“Sure, why not? There’s tea on the table if you want some.”
Max ignores the tea and flips open his computer.
We work in companionable silence for a long while.
Try as I might, the words on my screen are gibberish. Come tomorrow, I’m going to end up deleting them all. “I’m not broken.”
“Yes, you are.” Max doesn’t even look up from his screen, which doesn’t appear to be filled with nonsense. “You were broken before this.”
How does he know that? “Why do you say that?”
“You didn’t deny it.”
Because I can’t. I stare at the blinking cursor.
“The thing is, you won’t stay broken.”
“Are you sure about that?”
Max flips the screen down and turns to me. “Yeah, I’m sure. If you wanted to stay broken, you would be hiding in that house. Not sitting here talking to me.”
“Was talking to you voluntary?” I smile over at him.
“Nope.” He winks and goes back to working.
***
Strong arms wrap around me, waking me up. “What’s going on?”
The hazy world refuses to focus.
“You fell asleep. I’m putting you in your bed before I head home,” Max says softly in my ear.
“I can walk.”
“You can’t even open your eyes. Just enjoy the ride.”
I do just that. By the time we make it upstairs, I’m mostly asleep again. Tonight can go into the dream category as well.
It didn’t really happen.
Weird Phone Calls
Dahlia
I love my job. I really do, but being sleep-deprived doesn’t make it any easier.
“You’ve reached 911. What is your emergency?” It feels like I’ve said that a thousand times today.
“Well, don’t you sound beautiful,” a male voice answers.
Weird calls aren’t anything new either, but this guy’s voice is creepy. “What is your emergency?”
“Are you as pretty as you sound?”
Definitely a creep. “You’ve reached 911. What is your emergency?”
“Definitely as pretty.”