Too Old For This | ✓

Chapter Eight

     "I'm on the phone."

     "With who?"

     "I'm on the phone," Zachary repeated, and the person on the other end sighed after a withdrawn pause. There was a thud—probably a bag—then a couple of footsteps that grew progressively fainter, and then there was silence.

     When it was clear, there was no more knocking, Zach took his hand off the receiver. "I'm sorry about that," Zach said, running the fingers of his free hand through his hair.

     "Who's that?" Leroy asked as Zach adjusted his sitting position on the edge of his bed.

     "Hmm?" the older man said, blinking before looking away from the door. "My sister."

     "Oh."

     "Wasn't expecting her to be back until later this week," Zachary explained, and Leroy said 'oh' from the other end in a way that made Zach envision a head nod.

     "Well, I can leave you to it if you need to speak to her," Leroy said. Zach noted the hint of hesitance in his voice. It made him feel better because he'd been clawing at every reason not to end the call for hours.

     "It is getting late..." he trailed, noticing that it was a lot darker than when they'd started their call when he looked out his window. Gosh, they'd been talking for hours. What was it? Nine? "You don't have work tomorrow, do you?" Zachary said when Leroy did nothing but breathe from the other end.

     "Yeah, it's a Saturday."

     "We can talk on the phone tomorrow, maybe?" Zach asked, tapping his clothed thigh with the tips of his fingers. The noise was enough to distract him from the whirling feeling of shyness that was starting to take over him. "Whatever time you want. I don't know if you sleep in late," he added, hoping Leroy would save him from himself and say something.

     "I can call, sure," the younger man said. "But—" there was a pause, and Zach frowned, wondering if there was a caveat hidden there somewhere.

     "But what?" he asked, reaching out to touch the cat that was now nested between him and the headboard of the double bed.

     "Can't I just come over?"

     The question made Zachary's head go blank for a moment before it burst into haywire that fired multiple questions over the space of seconds.

     Holy shit. The basement's a mess. How am I going to clean that up before tomorrow?

     Is there anything in the fridge to drink?

     What about Avery? Do I have to tell her I have a guest over?

     "Hello?"

     The sound of Leroy's voice brought Zach back to the present.

     "Um—" he paused, scrambling for something to say. "My sister's home."

     "Is that a, no? I understand if it would be awkward—"

     "No, it's not a no, it's more of an 'I'm not sure. Let me ask'," Zachary clarified before Leroy could finish his sentence. "I'll text you before noon tomorrow. How's that?"

     There was a pause at the other end, before Leroy muttered, "that works, sure."

     They both seemed to be hesitant to end the call, but after a while, Leroy sighed and mumbled, "well, talk to you later."

     "Okay," Zachary hummed, and then the younger man hung up, leaving behind the clicking sound. Zachary stared at his phone for a bit, looking at the time. They'd really spoken for three hours, give or take, and it hadn't been about anything important, but that hadn't felt like it had mattered. He'd just enjoyed the sound of Leroy's voice.