"luke? about what you said about constants- what if one doesn't have any?"
"mikey, you have your cats. you have the city. you have me. those are constants. hell, even shitty servo donuts are constants."
"but what if one day you don't answer. what if my cats die. what if one day i move. luke there's no such things as constants. everything is temporary."
"mike, are you wandering around the city?"
"no."
"don't lie to me. did you smoke anything?"
"...yes. to both."
"mikey..."
"i'm sorry. everything just came crashing down after you said that the other day and i'm sorry for not showing up to school and i'm sorry for even calling you in the first place and i'm sorry for lov-"
"michael, please go back to your apartment. you need to sleep. please, for me. please show up to school tomorrow, it'll be friday. then only a couple more weeks until graduation. okay?"
"but luke, what if things don't go right? what if something goes wrong?"
"then we'll deal with it. call me, or i'll call you. just please go home so i can stop worrying about where you are right now. you're high, thinking too much, and not at home. you could be at a bridge or at the edge of a freeway right now for all i know."
"but i'm not. why don't you trust me?"
"because michael. please head home. where are you right now?"
"i don't know. near a bar?"
"michael, i'm at home, and my parents took my keys. be more specific."
"i'm close to my apartment, i know this bar. i'm about a block from home."
"good. do you have your keys?"
"yes?...yes. i do."
"great. how close are you now?"
"i see the building."
"be careful."
"i know."
"so tell me about peach and plum."
"oh. peach is great. she's peachy. she likes people and purrs a lot. plum likes to sleep. she's like me."
"that's nice. how small are they right now?"
"okay, so you know the size of a converse, right? yeah they're a bit smaller than that."
"damn."
"i know."
"are you in your apartment yet?"
"huh? what, yeah."
"mikey, please go to sleep. i'll be on the other side of the phone whenever you need me, okay?"
"okay, i'm tired. i don't think i'm going to school tomorrow. is that okay?"
"yeah, its fine, its 5 am. did you stay out all night?"
"probably. everything's hazy. like, foggy-hazy. blurry-hazy."
"bad-hazy?"
"ye. bad-hazy."
"go to sleep mikey, you need some rest."
"do you promise to be here when i wake up?"
"yes. i'll always be here."
