Banana Girl: a thatcherjoe love story

Chapter 31- The phone rings in the mornings.

Early the next morning, I awoke to the sound of Joe's phone buzzing on his bedside table.
"Joe!" I whispered, "Joe! Your phone's going off!"
His eyelids slowly opened as he cleared his throat and lifted his head.
"What?" He moaned, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and running a hand through his caramel-coloured hair.
"Your phone! It's buzzing!"
"Oh. Cheers, Babe."
He leaned over to his phone and pressed 'accept,' then held it to his ear.
"Yes, this is he. Who? Oh, thanks for calling back! Yeah! Thursday? Uh... Yeah, yeah. That sounds good. Thursday, then? Yep. Okay. Thanks, I'll call you later. Okay. Yep. Bye!"
"Who was that?"
"Hm? Oh, no one you know."
"Who don't I know?"
"You don't know them."
"That's evident, but you could still tell me."
"It was just this guy."
"This guy?"
"Yes. This guy. Why are being so-"
"I'm not being 'so' anything."
"Then stop asking weird questions."
"Stop giving weird answers."
"I will."
"Well, so will I."
"Good."
"Great."
"Wonderful."
"Fantastic."
"Okay then."
"Fine."
A moment of silence followed; neither of us knew what to do.
"I'm going in the shower." I said.
"You do that."
"I need you."
"Aw, I need you, too." He smiled, his face lighting up: he hated it when we fought, I knew that much.
"No, I mean, I need you to help me in the shower," I gestured to my cast, "see?"
"Oh."
"Yeah. I still need you, though."
"Yeah, whatever," he smiled.
__________________

"He wouldn't tell you?"
"No! Nothing!"
I was confused, and even a little worried, about his phone call the other day, so I went to my best friend, (and relationship guru) Zoe.
"Huh. Weird."
"I know! He usually tells me everything. Well, I thought he does."
Zoe was staring into space and rubbing her 4-month-pregnant belly: a new habit she'd picked up as the (unborn) baby had started kicking.
"And he still hasn't phoned back, or hinted, or said anything?"
"No! Not a damn thing!"
"Hm. Maybe it's a surprise!"
"I doubt it. He's rubbish at keeping secrets."
"Yeah."
Suddenly, she gasped.
"Oh. My. God."
"What?"
"What if he's gonna propose?!"
"Nah," I dismissed the idea instinctively, "we've talked about it-and mutually agreed-we won't get married for a while yet."
"Oh, yeah, that's true."
"Although he idea doesn't scare me as much any more."
"Good. I guess."