DARLING • DYLAN O'BRIEN

045 THE CALL

Bold is Dylan O'Brien
Italics is Bailey Skylar Morris

~

Hello?

Hi

Oh, is this Dylan?

Yeah... this is Bailey, right?

Yes, it is.

Good, um okay.

Okay...

How are you?

Uh, okay, I guess.

That's good.

*Silence*

No, not yet. Yes, it's him! 

Okay, but stay quiet.

Who's that?

Huh? Oh, uh it's just Meghan.

So, you're not alone.

No... but give me a sec...

Okay.

*Shuffling in the background*

Okay, I'm alone.

Okay.

*Silence*

Look, I want to know, are you going to talk or am I wasting my time here

How was Froy's visit?

Fine, why do you ask?

No reason, just curious.

Well, it was fine.

That's good. Any of the others come down to visit too?

What is this, Dylan? I'm so sick it. Just cut to the chase already.

I'm sorry.

For what? I don't get it, what is going on?

This, I don't even know what it is, but it's not going to work out.

What do you mean? Can you stop speaking in guy code, or whatever.

I'm sorry.

Quit saying sorry and just tell me what it is your sorry about and explain. Cause you sure have a lot of that to do.

I know, I'm trying.

Try harder. 

It's just hard to say.

Okay.

I've thought a lot about that day.

The one at the airport?

Yes.

What about it?

As much as I thought it was amazing at the time, I've really thought hard and it's clear that whatever happened there was a mistake.

Uh...

I'm sorry that it's not what you might have wanted to hear, I honestly didn't expect it to come-

Don't apologise, I understand.

I just hope that whatever I'm doing is not hurting you, I'm trying to do this as nicely as possible.

It's all good, you're not hurting me.

Are you sure?

Of course, I'm sure.

Okay, anyways. If the others plan things, I most likely won't be there. Just letting you know as a heads up. I'll let them all know as well.

Why though?

Just, um, to focus on my career. I have a lot of things on my plate which is also partly the reason why we can't work. I don't have time for flings. 

Right. Me too.

Oh, that's good. I'm glad you understand. I really thought you'd take it the wrong way, you know, act out or something.

Oh, no. Aha.

Thank you, for understanding I-

Sorry, to cut you short. The pizza guy arrived and I have to pay him, so bye!

*End of call*

Boys suck.

As much as I wanted to move on and forget that the entire phone call happened, I couldn't erase the conversation from my mind. His voice burned into my mind, his words repeated constantly. My head was spinning. I dropped my phone and froze, Meghan was in the lounge room waiting for my signal to allow her back into the room. 

I swear to everything good in my life that this was the most painful and heartbreaking phone call I'd ever had to endure. Something about hearing his voice again after days of waiting only to have that same voice rip me to shreds, it really cut deep. 

I have no way of explaining the raw and aching feeling in my chest, in my head, and in my entire body. I had this sudden urge to curl up in a tiny ball and hide away from all problems. To drown myself in tears that I was currently not allowing myself to cry. My body shook but nothing left my eyes. 

What a complete and utter lie, how he'd believed it, I don't know. Maybe that's just how it is when you don't care enough about somebody. You're just unaware of how you affect them. How could I have not felt hurt by his words, to not feel worthless? It was impossible. But I was definitely capable of lying to him and making him believe that I was fine. When really, I wanted to scream, to cry out to him, to curse up a storm, to smash my phone against the wall. There were a million things I could have done that could have shown exactly how I felt, but I stayed calm. 

Meghan appeared in the doorway and judging by her look, she could already sense the mood I was in. 

It took her only a second to reach me and support me. That was really what I needed at a time like that.