phobias // n.h. au

thirteen

thirteen««

Our eyes connected when I heard the tone of her phone in the coffee table. We were watching some tv and the familiar mamba ringtone sounded, jolting out senses. I raised one as I sprung for it at the same time as her, reaching it first.

I chuckled and turned it over, not telling her it said Mother and Father. Instead I answered it and decided to play a little.

"Niall speaking."

"Oh! um, could you hand us to Trissy?" I recognized the voice as a woman's, most likely her mother's.

"Ohhhhh..." I moaned. before continuing, "she's, ugh, a little busy at the moment. Mmmm yes." I moaned again, making her eyes go wide, and she pounced on me. I laughed as she ripped the phone from my hands after I heard her mother gasp.

She held the phone out of my reach, glaring at me before turning and looking at the phone. The second she read the caller ID, all color drained from her face, and her lips parted to let out a small gasp.

My eyebrows furrowed and I leaned over double checking it was her parents, and then became confused afterwards. She slowly put the phone up to her ear, muffling the loud chatter coming from the other end of the line.

Her lips trembled and I could see her eyes getting glassy, so I wrapped my arms around her shoulders, pulling her against my chest. Still, there was no reaction. I guessed that maybe that joke didn't go over well, but there was no need for her to make her own daughter cry.

Tears were now building in the corners of her eyes, and my confusion was out of control. Instead of comforting her, I took the phone out of her hands, and listened to the voice myself. She was speaking so quickly, I couldn't even understand, so I cut her off, now angry from what she was doing.

"Hey! There's no need for you to insult her badly enough to make 'er cry!" I said, pulling the phone away as the woman's voice rose, and I clicked the End button. The room echoed with the small voices of the Telly, yet Tristan hasn't moved.

I rubbed small circles on her stiff back, trying to make her relax, but getting no reaction.

"Is this about that joke?" I asked now concerned. She shook her head no.

"Why are you so upset then?" I asked in a hushed tone.

"They are coming to town tomorrow." she whispered, barely audible by me, sitting a foot away from her.

"All because of some stupid prank?!"

"No! Niall they are coming to visit me!" she said snapping her eyes up to mine, making me go silent.

"I'm upset because I don't want them to come so early, seeing that I don't have a job or anything." she said, reading my mind, or maybe just my expression.

We sat in silence before a smile spread across her face.

"That was pretty funny though, she wouldn't shut up about what you did." she said chuckling.

----

Finally, the doorbell rang, making both Tristan and I jump. She combed her fibers through her hair again, obviously nervous.

She stood slowly when they began knocking, and she walked over to the loud front door, opening it quickly.

"Mom! Tim! Nice to see you." she said, welcoming them into the hug, but they denied it, instead walking right into her apartment. She had cleaned up all day after they called yesterday, yelling at me many times before I stopped touching everything altogether.

"I can't believe you chose this place, it's not very nice." Her mother spoke up, glaring everything down.

"Well, it's close to my classes, so." she dropped the end of her sentence.