Page 101 of Out of the Blue

Please? He thinks he can say the magic word and I’ll open the door—and probably my legs—for him. “You’re fucking nuts!”

He chuckles. “You sound just like your sister.”

He talked with Juanita? No. He must be lying. Not moving from my spot, I yell, “Go. To. Hell!”

“I only want to talk with you. Can you give me a couple minutes?”

I can’t let him anywhere near me. He crushed me like a bug the last time I was in his presence. Not giving him another chance. “No! Leave before I call the cops!”

His tenor voice floats through the open door to my apartment. “I’m an idiot!”

No shit. I take one step, but his next outburst makes me stop.

“I was an asshole.”

Fists clench at my sides. My jaw hardens.

“I don’t deserve you.”

I collapse against the door again, my hip landing on the knob. “Ouch!” I rub my right hip, but it’s only a distraction from the man on the other side.

“I didn’t listen to you before. I jumped to all the wrong conclusions.”

Damn straight. My head bangs against the hard door.

“Cordelia, would you please open the door. I need to see your beautiful face.”

I grab my hair and spin it around my finger. My beautiful face? My shoulders lock. “I don’t want to talk with you!”

He sighs. “Fine.”

I hear something bang outside. What could he be doing? Why do I care? Why am I still here? My eyes stray to my front door, where Tenor’s now sitting at the threshold, his head tilted. “I don’t know either,” I whisper to my tuxedo furball.

“Cordelia Hernandez!” Trent bellows from the other side of the door.

I cringe at his use of my full name. He’s bringing attention to me, while I’ve been working so hard to remain invisible.

He strums an acoustic guitar. What the hell is he doing? From up the stairs, a door opens. One of my neighbors hits the landing. “What’s going on?”

I shrug my shoulders and pull a face communicating I’m at a loss. Fuck if I know.

His strumming turns into a complicated guitar solo. Two more of my upstairs neighbors appear on the stairway. Then his voice comes through loud and clear.

It all started before I met you

I stopped believing in the possibility

That anyone would ever stay true to their word.

They would say one thing, yet all the while

Hold back the truth, truth, truth

They would lie. They would all lie.

I started believing no one would ever be true

Why would they when she hid the most basic facts

---