"How's your month been? Are you settled in?"
"Yeah," I said. "It was easier to get adjusted than I thought it would be. And my flatmate's the best!"
"Is she now? What's her name?"
"Her name is San," I said. "Mum, she's great. She's really very humble, and a bit of a chatterbox, but she loves to go out and buy things, so she always asks if I want anything, too, and then she buys me stuff. She's really nice, too, it's nearly unbelievable."
"Have you replaced Brian?" Mum asked teasingly.
"Oh, I could never," I said. "No one could ever come close, you know this."
"Ah, well yes, of course," Mum said. "Speaking of, Bri, dear, here's the phone."
"Thanks, M/n," I heard Brian say in the background of the call. "Hello?"
"Brian!" I said excitedly. "You haven't called me all week!"
"It's Wednesday, love, it's only been two days," he said.
"I missed your voice," I whined. "I got your letter yesterday, though."
"Did you read it?" He asked.
"Pfft, no, who do you think I am, a person who reads letters when I get them?" I asked. He laughed.
"Well, open it," he said. "I put a surprise in there."
"Really?!" I asked excitedly. I picked up the letter from where I'd set it, in front of the phone, and tore it open. I pulled out a letter, written in Brian's awful, scratchy handwriting, along with a polaroid photo of him, clearly taken by his mother, smiling smugly with his hand resting on the handle of a new bike, slightly bigger than his last one. I smiled. "Wow. Mr. Legs got a new bike."
"That he did," Brian said, clearly smirking and most likely standing up straighter, a cocky feeling surging throughout his veins. "And guitar-boy joined a band."
"Oh, shit, really?" I asked. He laughed.
"Yeah, so now you ought to be a singer," he joked.
"As if," I said. "I have to focus on my studies, Bri. I have no time for music."
"Oh, come on, if I can do it..." he taunted. The door to my dorm opened and closed loudly. "Who's that?"
"I'm hooOOoome!" San said in a singsong voice. "Oh, shit, you're on the phone, sorry!"
"It's fine," I said. "I was about to hang up, anyway. I've been on the phone a bit too long."
"Aw, really?" Brian whined. "I thought you said you missed my voice."
"I did, but now I've heard too much of it," I teased. "It's annoying, boy. You just drone on, and on, and on-"
"You know you love it when I sing," he said.
"I do," I said.
"I know, love," he said. "Alright, well... Bye, you little devil."
"Bye, Bri," I said. I set the phone back down and looked at the photo that was sill in my hand.
"Bri?" San repeated, setting the bag she had on the coffee table in front of the couch. "Is that your guy-friend?"
"Yeah," I said. "Brian. Strange as it sounds, I miss him."
"Aw, cute," San teased. "It's nice having people to miss and then come home to."
"It is," I said. "In all the time I've known him, we've never been separated this long. It's going to be hell when we see each other again."
"I wouldn't know what that's like," San said. "I had a different best friend every year in school, mostly depending on who was in my classes with me."
"I mean, that makes sense," I said, shrugging. "He and I lived across the street from each other. We did everything together."
"That sounds real nice," she said.
"Yeah," I said. "Jesus shit, I miss him more than I thought I would."
"Well, it's not like you're never going to visit the UK again, right?" San asked. She gestured to the bag on the coffee table. "I bought TV dinners."
"Oh, nice," I said, walking over to the table. I pulled one out of the bag and looked it over. "Thanks, San."
"No problemo, sis," she said casually.
Sis...
