"I should've left my phone at home
'Cause this is a disaster"
- Lady Gaga, 'Telephone (feat. Beyonce)'
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He called me.
It was a Wednesday night and Keller and I were about to go out and grab some pizza with John when my phone rang.
“Can you answer that?” I hollered to Keller as I tugged my generic gray Oxford hoodie over my head. It wasn’t a fancy event that we were planning to have. I didn’t know who was calling me but I had no problems with someone else answering. I was still pretty spooked about the whole phone-sex thing.
I heard muffled voices from the other room when Keller replied to me, “It’s Louis.” She was obviously confused. I was obviously confused. Why would he be calling me? “It’s Louis,” Keller repeated, sounding even more confused. “And I’m going to go on a limb and say that it’s Louis, as in Eleanor’s-Boyfriend-Louis.”
I froze, my hoodie still halfway stuck on my head.
“Why is Eleanor’s boyfriend calling you?” Keller demanded.
She was being overdramatic. It was not as sketch as it sounded. I mean, it was still pretty bizarre, but it wasn’t that weird. Just because he had a girlfriend it didn’t mean that he couldn’t be friends with me. Besides, I’m awkward. And he still probably believed that not all was okay in my brain.
“I don’t know why he’s calling me,” I answered truthfully, pulling my sweatshirt down over my stomach. “What did he say?”
Keller walked into my room, covering my phone’s receiver with her hand. “He said hi and that it was Louis and then asked if you remembered him,” she whispered. Oh, whispering. That was probably a smart idea before I managed to say anything too stupid.
“And did he say why he was calling me?” I hissed.
“I’m guessing that he wants to talk. That’s why I call people on the phone.” I had forgotten how much of a smartass Keller was. She plopped my cell down into my open palms. “Talk to him.”
I shook my head frantically. “No. I don’t want to. I don’t know what to say!”
“Say whatever you said to him that would make him want to call you in the first place! Apparently you’re better at getting people’s attention than you thought. Don’t tell Eleanor.”
What the hell was that supposed to mean? “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I whisper-yelled. I didn’t know how Keller could deliver such a cryptic message like that and then just walk out of the room. “Why would I not tell Eleanor that I’m memorable- which I’m not, by the way. The only reason Louis remembers me is because I have a way of saying the filthiest things around him. I don’t think that Eleanor would be threatened by her boyfriend calling me.”
My roommate rolled her eyes at me. “Hunter. Get real. This is Eleanor that we’re talking about. She got mad at John for hanging out with her last boyfriend,” she reminded me.
Oh, yeah, I remember that. John (who is Keller’s boyfriend, in case you’ve forgotten. He’s also the head of the ‘Hunter Needs More People-Time’ Committee) happened to run into Eleanor’s boyfriend of the moment at some sports bar during some sporting event, and then Eleanor found out and flipped shit for a good three days. That was the beginning freshman year, though, and I was still brand new to this lavish English lifestyle. It was kind of like Laguna Beach but with accents. And to this day, I still don’t know what Eleanor was freaking out about.