Phone Tag and House Cleaning (invitation)

After the long morning and boring afternoon at work, Ana sat on the edge of her bed and kicked off her shoes. She fell backwards across the mattress and sighed, staring at the ceiling. It was still just as ugly as the last time she stared at it, she realized, and instead turned over to look out the northern windows.

The eastern window was still covered by newspaper; she couldn't bring herself to take the somewhat unsightly addition down, in the off-chance Fallon might stop by. Her bed felt empty when she lay in it. Whether she was relaxing just as she was now or slipping under her covers for bed. It was so weird how just one night with someone in her bed made her crave - well maybe not crave, but certainly wish for - that company.

Sighing deeply, she pushed that thought out of her mind. She did make a mental note to see about getting blinds or some other more attractive covering to put in its place.

Rolling onto her belly, she slid off the bed and padded barefoot back over to the "dining room" table. Picking up her phone, she dialed a different number. She sighed when she got voicemail again.

"Hi Aishe, it's Ana, just wanted to say hi, and to see if we couldn't get together again sometime soon, maybe drag Fallon out with us. Catch you later."

Thumbing off the phone, she stepped a half-step away before turning around and picking it back up. Scrolling through her phone numbers, she chose one and dialed.

"Yeah, hi, I'd like to place an order for delivery please?"

The weekend has passed in a blur of light, and color, and emotions, and Fallon was pleasantly exhausted. But she had slept good, even if alone, and had now just shut off the alarm.

She toyed with the idea of calling in sick to work, but didn't really like the idea of shirking her job. The idea of no longer needing a job tickled the back of her mind, but until she actually met with Suki and started looking for a house to reside in with Cyrus, Fallon would keep things as they were. Even after she moved in with Cyrus, she vowed she had to maintain some independence, and hadn't planned on quitting work altogether.

The light on her cell was blinking, so she picked it up once she got out of bed. Standing in her room, she saw it was another message from Ana. It seemed ages since the two girls spent time together, and that reminded her she also missed Aishe. So much had happened, in such a short amount of time, Fallon just had to see her friends, and catch them up.

Ignoring the fact that she only had so much time to get ready for work, Fallon dialed Ana's number and hoped to hear the girl answer.

"Ana...? Hi, it's me, Fallon."

Thrilled to hear her friend's voice, Fallon flopped onto her back on the bed, and curled her nude body in the bedspread.

Ana looked up at the sudden cacaphony of her cell ringing and vibrating itself off the dining room table. She took one look at the caller ID and couldn't move her fingers fast enough to answer.

"Fallon!" Ana was sure her voice would have shattered glass for as high as she'd squeaked. "Hi! How're you? Long time no see. Work's been crazy for me, how bout you? How're you? How's things with Cyrus? Have you been eating well? I hope everything's going okay. Sorry if I'm rambling and annoying I'm in the middle of dinner - no you're not interrupting it's really hot - and I'm just so glad to hear from you!"

Fallon laughed at the ear piercing voice on the other end of the phone, as she actually held the phone away from her ear for a second and looked at it.

"Ana! Yes, I'm fine, and it has been a while."

Letting the other girl get everything out, Fallon couldn't help but smile at Ana's exuberance. Just talking to the girl made Fallon feel happy. She seemed to have that effect on her.

"I was thinking...maybe I could stop by on my way to work. I've tons of things to tell you, but would rather not do it on the phone, if possible. I'm really not a phone person."

And that was the truth. Fallon had a cell phone purely for the basic needs. When it came to communicating, she'd go for face to face any time.

"And NOOOO...you're not annoying, ever."

It was short notice, and Fallon wouldn't be surprised if Ana had other plans, but she went with her first instinct anyway.

"Well work was boring as always, since it's Spring Break and all, and you and Aishe have been incommunicado - no don't feel bad because you have lives, after all - so I've been contenting myself with fiddling around on the computer in between book shipments and returns. I have plenty of food - er Chinese food - for three, let alone one, so you're welcome to stop by and I'll be patient since it's still too hot for me to eat. Just come on up when you get here, okay?"

Fallon kept listening, and found the idea of Chinese food sounded pretty good. For someone who rarely ate anything at all, that surprised her.

But she agreed to be over as soon as she could shower and dress, and within forty minutes had done just that, and was knocking on Ana's door, a bottle of white wine in one hand, and a bouquet of fresh cut daffodils in the other. The wine she had grabbed from her fridge, and the flowers she bought from a vendor on the corner of the university before she pulled into Ana's parking lot.

Immediately after their call ended, Ana had gently placed the Chinese food into her oven to keep it warm. She then transformed into the Whirling Cleaning Librarian of Doom (trademarked, copyrighted, patent pending) and fixed her bed, brushed the fuzz off the sofa, swept the floor, and washed the dishes.

It was during the last few moments of this final task she heard the knock on the door. Tossing the drying towel into the handle of the fridge on her way past, she virtually skipped to the front door and, peeking through the spyhole to see Fallon, smiling and patient, unlocked her trio of locks and swung it open. Bouncing on the tips of her bare toes, she saw that Fallon's hands were full. "Fallon! Let me get those for you. Such lovely daffodils! You didn't have to." Of course, her friend probably realized there wasn't much natural color in the apartment... "And wine? Wow, I feel like a queen tonight!"

Setting the daffodils carefully on the table next to the wine, she spun around and wrapped Fallon in a huge hug, squeezing the shorter woman gently. Rocking back and forth, she exclaimed raspily, "Oh, I'm so happy to see you!"

Being welcomed into someone's home was enough of a treat for Fallon, and one she had yet to get very used to. But being welcomed so emphatically was even more of a treat, and something she might never become accustomed to.

Giving the things to Ana, she didn't even really get a chance to explain why she had brought them, before she was swept up into a huge hug. She clung to Ana, and hugged her back just as fiercely, truly having missed her friend.

"It it great to see you too, and I've missed you so much. The flowers just seemed so spring like, and made me think that I've not really seen much of spring this year. I never realized how much a person misses when they live outside the daylight. But the daffodils...they seem to radiate sunlight, don't they?"

Fallon wasn't complaining. Living in the night really wasn't a hardship. She had less heat to deal with, which she didn't much care for, and had made other concessions that turned out to be unimportant as well. But yet occasionally she would come across something that would remind her of how much her life had changed, and it would give her a moments pause, if nothing else.

Hugging Ana again, Fallon released her and went to find a glass to put the daffodils in.

"So tell me again...how is work going? And, are you doing okay too? I mean, you recovered completely from...that night?"

She busied herself fixing the flowers, and then went looking for a corkscrew. When she didn't find one, she turned to Ana.

"If you don't have a corkscrew, do you have a screwdriver?"

Smiling, Fallon realized she felt very relaxed in Ana's home, and hoped her friend didn't mind her making herself so at home.

Ana followed Fallon into the kitchen. "Is that what it is about them? Daffodils and sunflowers alike, I guess. I've been horribly slacking on green stuff for the house, it's just that I'm home so little, I don't want to have them end up dying on me."

Taking the glass of daffodils from Fallon, she set them carefully in the center of the entertainment center. Sniffing strongly from them for a moment, she listened to Fallon's questions and decided to answer them one at a time. "Corkscrew's in the drawer to the left of the sink. It's still a virgin, so it'll still be in the package. Work has been amazingly boring. No one's been coming in; all the schools in the city are on Spring Break. I'm doing fine, sweetie, thank you for asking." She saved the weighted one to be answered last. "In fact, if my calculations are correct, we're nearing sixty days since then..."

"But the Chinese is in the oven; the plates are freshly washed and we just need to plop down some place settings. Unless you want to watch a movie or just get comfy on the couch and chat while we lean messily over our plates, it's entirely up to you."

"But almost everything dies, Ana...it's just the way of things. The beauty of these flowers though, is that we get to enjoy them for a while anyway. And when they die, we dump them in the trash, and get new ones! That really didn't sound callous to you, did it? I mean, I guess they are living things...but, well, they're just flowers. Shouldn't we just consider that's their purpose...to make us happy while they can?"

Finding the corkscrew in the drawer, Fallon removed it and then peeled the plastic off, which she tossed into the wastebasket under the sink. Playing with the arms a few times, to make sure they moved well, Fallon stuck the point into the cork, and began twisting the handle. Once she got the screw part securely into the cork, she set the bottle on the table, and pushed down the arms until it popped out. Getting two juice glasses from the cupboard, Fallon poured wine into both, and handed Ana one. Holding her glass up, to clink against Ana's Fallon toasted.

"To wonderful friends...and...good food?"

She could smell the Chinese food, and saw a few bits of evidence...soy sauce packets, fortune cookies, but no food.

It was music to her ears to hear Ana hadn't suffered any ill effects of Fallon's bite. The conversation the two women had afterward was played over and over in her mind, and each time Fallon became a little more at ease with the issue. She just still wasn't sure if she wanted to continue using Ana that way.

"So, when you invited me for dinner tonight...you weren't kidding."

Fallon reached a hand over and cupped Ana's cheek in an affectionate gesture. She then went to the oven and started getting the food out.

"Let's eat first, and just talk a bit?"

"While you do have a point, Fallon, remind me after we dig out the food exactly why I'm reluctant to have a lot of plants at the moment."

Ana leaned against the counter while Fallon expertly opened the wine. She was momentarily appalled at herself for not having purchased wine glasses, but then, fancy entertaining was typically far from her mind when she made up her 'need' lists each week.

Taking a glass, she smiled and clinked. "Friends and food!" She sipped gently, then pursed her lips in a wry smile and leaned into Fallon's caress. Her breath let out completely, she opened her eyes with a wide smile.

"Food good. Chat good. Fallon wonderful." Setting her glass down, she leaned and gave the teacher a gentle kiss on the cheek. Giggling, she collected plates, forks, and napkins from overhead cupboards. Stacking the plates, then lumping the utensils and napkins on top, she nodded towards the 'living room' with her head and left the kitchen.

"I decided to be adventurous," she said as she carried the plates to the coffee table. "I ordered moo goo gai pan, moo shu pork, happy family, chinese vegetables, chinese pizza, and pork lo mein. Only," she continued, returning to the kitchen for the wine glasses, "the first three of which are the adventurous parts... I usually go for plain and boring Chinese, but I figured, I've been in a new city for months, and have had multiple new experiences, so why not start with food too?"

She set the glasses down on coasters and turned to Fallon. "I can't think of anything else we need. Maybe towels for our laps?"

When Ana kissed Fallon's cheek, she decided. She was going to play hookey tonight. She could certainly get away with one night in how many months of working?

"Ana? Would you mind if we made an evening of this? I've just decided to treat myself to a weeknight off. But if you have other plans for later, I can find something to do. "

She wouldn't enjoy doing anything else, but it wouldn't do to make Ana feel guilty just because Fallon had chose to change her plans at the last minute.

Watching as Ana took a huge armload of stuff into the living room, Fallon gathered up the boxes of food, and spoons.

"Wait hun...you forgot all this!"

Fallon laughed and followed behind Ana with several paper towels, and the food, which she placed on the coffee table, after putting a few towels under neath.

"Here's towels...and everything looks and smells terrific,"

Once she sat down next to Ana, Fallon took two of the thin crepes and laid them on both plates, before spooning the moo shu pork on them, and adding a bit of plum sauce. She then rolled them into small burrito shapes, and gave one plate to Ana.

"Moo shu is one of my favorites, but I'll admit I usually do the spicy stuff...kung pao, general chicken, garlic shrimp. This is new to me though, and I do like trying new things."

She sipped her wine, and then looked to decide what to put on her plate next.

"That would be great! Up til now my plans had included dinner and either a nice long bath, or a solo movie viewing, either here or at the Campus theatre. It's cheap, you know, third or fourth showing titles for a few bucks. It's usually packed, and no one gets too out of hand."

Grinning, she replied, "Nope, didn't forget it; figured I'd put my dinner companion to work! Bwahahaha!"

She sat and got comfortable, then watched as Fallon wrapped crepes. Why she'd never thought of that, she wasn't sure, but she wasn't going to admit that she'd never even considered eating it that way. "Thank you. I would have gotten something really off the wall, like duck, but well you know me and duck. I don't usually get so many vegetables. The place near my old house, they'd always be mushy and slimy, and this place they always taste fresher somehow. So, I've been taking one off each of the lists with each paycheck. Usually gets me lunch for the week - you know how wonderful Chinese food is cold, right? Hopefully I'm not completely weird in enjoying that delicacy. But! And I'm emphasizing this... don't worry about thinking that you're stealing food from me, because you're not. If you or Aishe or my neighbor had called, I'd have invited you all equally - well, maybe not my neighbor," she rambled on, tilting her head and shaking it somewhat, "because she's had her boyfriend over a lot recently and they haven't been very neighborly. Walls shake, if you follow my meaning."

She forked some chinese vegetables onto her plate. "One of the things that really is preventing me from sampling all the options on the menu are the presence of mustard, shrimp, crab... You know, shellfish." She piled some Happy Family next to the veggies. After a few spoonfuls, she finally looked at its contents.

"Son of a... Looks like you'll be taking home leftovers, Fallon." Happy Family seemed to consist of chicken, bits of pork, beef, and lots of curly shrimp. Ana stared at it forlornly, then set her plate on the coffee table. Standing, she entered the kitchen and brought out a clean plate.

"We could still go to a movie, if you want. I can't tell you the last time...wait...I think yes, for my twentieth birthday my brother took me to see A Bug's Life. It was the choice between that, and Godzilla, and some how the cute little bugs won out."

The 'movie's Ted had subjected Fallon to didn't count in her mind, and besides they were usually shown in their own living room, or in their neighbor's garage. Some of them made Fallon queasy just thinking about them.

"It might be fun to go out though, if there's anything worth seeing."

Taking a little of everything, Fallon was just putting a bite of shrimp to her mouth when she remembered Ana's allergies. Fortunately for Ana, she realized the exact same thing at the exact same time.

"But can't you just pick out the shrimp? The rest of it looks very good."

Having no allergies of her own, Fallon still had a hard time grasping that concept. She wondered if something like that would disappear once someone was turned. Unable to think of anything remotely similar, she couldn't use herself as a test case.

Fallon frowned at the thought of left overs.

"Anything left over you might want to give to your noisy neighbor and her boyfriend. The last leftovers I had...from the party...by the time I remembered they were in my fridge, they were growing something blue and fuzzy."

And remembering the sight, Fallon shuddered. She put another forkful of food in her mouth though, not phased at all by the vision now.

Ana pondered the last movie she'd seen through a mouthful of the wraps Fallon'd made. Swallowing, she mused, "The last movie I saw was Pirates of the Caribbean. It was right when I found out that I was a hair's breadth from failing out of college. I took my studies pretty seriously thereafter. I would enjoy seeing a movie with you. I'd need to look it up, I haven't checked listings lately at all."

She pushed around a few forkfuls of lo mein. "Sometimes, just plucking the shrimp or other ingredients out does work. Unfortunately, if they're all cooked together, they do share juices and such, and that can still make me ill."

Ana wondered if she looked as shocked as she felt when Fallon told her the party food had gone to waste. "Oh, Fallon, I'm so sorry. I felt so bad bringing home as much as I did; I felt like I was bringing the lioness' share of it and well I suppose it didn't truly dawn on me that you wouldn't be eating it. I did enjoy that which I took though, thank you."

Giggling around a forkful of noodles, she commented, "Of course you know this means next party you have, assuming you don't have many humans staying to offer you dishes and snack, I'll bring it all home and become the most popular girl on the floor! Bwahahahaha!"

Setting her half-empty plate down on the coffee table, she picked up her wine and sipped from it. "So now it's your turn. Spill! Tell me about what you've been doing. How's school? Mealtimes? Cyrus?"

The teacher in her took special notice of Ana's near college calamity, but knowing the girl had turned things around only gave her more reason to know how special she was.

"We could look it up, or we could just walk over. If it turns out nothing appeals to either of us, at least we will have had a nice walk."

Fallon couldn't get enough of the outdoors lately, or bring enough of it inside. She'd given up trying to figure it out, and just accepted it as another part of her turning.

"You said to remind you about plants...and why you shouldn't have them?"

That was a curious thing for Ana to say, and Fallon had been waiting to ask more about it. Poor Ana seemed to have so many restrictions in her life, Fallon couldn't begin to imagine why this one.

She waved off the left over food fiasco. If Fallon had thought about it, she would have gotten rid of everything left behind the night of the party. But she had experienced bouts of forgetfulness, and distraction all her life. What irritated her the most was when she forgot to take precautions against these things.

It was Ana's silliness at being so popular with leftovers that had Fallon laughing and forgetting the whole issue of forgetfulness. Lately Fallon was pretty much a happy woman all the time, but very few people could make her laugh as loud and hard as Ana could, even without tickling her.

"Well, what have I been doing...I've been shopping for a house...in the country...Cyrus wants us to live together!"

Fallon got all giddy as she started telling Ana about her life these past few weeks. So many things had been going on..

Ana nodded as she slurped in a noodle, then reached for a napkin because she'd gotten sauce on her chin. Dabbing, she replied, "At home, in college, and at home again I'd always had a half dozen - or more - green things sitting around in pots. But I was always able to take care of them. To water and feed them, spend a couple minutes each day talking to them. Move them into different patches of sunlight. You know. Helping them thrive. But here, the only sun I get is from the east really, and I want that window covered for one reason or another. And since I'm at work so much -" and her voice got momentarily raspy "- for one reason or another, even though it's dead and dull - I wouldn't have time to do the same thing here at home." With a smile to Fallon, she winked and said, "Tonight will happen to be the longest I've been at home, well in two full months actually."

Ana's eyes widened and, setting her empty plate on the coffee table, pulled her feet up and scrunched herself into the corner of the couch. "Shopping for a house! In the country no less! Living together! Wow you guys - well you guy and girl - are getting serious! Or... have gotten serious?" She asked this last with a pointed look at Fallon, hoping to catch a blush or a nod or something that indicated what Ana guessed - that Fallon was in love with Cyrus.

Nodding, as Ana explained, it sounded like plants were almost like pets to Ana. But Fallon understood. Ana had a loving and giving personality that extended even to plants.

"That is why flowers are such a good idea. They're cut already, they have a short life span, but we should enjoy them while they're with us...just right for someone who's not around a lot of the time."

And Fallon decided she would always bring her friend flowers, to help brighten up her little home.

Turning the focus back on the issue of Cyrus, Fallon felt close to bursting with emotion.

"Ana...he's an incredible man. He was there for me, when I was just waking to this new world. He kept me safe, and gave me the instruction I needed to survive. He's been alive for so many lifetimes, and yet has been reluctant to share his life with anyone before me."

Fallon finished the food she wanted, and placed her near empty plate on the table as well. She turned to sit on the couch facing Ana, legs crossed Indian style, right up next to where Ana's feet were. Leaning forward, and crossing her arms around Ana's knees, Fallon smiled excitedly.

"I think I've known how I felt longer than he has, but things seemed to get serious the night of the Mayor's ball. Since then..."

It was hard to keep her thoughts from not becoming dreamy. When she mentioned his name it invoked memories, and images of him, and the two of them together, that just filled Fallon's heart to near exploding.

"It's like a fairy tale, Ana. That's the only way I can explain it. It's all so clean, and beautiful, and full of love, and romance. I feel like I'm a teenager in high school...or like I think I might have felt as a teenager in high school had I been in love then."

Releasing Ana from her grip, Fallon flopped back on the couch and stared at the ceiling.

"I never believed I would ever find someone like him, or that I would ever be so lucky to ever be in love like this. A part of me still thinks I'm going to wake up on the floor back in North Carolina, only to find this really has all been just a dream."

Listening intently as Fallon veritably gushed about her man, the librarian could feel her cheeks tugging, and knew her cheeks would hurt later from smiling so much.

After her exultations, Ana reached and gently stroked Fallon's nearby knee. "It's not a dream, Fallon. It's definately reality, and I'm so very glad you've found someone to make you so happy."

She sipped at her wine, and noticed her glass was empty. "More wine? Or just water or tea? Then you can dish about anything else you want. Or more Cyrus, if you prefer," she said with a wink.

She could have gone on and on about Cyrus, as he was always forefront in her mind these days, but she didn't want to bore Ana.

"More wine would be great, thank you."

She handed her glass to her friend, then lay back on the couch. She would have liked talking to Ana about the Anantya initiation, but because that was something only her clan had the right to share in, she didn't. It would have been the same to have been a part of a secret Ana had, and she would have never revealed that to anyone either. It did bother her though, not to be able to share that part of her, and how she felt about it. Besides Cyrus, and Anantya, Fallon's life was pretty much the same as it had been. But because those two things were such enormous parts of Fallon's life, her life couldn't have seemed more full.

"I don't know what else to say about Cyrus. He's become such a part of me, that when we're not together I feel there is a hole in me. But you know, it's kinda funny...since meeting you and Aishe, I feel much the same when I'm not around you too. Is that what it's like, to have such close friends?"

That realization just struck Fallon, but it didn't make it less true. She did feel less whole when she wasn't with Ana...as if a small part of her was vacant. It seemed strange, and yet normal.

"I'm sorry, I'm babbling, and probably not making much sense. That I'm talking so much should give you a clue that I'm not the same woman I was when we first met...do you think it's good though? Or am I sounding mad?"

Sitting back up, Fallon watched as Ana poured the wine, and walked back to the couch.