✸ ANYONE ELSE chapter twenty-one ━━ i'll always have time
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WHEN STEVEN'S PHONE rang early on a morning in July, he was quick to sit up and answer it. Normally, he was the absolute opposite of a morning person. He liked to sleep in late, and had he received an early call only half a year ago, there was no way he would have answered.
Now, however, he was always hyper aware of every call he received, hoping that it would be from her. He didn't know what he wanted her to say. Everything would be better than silence, but in his dreams she would say something along the lines of, Hey, Steven, I'm sorry for ghosting you for three months, but I still love you just as much as you love me, but he knew that was completely unrealistic and selfish, and he knew that that definitely was not how their first conversation in almost a quarter of a year would go.
When he picked up the phone, he was prepared to be disappointed yet again. It would probably be a spam call like the last time.
He had almost rejected the call out of habit, but then it occurred to him: it wasn't a spam call.
There, on his phone screen, was her name lightened up in white letters with the small heart afterwards.
He hurried to pick up, afraid that she would change her mind and hang up if he wasn't fast enough.
"Hi," He could hear how her voice shook, even through the phone.
"Hi," He replied.
It didn't matter what she said next, he would still shower her with love and make sure that she would never keep him out like that again.
He was preparing himself for anything, but still, he found himself taken aback by how their conversation ended up going.
She cleared her phone across the line. "Hi Steven, um, have you heard from Conrad lately?"
"No, I haven't," He sat up straighter in bed, "Why? Has something happened?"
"He took off from summer school a couple of days ago and he hasn't come back." She tried to sound calm, but he saw right through her act. "He missed two exams. He'd never do that." Her voice was almost desperate, almost panicky.
Steven was now extremely awake. He rubbed at his eyes to remove the last bit of sleep. "Does your dad know?"
"Yeah."
He waited for her to continue, to explain what Adam Fisher would be doing to find his son, but then remembered that Julie's father wasn't like his own.
"Well, thank you for answering. I better get back to looking for him."
She was trying to end the call. The first kind of contact they've had for twelve weeks. He couldn't let her.
"I can help you." He needed to talk to her. "What if we drove up to his university together and looked for him? I promise I'll drive,"
She didn't answer, and for a moment, he thought she'd might have hung up, but her answer came. "If you have time?"
He wanted to scream at her right there. He wanted to shout that he'd always have time for her. He would drop anything and everything if she needed him to. But instead, he just answered with a smile prominent in his voice: "Of course I have time. I'll pick you up in a bit,"
She thanked him quietly before hanging up, and as soon as the call was over, Steven hurried to get out of bed, throw on some clothes, and pack a quick overnight bag. He didn't know how long they would be gone, so he threw in an extra of his t-shirts for her to sleep in, before making his way downstairs.
He needed to get away without his mother or younger sister finding out. He didn't think that any of the Fisher siblings would want to face Belly anytime soon.
Laurel was ironing clothes in the kitchen. She was staring off into nowhere, her forehead one big crease.
"Mom?" He asked.
Startled, she looked at him. "What? What's up?"
"I'm going to stay at Will's for the night," He smiled at the older woman as he made his way towards the door. "Might stay another night, too,"
His mother merely nodded before going back to her ironing, so he hurried out the door and into his car.
The car ride from his house to the Fisher's house took just above two hours. Normally, he would spent such a long car ride listening to music, but every song reminded him her, and made him even more nervous. He tried to spent the time thinking about what he was going to say when he saw her again, but he couldn't find the right words. For the probably hundredth time in just half a year, she had made him speechless.
At first, he only saw her. She was standing on the front porch, waiting for him. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she was wearing a pair of loose jeans with a black summer top. A green bag was slung over her shoulder, and she was gripping the strap extremely tightly.
When he got a bit closer, he noticed the third Fisher sibling standing a bit behind her.
Of course. Jeremiah was coming too.
Why would he even think that it would just the two of them? Jeremiah was Conrad's brother. He must have been worried for him too. He had no right to feel disappointed when he spotted the taller guy behind her.
He tried to push away the feeling, but he couldn't. He was disappointed that it wouldn't be just him and Julie going on a trip together.
✸ author's note ✸ i now realise that i might have made the playlist a bit too sad...
