Last Call

(Based off Lee Ann Womack song)

I hate how that man has transformed me into a light sleeper. I could have slept through a tornado before I met him, now I know to listen to for the thrum of my cell phone vibrating on table next to my bed.

Through half-closed eyes I read the screen. I wasn't surprised to see the name "Joey" glowing back at me. This was almost every Friday night for me.

I debate answering for a few seconds before the throbbing stops. I shrug at set it on the table, hoping he'll call someone else. I turn back over and close my eyes. If I'm lucky, I can probably get in two more hours of sleep before I get up for work.

As I start to drift back to by dreams of Orlando Bloom, I hear the obnoxious throbbing of my cell phone on the table again. The boy obviously doesn't give up.

I sit up and answer the phone, knowing I'll probably regret it. Getting a call from Joe used to mean something to me, too much, but now he called all too often, and for the wrong reasons.

"Joseph, do you know that it's four in the morning right now?" I say it while I rub my forehead. Just hearing his breathing on the other end starts to give me a migraine. I can almost smell the alcohol on his breath.

"Oh, damn, is it? I'm sorry Lils, its just, I need a ride home. The bartender took my keys, and I can't get a taxi."

He actually had the nerve to call me Lils. After all he's put me through.

"Why can't one of your brothers come and get you?"

"Well, Kevin told me to go to hell, Nick told me to fuck off, and Frankie is past curfew. You're my last chance Lilly."

Aren't I always his last call; his last chance of survival. I'm the only one who still believes that he'll snap out of it. I'm the only one who thinks that the boy we all loved is still deep in this obnoxious man that walks the Earth.

Any Friday night, I go to sleep, knowing where he is. Sitting at a bar, flirting with girls half his age, getting drunk, running up a tab that someone else will end up paying. Every Friday night, I go to sleep hoping that I will sleep through till morning; that he will have stopped before crossing the line. But he never changes. Joe Jonas is a festering, drunk, son-of-a-bitch and I'm tired of waiting for that moment when he'll come to.

"Joe, why should I get out of bed to come get you?"

"Because Lilly, I love you. I always have."

"It would mean a little more if you weren't slurring your words you sick bastard. If I had any right mind, I would tell you to walk it off."

"It's not that you don't have a right mind. You just love me too much to let go. You still love me, whether you like it or not."

"Is that what you think? That people still love you? I'm not sure your mother even loves you that much Joseph? Or is that your real name?"

"Uh, I think it is…"

"I'm hanging up Joe"

"But Li—"

I stared at the phone in my hands, wondering what I should do. He was right, I love him too much to let him waste his life this way, but he obviously wasn't going to change. I've cried too many tears at the potential that had been lost in that boy.

Groaning inwardly, I got dressed and went to my car. I sat there, feeling like Cameron in Ferris Bueller, wondering if I should give in to the fact that my ex-first love was a complete jackass but I still loved at him. Okay, so maybe it wasn't exactly Ferris Bueller.

I stared at my steering wheel in the dark, keys sitting lifeless in the ignition. One more time; this man deserved one last chance.

I drove down the street where he usual haunt was. He was lying on a bench like he was homeless. It was sickening.

I rolled down my window and called out to him. He smirked, like he knew I was coming.

He continued to smirk, all the way to his apartment. I was tempted to slap it off his face, so I clutched the steering wheel so hard my knuckles turned white.

When we got to the building, I got out with him, not sure he could make it upstairs without help. I dragged him up the stairs and helped him into bed.

He pulled at the edge of my shirt, trying to get me into bed with him, but I was stronger.

"Is that what you want Joe? A booty call? Well, you're not getting it from me!"

I tried to walk out but he caught me again. Facing the door, I heard him say, "I lo—" before I cut him off.

"Don't bother Joe. It doesn't mean anything anymore." I turned around, and looked at him, for the first time seeing who he was. I had always masked the drunken bastard with the considerate gentleman, but suddenly the image fell away and I saw him for who he was.

"Give me your phone, " I said, holding my hand out. He didn't give it up so I reached and took it out of his back pocket. He grabbed my wrist and looked at me suggestively. What? He thought he was still sexy? With the scent of alcohol on his breath and the layer of bar filth he was covered with?

I used my other hand to slap him across the face. While he recovered, I found my number in his phone and deleted it. I handed the phone back and he just looked at it.

"What did you just do to my phone?"

"I just deleted my number, that's all," I said, taking a step toward the door.

"Don't do that Lilly! I'm sorry! I'll never—"

"No, Joe. Don't give me that bullshit. I'm tired off being your last call. This is mine. I hope someone is there to catch you the next time you fall, because it won't be me."

I heard him call my name as I walked out, knowing that this was the last time I'd ever have to make this journey. I drove home in silence, feeling my heart rip away from that part of my life. Joe was my past, that's what he'd made himself.

I crept back into my bedroom and crawled back into bed. I took a deep breath and felt the guilt lift off my heart. This was my life now.

"Where were you?" I heard Chris whisper next to me.

"I had to take him home again. But this is the last time. It's time to focus on the future, not the past."

He pulled me closer, staring down at me with those bright green eyes and I knew that this was meant to be. Joe and I just weren't.

"You're not having second thoughts are you?" he said. I searched his eyes, trying to figure out if he was serious. I could tell that he was.

"No, of course not. I love you, and Joe and I are completely over, forever. A week from now, I will be Mrs. Christopher Parker, and we'll live happily ever after."

"Let me be Prince Charming, okay?"

I reached up and kissed him, knowing that I would never have to think about that part of my past again. Joe Jonas was just a memory.

This song was stuck in my head all day. I hope you guys liked it. Please review.