WHO: Stefan and Ileana WHAT: Coming to visit! WHERE: Outside of Bellum WHEN: Today. WARNINGS: Language?
A handful of hours and thousands of miles later, Stefan stepped out of the taxicab. Before this, it was LaGuardia, and before that, seven hour flight from the other coast. And before that, well, he didn’t want to dwell on that too much. All of that was over and done with. Right now was all he was going to focus on. Right now, he was going to hand the cabbie some cash, thank him for his time, and send him on his way. Right now, he was going to call his old friends, steel himself for a knowing reprimand over the phone and maybe a hug when came through the door. Right now was all he needed.
Right now, though, he had to find the phone first. He set his bags on the ground and slung the backpack off over his shoulder. He dug around for a few minutes, past the paperwork and the clothes and whatever else he had haphazardly stuffed in there last night when he was hauling ass out of his hotel room. Each hand closed around what felt like cell phones and he pulled them out. He took a moment to carefully inspect the backs, a small note on each one marking where he picked it up from, the name he needed to answer as, and how much prepaid minutes or money he had left. Seattle, El Paso, Denver, Atlanta, and more. Cheap phone after cheap phone and it would just serve him right that the one he was looking for was the last one of the bunch. This was his, the only one that was his own; the only one he answered just as his himself. He scrolled through the names and numbers, some he had recently spoke to and most he hadn't, finally calling the one he needed and pressing the phone to his ear.
As he listened to the rings he wondered if one of them would be home. Fuck, he hoped someone was home.