The Telephone: Princess, Part 4

They remained speechless. The silence broken only by fidgeting sounds as he fumbled in the dark for that Band Aid tin where he kept his smokes. The distinct "clink" of a Zippo was all she heard as he lit up.

All he heard were muffled sobbing on the other end of the line. 

"What's on your mind?" She asks. 

He said nothing but his thoughts drifted back to that 4th of July when she came out from nowhere and pecked him on the cheek. He takes a long drag... 

"Still there?"

--"Yeah, what?"

"What's happening to us?"

--"Nothing, as far as I can tell."

"I'm scared!"

--"What of?"

"That I might lose you."

--"You're losing me right now!"

"What do I have to do to keep you?"

--"You can't keep someone only for your convenience! I know we're friends but that doesn't mean I'll be a manservant at your beck and call. I have a life, you know!"

"I don't ever want us to be apart."

--"Well, that's not gonna work the way things stand between us!"

"What do you mean?"

--"As 'friends', you have to realize that you don't own my time. What if I went out with your friend, Joyce? I'm sure she won't be happy seeing you tag along when we're out and neither would she approve of our 'telethons' late at night. Things will definitely change. We will be pulled apart sooner or later!"

"B-but...I don't want Joyce for you!"

--"What? Which idiot made you in charge of my life?"

"You did, when you called that night; when you started making me laugh so hard; when you took the time to show me who I really was and what I could be! You and your uncanny, irreverent sense of humor; your sensibilities and the way you play mind games with me! It’s your voice that kept playing in my head since that night we lost touch!"

--"The hell are you talkin' about?"

"You deserve someone better; someone who knows you well enough to know what's good for you."

--"Yeah, so you're my mom now?"

"I'm a lot younger than she is!"

--"Yeah, but you sound just like her!"

"That's because I know what you want! I know what you deserve! I know who can make you happy!"

"Right! And who might that be?"

It took her no more than a few seconds to answer but it seemed like forever.

"Me..."

--"What?"

"Do I have to say that again?"

--"So that means we're 'it?'"

"Propose properly to me, please!"

At that point, it was his turn to button up...

"You're kidding, right?" He asked in disbelief.

--"In all seriousness, I never kid about my feelings!"

After a long drag on the Marlboro he asks, "Will you be my girl?"

There was a faint, "yes" on the other end of the line.

"I didn't quite catch that. Say again?"

"YES!" She said again and quipped, "Mark the date!"

He would toss and turn endlessly that night. It would be the first of only two such events in his life. He was 21.


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