tiptoe • zane hijazi

xii

why did I waste all your time?

•

phoebe rushed to her car, trying to ignore the growing lump in her throat. that's it, she thought, she had to call him. The boy she lived with for 2 months; the boy with the most contagious laugh she had ever heard; the boy that had the ability to cheer her up, to turn her downs into ups, no matter what.

she frantically attempted to find her phone in her purse and shakily, with tears brewing and emotions thriving, found his contact. his contact photo lay in front of her eyes, a candid photo she took of him dancing. he looked so full of joy. the photo made her miss him more, giving her even more motivation to call him. she clicked on the green call button and listened tentatively to the tension-building rings.

meanwhile zane was home alone. he noticed his phone ringing and walked over to the counter where it lay. he picked it up and realised who was calling. 

phoebe.

he sighed.

 he considered answering for a few seconds but then left it too late.  she clearly didn't care about him. she moved out without saying a word and didn't even bother to text him. he hadn't seen her in a week and he was only just started to move on; he didn't want one dumb phone call to make him regress.

zane never answered. he's probably just busy, phoebe thought. she proceeded to record a voice message.

"hey zane, it's phoebe" she began rather shakily "i-i'm sorry I haven't visited you its just ive been really busy setting up my room and stuff and amelia and I just need to catch up with each other. um, I really miss you and everyone else. i should have never left. i should've talked to you" phoebe needed a second to catch her breath

"i was so stupid. so so so stupid to let a friend like you go: to leave you and heath like that. i should have asked you what was wrong that one time you wouldn't talk to me. but I didn't and that ruined everything"

she laughed rather deliriously, "i ruined everything. again."

she took another exasperated breath, " anyways, i should've badgered on and on about it every day to get you to tell me what was up. but I didn't. and I regret that. right now I'm gonna be late for a shoot but i really wanted you to know all this. and next time I call please pick up, i beg of you. i just miss having you around." and with that she hung up.

across town, zane was about to listen to the voicemail she had left. no matter how much he wanted to forgot about phoebe, he just couldn't. he was curious and he couldn't help but long to hear what she had to say.

just hearing phoebe say the phrase "hey zane" was kind of strange to him. it was as if he hadn't heard her voice in years, even though she had only been gone a week. hearing her say sorry made him feel emotions he hadn't felt in a while: sadness (he missed her), anger (he let her leave), happiness (he could hear her voice), hope (maybe she would visit sometime soon), and yet again anger (for not picking up the god damned phone).

zane sighed, rubbing his eyes, "i'm sorry too." he whispered to his empty house.

•

just letting you know i'm still editing even though it's almost been a year.

i'm sorry for letting you guys down.

words: 610

much love :)

(song: kansas, roy blair)