Her

68

PHOENIX

"So? What do you think?"

"That's... Wow."

"It's all perfectly planned."

"Yeah," Aza says. "Yeah, it is."

"I'll fly over on my birthday, you'll visit me during holidays, we'll see each other on important dates, and we'll be together by next Christmas." I look at Aza. "But, well, it's all on here." I point at my laptop, at the calendar in front of us.

"It is."

"Of course, we can't rely on this one hundred percent, because of filming and school. But well, as you can see," I point at the calendar again, "I planned in a few weekends just in case. And even if we won't make all the planned dates, I think we'll still manage most. And, of course, there's still texting and phoning, and all that."

"Yeah."

"Yeah?" I raise an eyebrow. "That's all you have to say?"

"Yeah - I mean, it's great. It's... great."

"I spent days on this calendar. I literally got in contact with your teachers, so that I could know when your exams will be, so that I could plan that in as well. I even used all sorts of colours and everything to make sure it looks pretty, as you can see. Or maybe you can't see because you're not even looking." I shut the laptop.

"No, Phoenix, I didn't -"

"Whatever." I get off Aza's bed, stuff the laptop into my bag. "Forget it."

"Nix..." She gets off too, steps close to me. "I did look at it."

"Right," I say. "It doesn't matter, whatever."

"Yes, it does matter. It matters to me. You matter to me."

I don't look at Aza but somewhere at the ground. I don't answer; I don't know how.

"Look at me," she says. She touches my face, makes me look at her. "That calendar," she says, "really is great. I mean it. It's great. You're great. I would have never managed to make it, or even anything like that."

I smile at her. I say, "You really wouldn't have."

"Shut up," she smiles. "I'm serious though. The fact that you got in touch with teachers and convinced them to give you exam dates? That's pretty damn impressive. I would have never had the guts to do that. And if I did, I would probably fail. They would kick my ass and tell me it's none of my business."

"Well, some of them did actually do that. Most of them were nice though, like your photography teacher, he was really nice. He said he knew me from all your photographs, and we spent about half an hour discussing your work and praising it."

"That's why I love him."

"Me you mean."

"Oh, yeah. You're all right too, I guess."

"Shut up."

"Make me."

I kiss her; she kisses me.