Page 24 of The Other Side of Together

He stares at the board, a smile stretching across his face. “I can totally take that question mark.”

My eyes flutter open when the crack in my curtain sends a laser of sunlight into my room. I fell asleep in the hoodieMarcus gave me on our walk home at 3 AM, and when I pull it off, my skin refuses to let go of his smell the same way my mind won’t let go of last night. Actually…I glance at the time on my phone. Seven hours ago. When he walked me to my fire escape, and I figured that would be the last time I’d see him. But then he’d said “see you tomorrow.”

I snatch my phone from the nightstand and find a screen full of Marcus texts beaming up at me. Clutching it, I flop back on my pillows with a squeal and open to his most recent message.

Marcus: Good morning sleepy head! Just me again, hoping you’re finally awake and I’m not still talking to myself. How’s your eye? Your head? School? I have zero focus but am oddly energized after only two hours of sleep. Magical.

I bite my lip and smile, my stomach flipping around as I scroll to the first text in the very long chain he sent while I was sleeping and he should have been.

Marcus: Can’t sleep after tonight.

Now you probably can’t either. Sorry. Shh. Go back to sleep. I’ll tiptoe back to my side of the phone. Sorry. So sorry. Being quiet now. Very, very quiet…

But one more thing before I go…just gotta say…we should be hanging out right now. Yeah, I get the only ones awake at this hour are cats and people forced to work night shifts but sleep is such a waste of perfectly good hang out time, IMO.

Okay. Well…sounds like you’re sleeping. I can hear you snoring from here, so this is coming a little late but good night. Actually…good morning. Good 4:11 AM. But really. Bye. Sleep tight. Sweet dreams. See you later. Night night. Buh-bye. Signing off…

(Unless you’re awake now and have nothing better to do than text….)

Dude. My head won’t shut up. It keeps very loudly wondering how we talked for so long at my apartment. I’ve never done that. Ever with anyone, not even my dad who, you know, I live with. And how did he not hear us laughing? Especially that one time when you snorted? He’s a detective. Are we that stealth?! That was wild. The most excellent kind of wild. Love to be stealth with you again. Very, very soon? Yes, please—100% times a billion or so.

How’s your eye? Hopefully closed. Sleeping. Or staring at your phone while you’re texting me back any minute now…

Waiting…

So patiently…

Ok so you must really be asleep. Guess I’ll try. Here goes…

I laugh tothe ceiling before texting:

Mei: I’m here! I’m awake! But I wasn’t at 4:11 AM. Now I wish I was though. I was completely exhausted from being so stealth I guess but I’d love to get exhausted being stealth again…100% times two billion…or so.

I press my phone to my chest and picture Marcus lying in his bed all night, sprawled out, thinking of me while he wrestled his sheets and waited for a text. My insides bubble and I whisper-squeal into my pillows.

The dull buzz of conversation and the smell of coffee sneaks upstairs from the restaurant and under my closed door. Which means Mama and Baba are busy and distracted and I’m free to figure out how to navigate this day. I’ve never skipped school, but the bus rumbled by hours ago, and I’m not walking through the halls with this advertisement from Nick on my face.

My phone buzzes in my hand and I flip it over while my stomach does the same, but it drops when Nick’s name slides onto the screen with a message that makes me want to throw my phone at the wall:

Nick: Sorry about last night. Can’t wait to see you again so I can show you just how sorry I am. Promise I will make it up to you.

I clench the phone in my hand, like I can squeeze his words from it. I don’t want to hear his excuses or his big plans for us that he thinks will somehow make up for his actions. I never want to see him again. But that’s impossible if I want any kind of future for myself.

I release a frustrated breath and turn onto my side, hating that nothing in my future will work without Nick, even angrier that he barged into this perfect morning. I hesitate, then force my fingers to type a single word response to his text so he doesn’t suspect anything:

Mei: Okay.

As I hit send, a text from Marcus slides onto the screen:

Marcus: FINALLY. You definitely know how to make a guy wait in agony. I survived the long night and now I’m trying to survive history by thinking about my most recent history. Specifically last night. This morning? It was way better than anything Napoleon’s army could have pulled off. Napoleon could only wish. And—sidenote—apparently he was a very short dude with a raging case of narcissism.

What class are you in right now? How you feeling?

I’m feeling so, so good, especially if his texts keep coming and crowd out Nick’s. I smile as I respond.

Mei: Fully smiling from your sleepless night of texting. Just caught up. Also…skipping school.

His response pops up seconds later:

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