misconfiguration // for holley

i

"who the hell are you?"

"my name's aria. i picked up ty's phone last night."

"i'm really still asleep."

"my bad," the girl on the other end of the line replies. "they just gave me your number last night and i figured i'd try you once."

"well, alright. but, i'm gunna lie back down now. i'll text you when i get up maybe?"

"okay!" the girl, promptly labelled aria, replies eagerly on the other end. with that, i promptly hang up the phone, calling ty.

"what the hell is your problem?"

"she wanted your number. you need it."

"i have sadie," i respond grittily. after this summer, i know i don't have sadie, and ty does too.

"just, talk to her. the least you could do is make a friend, il."

"that's not so relevant to my character, is it?"

"if you don't remember, you made enough of a friend in me to save your ass a few times."

"good night, tyler."

"good morning, iliad." clicking off the call, i roll back over. this is almost a habit for us. i've found myself more able to sleep during the day, and they think i'm crazy for it.

somewhere along the line i was about to get busted for something in school and ty got me out of it. end of story, they're my best friend. i can't even remember what it was. i'm not particularly an honor student, though. mistakes have been made.

ty's a tiny ginger, with a clear despise for the gender binaries and a conspiracy theory for every situation. i've learnt to get through to them, i suppose. i've also learnt to be better about pronouns. meanwhile, they do their best to throw my number out to every questioning girl they meet, in an attempt to pull me out of the closet. most recent in this quest is sadie anderson, who has screwed me over one too many times to count.

sadie was a shorter girl, who was into metal and piercings. even if she were male, she was not the type i'd have brought home. if she weren't sixteen, she'd have about twenty four tattoos by now, and her hair is so black that it shines blue. she was fun to kiss, but rough to talk to. she followed a long list of other failed attempts, including a girl named joli that was practically a speed date, and a few guys that my straight friends had already burned through.

i try to roll over so i can hold my pillow the way i need to so i can fall asleep, but my phone vibrates on the other side of my bed.

[Unknown Number]: hey, i'm sorry, i kinda pushed tyler into giving me your number :o don't blame them for this

[Iliad Garner]: call me back. i hate texting

[Unknown Number]: i thought you were sleeping? unless you're a wicked sleep talker!

[Iliad Garner]: you woke me up now. call