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LATER THAT NIGHT, Valentina was lying in bed on her right side, trying to get a few more hours of some much needed sleep, when the red telephone next to her bed began ringing. She quickly sat up and ignored the wave of nausea that clouded her vision, speaking into the phone as black dots faded in and out.
"Hello?" she asked to the unknown caller. They weren't really 'unknown,' because Valentina was almost positive that it was Jonathan. There were only a small select few that called her nowadays.
As expected, the boy's voice came through a few seconds later. "Why didn't you tell me you broke your fucking nose!"
Valentina winced as his words pounded into her already aching skull, pulling the phone away from her ear to calm down. Once the thumping went away and her vision finally settled, she placed it back on her ear that was red from being pressed into her pillow for several hours.
"I've been asleep all day," she responded. She looked down to her fingers and began mindlessly picking dirt out from underneath her nails, already bored with this conversation. She didn't feel like talking about her nose, or what happened in gym class, or Billy Hargrove, or Steve Harrington.
She just wanted to sleep.
"Are you concussed? You're not supposed to sleep with a concussion!" Jonathan continued yelling. Valentina winced again, audibly this time, and the boy on the other end finally relaxed a little once he realized how loud he was.
She rubbed her forehead with the base of her palm, a yawn emitting from her mouth. She spoke through the tiredness, "No, I'm not concussed Jonathan. I'm just tired," she lied. Within another second, she added, "And my nose hurts."
A huff of laughter came through the phone. Valentina smiled instinctively at the sound before it faltered. She realized that even though this was arguably one of the worst days ever, she'd been smiling more often than normal. She smiled in gym class when Tina lifted her spirits simply by existing, she smiled when Jonathan smiled, and she smiled when Steve...
Steve.
"You there?" Jonathan called out, but no one responded.
Through the fogginess of falling in and out of sleep all day, Valentina had somehow forgotten just who exactly the boy who'd been by her side was. From the moment Billy chucked that stupid basketball at her head to when she was on the verge of breaking down in her kitchen, Steve was there. Despite their argument just hours ago, Valentina found herself wanting to smile again but she forced it down.
She took a few more seconds to collect herself before responding. "Yeah, I'm here."
It sounded like Jonathan was shuffling around as the strangled sound came through the phone. Then, he asked, "Can I come over?" Valentina figured that sound was him putting on his shoes. He already knew the answer to that question, and despite her telling him that he never needed to ask, Jonathan always did out of respect.
