Author’s Note: This takes place after Alex’s father’s funeral at Lexi’s Manhattan apartment after having been shunned by Alex. Taylah is concerned for her friend, who she hasn’t heard from in a few days.
As I sat at my desk, mindlessly drumming my fingers beside the keyboard, it occurred to me it had been too quiet last few days. Lexi, my lively - somewhat crazy - Aussie neighbour, who could usually be heard stumbling in at early hours of the morning, had been noticeably absent from her apartment. Hmmmm when was the last time I’d seen her? Monday? Maybe earlier? I picked up my phone and as I thumbed her digits into the screen.
“Hi this is Lexi Reed. I am unavailable at this time but if you leave your name, number and short message I’ll get back to you at my earliest convenience.” Voice mail? Interesting.
Lexi Reed was not the kind of girl who would sit idly in her apartment. The girl had an appetite for men and shopping that, had I been more conservative, would have made me blush. Of course I’m not easily offended so her stacked wardrobe and revolving door of bed partners was of little consequence to me. I did wonder if perhaps the bed-hopping and retail therapy was symptomatic of a deeper problem but as much as I could tell, it really was just her choice.
While she didn’t “date”, Lexi had immersed herself in the NYC nightlife, which included “sampling” the local talent on offer. Usually I’d say girls who want to play the “sex without emotions” game were angling for heartache but Lexi was different. The girl had ZERO interest in a relationship with these guys, in fact less than zero. Most of those poor fellas didn’t even get a call-back. I had half joked that she was going to have to branch out to the other boroughs at the rate she was burning through them. She never brought them home though, that was one of her elaborate rules. She would have her wicked way with them at their place and then unceremoniously make for the door. She didn’t want them in her space or even to know where she lived. No cutesy “hold-me-spooning-enjoying-the-afterglow” for our Lex, she was like a booty-call bandit, just missing the theme music and a cape.
“Dave, have you heard from Lexi?” My enigmatic husband poked his head out from the kitchen at my beckoning. God love him, he was so patient with my many interruptions through the day.
“Haven’t seen her or heard from her, Babe.” He leaned against the doorframe. “You know Alex’s father died earlier this week so I imagine she’s dealing with all of that. Why don’t you give her a call?”
“Yeah I know. I left her a message. Guess she must be snowed under. Still, haven’t heard a peep out of her.” Surely she would have to come home to sleep? Change? Shower? Clear the calls on her answering machine from the heavy breathing Lotharios before it melted?
Hmmmm. Nope, something didn’t fit and it wasn’t these Diane von Furstenberg pants that were cutting off the circulation to my legs (they looked amazing but I was going to need a stick of butter and possibly some forceps to peel them off). Why the radio silence? She hadn’t been on Facebook or Twitter in days, not even to give a cheeky “like” to my largely amusing and incredibly informative status about Project Runway. (I was still waiting for their representation to contact me, incidentally. My input would not only bolster ratings but I’d make sure that train-wreck of a sewing room had all its fabrics sufficiently colour co-ordinated).
- I heard Valentino is having a sale on the same day Walgreens has condoms half off. Coincidence? That’s got to be a sign to shop! Trust me, if Moses were here, I’d say he’d be trekking down the mountain with that shit written on his tablets.
My lips pursed into a smile as I hit send on the text. That should get Lexi’s attention! Even if she wasn’t, for whatever reason, taking calls she would at least see my message.
I waited patiently for a response as minutes slowly ticketed by, but got nothing. Crickets. Silence. Nada. I rechecked the number just to make sure the message had in fact gone to Lexi and not some poor unsuspecting soul but no, it was the right number.
- I also have half a pint of Ben and Jerry’s Half Baked and The Real House Wives of Atlanta on TiVo. It would be irresponsible for you for not join me. It’s no fun being so judgey on my own!
Again I waited for my phone to chirp but still minutes slipped by with no activity. Ok so now I KNOW something is off! If those two messages didn’t attract a response or at the very least a “Fuck off, I’m working” then I was either losing my touch (not likely), Lexi’s phone was off (even less likely), she was ignoring me (still not entirely plausible but within the realm of possibility) or something major was wrong.
- Lex. Are you ok? This is not just a request and REQUIRES an answer.
I was giving her a full ten minutes to respond before I called the FDNY to bust her (beautiful oak) front door down. My phone buzzed with an incoming message, my relief was palpable.
- I’m Fine. At Home. Can’t talk. L x
That’s it. A single line disjointed message that gave nothing away other than she was still alive and rattling behind our shared retaining wall. I know I should probably (insert cheesy analogy about leaving shit be here) but I couldn’t. The situation was just wrong town. Sure she went off the “grid” every once and a while but this time it felt different. If one of those playthings she was fooling around with had hurt her in any way, there was going to be a world of FUCK YOU raining down on his ass.
“Dave, do we have a crowbar?” I hollered as I slipped off my seat and wriggled my feet into my shoes.
“Tay, a crowbar? If you need me to open another jar of olives Babe, just ask.” Dave called back, this time not making an appearance through the doorway.
Barely breaking my stride, I palmed my phone and keys, entering the kitchen with a renewed purpose.
“Lexi’s in her apartment and won’t talk to me. I’m going to jimmy open the door with a crowbar, you got one?” I pulled open the miscellaneous junk drawer underneath our kitchen counter and started riffling through. Sheesh, the amount of odd random crap rolling together in marital discord was alarming. When was I ever going to need an un-used postcard from St. Louis (I’ve never even been to St. Louis?!) or a broken pan flute?
“Tay, if I had a crowbar it’s not going to be in the kitchen and don’t you think this is a little extreme? Do you even know how to jimmy open a door? Maybe Lexi is just having a bad day?” Dave tried to reason.
“Dave, this is more than just a bad day. It’s been a while since we’ve heard from her and when I finally do, she isn’t interested in Valentino, condoms or ice cream. If that isn’t a red flag I don’t know what is.” This was not normal behaviour and I knew I was right to be concerned.
“I’m not even going to pretend to understand the correlation between those three items, why it would come up in a conversation between the two of you or why her lack of interest has you on a mercy mission. Maybe just knock on the front door first before you bust open the frame?” Damn Dave for being so god damn practical! He was a thinking man though so I suppose I could knock first and see if she’d come to the door.
“Ok, I’ll go knock but if I get no answer we’re heading down to Ace Hardware. No arguments.” I moved through our apartment towards our entry-way.
I listened as I opened the front door and stepped out into our shared hallway. It was so quiet as I moved to the front of her apartment. Unsure of whether I should bang on the door and demand she open it or tentatively knock, I compromised between the two and thumped moderately on the wood. “Lexi, it’s Taylah. Open up.”
No answer.
“Lexi, I need you to open this door.” I pummelled my fist harder against the door.
“Go away.” A muffled voice, that I barely recognised as Lexi, called from the other side.
“Lex? Are you ok?” I stopped pounding and pressed my ear to the door. She sounded almost wounded.
“Yes. Please just leave me alone.” Her voice seemed pained and hoarse.
“Lex, if you are sick we can get you a doctor. Open the door Hun. I promise I don’t even care if you are wearing stretchy pants.” I was officially concerned. There must be something I could do for her. Whatever it was, there must be something I could do to help her.
“Please just leave me. I’m ok. Please just go.” Lexi begged as I rested my head against the door.
“Lexi!” I ran my hand against the wood grain, “Lexi!”
Silence. There was no further movement or noises as I stood patiently in the hall. It was clear that for whatever reason she was not opening this door. I leaned up against the wall and listened for any signs of what could be going on beyond its confines but the damn wall gave me nothing. My gut churned with worry but I knew nothing was going to be achieved from this hallway, at least not at this juncture of time.
I silently slunk back to my apartment, dejected, but mostly just uneasy about the whole situation. It was so unlike her. Why? Dave greeted me in our entranceway, his arms folded across his chest, “No answer?”
“She answered alright but it’s not good. This whole situation reeks of NO GOOD.” I wrapped my arms around his neck as I brought my lips to his.
He opened his arms, accepting the weight of my body against his taller, more muscular frame. “Why don’t we call James and see if he has any ideas? Might be cheaper than the repair bill for breaking the door. Whatcha say?” Dave pulled me closer as I nodded.
As always, Dave knew what to do. While I maintain that my idea of breaking in was still valid, I was willing to concede that perhaps his tactic might be more viable. (Though even Dave would have to admit my idea definitely had more flair!) We ambled back into our living room and Dave retrieved the cordless phone from the base. “Toss me my Blackberry, Babe?”
I slumped into my wingback chair as I handed Dave his Blackberry. I was never any good with waiting. I swung my legs impatiently as he dialled and waited for a response.
“Hey James. It’s Dave. (Pause) Yeah, I’m great. How are you? (More pausing) It has been awhile. (Pause… get to the point Dave!) I’d love to work with you guys again but that’s not why I’m calling. Listen, so Lexi has kind of been MIA for a few days and Tay’s a bit worried.”
“Shit’s not right Dave, you know it.” I interjected. This wasn’t me over reacting. Granted I did have the propensity to pull things slightly out of proportion but this wasn’t one of those times.
Dave waved me off before continuing, “Yeah. You guys can’t get a hold of her either huh? Hmmmm When was the last time you spoke or heard from her?”
“What’s he saying?” I jiggled restlessly in my seat. “Ask him if he knows how to pick a lock.” If the crowbar was out of the question, maybe we could enter via other means. Surely one of those guys had skills that were less than legal, not that I was judging but they were originally from The Bronx. (Ok I was judging, sue me!)
“Tay, hold up! We’re working it out and I can’t hear with you barking in my ear.” Dave smiled gently as he held up his hand in protest.
“Yeah man. That sounds like a plan.” What plan? Why am I not being consulted? I jumped up from my chair and started to pace. “Let me know if you need us to do anything and we’ll hang tight until we hear from you.” Hang? I didn’t want hang. Unless it was off of the roof so I could rappel down the side of the building and enter through Lexi’s large living room window. SHIT! Why didn’t I think of that earlier? I need some rope and… “Yep. All good.” What’s good? Tell me, Tell ME!! I waved my arms in front of Dave. “Tell the guys hi and we’ll catch up soon. Ok. Bye.”
“What? What plan? I’ve got an idea! We get some rope and we…” The jumbled words spilled from my mouth in a breathless rush.
“Tay. No rope!” Dave put the kybosh on my suggestion without even hearing it out. “Hannah is going to contact a friend of Lexi’s, Matt. They are close and he’s listed as her emergency contact. We’ll see if maybe he can’t get through to her.”
“Ok but if that doesn’t work, we do it my way. I’ll go start Googling belays.” It’s not that I doubted Plan Matt (Lexi had mentioned him before and from what she said they were close) but I wanted to be prepared if he also came up empty. I would be ready and you can bet your ass those ropes were going to match!