dan. my phone rings at exactly 1:32 in the morning. i'm awake, but that's not the point.
"hello?"
it's phil.
"it's phil."
"i can hear that."
the line is silent, and i lean back against my wall, smiling softly, wrapping my blanket around my shoulders.
"why'd you call?"
"i dunno."
"really? you called me at 1:32 in the morning and you don't know why?"
phil laughs, and his 1:32 voice sounds crackly and tired and happy and makes the corners of my lips quirk up.
"i do know."
"yeah?"
"yeah."
"well go on then, lester. i'm missing out on important time that i could be not sleeping."
"i was just wondering if you wanted to hang out tomorrow."
at this, i laugh out loud, clap a hand over my mouth, not wanting to wake my parents up.
"you called me in the middle of the night to see if i wanted to hang out tomorrow?"
"yes... and i was lonely."
"you were lonely, huh? i don't know if i can fix that, i'm all the way across town."
i hear him sigh over the phone.
"i know."
i pause, let my breath freeze into clouds in the cold air.
"but what if i wasn't?"
"what do you mean?"
"i'm just saying, what if, hypothetically, i were to find myself outside your window in, i don't know, a hypothetical twenty minutes?"
"i'd, hypothetically, say it's very cold outside, dan."
"and i'd hypothetically say back that i'm already putting on a coat and walking out of my front door."
"dan! really?"
"hypothetically."
"you're so dumb."
"see you in twenty."
phil laughs.
"okay."
