Page 10 of Grave Misgivings
“Hello?” I answered, expecting to hear a familiar voice on the other end of the phone, like Katy.
But all I hear is heavy breathing.
I roll over in my bed, wiping my eyes. If this is some asshole’s idea of a prank call...
“Hello?” I try again, thinking maybe, justmaybe, it’s a wrong number, or a butt dial, or?—
I pull the phone away from my ear, glancing at the name in the dark, my entire body going numb as I read the caller ID.
Geo.
The heavy breathing sounds louder, and in the distance I hear music. Heavy bass and thumping accompanying what sounds like Ava Max in the background.
I swallow harshly as I roll over on my side, phone clutched to my ear like it is a goddamn lifeline.
It’s been ten years.
Ten fucking years.
I’d thought about this day. Fantasized about it even, especially in those early days after he left for L.A.
I used to sit in my bedroom with my acoustic guitar, pouring out my heart into my journal or my sketchbook, and fantasize that he’d call me, out of the blue, and tell me he couldn’t do this thing—the band, Hollywood, everything—without me.
That he was coming home tome.
But even then, I knew it was nothing more than a fantasy. Because Geo Graves was meant for bigger things than Posdosh, Arizona, and even if he wasn’t...
He wasn’tgay, like me.
After a year, I gave up pining and hoping he’d come to his senses and come back home. And after my twenty-first birthday, I’d decided it was time I put myself out there and move on. From Geo Graves, from wanting a man who had no clue how I really felt about him.
Somehow, I managed to rise from the wreckage Geo left in his wake and I built myself a damn good life over the last ten years.
On my own.
Withouthim.
I’m successful, I have a decent following for my music, I’ve got my own fucking house, and I’ve got friends.
Okay, so it’s mainlyGeo’s sister, Katy, but still.
Yet everything I’d worked so hard for, everything I thought I was, flew out the fucking window at two-thirty in the morning the moment I heard his voice.
“Geo, is that you?” I ask, holding onto the last shred of hope that this is some fucked up prank call, or an accident of some sort.
That I amimagininghis deep breathing on the other end of the phone because it is fucking two-thirty, and I am alone.
And when I am alone, my thoughts often stray to Geo Graves, even though I don’t want them to.
Silence, and another heavy breath.
He sounds drunk.
I close my eyes, realization striking me. He probably has no idea he’s calledme.
I shake my head, knowing it’s probably best to just hang up.
To preserve my own dignity, and his.
