Neighbors

Scene 17:

She ate Oreos for breakfast and washed them down with a huge glass of milk. This wasn't like her, she was more of a fruit and vegetables kind of girl, but she couldn't help herself today. She was just about ready for work and about to walk out her door when she saw his door open first. She had listened this morning from her bedroom window to see if he might swim this morning, she had wanted to see him, but he never did. Now catching him leaving, she was about to go out to say good morning, when she saw his face. 'Boy, did he look pissy' she thought. He was mumbling to himself as he fought with the door lock, and she could tell he had a serious frown on his face. It made his forehead wrinkle, and although she thought it was adorable, she decided perhaps she didn't want to deal with his mood this morning. She watched him leave and after he sped away she headed off to work herself. Whatever had him in such a sour mood, she had no idea.

When she got to her first meeting this morning, she had forgotten Jeff had said something about saving her a seat, and she grimaced a little when she walked in and he waved her over. As she walked over to her seat next to him she thought other people had turned to look at her and she got uncomfortable like she had missed some big announcement. What she didn't know was everyone had heard the rumor that was now flying like fire that she and Jeff were becoming an item. She sat quietly all morning, taking notes about how to use the library, really only briefly talking to Jeff during their mid morning break. She excused herself at lunchtime, going back to her office to check her E-mail and phone messages. No phone message from Oded, and she sat, debating about whether she should call him. She felt oddly that his mood this morning had something to do with her, and in the end she decided to wait a while and maybe try him later.

She skipped her afternoon meeting. 'How much could she really be missing about how to use the copy center and the right way to order office supplies?' she thought. She worked in lab until after 4:00, then stopped into her office and saw her voice mail light blinking. Her heart skipped a beat. She listened to his message three times, playing it over and over. He still sounded grumpy as hell, and he didn't even sound like he was trying to hide it. She was glad she had decided against seeing him this morning. In his message he asked her to call. The voice mail said he had called about 3:30, it was after 4:00 now. She sat. The end of his message was flat, dismissive. 'don't wait up for me', he hadn't even said goodbye. She listened to the message again. 'Yep, he was still in a foul mood', and she knew it had something to do with her.

'But what had she done?... maybe it was what she didn't do... or to be more exact, what she had stopped him from doing...' her mind ran away with the idea. She sat. Thinking that when he had left everything had seemed fine. He had smiled, teased her about dreaming about her... She felt like she might hyperventilate. The same insecurities came back, her shyness and introverted nature took over. She couldn't call him.

She worked at her desk, trying to not think about him, but she felt like crying. At 4:50 her phone rang again. She just about jumped out of her chair, her heart in her mouth. She let it ring again. She had to pick it up. It may not even be him. She put on her best professor voice and picked up the phone. "Hi, this is Dr. Bettinger."

"Abby?" he asked cautiously.

"Oded?" her heart beat faster.

He laughed, "That's the first time I've heard you call yourself Dr. Bettinger."

She smiled, and relaxed, he sounded fine. She had worried about nothing... "Well, at work I've got to at least pretend." She answered.

"You didn't call me back... did you get my message?" he asked, his voice smooth and sultry.

She felt her body flush just from the sound of him. "I did, a little bit ago... I was going to but..." she paused. She decided to be honest with him... "but, you sounded kind of crabby on the phone."

He laughed. She waited for him to say something. Whatever he had been crabby about, he didn't seem to be anymore. "How perceptive my dear professor, indeed I was crabby. But I wasn't crabby at you, well, actually I was more crabby about the fact that I don't think I'm going to get to see you tonight. Did you think I was mad at you?" his voice still sounded a little like a laugh.

"Well, I didn't know," she defended herself.

"Oh Xatixa, no, believe me I was not mad."

" 'ded, what does that mean? Xatixa... you keep calling me that."

He chuckled deeply, his voice warm. "It's Hebrew, I think I shall have to explain it later."

"Why, is someone else there?" she asked, feeling that ache build inside of her again, and feeling a little defiant that he was teasing her.

"No..." he didn't take her bait. "You'll just have to wait," he chuckled sexily, "I'm sorry I'll be so late again tonight. After last night, I think it might be better if you didn't wait up for me." His voice had changed and had that edge to it again.

She didn't know how to interpret this. "Oded... what do you mean, 'after last night'. I thought when you left we ..."

He cut her off. "Don't worry," the warmth in his voice returning again. "It was just too hard to have to cut our time so short." It was a poor excuse and he knew it. How could he tell her that he didn't think he could trust himself with her when she seemed so vulnerable?

She didn't buy it. "Oded, it's not because I stopped... because I said..." she couldn't finish her sentence. She didn't want that to be the reason, but she needed to know.

He knew what she was asking. His heart sank a little, she was blaming herself, he thought. "Oh no, really... I don't want you to think for a moment that I'm upset because you... " he didn't know what to say. There were enough people around he was afraid someone might hear him. He dropped his voice. "Xatixa, our time will come..."

But she didn't hear what he said at the end, Jeff had just walked into her office and she panicked not knowing what to do. She sat silent, not responding to Oded, Jeff looking at her expectantly.

Oded waited, not understanding why she didn't say anything. 'Had he gone to far?' "Abby... are you there?" he asked.

"What?... oh yes... sorry... what did you say?"

He was about to repeat himself, then he heard a male voice in the background. "Abby... is there someone there with you?" he asked her, clearly irritated at the thought of someone else in her office.

She had Jeff in one ear asking if this was a bad time, and Oded in the other, hearing Jeff, and suddenly sounding sharp. She tried to ignore Jeff and deal with Oded.

"Actually yes." She responded rather curtly.

"Well who the hell is it?" he asked sounding angry. Surprising himself with his instant jealousy.

"Can I call you back?" she asked.

"Ask him to leave, we need to finish our conversation." He didn't like the idea of someone else claiming her attention.

"Really, I'll call you back. I'll talk to you later, thanks for calling," she hung up not even waiting to hear his response. She turned to face Jeff, her body still heated from her conversation with Oded, she hoped he wouldn't notice how flushed she felt.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, trying to be calm and nonchalant.

He eyed her curiously; he wanted to know whom she had been talking to. Her cheeks were flushed and he had this sinking feeling it was the guy who had sent her roses. But he couldn't ask her.

"I was just checking in. You missed our afternoon meetings, and I wanted to make sure you were okay," he answered, honestly.

"Oh, I'm fine... I just couldn't sit through office supply ordering... did I miss anything important?" she asked, starting to regain her composure.

"No... you picked a good meeting to miss. I'll give you the crash course if you like." He still watched her warily. He realized she had changed out the dress she had on this morning, and was wearing an adorable overall shorts outfit and tennis shoes.

She could feel him looking her over and she got uncomfortable. She kept thinking about how rude she had been to Oded, and that she had basically hung up on him. Her brain was trying to process what Oded had said to her when Jeff had walked in. She needed to escape. She grabbed her bike bag and stood up.

"Thanks Jeff, maybe I could get your notes from the meeting. I was actually on my way out."

He stood up and walked out with her. Her phone started ringing as she closed her door. "Do you want to grab that?" he asked.

"No, probably just a sales rep. They're all trying to sell me stuff for the lab." But she knew it was Oded. She'd call him when she got home.

He didn't believe her and guessed he had walked in on something earlier that she didn't want him to know about. He followed her outside as she unlocked her bike. "You live close enough to bike?" he asked, curiously.

"Yeah, I've always biked to work, and I made sure to find a place nearby. My place is just a couple of miles east of here." She snapped on her helmet, and tried to end the conversation. "Well, I'm off, thanks for stopping by to check on me. I'll see you later." She hardly waited for his response. Thoughts of how rude she had been to Oded clouded her brain. She was trembling inside and felt horrible.

When she got home she found the answering machine with a note in a handwriting that looked feminine. "From Oded." She unlocked her door and went inside. She pulled out her wallet and looked for his number. Her hands were shaking, but she forced herself to dial the number and tried to figure out how she could apologize when an unfamiliar voice answered the phone. "Hello?"

She almost hung up. "Hi, I'm calling for Oded Fehr please."

"Sorry, he's unavailable. Is he expecting your call?"

"I'm not sure... I think he might be. Could I leave a message?"

"Sure... "

"Could you just let him know Abby called. Tell him... tell him thank you for the answering machine. Ask if he could call me if he gets a chance."

"So you're the one."

"Pardon me?"

"This is Cheryl, I'm Oded's assistant. He had me deliver the answering machine to your house this morning. He didn't tell me whom it was for. We've all been guessing it was for a new girlfriend. Did you guys get in some sort of fight last night? He's been a grouch all day." Her voice was overly friendly.

"I... no we didn't get into a fight last night. I don't really know why he has been crabby. I wouldn't say I'm his girlfriend..." Abby tried to answer.

"Oh, I don't know. He sure seems to be smitten over you. When he gets done with his scene, I'll tell him you called."

"Thanks Cheryl." She hung up the phone and took a deep breath. 'How had all of this happened so fast?' she thought. She still felt horrible about hanging up on him. Her stomach hurt. She went to get something to eat. No more Oreo cookies she thought, seeing the bag on the counter.

After dinner she went to figure out her new answering machine. This thing was way more complicated than anything she had ever owned. She didn't realize she was missing his attempts to call her as she had unplugged her phone while she spent the next two hours trying to hook up the connections from phone to machine to wall, from machine to phone to wall, and every other possible configuration. She finally got it hooked up and then spent way to long trying to figure out what her message should say. After five tries she settled on something simple, along the lines of "Sorry, I'm not available, leave your name and number and I'll call you back." She was reluctant to put her name on the machine, or even her phone number, as a single woman living alone. Her friend Jill from graduate school had her boyfriend leave the message on her machine, thinking a man's voice would be better on the machine then her own. Abby toyed with the idea of having Oded speak the message for her, smiling at the thought of getting to hear his voice everytime the phone rang. She might even call herself at home just to hear him say 'Leave a message...' .

Content that things were finally working she called her mom to let her know she had a machine now and ask her to call her back to see if it worked. They ended up talking about school, and her new place for over an hour. She still didn't tell her mom about Oded. When they got off the phone, Abby looked at her watch. She still hadn't heard from him, but after talking to Cheryl she felt confident he would get her message. 'He must be busy', she thought, trying not to feel too guilty about what had happened between them earlier. It was after 9:00, and she felt cooped up. She grabbed her suit for a quick swim.

Half way through her laps, her head clear, her brain finally processed the end of the conversation with Oded. He had said. "Xatixa, our time will come..." She swallowed a mouthful of water and came up coughing. 'Oh God...' she realized what she had done. She had blown him off. She had never responded, she had curtly told him she would call him back, after he asked her to finish the conversation. She felt horrible. She tried to go back to swimming. She had to quit; she headed back up to her house. The light on her machine was blinking.

She pressed the button, standing there in her swimsuit, dripping on the carpet, she listened. "Abby... It's me." He sounded unsure. "I've been trying to call you all evening. Please call me back." Then another message, from ten minutes later. "Where are you?... Abby... I don't know what happened this afternoon... If you get this message soon please call me," his voice hesitant. A third message, five minutes later. "It's me again. I guess I'm glad I got you a machine since I can't seem to actually get you on the phone," his voice sounded a little angry, "I'll be unavailable for the next few hours. You can try if you want, but it's likely we can talk before tomorrow."

'How had things gotten so messed up? How had he been trying to call all evening?' She put her hand over her mouth as she realized she had disconnected her phone trying to hook up the machine, and then been on the phone with her mom for so long. She forgot she didn't have call waiting. Now she couldn't get a hold of him. She stood there, crying. She had really botched this up, and so soon, she thought. She went upstairs to shower, trying to get her emotions back under control. She changed and went back downstairs, picking up the phone. She wasn't surprised when Cheryl answered.

"Hi Cheryl, it's Abby again."

"Hi, what's going on, he's been trying to get a hold of you." She sounded irritated with her.

"I know... it's my fault. Could you just do me a favor? When you see him, tell him I'm sorry about this afternoon, tell him to call me no matter how late, tell him I'll wait up."

"Okay..." she sounded unsure. "I'll tell him."

"Thanks, I really appreciate it." She hung up the phone.

She spent the next few hours waiting. She tried to read, she watched TV, and she did the dishes. No phone call. She fell asleep after 1:00; the phone next to the bed never rang. She didn't know he never got the message.

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Neighbors - Chapter 18