"...Danny?"
"..."
"I can hear you breathing, dimwit."
"You still insult me, I'm offended."
"It's natural, I'm sorry."
"Don't ever apologize. You're entitled to do what you want to do."
"Are you angry at me from last night?"
"I can never be mad at you, I love you too much."
"I was looking through our scrapbook."
"What cool gadgets did you find?"
"Our first receipt to Moonstruck Diner, the one where we paid for it ourselves. We felt so grown up that day."
"We were two very accomplished fifteen year olds, weren't we?"
"We were."
"Remember when you tried biting the hamburger but your braces got caught in the bread?"
"...don't remind me."
"And the waiter you thought was hot was absolutely terrified."
"You didn't even try helping me! You were such a jerk."
"Yes, but you loved me, didn't you?"
"How could I not? You've been there through everything."
"Why do I feel like you don't anymore?"
"Because I can't love your ghost. You're haunting me, Danny. You aren't here with me, you're far away in whatever country or province you ran off to. You left me alone with your ghost that flaunts around my mind daily. You just don't understand what you meant to me."
"You don't understand what you meant to me. Poppy, these phone calls with you give me the will to move forward."
"Well, yours aren't enough. I need you here to hug me and promise me that when I wake you'll still be here."
"Close your eyes, we can pretend."
"They're closed."
"Imagine me holding you."
"While smelling like you always do, like vanilla."
"And you like maple."
"You'd hug me really tight."
"And I'd push away the strands falling from your unruly bun."
"Then I'd bite your hand for getting so close to my face."
"And I'd bite your cheek."
"Then I'd scream."
"And I'd cover your mouth."
"I'd lick your hand."
"I love you."
"I love you too. Now, come back and actually hold me."
"Soon."
"Are you serious?"
"Maybe not."
"False hope, Danny. I hate that."
"I know, but sometimes hope, even false, can be your only salvation."
"My only salvation was you."
"And Jesus, he's pretty dope."
"I can't believe you referred to Jesus as dope. You baffle me."
"I'm glad. Doesn't this feel like old times when we'd talk on the phone for hours about nonsense?"
"It does, but it still isn't as calming, because during the old times, you were a ten minute walk from where I lived."
"Now I'm a ten thousand minute walk from your house."
"I'll put on my running shoes."
"You wouldn't run that far to see me."
"I would, I love you, remember?"
"I'm honored, the Poppy Ellington loves me."
"I don't love love you, I just love you. You're the shell to my taco, Ferdinand."
"I told you never to call me that."
"Well, you aren't here to stop me, are you?"
"Touché. I honestly don't know what my birth mother was thinking while naming me. I'm just glad that Shirley saw me as a Danny."
"Yeah, you aren't classy or hot enough to be a Ferdinand."
"Shit, I have to go."
"What's wrong?"
"I think I overstayed my stay where I've been staying."
"That was just an overload of stay's. Call me later, okay?"
"I'll try, bye, I love you."
Call Ended.
