Neil woke up with not even the slightest headache or nausea. This was, to him,
incredible, given the fact that he’d just been at Mary’s house the night before
and had consumed liquor in quantities that in all likelihood should have given him a hangover.
He was still tired though.
He showered and brushed his teeth to try to
wake himself up. He groggily walked downstairs and then noticed his parents
weren’t back yet. He had a text message exchange with Mary. This
resulted in him feeling worse, having now fully realized that he and Mary
weren’t going to work out.
He typed and retyped a message a few times
after their conversation died down, intending to send it to Mary. The first
draft was long and contained sappy romantic language and Neil quickly erased it
and started it again. The second draft looked a little bit more like, are you sure you don’t want to try going on a date?
He ended up saving the fourteenth draft of
his message on his phone. He realized he’d killed an hour sitting in his living
room, the television off, while he’d typed on his phone. He did not care.
He couldn’t make himself stand or reach far
enough across the couch to grab the remote controller, so instead he typed up a
new message. This one just needed a single draft, although an amount of thought
that Neil found unreasonable went into its construction.
Hey Asta,
how’s it going?
His phone buzzed to let him know he’d gotten
a reply. This all happened before Neil could rouse himself from his seat. everything is good. Asta replied, how about
you?
Neil: I’m ok.
So.... We haven’t talked in forever.
Asta: yeah
really! haha. hey so are you ok? after what happened Fri night?
Neil thought for a moment. The side of his
head itched but he didn’t bother scratching it.
Neil: I forgot
about that
Asta: forgot
about what happened Fri? it seemed pretty traumatic.
Neil: I forgot
that you always seem to know things before I tell you.
Asta: oh
Neil: But I’m
doing fine.
Asta: cool
Neil: Hey so
you wanna hang out? I don’t have anything to do today.
About a mile and a half away, Asta looked
down at her cell phone. If only she wasn’t still blocked inside of her room.
She’d have definitely said yes. She’d have done anything to get out of the
house.
To recap, she’d spent the entire day in her
room from when she’d awoken to the present moment.
Asta: not
today.
Neil: what
about tomorrow?
Asta: how does
Tuesday sound?
Asta wasn’t even completely sure it would work. Before sending it, she added, at my house, seeing as she didn’t think her parents would let her
leave to go elsewhere.
Neil: Ok. I
guess I’ll see you in school tomorrow?
Asta: yeah.
There wasn’t an agreement or anything that
established their conversation was over, but it was. Asta didn’t have much of
an excuse other than that Neil never sent anything back that day. He became
preoccupied with the return of his parents.
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