Play Pretend

11: Phone Call

11: Phone Call

Connor Rogers

To say I didn't at least try to make up an excuse to call Eleanor would be an obvious understatement.

I literally stayed up the entire night, phone in my hand, just staring at her contact number on and on for hours, trying to think of something to say if I were to call her.

But after hours and hours of pondering, I still got nothing. Infuriated by my immature actions, I chucked my phone across my room and buried myself in my bundle of sheets. But even so, my thoughts were still running wild, surrounding one person only.

Eleanor... I wonder if she would think about calling...

* * *

Eleanor Kings

I stayed up late and waited.

For the first time in my life, I actually stayed up in bed to wait for a boy to call. It felt like high school all over again, except I didn't care as much about the opposite gender back then as I did now.

I didn't know what had possessed me to get this expectant of Cole to call, but I couldn't get it out of my head. He was, after all, the only person who dared go against Erik to even talk with me.

I hugged my comforter to my chest, thinking about it.

Could it be?

Could Cole Rogers be my knight in shining armor?

* * *

Connor Rogers

"Hey Cole... Cole!" Max hissed, poking my back with his pencil. My head shot up from my arms like a bullet.

"Yup! Yup," I yawned, only to find my Engineering lecturer, Professor Winton, standing arms-crossed in front of me.

My mouth snapped shut immediately.

"Mr Rogers, since you're so confident in getting everything right, mind if you tell me the answer?" He flung his hand over his shoulder, pointing at the blackboard which was overflowing with words that didn't make a single sense to me.

"Um..." I gaped like a fish out of water, my heart hammering against my chest. The entire class was asleep and he has to pick me?!

"'Um' is not the answer, Mister!" He gave me a sharp tap on my head with his book, "now pay attention!" He returned to the front.

I sighed, noticing the pitiful looks casted by my classmates around me, and slid down in my seat.

Just that moment, my phone vibrated in my pocket.

My heart jumped. It was Eleanor.

My head shot up and I caught her eye for a millisecond across the classroom. She ducked down again as soon as we had made eye contact.

YOUR ELEANOR XX: We were talking abt how 2 build a wind farm

I typed in a grimace emoticon.

ME: :/ Oops...

YOUR ELEANOR XX: U reli were asleep weren't u?

ME: Yeah...

Her messages stopped coming, and I knew the conversation was over. I sighed, slipping my phone back in my pocket and listened to Professor drone on.

But when class ended, and everyone was packing up, my phone beeped again. This time it had an image attached with a caption

It was a picture of me dozing off. I could just make out the line of drool seeping out from the corner of my lips.

YOUR ELEANOR XX: Wittle cutie pie XD

My cheeks warmed upon looking at her caption, and I looked up to find the familiar brunette hair, but she was gone.

"Carrie! Do you know this part?" I called from my room, bent over a pile of notes. I was given a tone of extra work, because despite the fact that school had only started for two months or so, I was already lagging behind the others.

"You know I've never taken Electrical Engineering," came my sister's answer, "ask some of your friends."

"Max's not picking up," I replied.

Except Max wasn't whom I had in mind of calling for help. I had been thinking of calling Eleanor, but that would've been slightly awkward; I'd already been texting her a little too much lately.

But you homework problem right? A voice reminded me in my head, you're overthinking this.

Right, now even the voice in my head have a better judgement than I do. I sighed, giving in, and decided to send her a text.

ME: Hey, you here?

She answered almost immediately, almost as if she had been waiting by her phone.

YOUR ELEANOR XX: Yeah?

ME: Hving some probs with En... Little help?

YOUR ELEANOR XX: Yeah sure. Can u call me? It's easier.

I fumbled with my phone as I tried to call her. She picked up right after the first ring.

"Hey," her voice came through in a soft tone, and I felt my throat going dry. I'd always think Eleanor had a help of a voice, but just simply hearing her without seeing her face to face made my heart do a double-take.

"S'sup," I responded, "so... I don't know how to do textbook page ninety-six."

"Oh, that," I could hear her frantically flipping through the pages, "wait, give me a second..."

We ended up speaking through the ebtire evening. I managed to finish most of my unanswered problems, thanks to Eleanor. Occasionally we would talk about other random stuff, and even sharing a few laughs.

Finally, when the clock chimed midnight, Eleanor let out a soft yawn. I wanted to let her rest, but I still had a few queries.

"One more?" I pleaded with a hopeful smile, despite the fact that she couldn't see me.

"Um... Sure..." Her voice was going softer, indicating that she was slowly dozing off. We managed to finish off my last problem, eventually, but it was well past twelve-thirty.

"So... I guess I'll see you at school?" I asked hesitantly. I didn't want to let the concersation stop, because I knew if it stopped here, we could never continue it at school, curtesy to Erik Xavier. And I knew I wouldn't have the balls to ever call her again.

"Hm? Yeah... Okay," she mumbled.

"Bye...?" It came out as a question, because deep inside, I was silently wishing she would say something to stop me from disconnecting.

"Cole?"

And she granted it.

"Yeah?" I responded, my voice sounding a little too excited.

"I know this sounds weird, but do you want me to help you with your studies?" She whispered, yawning.

My fist shot up as my heart skipped a beat. She was actually suggesting more alone time with me!

"If you don't mind?"

"Not at all!" She answered quickly, "I'd love to help."

"Mondays?"

"Sure."

"Goodnight, Eleanor," I muttered, smiling upon hearing another one of her yawns.

"Goodnight, Cole," she purred, and her end went dead.

And I was just sitting there, a part of me wishing I had told her who I really was. What it would be like if she had said 'Goodnight, Connor' instead.

But I guess that was impossible right?