Miss Parker paced the floor of her bedroom with her cell phone in hand waiting for his call. It would be the fifth straight night they've played that game of theirs.
"What the hell is wrong with me? Since when do I wait for his phone calls? Okay, Parker, get a hold of yourself. You didn't expect him to call you every night, did you?"
Her phone sits next to her pillow as she laid in bed. She heard her alarm ring. Reaching to turn it off, suddenly realizing she had slept through the night without any interruption. "Where the bloody hell is he?"
Miss Parker could barely go through the day without thoughts of him. She snarled, hissed and growled at everyone in sight. At precisely five o'clock in the afternoon, she dashed out of The Centre and headed straight home, as if she had someone to go home to.
Another night had gone by and still no phone call from Jarod.
At times she can feel him in the room. She doesn't know when it began. Sometimes she can sense his presence when close by. Miss Parker can even hear his voice as he talks about his day's events. They've been having these long conversations with each other lately.
But what she wants him to say, wants to hear from him the most is what he doesn't say. There are words coming from her heart, but, no matter how hard she tries, she can't seem to pass it through those lips of hers.
She knows that there is much more than he lets on, what he feels, but he won't allow his heart to open up, not just yet, she's assuming. Instead, they talk about everything and anything else that comes into their minds, his latest pretend, her tiresome day at The Centre and other things other than what is actually occupying their thoughts.
She can't help this feeling inside of her, lately. And it started with that stupid phone call, stupid game of "where are you". It's a simple question.
A simple "yes" or "no" will do. Does he love her? Does he not know he makes her cry inside? Why does she ask? Because she loves him.
Jarod stares at his phone, asking himself if she knows what he feels for her? After five years of "you run, I chase", wouldn't she? He's afraid what he feels will not be reciprocated. Miss Parker scares him sometimes. Scared that she might actually walk away if she knew how he felt. So, what he feels for her, he keeps locked up inside of him. His heart pines for her. Like Poe pinning for Lenore. Tick, tock, tick, tock, running out of time. He sometimes want to just yell it out.
"Hey you, I love you! No, no, wait a minute. Isn't that just romantic? I want to take her into my arms, hold her close and never let her go. I want to run my hands through her hair, caress her face. I want to touch her every curves in all the right places, feel her insides, her long graceful legs wrapped around me, making love to her like there is no tomorrow. I want her to be mine. I want a lot more for the both of us. Way more. But, now is not the time. Or is it?"
"It'll take only a few seconds to tell her so. What would the worst thing that could happen? Okay, here it goes." Jarod counts the rings, one, two, three.
"What?"
"Hey, Parker, it's me."