the donut dialer [ongoing]

09: ❝... that asshole.❞

❝... that asshole.❞

lorelei┃parker

❁ ❁ ❁

april 15th, 5:02 p.m.

"c'mon, lorelei, you can do this. it's a simple phone call. it's just parker bennett."

lorelei began to dial the boy's phone number, her fingers shakily pressing the numbers one by one. she muttered the numbers that were written messily on a paper sticky-note under her breath.

nearly six days had passed, and parker hadn't called her once. not since the miscommunication they had.

it had taken her a while to retrieve parker's phone number out of the log archives of the telephone, but she was determined to set things right, and she luckily had her friend, vanessa, who was surprisingly good with technology.

lorelei pressed the button 'enter call' hesitantly.

brrring brrring brrring brring.

✆ call accepted ✆

"hello?"

"parker! you picked up."

"yeah. i don't know why, though. it's been a while."

"ouch. i guess i deserve that."

"hm."

"listen, parker, it was all a misunderstanding."

"what was misunderstood? i got your message loud and clear. you don't like me calling you, and it makes you uncomfortable. what more needs to be said? i'll leave you alone, if that's what you want."

"no, parker, i wasn't talking about you."

lorelei didn't want parker to leave her alone, no matter how hard she wanted to deny it. his daily calls were a routine, and she felt lost without hearing his voice for so long.

"sure. a guy you don't even know has been bugging you for the past week, and it hasn't been me."

"it's not you!"

"what did you mean, then?"

"i was talking about derrick. the way i said it to you made it seem like i was talking about you, but it was all an accident."

"wait, derrick? from school?"

"well... yeah."

"what is he doing to you?"

"um, well, he's always trying to get to be with me."

"elaborate."

"he and his friends always ask me if i can give them a ride, and then laugh afterwards. i always say no, because i don't like driving strangers in my car."

"... that asshole."

"i'm sure it's fine, it's just aggravating. he always calls me babe, too, and he flirts like crazy with me. he and his buddies think it's some kind of joke they have that i'm not in on."

"listen to me, lorelei. do you know them? or what they're like?"

"well... no."

"i do, and they're a bunch of assholes. next time he goes near you, flip him off. if he tries touching you, you kick him in the balls."

"he puts his arm around my shoulders in the hallways and acts like we're together. his friends whoop and holler at me. it's so annoying, i don't get what they're doing."

"stay away from derrick. he's bad news, and i don't trust him. okay?"

"sure. parker, are you okay?"

"no. i need to go do something. call me tomorrow, the usual time."

"what—"

*b e e p  b e e p *

✆ call disconnected ✆

lorelei put the phone down with a heavy sigh. millions of thoughts raced through her head.

"he's so weird; but it's a good weird."