Broken

• Chapter 2 •

"Clementine..."

I smile at the sound of his voice, "Eric..." I match his dark tone of voice and we both burst out laughing.

"IT'S BEEN SO LONG!" he screams dramatically through the phone.

"I know, an entire eight hours since we've spoken. How ever did you manage?" I mock as I pace around my room.

"Cried myself to sleep, to be honest."

I laugh at this, it's quiet for a moment. I can feel his smile from the other end of the line. "I miss you... Coming home anytime soon?" his voice softens. He asks this at least once a week.

"I miss you, too. Keep asking, maybe the answer will change."

"Then I'll keep asking..." he says softly.

My heart skips a beat and I'm rendered silent. He clears his throat, "How long has it been since we last saw each other?"

"Eight years, four months and three days," I don't skip a beat.

He snorts, "Pft, who's counting?"

"Don't act as though you haven't been missing me every day," I snap.

"I won't."

I glance down at the floor and back up to my mirror, realizing that I am smiling like a fool. I turn away from the mirror, embarrassed that I've caught myself smiling over him.

"... I can literally feel you blushing right now," he adds after a moment of silence.

I blush even more in mortification and laugh despite myself, "Oh, shut up."

His laugh roars across the phone, making me laugh even harder.

I clear my throat, "Anyway. Mom wants to tell me some news tonight. At dinner. With my dad. In public."

"Oh, no shit? Damn... Where do you think they'll ship you off to? My bet is on Zimbabwe. Super safe. No psychopathic serial killer daddies. Only thing you gotta worry about is malaria, Ebola, bilharzia, filariasis, tuberculosis, measles, typhoid, rabies—"

"Okay, I get it. Ha ha, hilarious," I grin from ear-to-ear, desperately trying not to give him the satisfaction of letting him know he's funny by laughing. What an insensitive ass.

"What do you look like now, anyway? I tried googling you, nothing..." his voice is curious.

"Yeah, well mom did a good job hiding me. Let's just say I look like Beyoncé, but hotter."

"Aurora has many talents, but one of them was not to produce a child hotter than Beyoncé. A) Pretty sure that's impossible and B) Is it because of... You know..?" he whispers.

I roll my eyes. "He's not Voldemort, you can say his name. Yeah, I guess it's because of him. Not that it should matter anymore, I mean he's in jail," I huff in frustration.

"... Right. One sec," I hear him shuffling around and setting his phone down.

His mother yells at him to come eat breakfast and I smile to myself, I miss them. He yells something in return and picks the phone back up. I hear him sigh heavily. "I'm sorry, Minty. I gotta go, don't give Mr. Knobhad such a hard time you demon child," he scolds.

I snort. "Maybe he shouldn't insist on having lessons at seven in the morning. I could barely keep my eyes open, it's like he wants me to die of boredom."

"Still no excuse for putting laxatives in his tea."

I laugh at the memory. "Dude, what are you talking about? That was the best idea I've ever had. He literally shat his pants and ran from the apartment. It was brilliant," I'm still laughing.

He joins me. "Remind me never to get on your bad side," he says after a while of us laughing like the rotten people we are on the inside.

"A wise choice. Now go on, I've gotta get to work and you have to go be spoon-fed by your mommy," I satirize him.

"Piss off."

I laugh as I hang up the phone. Damn. I miss him, I miss my best friend.