Wrong Number

Four

"Hello?"

"I realized I don't know what to save your number as," I mentioned calmly. I can't explain it, but if I wanted her to open up, and I very much did, then I needed to go at her pace.

"Was that a line?"

"No, just asking what I should call you; I think mystery girl is a little too boring."

I heard a soft giggle on the other end and swear my face must have looked ridiculous with my immediate, probably crazed smile.

"I kind of like it, it sounds like an action movie. Here comes the hero who can save them all, mystery girl!" She followed her impersonation of an announcer's voice with a little 'dun, duh, duh, dunnn' and I chuckled quite breathily. "But it's Lydia."

"That's a beautiful name," I commented. "Now that was a line," I said and she laughed.

"So besides throwing nerdy, but cute pickup lines at me, is there a reason for your phone call?"

"Do you not want me to call you? I thought we were doing this mysterious back and forth thing."

She giggled again and my heart sped up.

"No! I mean you don't have to call but I don't mind."

"I just wanted to chat with a beautiful woman."

"How do you know I'm beautiful? You've never seen me."

"Your name is Lydia, you can't pull off a name like that looking like a gargoyle."

"But you didn't know my name until today and you've called me before."

"You called first," I said and immediately regretted it when her joyful banter was replaced with sadness. "Lydia, why do you think it was your fault?"

"I don't think it was my fault, I know it was my fault," she finally said quietly.

"Why?" She didn't answer but I knew she needed to talk about it, I don't know how recent it was but she was holding onto a lot of grief. "Tell me about him."

"Why?"

"Because I'm curious."

There was a bit of silence before she started, I could hear the smile in her voice.

"He was my neighbor. We were friends since the second I moved in at five years old and were inseparable ever since. Wherever I went, Tyler went, and wherever Tyler went, I went. Our mothers thought we were a menace but joked about us ending up together like those rom-com movies."

"What kinda of things did you do to earn the title of menace?"

Lydia laughed and flew right into a story of her past.

"Once, our neighbor, this mean old lady, accidentally left her back window open and Tyler thought it would be a good idea to go in there and give one of her precious cats a haircut."

"Oh boy."

"Yeah! So we snuck in through her back window and were about to pounce on this horribly ugly Persian cat when the old lady flew into the kitchen with a hair shaver and swiped it right down the middle of Tyler's head! Apparently she had heard us chitchatting in our treehouse about our marvelous plan."

She was laughing so hard I found myself chuckling along.

"Then Tyler had to shave his entire head... you know, to match the bald part, and spent the rest of summer grouchy because his mom always had to layer his sunscreen on really thick."

"He sounds like a character."

"He really was."

"Does it help you, if you talk about him?"

"I don't know. I don't talk about him often."

"Well you can tell me more if you'd like."

"No, I don't want to bore you."

"Lydia, you would never bore me by telling me about your childhood."

"Thank you. How can you be interested though? You don't know anything about me."

"You wound me!" She giggled on the other end. "I know that your name is Lydia, I know that you're beautiful, I know that you're a closet nerd with superhero jokes, I know that you were a hellion of a child who got into all kinds of trouble with her accomplice, I know that you fell in love with said accomplice, and I know that he isn't here anymore but that it definitely isn't your fault."

She remained quiet so I spoke up again.

"I also know that I'd like to know more about you Lydia. Can I call you again tomorrow?"

"Okay," she said softly.

"Alright. Have a good rest of your day then and try not to count down the minutes until my next phone call. In fact, I won't even give you a hint on what time that will be so you're not tempted."

"You're a dork," she giggled, feeling slightly cheered up.

"I'm not the only one. I'll call you tomorrow."

"Okay. Bye James."

"Bye Lydia."