Page 91 of Some Things Never Change

I smiled back at him. “You don’t even have to ask.”

I woke up to someone calling my phone in the middle of the night. Panicked, I answered it without a second thought. No one ever called me in the middle of the night and I hoped to God it wasn’t an emergency with Jonathan or my mom or the Hugheses.

“Hello?” I immediately sat up in Andy’s enormous bed.

I could hear his gentle, slow inhale and exhale behind me as the person on the other end was silent for a moment too long. Just as I was about to pull my phone away from my face to check who the caller was, they spoke up.

“Julie,” said a familiar voice.

My heart and stomach immediately coiled at the way the syllables of my name rolled out of this person’s mouth. Once before, I liked the way his lips formed with my name on his tongue, but the only thing I felt now was the coldest chill down my spine. I wanted nothing to do with him anymore, as I made clear when I broke up with him last year.

Even then, David was still on the other end of this phone call.

Chapter

Thirty-Nine

I tried to ground myself as I let out a long breath. I gripped my phone tighter and couldn't believe it. I blocked David’s number after we broke up when he called one random day spitting all this baffling nonsense about how I picked Andy over him. All because I posted pictures on social media of myself with Andy and our families over my mom’s birthday weekend months after our breakup.

David’s anger over the photos I shared was unwarranted, and I had enough of his childish antics. To prevent this from happening ever again, I purposely blocked him on everything that I could.

How did his call go through? Did he change his number? Why was he calling me now, an entire year later, at two in the morning? I had a million questions racing through my mind, but I couldn't find the right words to say any of them.

I got out of bed, not wanting to disturb Andy and his slumber. It had barely been two hours since we had fallen asleep, staying up all night building part of Batman’s bat cave together. The fresh memories of his warm, gentle hand brushing against mine as we clicked the Lego pieces into place lingered on my fingertips.

When I was finally in the clearing in the living room, I finally spoke up. "Why are you calling me?" I hated how weak I sounded on the phone with him, just like how meek I was in the majority of our toxic relationship.

There was a momentary pause on the other end of the line before he spoke again. "I just wanted to talk to you, Julie. Can't we catch up? It's been so long since we last spoke."

I scoffed.

We weren’t good old friends. We were ex-lovers and our relationship didn’t end amicably. He was vindictive and petty over the fact that I broke up with him. I doubted it had ever crossed his mind that I wasn’t happy with him because he was a horrible partner.

In our relationship, he never allowed me to use my voice to stand up for myself, even when I broke up with him. Everything with us was always on his terms. But that would never be the case again. If he wanted to be the dickhead tonight, we were going to have to do it on my conditions. Not his. Unlike before, my voice was now firmer.

“Why are you contacting me, David? Like I told you the last time I talked to you, I want nothing to do with you ever again. Why are you calling me in the middle of the fucking night a year after we broke up? You have a girlfriend, you asshole. Go wake her up and catch up with her.”

“Why are you getting all bitchy and angry at me? All I wanted was to talk, Julie! Can’t we just catch up? I heard you moved to Santa Mariana and, I gotta say, I’m surprised.” He sounded so genuine and almost caring, but I knew he had an ulterior motive.

He continued talking. “I always thought that you’d just be in San Ignacio forever, and it makes me sad to know you’re not living here anymore. Especially when I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately. I still love you so much, and I miss you, baby.”

A wave of nausea and absolute disgust washed all over my body, leaving me raging with anger in its aftermath. Was David trying to get back with me? Why was he acting like it hadn’t been almost a year since we last spoke to one another?

“Are you trying to get back with me?” I made sure my voice mirrored exactly how disgusted I felt.

“Why do you think I’m reaching out to you? I love you, Julie. Can’t you tell how much I love y?—”

Before he could even finish that sentence, the word tumbled out of my mouth to stop him. “No.”

“What do you mean by ‘no’?”

“No, David. You need to stop. I already blocked your previous phone number and all your social media accounts when we broke up. If that wasn’t a clear enough sign, then let me say it again. Don’t ever try to contact me again.”

“Shouldn’t you at least be fucking grateful that I’m even bothering to reach out to you after a whole year? I just told you that I love you, didn’t I? Isn’t that enough for you to come back to me? You cold, heartless little b—” David’s voice started to rise. I could practically see the heat of his anger go up his neck all the way up to his scalp. I could still see it all so clearly in my mind even after an entire year.

Unsurprisingly, talking to him was a complete waste of my time. I was about to end the call when I felt a hand reach out from behind me to grab my phone out of my hand. I let out a yelp and turned around to see my boyfriend there, right behind me. One fact about Andy was that as the easy, nice, and polite person he always was, he was the complete opposite when he was angry.

His nostrils flared, and his neck was tense and strained with anger. I could have sworn I even saw a red glint in his eyes as he placed my phone against his ear. He clearly heard everything I was trying to keep under wraps.

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