[The lack of a lecture is not necessarily a good sign. She's fine, though; or at least, she's calm and collected enough not to show how fine she isn't. Some people forget curses, after; she's never been that lucky.]
Yeah. I'll be in.
[She'd rather not see him. But the less affected by this she seems, the better.]
[This time more carefully phrased as a suggestion. It's 3am, and if they both come in looking like extras from Night of the Living Dead House will put two and two together to make sixty nine.
And he doesn't want to be the one to hang up. This has been... difficult, and confusing, and in it's way miraculous. She has feelings for him. He's a jerk. A jerk she has feelings for.]
[She hasn't been sleeping well lately, no surprise. Unhappiness and insomnia seem to be catching. Though, thus far, she's hidden it well.
Thus far.
She's a little hesitant; this all feels so final. Maybe he'll try to forget it, for his own sake. She hopes so. Tiptoeing around her, trying not to hurt her feelings, would only further bruise her pride and sometimes, really, that's all one has.]
[He's no good at tiptoeing, which isn't to say he won't be around, or that he won't hurt her feelings, somehow. He won't mean to. This whole thing feels backwards, and if he could stop her one more time to say he made a mistake, he would.
He didn't, he just made a choice. They both know the one he's made here can only exist as long as he stays. At home, maybe things will run differently.]
[It doesn't feel any less like she's lost, though. As temporary as this may be, maybe that's only because he's never met Angela in the real world. Maybe she's been second-string all along, and only had the good luck to be there without competition. She doesn't know, either; none of this has happened, not really. Which makes it all the easier to dream up the worst.
There's a moment of heavy silence as she searches for something more to say, then the soft click as she hangs up.]
☎ call
Yeah. I'll be in.
[She'd rather not see him. But the less affected by this she seems, the better.]
☎ call
[This time more carefully phrased as a suggestion. It's 3am, and if they both come in looking like extras from Night of the Living Dead House will put two and two together to make sixty nine.
And he doesn't want to be the one to hang up. This has been... difficult, and confusing, and in it's way miraculous. She has feelings for him. He's a jerk. A jerk she has feelings for.]
☎ call
[She hasn't been sleeping well lately, no surprise. Unhappiness and insomnia seem to be catching. Though, thus far, she's hidden it well.
Thus far.
She's a little hesitant; this all feels so final. Maybe he'll try to forget it, for his own sake. She hopes so. Tiptoeing around her, trying not to hurt her feelings, would only further bruise her pride and sometimes, really, that's all one has.]
Good night.
☎ call
He didn't, he just made a choice. They both know the one he's made here can only exist as long as he stays. At home, maybe things will run differently.]
Night.
[He holds on until the disconnect at her end.]
☎ call
There's a moment of heavy silence as she searches for something more to say, then the soft click as she hangs up.]