After two whole days of radio silence I finally get a message notification from the contact Yodel. It's three in the morning in the middle of the week on a day I have early classes and I wake with a whistle of my phone.
I groan and curse myself for forgetting to turn on the do not disturb feature knowing damn well it wasn't an accident. I shouldn't even bother opening the message, I should ignore it and sleep. Yet, I still find myself reaching for the godforsaken thing, at three in the morning in the middle of the week on a day I have early classes.
It's nothing but a - very gorgeous - sunset. Radio silence for two days and this. This is what I get. A picture of a sunset at three in the god damn morning. No context. Nothing. Not even a 'look at this sunset' or 'by the way I'm alive check out this sunset'. Zip. Nil. Nada. Nothing.
Nothing but a sunset.
I start to type out various things; Look who decided to text back - too passive aggressive, glad to see you're not dead - not passive aggressive enough, nice - could be mistaken for genuine interest, 👍 - far more than he's given me these past two days.
So I don't text anything back. I leave the reply space empty, push the home button and click it locked. He hasn't replied to one of my many texts so he can survive without one reply from me. Because this is basically middle school and yes I'm totally aware how petty it all is.
The thing is, I wouldn't even mind if we didn't talk for two days. We're both busy people whatever, we don't have to speak every day all the time 24/7.
There's even days we do go without speaking but this isn't that. This isn't that because on those days neither of us text the other. It isn't like on those days he texts me and I just don't respond. And if he is busy he'll usually let me know and vice versa.
This is just him flat out ignoring me for reasons I'm assuming are about this drunk phone call I apparently had with him.
I've been mulling it over in my head for the past two days. Trying to figure out if the two are connected in some way. When I came to the conclusion they must be I then started racking my brain and trying to remember anything from that night that wasn't us at Joe's.
Its obviously not gone in my favor since I'm still up at three in the morning staring at my ceiling and getting a headache trying to come up with something.
I sigh and turn over, grabbing my phone and going through my different social medias.
It's been half an hour by the time I switch over to Twitter, about to click on my friend Kail's newest reply to a tweet one of her band guys made when my phone starts ringing in my hand.
It startles me, a small gasp escaping my lips as the caller ID flashes across my screen and the accept or decline options are popping up. I know which I want to click, which I probably should click since it's so late and the only time I actually get calls from him is because he's absolutely drunk.
Still, I click accept.
"Hello?" I hold the phone to my ear and hear distant hollering and laughing.
I can hear him talking to someone. One of his friends I presume. He sounds happy and light and so incredibly drunk. There's some going back and forth, half of it I can't even make out with the way his accent sounds so much more thicker and slurred but there's a moment.
One so breathtaking and blissful I can't help but smile at it. It's his laugh. One so adorably goofy that it has to be completely genuine. It's the kind that probably has a matching smile taking over his face right about now.
I'd probably imagine it as Jeff who's always happy and light but Sean's obsession with him has tainted him even aesthetically. My second go-to is the beautiful honey-brown boy down the hall because, well, because he's just that: beautiful.
And this laugh, it's beautiful. No, it's more than that. So it can't be him. This laugh has no face and whether I'm willing to admit it or not it leaves me slightly disappointed. Disappointed that I don't get to see this laugh or how he's probably radiating sunshine right now.
"Hello? P?" There's still a bit of left over laugh in his voice when he's on the line.
"Do you know what time it is?" I frown instead of saying what I want to say to him.
Which is a cross between why have you been ignoring me and please tell me what made you laugh like that so I can do it all the time.
"Uh," he drawls. "Almost seven I think." He curses under his breath tripping over something.
"Wrong. Almost four....in the morning," I huff, rubbing at my eye.
"Oh," he sounds deflated and it pulls on my heart strings. "Sorry."
"It's alright yodel, what did you need?" My voice coming out lighter and less passive aggressive.
"To talk to you," he states simply.
"What?" I'm taken aback.
"We haven't talked in two days," he informs as if I didn't already know that. As if I hadn't spent the last two days over analyzing everything.
"I know," I hum quietly.
"My girlfriend doesn't really like when I'm on my phone," he says like a child pouting about their mom.
There's a word that does something to me. A word that tightens my chest and knots my stomach.
"You uh, you have a girlfriend L?" It's weird using the initial of his first name especially since I never have.
It just makes more sense. Or maybe it doesn't. But I just don't want to mix the two. Not with this feeling, not with this conversation, not with this word.
"L? You never call me that. You'd call me something like Lucifer before calling me just L," the drunk boy mutters puzzled.
"Is that why you haven't texted me back in two days?" I ignore his response.
"Yeah we're on vacation," he sighs.
"Vacation. That sounds fun," I reply solemnly suddenly wishing I hadn't answered.
"Not really," he says nonchalant surely shrugging.
"Yodel," I chuckle at his blatantness.
"What?" He hums.
"You can't say stuff like that your girlfriends gonna be offended," I scold lightheartedly.
"I don't think she even wants to be here," he dismisses.
"Why do you say that?" I ask despite not wanting to talk about anything involving this girlfriend of his.
"She doesn't like my friends much," he whispers like a toddler.
"Why not?" I pull at a loose thread in my blanket with a yawn.
"They don't really like her," he giggles then shushes me though I haven't even said a thing. "They'd like you. I know they would," he says with a certain bliss.
"Oh yeah?" I grin.
"Mhm, probably too much," he mumbles.
"They hot?" I joke.
"P!" He grumbles with a pout to his tone.
"What?" I laugh quietly.
"Now you're never meeting them," he says matter-of-fact.
"Oh come on yodel, don't hold out on me. Maybe this is why you found my number. It's fate. I'm obviously meant to fall in love with one of your friends."
"No you are not. They're not going anywhere near you," he sniffs.
"Aw no fun, why not?" I continue to tease the drunk boy.
"Because I said so," he says endearingly stern. Then he gasps an excited, "Oh! Guess what I saw today!"
"What?" I cuddle into my blankets some more, listening to him go on and on about some monkey he met.
It's some time around five in the morning when I start to doze off a bit, my eyelids getting far too heavy. I let them shut with a final flutter and get consumed in the Australian accent rambling on about how beautiful everything is and how I should visit some time - better yet I'll bring you myself.
I can't think of a better lullaby or bedtime story than this right here.
I'm somewhere between sleeping and awake when I hear someone shouting again. It can't be the same person who shouted when I first answered because it takes him a minute to even acknowledge the shouts and when he does he lets out the biggest breath possible like they've just inconvenience him terribly.
It's not all light and happy. It's annoyed and huffy. He must not say something they like because as he's grumbling a I have to go P, they shout to him again. This time I focus in on it. Let myself wake just enough to make out what they're saying..
Luke.
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This chapters v sweet and light and actually kinda flirty and you all can thank blue by Zayn for that. Lmao
Comments & votes are always nice especially if you want me to update quicker! I literally don't function unless I have someone on my ass telling me to get shit done ☺️