I̶n̶f̶a̶t̶u̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n

Chapter 9--Chanse

 V: Hey babe ;)

C: Hey

V: Wyd?

C: Nothing much. Just laying in bed eating popcorn.

V: Cool.

V: What would you do if I was there next to you?

C: ...

C: Ellipsis

V: ?

V: What?

C: Ellipsis. An omission of speech.

V: Yeah, okay. I don't know what that means.

V: So what would you do if I was there with you baby girl?

C: Um, I would eat my popcorn?

V: Haha, anything else? ;)

I knew where this was headed and I didn't like it. It made my stomach do flip-flops and gave me a queasy feeling in my gut. I felt like there was a rubber band around my heart, squeezing it and making it hard to breathe. The kind of feeling you get when you're stressed and know something bad is coming. I would have to choose my words carefully to be able to slide out of this one.

C: I'd offer you some popcorn I guess.

V: Okay. What would you do if there was no popcorn?

I knew immediately how to answer that. Sometimes it paid off to spend all of your time scrolling through memes on your phone. I found myself fighting off laughter, feeling as if I was the wittiest person to ever inhabit the planet.

C: Then I'd get out of bed and go make myself some popcorn.

I smiled, thinking I had done a flawless job dodging that bullet. I hoped we would move on to something more pleasurable to talk about, but my hope was misplaced, as usual.

V: If we were stranded in an abandoned cabin in the woods in the middle of nowhere and there was only one bed to sleep in, what would you do?

I shut my phone off. I couldn't deal with this, not right now. Talking to him was always like this and it had started to take its toll. I never called him out on it because I was too afraid he would get upset or think I was weird, as crazy as that sounds. I was typically able to slip out of it when it happened, but I didn't feel like being evasive today. I could only take so much, which was part of what troubled me. Things had been so wonderful before we had started dating, but ever since we did, things had just been on a constant downward spiral. He would ask these types of questions often. At first, it was just one here and there and I didn't mind much answering them, but now it seemed it was all he ever wanted to talk about. I was starting to get worried, and I couldn't have that kind of stress in my life at the moment. I had enough going on with Evan, I couldn't handle more guy-related issues. I had tried to explain things to him, but I don't think he understood. He could only think of the things that he wanted for himself. Knowing there was only one thing-- one person-- who could cheer me up, I got out of bed and headed downstairs, my limbs flailing in my haste.

"Mom, I'm going to Shawn's house for a few hours," I called into the seemingly empty air. It was a Saturday, though, so I knew she was somewhere in the house.

Her response floated in from one of the rooms. "Don't be late for curfew. Remember, 11:30. Brownie points for 11:00!"

I laughed as I closed the door behind me.