Tides: A Malachi story. (TBC)

Tides

"Even if it means that I'll never put myself back together
Gonna give you my heart to break-"

Malachi stared at his phone, letting the ringtone play a few seconds longer as he looked at the caller ID: 'Jean'.

Of course he's calling me. I ditched our plans to go to...

"Hey." he said, finally picking up. 

There was a short moment of silence on the other end of the phone.
Finally, that same silky smooth voice that Malachi was used to, spoke up.

"Hey Kai. How many times are you going to cancel on me, man?" the tone was light, and Jean even gave a small laugh after his words.

Yet, Malachi still felt his gut wrench from the guilt of cancelling on Jean for the third time this week.

"Sorry." he muttered. "I just, you know, uh."

Have been totally ignoring you.

"My parents have really been killing me lately with school. They keep telling me I need to hurry up and figure out my major and..." Malachi inhaled sharply as he caught himself from tripping over a tree root; not paying attention at all to where he was walking.

"Sorry."

"Are you busy right now? You sound like you're in the middle of something. Why don't you call me back later."

No! I-

"Sorry, sorry. I'm on my way to see Luca."

Whatever slight irritation heard in Jean's voice from asking if Malachi was busy, had completely disappeared in his next words. Instead, his voice softened, as it always had, at these times. "Oh, alright. Then that's actually my bad for calling, huh? Even though you're the one who apologized three times!" 

Malachi let out a laugh and shrugged to himself.
"It's no problem. Seriously, I'm sorry I forgot to text you. I promise I'll call you after this. We can reschedule?"

"Of course!" there was a pause before Jean spoke, nearly whispered, "You know you can come over if your parents ever get too much. You can spend the night and stay however long you need. You know that, right?"

"...Of course."

"...Alright."

Malachi heard the click of the call ending and pushed his phone into his pocket. He wished he could have talked more with his friend...but Luca was waiting for him.

The feline pulled his jacket further onto him, trying to keep himself from shivering as the fall winds picked up. Even though it was a bit chilly, Malachi had to admit that he enjoyed this kind of sweater-weather. He looked up from watching his feet and looked off into the horizon of the nearby mountain range. In that moment he felt tall; like the bigger of the two. The mountains, in their distance, seemed so small. Yet he knew that as soon as he got ready to go skiing, gazing up at its range, made him feel miniscule. But more than that, it made him feel fragile. The tall and sturdy Douglas-Firs were especially good at making him feel tiny.

Even here, in their regular meeting place, some Douglas-Firs were scattered about. They tried to hide with the Blue Spruces but Malachi knew better than that. They may have shared the same evergreen needle-like leaves, but Luca had taught him how to distinguish the two early on.
Still, even with the multiple Trees, shrubs, and scenic mountain range: beyond all of it all was nothing more than dirt and brown, out-in-the-sun-too-long, grass. Everything in the center of their meeting place was well preserved. The grass seemed to stay green year-long and kept mowed to a perfect, consistent height.