An Hour Ahead

Chapter 2: On a Night Like This

It's Friday. It's been two days since the last time we video chatted and I've been doing a lot of thinking. I unlocked my phone and was welcomed with the usual home page full of apps. I clicked on Skype, typed in my oh so uncreative password and logged in. I looked at the clock and stared at it until the minute hand passed the 6. I locked my phone and continued doing my homework. A semantic map due for History, a workbook page for French, and a worksheet for Math. The blue clock ticked and tocked for what seemed to have been forever. I swiveled around in my wheeled desk chair to get a glance at the clock again. 7:56. I proceeded with my assignments until my phone lit up and gave me a new notification. "Skype message from Alex." My heart practically pounced out of my chest and it felt like the butterflies in my stomach were on steroids. I took a silent, deep breath and began to type.

"Hey Alex :) how are you?"

"Nothing really. Just chillin, being bored. How about you?"

I shoved my homework to the back of my desk until it reached the wooden frame and threw my blue ink pen in my bag. I wanted to talk to him. "Oh, same here.. doing nothing." The palms of my hands began to sweat and blood was rushing to my cheeks, flushing them red. I don't know why, but I was nervous.

"Ahaha.. well, do you wanna video chat then?"

Oh, honey! In a heartbeat!.. but I attempted to keep myself calm and collected. "Yeah, sure :)" I smirked to myself. I quickly grabbed my MacBook and pressed the power button. C'mon, baby. Load faster! I searched for Skype in the Finder and typed in my log-in and password. 

* doo do do, duh doo... doo do do, duh doo... doo do do, duh doo *

I waited for the Skype ring tone to ring at least 6 times before answering. I hovered the teeny hand icon over the green telephone that would accept the call, and clicked on it. I adjusted myself in my seat and combed my dark brown hair with my fingers while the video was still loading. And there he was. Tonight, in a grey American Eagle cashmere sweater. He typed "Hey" in the chat box at the bottom of the screen and gave me a reasurring grin. God, there he goes again. What a beautiful man. Mmm! I couldn't help but giggle a little, realizing my absolute craziness. 

"Hey you :)" I replied.

We talked for at least 6 hours that night. I was extremely exhausted from a long day at school, but it was all worth it. I felt worse for Alex because he was an hour ahead. However, he reassured me that "he liked talking to me, and it didn't matter what we talked about."

We played truth or dare. It was pretty.. uhh... what's the word... oh yes, entertaining. I dared him to put on his hockey jersey and model it for me. It was red with a logo that looked like a Detroit Red Wings symbol. His features have been chiseled by the gods, let me tell you. He dared me to put on the "walking home face," which was a face he showed me that he used everyday when he walked home from school. It's this serious, intimidating, fierce look that would apparently ward off any potential jerk offs from messing with you or starting a fight with you. He showed me while I tried my hardest to make him laugh. He was frozen. Expressionless. The way he's supposed to be when he walks home from school. Tough kid, that Alex. When it was my turn to make the "walking home face,"  he said random things that made me die of laughter. "Blue pineapple." Like what? Why did I laugh at that? He teased me, but it wasn't bad. You know that feeling you get when you can play around with a guy you really like? That's what I was feeling the whole conversation. 

When I logged out of Skype after an entire night of talking to him, I smiled all the way to bed. I made myself comfortable, blanketed by my blue bedsheets and closed my eyes, hoping to dream of him. I replayed the conversation in my head numerous times until the vision of his face calmed my mind to its rest.