Overlap

Chapter 16: The End of Something Good

<08/31/2010 - 17:11 | 559 Motion Street, Austell, GA, USA>

Blissfully unaware of what I would be in for today, I finished eating my afterschool lunch and dialed Malica's number on my flip phone as habit dictated. Waiting with solace for the ringing to bring her voice back into my ear, I stood in my room where I could have the privacy of a conversation.

As Malica stood in her living room, already talking on the phone with her other friend, her phone began buzzing in vibration, alerting her to an incoming notification mid-sentence. "So that's when he—" distracted by the phone's buzz, Malica glanced at her screen, seeing Reed's number come up. There was no way she wasn't going to answer it, but with the other person on the line, she needed to juggle between both of them for a bit. "Hold on a minute Kenzaki. I'm getting another call." Still figuring out her smart phone, Malica answered the call, correctly assuming that it would put Kenzaki on hold while she and Reed get online. "Hey Reed!"

Even though I've heard it a thousand times, hearing her voice again so soon brought back that sensation to me, that everything in the world would be more awesome because I had her voice to share it with. "Hey Malica. What's up?" I didn't care what the topic of today's talk would be. All I wanted to do was talk to her, about absolutely anything, for as long as possible.

"Actually..." After thinking about it some more, Malica realized that she could make this easier on the three of us if we just talk as a group. Having no intension of hanging up on Kenzaki, she asked me an interesting proposal. "I was on the phone with a friend of mine."

"Oh," I apologetically retuned before she could finish anymore. If she was on the phone with one of her friends, I didn't want to feel bad keeping her from them. Though it hurt me from head to toe just to suggest this, I remained as polite as always. "Did you want me to hang up and call back later?"

"Well, I was thinking we could turn this call into a three-way, if you don't mind?" Uncertain if I would go for it, Malica wanted to talk with both of us at the same time, and this way, she could accomplish that.

A three-way call? It certainly is a little uncharacteristic of her, I thought. "I don't see the harm in that." I wasn't against the idea after all. Three-way calls were rare, but they were always an option for a situation like this. It connects all three phones together on the same call so that all three people could hear each other, kind of like a group chat but over the phone instead. Still, Malica is still kind of a ditz with that new smart phone of hers. "Just don't accidently hang up by mistake."

My words didn't faze her, since Malica was already busy trying to figure it out. The button was on the screen somewhere, and a single mistake could hang up on accident. With a few more seconds of silent searching, Malica found what she was looking for, and gave the tough screen a press. Being on speaker phone at the same time, Malica didn't have to hold up the phone to her ear to test what she had done. "Okay, how is this?"

"Fine now. So, who was it?"

As soon as I heard the voice of the other person Malica was on the three-way with, my throat tightened a little as I kept myself silent a little bit longer, initially confused by the setup. That voice I just heard was male, not female. Despite my unbreakable trust in Malica, the thoughts in my background couldn't help from asking the question; who was this guy and what is Malica doing talking to him? I'm sure there was a good enough reason, so I didn't ask it aloud.

"It's Reed," Malica replied, knowing both I and Kenzaki could hear her at the same time. "And I have him on a three-way call. He can hear us both right now."

"Sup," I uttered, only to confirm for everyone that I could in fact hear the voice of her friend and Malica while the both of them could also hear me. Awkward as it was, I guess I didn't mind.