Long-Distance Calls

23

"About eight months..." she said.

"Okay." I raised my brows. "So, after eight months he realized one important thing. He realized he couldn't handle human beings... he couldn't handle being with someone with feelings. He realized he couldn't handle the imperfections we're made of. He wanted something plastic... something fictional... like his character with you. I am pretty certain that the way he acted with you was just a character he was playing... to make you like a sorry excuse of a man like him... and when he realized that you, on the other hand, weren't playing a character like him... but you were being your real self... he just couldn't handle it. When the statue fell, it didn't break. Because it was never perfect in the first place. When it fell, it just dawned on him that the statue was already broken."

Another moment passed by without anyone saying a word. In those moments, things had to take time to be digested, for they were shoved down throats despite the unwillingness of being taken.

"You're probably right," she mumbled at one point, her voice now sounded dry as a funeral drum.

"And how does that make you feel?" I asked.

She sighed. "I think it's gonna be quite the time before I feel better."

"It sure is..." I sighed too, "that's why you have to be strong now... that's the thing about heartbreaks. Like that damn statue, the heart can't just be fixed by piecing it back together, maybe putting a bandaid on it. You have to keep it like that. Broken. And you have to suffer through the pain, knowing it's never going to be mint again. But, when the time is right, it will stop aching despite being broken."

"I hope that time comes soon..." she said.

"I hope so too."

"Thank you."

"You don't have to thank me."

"No, I do. I'm glad I met you. If I hadn't, I'd still be crying right now."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that."

"You are an Avsam friend."

"And you are too, Avsam. Don't let that asshole put you down."

All of a sudden, I noticed that my mother was getting out of her room, which is next to mine.

"Sorrygottagobye," I quickly said as I abruptly hung up on Evelyn.

Of course, my mother immediately came into my room. "Oh, you're up already. Why didn't you come down for breakfast yet?"

"I woke up just now," I lied, "I was about to come down."

"Who was it on the phone?" she asked, again.

"Andrew." I said without thinking.

"And what did he want at this time in the morning?" she wondered.

"Asked me if I wanted to go out with him this afternoon," I lied.

"So you're going?" she asked.

"No," I said, "I don't feel like it."

"Yeah, of course," she said, "keep acting like that and you'll lose your two friends you still have."

"I see why you're telling me that, mom." I got up and approached the door, walking past her, trying to keep my rage inside of me. "I guess you used to act like me too, in your youth, right? That's why you don't have any friends now."

After realizing that she didn't have any comeback to that, I swept downstairs, feeling both satisfied and guilty for saying that.

As I sat down for breakfast, I sent Evelyn my apologies. "Sorry for hanging up. Mother invaded room. Love you."

My father was in the kitchen, minding his business, acting like I wasn't there. He only tilted his head when my phone rang for a text.

"No worries, love you too Avsam."

I read back the text I wrote. I typed it without thinking about it too much, and only now did I realize that I told her that I 'loved her'.

And, most importantly, she said it back.

The thing is, I never said 'love you' to anybody before. Not my mother, not my father, and certainly not any friends.

And, incidentally, nobody ever said it to me.

It was all so new, I couldn't help but smile in front of my phone.

That's when my father decided to notice me, to strike me with his usual stupid line to put me down. But I barely listened to him.

That moment, I felt like nothing could possibly put me down.

I wish it could have really been like that, but it really wasn't.

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A little anxiety in the end is always good. But this was the greatest long-distance call yet, wasn't it? Did you enjoy this chapter? Let me know with a VOTE and a COMMENT!

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