Lip's Of An Angel

Phil was awoken suddenly by the muffled sound of a telephone ringing.

“It's 2 in the morning, who would be calling now?” Phil thought to himself.

He sat up slowly, trying not to disturb the person sleeping beside him. Apparently, his attempts failed. 

“Phil, where are you going?” The other body said as they shifted slightly, their voice thick with sleep.

“Shh, just go back to sleep, honey. I'll be right back.” Phil said softly, pushing his girlfriend's bangs back to place a kiss on her forehead. 

After she fell back asleep, Phil got up to answer the phone, which had rung about four times since he woke up.

He cautiously made his way into the lounge, trying not to hit any boxes that could fall over and cause noise. Phil and his girlfriend, Amelia, had moved into their flat about 2 months ago, but boxes still lined the rooms. They sat unopened due to the simple fact that there was no reason for them to be open. Everything the couple needed was already out and in it's place, or at least in the relative area. 

Phil entered the lounge and picked his phone up off of their makeshift coffee table, which was a few boxes stacked on top of one another. Amelia always talked about ordering a real coffee table for them, but it all came down to a simple reason again. She only wanted to order furniture when the boxes became tacky or unusable, whichever came first. Phil would always silently hope it would be the news of possible guests that would push Amelia to purchasing real, wooden furniture.

Sitting down on the couch Phil brought with him from his old flat, he squinted against the florescent lighting from his phone, his eyes not used to the sudden light quiet yet. After taking a few seconds to let his eyes adjust to the brightness, Phil could finally make out the Caller ID on his screen.

Incoming Call from: Dan

Phil was confused at first, but after rubbing his eyes to try and clear his vision, the same name remained on the screen. The “Missed Calls” number was only increasing, somewhere around 6 or 7 now. His ringtone wasn't loud, but in the empty flat it's pitch echoed around the room, causing the sound to be more amplified. Or, maybe it was Phil's fear of keeping Amelia awake. Whichever it was, the phone was still ringing, and the noise was only going to continue if Phil didn't press a button.

After the 8th ring, Phil found himself pressing “Accept”. He cautiously raised the phone to his ear, nervousness settling into his stomach. He and Dan rarely spoke anymore, and they definitely didn't call each other at 2 in the morning. Dan was either drunk or something was wrong, and Phil didn't know which situation he would rather handle at the moment. Phil could hear breathing on the other end, but neither party had spoken a word yet. It was Phil who broke the silence.

“Dan, why are you calling me? It's really late.”

He waited one moment, two, three, until Dan finally spoke up on the other end.

“I know, and I'm sorry, but I just... uh...”

Dan's voice trailed off and Phil sighed, a mixture of part agitation and part exhaustion settling next to the nervousness.

“Dan, it's... well, kinda hard to talk right now.”

Phil kept glancing towards the door of the lounge, hoping Amelia was asleep and out of earshot. She was a light sleeper on some nights, and if she was woken up by noise it was impossible to get her back to sleep. Then for the rest of the day she would complain about how tired she was, and Phil would have to listen. He would try to make it up to her, making her dinner, drawing a bath, giving her a back massage, but nothing would work. She would stay irritable until the next day, but the day after she would wake up later, and that led to a whole new problem.