Text Me Back

1. First Conversation

This isn't Jennifer's phone as you may have gathered, but do you want to talk about it?

That message had been floating in text-message-space for a few hours now without any reply. Florence had no idea why she reached out to him like this because whoever 'him' was she didn't know him but she figured he'd want someone to talk to if this Jennifer character was leaving him out to dry. Being bored also had something to do with, that was certain, and spending time with her parents was not an option.

Her mother had bailed straight after dinner and said something about going for drinks before she rushed out the door and as soon as she was gone her father got up and closed the door to his office. Florence didn't want to spend time with him anyway; they went together like oil and vinegar. With a lack of other things to do she decided to climb into bed and spend the rest of the evening snuggled up next to her lap top, her constant bed partner. She opened up the file where she kept all her favorite movies and put 'Misery' on.

A familiar beep could be heard muffled under a pillow and Florence quickly found her phone with the hopes that she'd received an answer to her previous question.

Hi, it's me again. The pathetic guy who just got dumped if that jogs your memory. If talking is still on the table I'd love to take you up on that offer...text me back.

And there it was her answer. She smiled as she read his words a few times over while contemplating what to write back and how soon. The normal rule around texting was to at least wait 10 minutes before writing a reply to someone but she didn't even know this guy and had nothing to be embarrassed about. The opening scene to Misery was playing she typed with quick fingers and hoped he wouldn't wait for hours to answer her this time.

I'm here, ready to listen.

She wrote and waited a few seconds before those three dots appeared at the bottom of their conversation.

What did Jennifer tell you when you saw her?

We aren't really on a first name basis. To me she's just a stranger that asked to borrow my phone.

She asked to borrow your phone? You're not a friend of hers?

Not at all. Did she tell you that?

Had I been able to reach her I wouldn't be texting you!

Sorry I didn't mean to be that rude....this is affecting me very badly and I'm worried about her.

Why are you worried about her? She just dumped you.

We were dating for 3 years...I can't just stop loving her out of the blue!

Why would she dump you via text in the first place? Are you some psycho stalker; is she afraid of you or something?

Psycho stalker? No I'm not. Are you some creepy old man playing with my emotions right now?

Touché to that. No creepy old man here so you've got nothing to worry about. Jennifer can confirm whenever she contacts you.

I know this will sound strange but can we talk about something else? I don't want to think about Jennifer for a few hours.

Hours? He had planned on having them talk for hours? Not that she minded at all but they had barely conversed for more than 15 minutes and she doubted they both had energy to stay up until morning – unless there was morning where he was. She had no idea where in the world he was at and for all she knew he could be on the other side of the world eating his breakfast right now.

Where are you right now?

Not convincing me that you're not a creepy old man, just saying.

I wasn't asking for any specific reason, psycho. I just wanted to make small talk.

I'm in Malibu. Where are you?

In Martha's Vineyard for the summer.

Cool have you've ever been before?

My family drags me out here every summer.

I've only seen Martha's Vineyard on postcards but it looks beautiful.

It is very beautiful but it's better shared with people you actually care about.

I'm going to pretend you didn't just say you didn't care about your family.

I do care about them I just....let's talk about something different.

Guess it's my turn to change the topic. What are you doing right now?

I'm watching Misery and contemplating getting myself a late night snack. What about you?

I'm eating take out and watching some sort of Hallmark love story, not by choice.

Good old Hallmark channel...let me guess it's either a Christmas story or a Thanksgiving story?

Christmas story actually, but the one before that was a Thanksgiving one so I'll give you two points.

You've watched 2 Hallmark movies? You must truly be in a funk.

Oh I am. Making fun of the incredibly predictable story is actually making me feel better.

Please tell me the stupid titles of these movies so I can laugh at them too.

The first one was called 'Pumpkin Spiced Hottie', you get it? Because it's about two people meeting over pumpkin spiced latte....and one of them is apparently 'a hottie'.

The title of that movie made me too nauseous to get any snacks at all! Now the second one?

Oh this one is even better if you ask me: 'All I want for Christmas is Yule' it's about a baking disaster that happens while this woman is trying to make 20 Yule logs for a party.

This gives me hope that I can one day work in the movie industry because whoever worked on that title should be fired.

It's not half bad...

You're losing you mind.

If you're at Martha's Vineyard right now it getting rather late for you, isn't it?

A little but I'm not too tired.

Strangely enough I am, despite not knowing how I'm even going to sleep tonight.

Well if you decide that you can't sleep you can always text me back. My movie will be on a while longer and I'm not doing anything better.

I might do that, but I wouldn't want to keep you up if you become too tired. Maybe I'll text you tomorrow if that's okay?

That's okay. Good night.

Good night,

...and thanks for the talk.