(555) 011-1482: Me, too.
So I pressed play.
The familiar soundtrack swelled through the stillness, low piano notes threading into the air like a second heartbeat. I’d chosenTwilightfor a reason. It was our movie—mine and Candace’s—our comfort when life tilted sideways. A comfort worn smooth over the years. Tonight, it felt fitting. Poetic, even.
The screen flickered, and my phone buzzed beside me.
(555) 011-1482: Forgot how seriously this movie takes itself in the first five minutes.
A ghost of a smile tugged at my lips. Not quite humor. Not devastation either. Just… a pause. A step forward.
Me: Just wait until Edward shows up. Peak brooding.
(555) 011-1482: Prepared accordingly.
I curled deeper into the couch, blanket gathered tight around me, his messages threading through the movie’s rhythm. Each buzz softened something sharp inside me. Each teasing line chipped away at the ache.
And maybe that was okay.
Maybe it was okay to laugh. To let something good touch the edges of all this pain.
Maybe the good didn’t erase the hurt.
Maybe it only proved that something real had survived it—that beneath all the wreckage, something between us was still breathing.
For two hours, I’d almost forgotten.
The lie.
The betrayal.
The hollow ache lodged beneath my ribs.
Even the voices had dulled—no longer a roar, just a low, uneasy vibration at the base of my skull.
(555) 011-1482: Thank you.
I stared at the message, then licked a smear of melted chocolate from my fingers—red M&M shell cracked and forgotten on the blanket.
Me: For what?
(555) 011-1482: For this. For responding. For it all.
Relief and resentment sat side by side in my chest, neither willing to yield. My fingers hovered above the screen, unsure which one to let speak.
The words that came were simple—born of truth and spite.
Me: Don’t thank me. Prove you’re not a piece of shit.
A beat later—
(555) 011-1482: I will.
Me: So what do we do now? And don’t say “take it one step at a time.”
There was a pause, longer than normal. I watched the credits roll across the screen—past the leads and into prop design.
(555) 011-1482: I’m not sure.
