Long Distance Call | tayley ✓

24 | Good News

[Taylor]

I'm disrupted from my sleep earlier than I'd like, but the construction outside doesn't allow me to fall back asleep. I cover my head with my pillow, I put my earbuds in, I try listening to music. But with each attempt to dull the annoyance, it still stands out. Like it's getting even louder. So I decide that it's probably best to just wake up.

Just like every single morning, the first thing I do, besides trying to go back to sleep, is check my phone. I roll over, seeing a couple of notifications on my lockscreen. One missed call from Hayley. One unopened voicemail. Entering my phone's password, I go and check the voicemail, which I discover is from Hayley. Oh?

But instead of questioning why she had left a voicemail — because who leaves voicemails anymore — I listen to it.

At first, there's a silence. Two or three seconds of no noise. But after the brief quietness, her soft voice comes through to my end of the phone.

"Hey, um," she had begun in the message she had left hours earlier. "I was about to say that it's been days since we last spoke, but that isn't true. Considering we had spoken earlier, even though I was a little out of it. But how are you? You're asleep, obviously. Or most likely, I guess. Maybe you are awake but saw I was calling and didn't want to answer. Whatever the case, I hope that you're doing good. I just need to talk to you. You make me feel happy. Shit, okay, I just...I need to tell you this. I know I maybe shouldn't say this, but fuck it. If you really just don't like it, whatever. Don't talk to me again, whatever. Anyway, now I'm getting off topic. I like you, alright? I really, really like you. I get that you're so far, so all of that wouldn't be as convenient as liked. Fuck, what am I talking about? Like you'd actually want to be with me. I wish that you were here. Well, I hope you're having sweet dreams, and you call me when you wake up. Or text me, or just anything to show me that you're not creeped out by what I've told you. And if you are, that's okay."

My mouth remains open while listening closely to every single word she spoke. I thought I was crazy for liking her. I thought I was crazy for wanting a relationship to happen considering the distance between her and I. I doubt she'd want to be flying over or something, that would be wrong of me to force her to do.

I can't believe that she thought for even a second 'What if he doesn't like me back?' Do I like her back? Of course. Right now, I feel like a sixth grade boy who just discovered that his crush was into him. We're both acting rather childish over the whole thing, I think. Worrying the other won't like them back. But whatever, none of our childish behaviors or anything of the sort matter right now. What does matter is that these feelings of mine are mutual. Time to call her. I mean, there's a possibility that she's awake.

It's 7 AM here, which means it's....1 in the morning there. Had to take a minute to do that very basic math, leave me alone.

But I give her a call, chewing on my lip as I hear multiple rings. Just as I worry that she won't be picking up, she does just that.

Groggily, she speaks, "Hey Taylor."

The second I hear her tired voice, I fear that I'd woken her from sleep. "Did I wake you?" I ask, not wanting to become a nuisance to her. She hesitates a little bit, maybe trying to wake herself up a little bit more.

"Well, I actually just went to the bathroom, and was about to go back to sleep. But it's not way too late, so I'm down to talk if you want. Why did you call me?" she asks, yawning towards the end of her final sentence.

"I don't want to keep you awake," I say softly, a frown on my face. Completely ignoring her question, I'm now a little nervous to bring it up. Even though I know for fact that she feels the same way about me that I feel about her.

"No, no. Don't worry about that. I'm beginning to wake back up. But why did you want to talk?" she repeats her question. I wouldn't be surprised if she's growing a bit impatient with me ignoring the question, even though she only asked it twice.

"Alright. I listened to the voicemail that you left," I state, gulping. A short silence fills the call before I decide to go on.

"Look, Hayley. I like you. Wow, I really like you. Didn't think that I would be able to say that. It was obvious, wasn't it? I bet it was. Anyway, I'm already getting off topic. I tend to do that a lot. My friends hate it. I start talking about something and then start thinking of something else and immediately turn to that topic." And here I am, doing it again.

"Uh, anyway. Where was I? Oh, yes. See, I really do like you. And being so far from you sucks, but I know that I'd be with you as much as possible if I were home. But maybe if I weren't out here, then we wouldn't be in the place we are now. Maybe then I wouldn't have messaged you on Twitter while drunk, and all of this would not have happened. So..." I trail off, exhaling a heavy breath.

"Yeah?" she asks in a tone that suggests she's woken up more in the last few minutes.

"Will you be my girlfriend?" my words come out rushed. Nervous, I bite down on my lip once the words that I needed to say finally escape. The silence that immediately follows my question does not at all help.

"Yes," she finally answers after a few seconds more of silence. My entire expression changes from the nervous one that had just occupied my features to a joyful one.

Oh my god.