Say Hello For Me

e i g h t || memories of us

Dedicated to @sonderingly because I love all of her short stories.

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Nessa sits at her desk with her fingers tapping on the wood as she waits for Liam's prearranged call. The clock reads exactly ten, but the phone doesn't ring until the second hand is well into the minute.

She speaks only to be cut off seconds later. "Hello, thank you for—"

"Nessa, Delilah's in the bathroom again and I have her phone," Liam interrupts Nessa as per usual.

"Straight to the point today, aren't we?"

"We don't have much time before she comes out! Rapido, rapido!"

"Lo siento, yo no comprendo."

"I was speaking in Italian, not Spanish. Get your languages correct, Nessa!"

"You're wasting time, Liam! You're late, you know?" she says casually, her eyes darting to the clock on the wall.

"What?" He sounds confused, his pitch jumping an octave at the end of his response.

"You didn't call at exactly 10:00, Liam," she admonishes and shakes her head even though she knows he can't see her. Her dark hair swishes from side to side as a result of the action.

"It's not my fault you took too long to pick up!" Liam plays offense in return, their conversation turning into a soccer game.

She's on defense right now. "It was two rings!"

"Could've saved us ten seconds!"

"Two rings is not ten seconds."

"How much do you want to bet?" he challenges her.

"I'll bet you a whole supreme pizza."

"Oh, it's so on. Whenever pizza is on the line, it becomes serious."

Right as Liam is about to hang up the phone so he can prove Nessa wrong, she shouts, "Wait, we can do this another day!"

"Why? Are you afraid you're going to lose?" is his first response. He's chuckling to himself in the background.

"Boy, stay focused!" Nessa teases before bursting out into the laughter she can't contain. "You literally have the attention span of a fly. We're supposed to be focused on Delilah. Delilah, the girlfriend you think is cheating on you, remember?"

"Damn it. Not again." Liam groans. "Delilah just turned off the water. She'll be out soon. There's just not enough time anymore."

"Did you do this on purpose?" Nessa wonders.

"Of course not! You were the one that distracted me and led this conversation off course!" He places the blame back on her.

"It's not my fault that you're distracted easily."

"Do you always insult all of your customers like this?"

"Only the ones I like."