SPOTLIGHT by Dora Dresden Page A

was riding up in the elevator she had settled on a calm explanation about Angelica that she hoped to deliver calmly and sans the firestorm of emotion that was rollicking in her chest. It’s like a monologue, she told herself, a recitation. She did not wish to be ruled by her emotions in this.
     
                There was, as she had become used to expecting, a yellow sticky note affixed smack dab in the middle of her door. It read in that familiar neat font, “There’s a piece of chocolate cake waiting with your name on it, no matter how late.” William had not even signed the note, not that he had to, but his customary little smiley face was in the corner and even the sight of that tiny doodle could cause Abby’s heart to flutter with excitement.
     
    This particular evening her heart was trip hammering for a different reason as she carefully peeled off William’s note and headed over to his door. She didn’t even bother going to her own apartment first, knowing that if she stopped to freshen up, she’d start to have crippling doubts about what she was doing. In front of William’s door she paused to take a steadying deep breath and mumble a quick little prayer for strength and then plunging in, she knocked, rapping her knuckles lightly on the door.
     
    William’s answer came so quickly she half wondered if he’d been close by, waiting for her. It was an astoundingly flattering possibility. He opened the door wide and leaned in that tantalizing way of his against its frame. He was so tall that he could plant his hands well above the doorway and lean out like a kid swinging on a jungle gym. Abby loved how flush with excitement he looked, how excited he always was to see her, whether it had been a day or an hour since last they’d spoke.
     
    His blonde hair was wet as if he’d just come from the shower and he had it slicked back, away from his face for once. He wore his glasses today, which told Abby he’d done naught else but work on his writing. They were balanced on the tip of his nose and Abby pushed them up for him in greeting. He beamed at her.
     
    “Hungry?” he asked, as a hello.
     
    “Not really,” she replied. She’d eaten only a few bites at the diner but the conversation she knew she was about to have was twisting her stomach so tightly into knots that food was the farthest thing from her mind and the last thing she wanted.
     
    “Actually,” she began. “There’s something I wanted to talk about.”
     
    She’d rehearsed that bit too, with an actor’s dedication. The usual ‘we need to talk,’ had seemed too trite and daunting of a phrase to start with. She didn’t want to make him feel like a deer in the headlights. William was still staring at her and smiling though, and she wondered if she had been too vague.
     
                “Okay, sure. There’s actually something I wanted to ask you too,” he said. He stepped back away from the doorway, opening the door even further. “It’s a bit messy but want to come in for a bit?”
     
    Abby realized only then that she had never been inside William’s apartment before. She nodded her ascent and followed him inside.
     
    “No fair, your apartment's bigger than mine,” was the first thing she said as she looked around. In truth it was not really that much larger, it only looked that way because it was so bare. William was clearly a bachelor, with his Spartan, throw pillow-less futon and his single dining chair. Set up in the corner was a simple desk with a laptop and swivel chair, a jacket and crumpled tie draped over its back. There was a book case next to the desk that was positively teeming with books that looked like they had all been read and reread lovingly.
     
                The only thing of real value was the sound system. It was quite impressive with various knobs and shiny buttons. Abby realized its large speakers were set up right against the wall their apartments shared, which explained why