A Loser With A Cellphone (Alex Standall)

60

"Hi?" Her voice was tentative, soft, unsure of being thrown into a conversation without warning. Alex was surprised that she had picked up the phone on his first try in the first place, but Alex could feel his muscles loosening just at the sound of her voice.
"Hey," he said, focusing on not allowing his voice to crack. He wasn't sure why he was suddenly filled with so much emotion towards her - Maybe it was simply because he'd just had a bit of a breakdown, or maybe it was due to the fact that she was there. That she didn't push him away when he needed somebody the most, even going out of her comfort zone to be there. He was feeling the closest thing to love that he had since Jessica, and for once, he didn't push it away.
"What's up?" She asked, and he considered lying for a moment, saying that he was bored or wanted to hear her voice again, although the last one was true.
"I just...I was lonely. And a little lost in my thoughts. I'm sorry for calling you without warning, but you're the only one who understands it..." She didn't question why he didn't text first, or simply communicate via text, simply accepted that he needed her.
"Okay, well, I'm here now, so you don't have to be lonely anymore. Do you wanna talk about it, or...?"
"I'd actually prefer to talk about literally anything else, really."
"Okay." She paused for a moment, and it was as if he could hear her thoughts running about as she scrambled for a conversation topic. "So, uh, what's your favorite animal?"
"Dogs," I said, relaxing into the conversation.
"Mine are cats," she said hesitantly, as if she was afraid that I was going to fight her on it.
"Cool," I said, smiling. And, just like that, we relaxed into the easy routine and banter that we had when we texted - and, before he knew it, he looked down at his phone and realized that three hours had passed. He almost couldn't remember what had felt so dire as to reach out to her - in its place was a warm, happy, fuzzy feeling in my heart. He hoped that she took the same feeling away from this. He hoped that she would be willing to meet me soon. He hoped that he wouldn't regret having hope.