really suck at this."

He smirked and leaned forward at his desk. "Yeah...I know."

"So, why are you doing it? I thought that working at a crisis center was voluntary. Why are you there if you don't want to be?"

He leaned back in his chair once again and felt himself tense at her question. "Why are YOU questioning ME? You're the one calling the crisis center, remember? I'm just a helpful voice on the other end."

"More like a pain in the ass on the other end."

He laughed softly and shook his head in disbelief. "Are you going to tell me your name or should I guess?"

"Why do you want to know my name?"

"Maybe so I have something else to call you besides stubborn, bitter, rude and unappreciative."

"Guess."

"You seriously want me to guess your name?"

"It will keep my mind from drifting to suicide." She said snidely.

"Fine." He thought a minute before guessing. "Alison?"

"Ew, seriously? Couldn't you do better than Alison? The only Alison I know was a bitch in middle school who called me names and lowered my self-esteem."

"Tess?"

She laughed into the phone. "Wow, you suck at this too."

"Okay, Miss Smart-Ass, how bout we flip the tables? What's my name?"

"Jonathan."

His eyes widened in suspicion for a moment. "How the hell do you know my name?"

She laughed on the other end. "You told me yesterday, moron."

He felt a small chuckle of embarrassment escape his lips as he sat back in his chair. "Right..." He could feel her smiling into the phone as she tried to soften her laughter and he found himself smiling into the phone, but it's turned into a frown when he heard a woman yelling in the background.

"I have to go." She said quickly before hanging up the phone.

"But..." He sighed in disappointment and placed the phone on the hook. He stared at it a moment before picking up the piece of paper from yesterday. He stared at the name a moment before whispering softly. "...Riley."

~

"Riley? Dude, you're obsessed with someone you don't even know." Peter, Jonathan's good friend, pointed out before taking a bite of his pizza. The casual restaurant was fairly crowded today and the two guys were seated in the corner of the building with a large pizza sitting in the center of their small table.

"I'm not obsessed." Jonathan protested while staring down at his untouched piece of pizza.

"She's all you've talked about today." Peter pointed out while scarfing down his third piece. "What's the fascination? Does she have a sex-filled Sophia Bush voice or something?" Jonathan shot a glare over at his friend.

"No, she's just..." Jonathan's anger began to flare up with his loss of words. He wanted so badly to explain his fascination, but he couldn't. The answers weren't clear to him and trying to explain something that wasn't yet explainable was highly frustrating. "Is it so wrong to want to try and help someone?!" Jonathan spat out, his hand landing loudly on the table.

Peter remained unfazed, his mouth still stuffed full of pizza and bread sticks. "I just figure you have enough to worry about, dude. Why get involved with some else's drama?"

"It's not like I can help my situation. May as well attempt to help some else's." Jonathan pointed out dejectedly before taking a bite of his pizza.

"Johnny! Look what I won!"

Jonathan set his pizza back down on his plate and turned to face the small boy running up to him from the restaurants play room. He opened his arms and the boy jumped up into his lap, showing off his new flashing necklace. "Whoa, bud, that's pretty cool." Jonathan smiled at his brother and observed the necklace in exaggerated fascination. He couldn't quite comprehend why he was so fascinated with this person he had never met but one thing was sure, her phone calls were the only thing he looked forward to anymore.