adored

8

Duo perspective, liyana and leo:

Liyana clutched the small, crumpled peice of paper in her hands in a state of indecisiveness. Though she wanted to hear to hear his voice that sounded like a warm blanket to her despite one that's reserved, she couldn't bare any awkwardness. 

It would indeed lead her to slam the phone down and block him forever.

Eventually she plucked up the courage, typed the number and pressed the call button. The ringing tone followed the erratic nature of her heart at that moment and thrummed with nervousness. 

The ringing stopped and she heard a few seconds of white noise before she spoke, "uh hello?"

It was an unintended question rasped half breathily, which she hoped he couldn't detect in her voice.

Leo DeMarco lay on his plushy sofa staring into space until a few seconds ago. To say he wasn't waiting for a phone call would be a lie, his unintentional checking every so often finally being for good reason when it started belling. He held his breath as he waited for the other side to speak, unsure if Ishan was trying to prank call him again on yet another one of his family members phones. 

Her voice came out like a slice of chocolate cake; velvety and sweet, and his heart may have done a flip at the sound. 

He was about to reply when she carried on,

"Don't worry, my life's not at risk from bears."

'Worried' was not how he'd describe his feelings right now. Anxious? Yes. Confused? Also yes. Unusually lighthearted? Another yes.

"Oh well that's a relief, I was about to jump in my car to come and rescue you."

Liyana had gathered that he didn't joke often from the few interactions she had with him, so was unsure if he was teasing or dead serious. For all she knew, this man had his car keys in hand.

If she was closer to him, she would've straight up said 'Well come then' but to not scare the poor guy away decided against it.

"So whatcha upto Mr?"

"sofa watching"

It was the first thing that came to Leo's mind, but straight after it slipped through his lips he recoiled at his inability to reply in a normal manner.

"What?"

"Its like bird watching but for some reason ive been staring at the fabric of my sofa for like 10 minutes"

"Oh"

"Too honest?"

In honesty she liked his answer, it was weird, kinda silly but genuine in a way that 'I'm goods' isnt. It fely like a step towards something, but liyana questioned if her delusional-ness was talking.

"No, no. Well in that case im blanket watching. Its like bird watching but ive been staring at the underside of my duvet after i cocooned myself in it."

"Sounds like a lovely view."

"Rivals the Maldives honestly." Liyana paused before adding, "Not that i've ever been. But y'know that's what a bucket lists for."

For a second his mind wandered off to a realm where he contemplated what travelling with a girl like Liyana would be like. However that thought was cut off all too quickly when he tried to ground himself back in realty. It didn't make sense, none of it did and that made Leo's head hurt.

The unlikely pair talked some more, the conversation consisting about him bringing up the fact that hes taking his nephew to an aquarium tomorrow and Liyana blubbering about jellyfish in excruciating detail. 

At some point Liyana heard a muffled yawn, as though it had tried to be concealed, which indeed set her off as she yawned too.

"Okay, last thing before i bid you farewell seeing as your tired. But y'know what would be so cool?"

"No idea"

"If we got lotsa people and did an experiment to see how long we could keep the yawning chain going. I bet we could get into the hundreds"

"Let's do it. First you just need to kidnap hundreds of people"

"We could bribe them."

"With what?"

"brownies?"

"Could work."

"Mhm."

This time Liyana yawned first, before they bid goodnight to each other.

"twas nice talkin to ya, goodnighttt"

"Goodnight Samantha."

The call ended before she got the chance to correct him. 

But how do you tell someone your name isnt your name after they've been using it ever since you met?