The Expansion of the Universe

Thirty-Four | "We'll just have to wait some more."

Elijah did not call the day after he was supposed to. And then the next day passed in silence. And then the next, and the next, and the worry in her gut only grew larger.

On the fifth day, she finally decided that she would have to call him.

It wasn't all that daunting, since they'd been talking over the phone regularly, but she still worried about what he would tell her. Since he hadn't called when he said he would, did that mean that he had learned something awful? What if he'd been in an accident, and she hadn't heard about it after all this time?!

No, wait, think rationally.

If he had been in an accident, she was certain that Austin would know, and Austin would also know that she would want to know.

Okay, so, probably not an accident.

Then, that left the 'bad news' theory, which was terrifying in its own way. Elijah hadn't needed much support from her so far in their friendship-turned-relationship, and she worried that she was ill-equipped to offer said support, considering that she was such a mess, herself.

Still, she cared deeply for Elijah, and she would try her best to give him what he needed.

With that though in mind, she picked up her cell phone and selected his contact.

Ringing sounded. Once, twice, three times, fou—it was cut off abruptly by the sound of his voicemail, indicating that he had declined the call. She tried again. This time, the call went straight to voicemail.

Pulling the phone from her ear, she eyed it curiously, as though it would tell her what was going on.

Was he in the middle of another dinner, maybe? Or a lunch? A glance at the clock showed it was too early for dinner, so he was probably at lunch with his parents or other friends. Yeah, that was likely the reason.

Okay, so she could wait and call again later.

***

Liza called later that night and got the same silence

She called the following morning and received more silence.

Again and again she called, for two days, and received nothing.

She pondered over calling Austin to see if maybe he knew whether or not Elijah was unharmed, but ultimately decided against it. Elijah was fine—his continued declining of her calls was an indication of that.

Instead of attempting to call him yet again, she changed tactics and called Whitney, if only so the woman could keep her from falling into a total panic.

"I don't know what to do," she was telling the woman for the fifth time in a row, when Whitney finally interrupted.

"Liza, I understand why you're concerned, and you have every reason to be."

Her eyes widened. "Well, that doesn't help at all!" Whitney was supposed to make things better, not freak her out more.

Whitney, of all things, smiled.

"Liza, I don't mean to sound as though I am mocking you, because I am certainly not. However, it must be said that this uncertainty is part of building relationships with others."

Liza knew that. She did. She knew that, but it still sucked.

"Sometimes, the way individuals process things can be frustrating, especially when we don't expect that behavior from them under normal circumstances. Nonetheless, we have to understand that everyone has their own method of digesting upsetting information and do our best to respect that method."