Just Breathe

Chapter 5 {Treatment Center Sighting}

"The garbage bags are in the supply closet down the hall, along with anything else you may need. Robert, our janitor, can answer any of your questions and should be around some time today to show you the ropes but as for now; the session room's garbage bags need to be changed and someone spilled soda in room 132. Happy cleaning." The woman shoved the mop into Jonathan's chest with a frown before walking back to her desk.

All he could think was how different this woman was to the one working at the crisis center. He guessed people in treatment centers just weren't as understanding as people in crisis centers.

~

Jonathan's day at the treatment center consisted of scrubbing floors, cleaning smudged windows and cleaning up spilled soda in 132 along with many other things he really didn't want to think about. He thought out of cleaning a treatment center or listening to depressed people threatening suicide, he would rather clean up a treatment center but as he was walking towards room 110 to change the garbage bags, he realized he wanted nothing more than to be back at the crisis center talking to that spunky girl who still hadn't given her name.

He opened the door rather abruptly, unaware that there was a session in progress. He mouthed, 'sorry' before walking to the other side of the room to change the garbage bag. He had never seen a therapy session in real life before but it was almost identical to the ones in TV shows; there were about eight people in a circle, each obviously carrying their own set of secrets and problems.

The therapist turned her focus away from Jonathan and back on the group as she reached out and touched one girls shoulder. "What were you saying, hun?"

Jonathan watched from the corner and suddenly lost all perspective on reality when he saw a beautiful brown haired girl with large blue eyes shake her head and speak softly. "Nothing...I was just going to say that I haven't been drinking as much anymore."

The therapists face lit up as she gave the girl a comforting hug from the side. "That is fantastic. I am really proud of you, Riley."

The sound of a trash can fall to the floor caused everyone to jump in fright and turn to face Jonathan. He stood there with a shocked expression and processed the girls name before giving a small smile and mouthing, 'sorry' for the second time.

He finished up with the trash and slowly walked towards the door but not before catching a few glimpses of the girl. She had her knees brought to her chest and was holding them tightly. She glanced up at Jonathan just for a moment before quickly looking back down at the tile floor.

He stepped outside of the room and slowly closed the door, not wanting to take his eyes off the girl. That had to be the girl. There was no way there was more than one Riley living within a ten-mile radius. She had to be the girl mentioned in the paper, which meant she was probably the girl on the other end of the phone. It all made sense in his head, but tomorrow he would be certain of it, tomorrow she just had to call. He hoped she would call like his life depended on it. It was almost like a need to hear her voice. To hear her just breathe.

~

Jonathan entered the room with a bouquet of flowers in his right hand and closed the door behind him. He smiled at the site of his mother setting peacefully in her hospital bed. She had a small smile on her lips, but it wasn't anything out of the ordinary. "Hi, Ma." Jonathan greeted her while removing the old flowers in the vase beside her bed and placing the new one's instead. He threw the brownish flowers into the garbage bin beside her bed and leaned down to kiss her forehead. "How are you doing today?" He lifted her arms from underneath the blanket, remembering how she used to hate it when they were tucked in. "I would have brought Timmy today, but he's in school right now and I wanted to stop by." He had community service today, but it was something he had decided to keep from his mother for now. She may not be responsive in many ways, but he felt like she could hear and somehow, deep inside she still knew what was going on and she still worried like a mother does. That was one of the main reasons why Jonathan came to see her so often. He loved his mother and he wanted to see her as much as possible, but he also knew she worried. He informed her of how good Timmy was doing in school and even told a story about a girl so his mother didn't think he was lonely. Despite other times, Jonathan actually had some fantasy this time instead of a completely fictional person. He was in the middle of telling his mother about some storm that was supposed to sweep through the state when the sound of the door opening behind him caused him to lose his train of thought. "What are you doing here, Peter?"

"You said you wanted to talk. You weren't at home so, naturally, I assumed you would be here." He stepped over towards and bed and placed a hand on Mrs. Grey's arm. "Good to see you, Mama G."

Jonathan couldn't help but smirk whenever his friend's personality showed up in strange situations. Peter was a good friend and had been there for him through everything but no matter the situation, he never seemed to be in a less than cheery mood. Jonathan's mother was in a vegetative state and Peter still managed to make Jonathan feel as if everything was going to be okay. "You could have just called," Jonathan points out before standing up from his chair.

Peter promptly ignored the silly suggestion and moved on to more entertaining subjects. "Have you told you mother about your new girl?"

Jonathan rolled his eyes and placed a hand on his forehead.

"He's never even met her but boy is he smitten," Peter leaned a bit closer with a large smirk to whisper in her ear, "he's actually gone a little mental, if you ask me but don't you worry Mama G, I'll look after him for ya."

"Actually, I have met her, today, in fact."

Peter's eyes widened, intrigued. "Really? What did she say? Where did you see her?"

"At the treatment center and she didn't say anything because she didn't know it was me."

Peter's narrowed his eyes. "Right, because she's only heard your voice...and you've only heard her voice so...how did you know it was her?"

Jonathan sighed at the delicacy of the entire situation and leaned down to kiss his mother's forehead. "Love you, ma."

"See you soon, Mama G." Peter lifted a hand as he exited the small room and Jonathan, once again, rolled his eyes in embarrassment for his friend. "So, give me the scoop on what went down. Did you introduce yourself?" His voice droned on and on in Jonathan's ear all the way out into the parking lot. "Tell her you fell in love with the mere sound of her voice. Oh yeah, she'll be putty in your hands if you lay that shit on her." He let out a small chuckle while swinging the loop of his keys around his finger.

"Dude!" Jonathan stopped him before he could go on, quickly ending the series of questions and comments. "I didn't introduce myself, okay."

"Well, what happened? And if you didn't introduce yourself how did you know it was her?"

"I saw her at the treatment center, she was in group and the therapist said her name."

Peter stared on in dumbfounded silence. "Johnny, man, just because her name is Riley doesn't mean anything."

His eyes widened in disbelief. "Really? And how many Riley's in the local area are you expecting to call a crisis hotline and attend a treatment center? I know there's a possibility it's not her but something's telling me it is and there's an even bigger possibility that my gut is right."

"Alright." Peter stated calmly. "So, why didn't you wait until her class lets out and introduce yourself?"

"What am I supposed to say? Hi, I'm Jonathan, that guy you call every day at exactly 12:05 and I just wanted to see if you'd like to have dinner with me some time."

Peter stared blankly for a moment; a look he had mastered, by the way. "Well...yeah." He admited point blank. "Why not? What have you got to lose?"

"Peter, she's calling this hotline in confidence! The last thing she wants is the anonymous guy on the other end to be some creep doing community service who practically stalks her every day."

"Good point." Peter admited honestly. The silence set in for a moment before he asked the most obvious question. "So, what are you going to do?"