I'm On Your Side

3 | I excel at the one thing people hate the most: hurting people's feelings

A LOUD RINGING disturbs me in my sleep and I open my eyes in panic as I find the source of the sound. It can't be my Echo Dot because I don't recall putting an alarm yesterday and because it usually plays a song for my alarm, not this crummy ring tone. I find the source of the sound―my phone―and clutch it like it's a culprit, which I guess in this case it is. I look at my phone and realize some random phone number is trying to call me. I catch a glimpse of the time: 6:30. At this time in the morning? Who in the right mind would call this early? Unless they're in a different time zone, but in this case I'm assuming they're in the Eastern Standard Time Zone. I click on the decline button and go back to sleep, figuring it's probably a scam call.

The blanket I was once sleeping in suddenly doesn't feel cozy anymore. Thanks a lot, scam caller! I roll my eyes as I grab my phone and scroll on Instagram―something I do less often as compared to TikTok. Before, I used to watch everyone's story, but recently, I've just been searching up influencers' and celebrities' accounts and watching their stories because their stories look and sound more appealing since they're basically living the life. I click on Charli D'Amelio's profile just as my phone's ringer goes off. My phone almost falls onto my face, but I catch it in the nick of time. I read the contact number and realize it's the same number calling me as before.

I roll my eyes. Seriously? Just when I was about to go on Instagram, this scam caller has to call me again!

I decline the call (again) and click on Charli D'Amelio's story, but as my eyes watch her Instagram story, my mind is glued to the scam caller (if it even it is one) calling me twice. I mean, I don't remember a scam caller calling me twice. Okay, well, they have, but they haven't called consecutively. I exit out of Instagram and go to my call history, hovering over the most recent phone number. A million cons of what might happen if I click the phone number hover in my head, but, without even thinking, I press on the phone number―something I've never done before, considering I'm always anxious whenever it comes to making decisions, especially the teeniest things (okay, I'm exaggerating).

My phone makes a sound as it connects to the phone number. As I wait for the person to accept the call, I suddenly wonder if the caller might be Mason. As crazy as it sounds, it actually seems plausible because no one has ever called me at this time in the morning. My phone beeps, indicating that the person on the other side accepted the call, and I stare at my phone screen. I didn't expect the person to accept the call this quick, but then again, they are trying to reach me.

"Hello?" a familiar voice says and my breath hitches.

"Um, hi," I respond meekly.

"Oh, hi! It's you. For a minute I thought I typed in the wrong number or something, but, I guess I didn't," Mason says in what seems like relief.

"Yeah..." my voice trails off awkwardly.

"You're probably wondering why I was calling you," Mason says.

No, I was wondering why water isn't wet, I think, sarcastically. "Yeah," I say, unsure if I should include anything else.

"Yeah, well, I was just wondering if we could do your activity today because I'm busy tomorrow and Monday."

Shit! I forgot about that. "Yeah, um, what time are you free?"

"Any time today," Mason says.

"Oh, okay," I say.

"Do you have anything in mind for what to do?" Mason asks.

"Um," I scramble for something that I do "daily" because I honestly can't think of one thing that seems as casual as going to a soccer practice. I mean, the only daily things that I do are shit, eat, and sleep.