Wrong Number

Telephone Line

Song: Telephone Line

Artist: Electric Light Orchestra

^^^

Part 2: Telephone Line

Are you sure about that, Quinny Bear?

I reread his response over and over again, hoping I'd be able to process exactly what I read. Tylor was Mystery? That couldn't have been right. By this point, he would have told me if he was Mystery. There wasn't any reason for him to keep this a secret from me. He wouldn't keep it a secret.

Yet, the more I thought about it, the more everything lined up with him being Mystery. Mystery asked what my favorite song was, and at Tylor's concert, he sang it. When I asked for Tylor's phone number, he told me he wanted to keep his personal and private life separate. When I told Tylor about calling things off with Clare, Mystery stopped asking about her every time we talked.

Even as everything clicked, I didn't want it to. Why didn't he tell me? Was he messing with me? Did he not think of us as friends?

I cared about him, loved him for fuck's sake. I didn't care about him keeping his identity a secret as long as I didn't lose him. I'd forgive him for it, but I had to know why.

I called Mystery's number. Since he practically gave away his identity, he shouldn't have been scared to pick up the phone. Except he didn't. It dialed out until it went to voicemail. Tylor's voicemail. If I had called Mystery only once, I would have known the truth.

If I were an asshole, I would have called Mystery a long time ago to see what would have happened. If I had, who's to say we would still be as good of friends as we currently were?

I called again, desperate to talk to him. I had to know why. He had to have had a good reason for not telling me, and I needed to hear it. Each time his phone rang, I'd hold on to hope through the constant ringing that he would pick up, but it always rang through to voicemail. It didn't matter how many times I called him; he was not planning on answering. Part of me wanted to go over to his house and bang on his door until he told me the truth, but he was going through a tough time with his family. If he wasn't answering my calls, hopefully he was talking to Ryder.

I couldn't imagine what he was going through. I didn't have a brother, and I was the oldest in my family. The closest I could get to his situation would be finding out that Stacy was my actual birth mother. I'd feel confused and hurt that no one told me, but even if I could imagine it, I didn't know how it would actually feel to have her as my mom. My mom was my mom. Ryder was his brother. Or at least he was supposed to be. It didn't matter that Ryder acted as his dad; Ryder was always his brother. There was a truth to that that solidified who they were. Now that was gone.

As much as I wanted to talk to Tylor about everything, I knew I wouldn't get my answers from him tonight. The only other person who knew about Mystery was Simon, and he thankfully answered his phone.

"What's up?"

"Tylor just told me he was Mystery. Well, more like Mystery called me Quinny Bear, but Tylor is the only one who calls me that. And when I tried to call him, it went to Tylor's voicemail," I explained as I paced my room.

"Wow... Okay."

"Yeah, and he won't answer his phone. I don't get what the hell is going on right now. I mean, why didn't he tell me he was Mystery!?"

"He was going to tell you."

I stopped in place and snarled. "You knew?"

"Yeah. Tylor told me a few weeks ago," he replied. "He wanted advice on how to tell you."