Miscellaneous

Payphone

This is for round two of Allie_Grace's story competition. We had to write stories based off of Adam Lavine songs, and I got Payphone. I hope you like my story (especially you, Allie) If you liked it, vote and comment!

I slip the quarter into the payphone. What am I doing? She's not worth this. She's not worth me. What happened to the days when she was eveything I wanted, when she wasn't a monster? Why should I come crawling back to her?

What happened to the days we'd spend laying on her couch, just laughing, enjoying each other. What happened to true love?

She happened, I think bitterly, pressing the buttons on the payphone with unecesarry force. I listen to the phone ringing, tempted already to hang up. However, she picks up after a couple rings. "Hello," her innocent voice says.

"Hey, it's Adam." Hang up now. She's only going to hurt you more.

"Oh." her voice turns dark. "What do you want?"

Two weeks ago, she would've giggled happily at the sound of my name and asked me to come over. Now, she grumpily asks me what I want. I sigh.

"Sophia..."

"Sophie. I told you to call me Sophie."

"Sorry."

There is an awkward pause. "Why did you call me?"

I should hang up. I should forget this ever happened and move on, like any normal person would. Instead, I keep talking. "Sophie- do you remember, back when we were freshmen in college, how hard you cried when that jerk broke up with you?"

"What does this have to do with anything?"

"Can you please answer my question?" With every word I say, it feels like I am trying to swallow a mouthful of gravel. It is awkward and impossible to say, but I persist.

She doesn't respond, and I can hear a little kid yelling in the background- probably Lisa. She whispers somethng to the girl, then answers. "Yeah."

"And remember- remember how he didn't care how you cried for days, and that only made you cry harder?"

"Adam..."

"I was the only one who cared, the only one who said a comforting word when you stayed up all night crying because of him. "

"It doesn't matter now."

"So nothing we did ever mattered? None of the nights we shared, none of the hours we spent together, none of our talks-- none of it?"

"Adam, we're over. Accept it. It didn't have to happen, but you kind of made it. Just stop calling. I'll be fine without you."

"You're saying I should abandon my child? You're saying I should just walk away, and never let her know her real dad?"

She doesn't say anything for a while, and that makes me angrier. "Sophie." my voice is freezing cold.

Another pause-- as if I'm not already angry at her for not responding. "Yes?"

"I'm coming over."

"No, Adam, don't--"

"I'm coming over."

I put the phone back up and run to my car. Within a few seconds I am on the road. The radio begins a new song-- Payphone. How ironic.

The car turns into her driveway. Painstakingly slow, I take the key out of the ignition and exit the car. My feet feel like they are weighed down by a thousand pound's worth of weights. I slam my finger against her doorbell. I hear her mutter something to Lisa, then open the door.