by Fiona Price
A Call to Arms
♦️
William was smoking a cigarette in his office, his feet propped up on the desk and was holding a coffee cup in the same hand he was holding his cigarette. He hadn't smoked in years, but would somehow always come back to his bad habit when he was shut up in his lab working on something and he just couldn't find the right answer. In this case, he was still thinking about him and Anne.
"Mr. Townsend, may I inquire what's bothering you?" Jason spoke.
"Mm, I don't know."
"It's your former lover, isn't it?"
"Yes, Jason, I happen to be thinking about Anne."
"Again." Jason corrected.
"Okay, again, jeez! If it weren't for the damn piano the other day..."
"May I suggest that you go talk to her? You'll never get answers if you don't ever ask."
"If I go will you stop asking me about it?" He asked his computer system.
"Yes, I will."
"Fine. I'll go to Queens, but only for my own sanity!" William confessed, grabbing his keys and his jacket and hopping in his car.
"The next time I listen to a computer..." William mumbled as he parked his car and rang the doorbell to Anne's house hesitantly.
Anne got up off the couch and opened the door, not expecting any visitors. Her right hand was up against the door frame and her other hand on her hip. Her strawberry blonde hair hung gracefully around her collarbone, swaying slightly from the breeze.
"William Townsend. Well, I'll be damned!" She said in awe as she looked at the man standing on her porch, looking a little lost and confused. "You never come around here anymore. What can I do for you?"
"You see, that's exactly my question. And I have a lot of questions lately because you're on my mind constantly."
"William, why don't you come in?" She offered, stepping aside for him to enter. She offered him a seat, but he felt like he needed to stand. She paid close attention to his every word and his every move.
"I've been thinking a lot about you lately, because Maize reminds me so much of you. I know you insist that I'm not related to her at all, but after all that time I spent with her when you were with me and all that I see of her down in the Compound, I just... I see you in her and I never stopped loving you, Anne."
"William, are you trying to relive the past? You know we can't go back to those days." Anne asked. "We're older now and things are different."
"I know. I'm not trying to relive the past, but I am trying to change my future and I know I want you in it. I think we had something better than we ever could have imagined but the timing wasn't right. I've waited nearly 20 years for this, and I'd like to give it a shot if you're willing to try again."
Anne was thinking quietly.
"We'll find out how we fit in each other’s lives again." William suggested as something to fill the silence.
"Okay, William. Take me out on a date." She agreed.
"Saturday at 8 sound good?" He asked, a weight relieved off his chest.
"Perfect."
**********
Meaghan turned and looked at the clock. It was nearly midnight on Saturday, and she couldn't sleep, she had raging insomnia and was wishing for nothing more than a good nights' rest, but that was a pipe dream that was unlikely to happen. Though, she could make herself much more comfortable, and she knew just how she could do that. She tossed her wrinkled covers off her body, rolled out of bed and left her room, jumping onto the elevator and pressing the button for the floor that Dike's room was on.
"I see you are going to see Dike, at this time of night?" The voice of Jason said over the speaker in the elevator.
"I don't like to be judged, especially by a robot." She responded. "There's no need to be snarky, Jason."
"I'm not questioning your decisions-"
"Jason, I would highly suggest you don't finish that sentence or else I'm going to break into William's lab and hijack your system MYSELF until you can't think straight anymore. Got it?!"
"Loud and clear, Miss Vanderbilt."
The elevator stopped on Dike's floor and she tiptoed down the hallway, trying not to wake up any of the other Gods on the floor as she approached the room. She saw Dike’s door cracked and the light on, seeing his shadow cast against the far wall. She was relieved that he was awake because it made the elements of her make-it-up-as-we-go plan all fall into place.
She walked right into his room, startling him just a little bit, not saying a single word. She would let her actions speak for themselves.
"Oh? Hello!" Dike said as he closed the book in front of him and took off his glasses, putting both on the nightstand. The dim glow of the lamp made him look gorgeous, the shadows settling into his cheekbones and the light reflecting just enough off her eyes. She was wearing a black V-neck shirt, gray sweatpants and a green and black flannel, not realizing how attractive he looked in the moment. Before he could get another word out, Meaghan climbed on the bed and straddled his legs, cupping his face in her hands and leaning down to kiss him. Dike sunk into the kiss right away, taken aback at first but falling into her. He relaxed his shoulders against the pillows and her hands migrated to Meaghan’s waist.
"Hope I wasn't interrupting anything." Meaghan apologized, pulling away and taking a breath, but her apology was more like an afterthought.
"Was I doing anything? It's not even important," He said, not caring about anything but the way her skin and her lips felt against his.
Dike dove right back into her after Meaghan flung her shirt across the room, letting her dark hair fall in front of her breasts and her lacy bralette. He exhaled heavily, completely in awe by her body.
"This was a nice surprise, Meaghan." Dike said into her neck. "I wasn't expecting this."
"I'm glad. I couldn't sleep, So I thought I’d pay you a visit."
Meaghan pushed the flannel off his shoulders and grabbed onto the hem of his shirt and pulled it upwards off Dike’s body. She kissed down his neck and chest, teasing him as she moved further down. She stopped at Dike’s navel and slowly grinded against his thigh as she moved to meet his lips again. Dike responded with fervor. Grabbing the waistband of Meaghan’s pajama pants, he revealed her lacy underwear and got adventurous with his hands, but teasing Meaghan just as she did to him. She gasped at the feeling of his fingertips trailing up the inside of her thighs all the way up to her most-guarded area. Dike bit his lip with a smirk and kissed her neck, leaving a trail of kisses down to her breasts.
At that point he grabbed her waist and flipped her over, her curly hair sprawling out all over the pillow. Meaghan was quite a sight to see in the gentle lighting underneath Dike, and that visual, her position, made nasty thoughts he hadn't had in decades cross his mind. Meaghan did something to him that she couldn't quite explain, but he was under the complete control of her mind, body and spirit.
Dike held Meaghan’s wrists down above her head with one of his own hands and he cupped her breast with the other, feeling the soft and delicate skin that was hidden away. Dike wanted nothing more than to watch Meaghan fall apart underneath him, and that's exactly what she wanted from him. That was their plan all along, until Dike's phone began to ping constantly on the nightstand. Meaghan caught her breath enough to respond to his phone.
"If that's William, I'm going to kill him! Ignore it, please." She begged, not wanting now to be the moment she had to leave, and they were both left hanging. Dike reached out a hand to pick up his phone, seeing that it was, in fact, William and he told all the Gods to wake up and meet him at the tower ASAP. Meaghan knew it immediately.
"You've got to be kidding me!" She exclaimed. "William can wait."
"No, he can't. William doesn't do this often, but when he tells us in the middle of the night to get our asses out of bed to go to a meeting, he means it. Unfortunately." Dike said in response. "I've gotta go."
He groaned and rolled over, putting his clothes back on, then leaned down to kiss Meaghan on the lips before he left.
"Hurry back. Don't leave a girl hanging for too long." Meaghan said.
"I'll try not to. Sleep well." Dike said, knowing she wouldn't get any sleep, not now, not after what just happened.
"When you get back, we're picking up right where we left off."
"Pinky promise." Dike said before leaving his room and hopping onto the elevator. His mouth was dry, her cheeks were flushed, his hair was a mess, all of which he prayed to the gods William didn't see. He was hoping for a quiet escape where he didn't have to see anybody. He grabbed a water bottle and tried to cool down, but of course, he saw William in passing, he was going upstairs while Dike was going downstairs to the garage.
"Dike! You look different! What the hell just happened to you?!" William questioned.
"Well, William, I was in the middle of something when you called. Take a guess." Dike answered, unamused.
"Oh, I don't have to guess! See you at the tower, Dike!" William said, his voice fading off into the distance. Dike hopped in his car and headed to the tower, wishing he was back in bed with Meaghan. But duty called.
******
William picked Anne up the night of their date, pulling up to her modest Queens house in his cherry red sports car worth more than the value of her home. He was nervous, he spent an unhealthy amount of time deciding which tie to wear because the exact shade of azure meant everything for the night's mood. He didn't know which car to take, how he wanted to present himself, so he took his trusty red convertible that had, admittedly, gotten him laid before, and made the journey out to suburban Queens.
Anne saw the car pull into the driveway and she stood up and straightened her back and white asymmetric gown, some of her worries alleviated that she was overdressed. William got out of the car and buttoned his suit jacket, jogging up the porch stairs and Anne opened the door before he got a chance to knock. William was taken aback.
"Anne, you look phenomenal, as you do."
"Thank you, William. It's been quite some time since I've dressed up like this. I'm a little nervous, I'm not sure I remember how to date." She chuckled.
"Glad we're on the same page. Shall we?" He asked, holding his arm out for her and escorting her over to his vehicle. He opened the door for her, and she sat down, taken aback by the sheer luxury of the car. She had forgotten how wealthy William was, and had to remember he had things she could only dream of having. Even when they were together before, she had always been simpler and more modest about her clothes, her car and her house while William was the exact opposite.
They headed deep into lower Manhattan, and Anne quickly figured out where William was taking them to dinner. He wouldn't say a word, but at this point he didn't have to.
When they pulled up to the restaurant, William escorted her out of the car and handed the spare key to the valet. The moment they stepped inside, the matron took them right back to the table, well aware of William's reservation. The place was packed, the waiting room was full, and Anne had forgotten that William could do things like this. He didn't have to wait in line for anything.
They led fantastically different lifestyles, and that was always a hindrance on their relationship.
"I remember this place! This is the restaurant we went to when you took me out for the first time after my divorce. You complained about the Mondrian on the wall! You thought it was the ugliest thing you've ever seen." Anne giggled, reminiscing on that time more than ten years ago.
"I still hate that painting! It's just a fancy Excel spreadsheet with colors, I don't care if Mondrian's famous!" William began, full of rage every time he saw the painting. "But, you like it. And we happen to have the table reserved where we sat the first time."
"Do you have the Shiraz, too, William?"
"You know I don't miss details like that. Look, same batch and year." He said, pulling the bottle out of the container by the table and holding it to show her. She blushed, but looked away and bit her lip. William didn't know how to read her expression until she told him right away.
"William, this looks like you trying to relive the past..." She said, and William knew that she didn't want to try and do that.
"Okay, this may all look familiar but now I have a better haircut, I won't spill the wine and I have a surprise for you."
"A surprise now, do you?" She asked, intrigued.
"Maybe even more than one," He said as he pulled the chair out from the table for her to sit in before he gave her a gentle push in and sat down across from her. He poured them each a glass of wine
"William, can I ask why you took us back here? Why this place, why this table, why this wine?"
"Hold on..." William said, getting up from the table and putting his napkin on the table. He had the exact answer to her question. He took a few steps over to the painting and tilted it off the wall, an old napkin falling onto the floor from its resting place between the frame and the wall. He was bewildered that it was still there after thirteen years, and he picked it up off of the ground. He sat back down at the table and met Anne's confused eyes.
"William, what's that? How did you know it was there?"
"Well, because I wrote it. I scribbled this on the napkin in pen while you were at the bathroom."
"But we literally just got here."
"I mean when you went to the bathroom thirteen years ago." William clarified. Anne was beside herself. She swallowed the rest of her glass of wine.
"Well, what does it say?"
William cleared his throat.
"Friday, August 12, 2005
On this day I took Anne Leto out for a date. We sat at the table in the corner near this horrible fucking Mondrian painting. I spilled red wine on my white suit, and she splattered red sauce everywhere when I told a bad joke and made her laugh while she was eating. That was the moment I knew I loved her. She for some insane reason loves this painting so I will always think of her when I see it.
William Townsend."
"That was the day of our first date after my divorce. You wanted to take me out so you could celebrate the settlement but also so you could see me smile again."
"Exactly. That was the day of your settlement, and we toasted to your new beginnings. Now, I'd like to make that toast again, to a new beginning with you and me."
"You've got to be kidding me, after all this time?"
"Did you genuinely think I'd forget?" He asked.
"You are known for giving your all." She responded.
"I'll toast to that," he responded, and they clinked wine glasses gently.
The night seemed to fly by, they had a lot of lost time to catch up on, and whenever they were with each other there was never a dull moment. They fed off each other's energy, both good and bad, but Anne couldn't remember the last time she had smiled and laughed that hard, let alone with David. She swallowed the last gulp of her wine hard, the small voice in her head telling her that the right person for her was right in front of her all along and she made a mistake in choosing anyone else. But maybe it was meant to be this way: if it was meant to be then they would find a way to come back to each other. It soothed her.
After William paid the check and their table had been cleared, he revealed the second surprise of the night, as he promised to Anne at the beginning.
"Anne, I have something for you that I should have given to you long ago," he said, reaching into the breast pocket of his coat and pulling out a jewelry box that was thin and rectangular. He set it on the table between them.