Page 9 of No, You Hang Up

Losing my cool won’t do me any favors here.

“I already said I was sorry,” I say again, slowly this time. “I can’t give you anything else. Sorry, my friend is an idiot. Sorry, I let her push me into calling you.” Even though it had been her to dial the number from her list.

“I think you want attention,” the man goes on, like I hadn’t been trying to dismiss this or explain my actions away. “Is that it, little rabbit? You’re looking for the kind of attention your friends won’t give you?”

“No.” I force my words to remain flat. “Honestly? I’m just looking to go to bed soon.”

“Well, that’s pretty disappointing. And I don’t believe you. I’ll give you the attention you’re looking for?—”

“Yeah, I’ll be hanging up now?—”

“All you have to do is wait for me.”

His words ring in the silence, and I’m too surprised, too shocked, to do anything but sit there.

After a few seconds, he takes pity on me, however, and chuckles. “This is where you hang up and block me, remember?”

And so I do just that. I hang up on him, and go through my recent calls to see that, in fact, he was right. Madalyn called him normally, instead of using the app to hide my number. It only takes a few seconds to block him, and I’m on my feet with anger roiling through me.

I’m done with Mads’ games tonight. My frustrated, loud steps take me to the kitchen, and I slam open the back door to see Em jump and Madalyn glance my way while taking a breath of her vape.

“You called him from my actual phone!” I snap, my heart racing as I try to keep myself from yelling. “He justcalled me back,Madalyn!”

She eyes me with concern, and an apology twists her lips into a grimace. “Shit, did I? Was he mad?”

The question causes me to pause, but I shake my head and reach up to rake my fingers through my auburn hair that’s loose around my shoulders. “Jesus, Mads! You could get me in a lot of trouble. It wasn’t fun, or funny. It was immature.”

“It wasn’t a big deal.” She’s good at doing that. At shrugging things off and downplaying my worries. Sometimes I like it. Sometimes, it helps when I’ve worked myself up into a panic over nothing.

Tonight, though, it’s definitely not what I want to hear. I let out a scoff under my breath, noticing Em’s worried look from the corner of my eye.

“Look, I just…I think maybe we call it for tonight,” Em murmurs softly, placatingly. “We had a good night. Let’s just call it.”

In my opinion,good nightis a strong term, but I shrug my shoulders in agreement. It’s not like it’s worth fighting with Mads when I know she won’t take much, if any, responsibility. After all, she’s not the one who just got off the phone with a creepy guy from who knows where, doing who knows what.

“Yeah. Okay.” I feel myself deflate, and I force myself to let my anger go. “Just tell me it’ll be fine. Tell me I blocked him, and we didn’t do anything illegal.” I rock back on my heels and exhale sharply.

Mads hooks an arm over my shoulders, unruffled in the face of my frustration. I stiffen, but force myself to let her drag me back inside as she pockets her vape. “Dude, you're fine,” she promises me. “It was only a prank call, and he was just calling you back to make a point. To scare you. He was being creepy, right?” Reluctantly, I nod, and she hugs me more tightly. “Exactly. It was his version of getting a little revenge. You’ll never hear from him again. You blocked his number. It’s over.”

She pulls away from me, and I watch the two of them pick up their things from the armchair while I bite my lip and force myself to try to believe them.

It’s over, I tell myself.I hung up and blocked him. There’s nothing more he can do.

Now I just have to ignore the prickling of my skin, and the bone-deep nervousness that’s trying to set in. Knowing I’ll silently explain away as the after-effects of my uncle’s funeral.

I’m not at my best, I remind my brain. I just need to chill out, and maybe watch something before passing out on the couch for a while before waking up to eat leftover nachos and drink my bodyweight in Dr. Pepper.

five

I’m definitely not sad to see my friends go, even though we stand on the front porch for fifteen minutes talking and pretending the night hadn’t gone to shit. Well, I’m not sad to seeMadsspecifically leave and get into Em’s car with her vape in her hand as she takes a drag on it. I stand in my doorway, arms crossed, and lean in the halo of my porch light as Em waves at me with a soft, wan smile on her face.

I wouldn’t mind if she wanted to stay, but I know she wouldn’t let Madalyn go home on her own. As much as they’re both my friends, I know that at the end of the day, I’m the third wheel. Normally, it doesn’t bother me. I’m used to feeling on the outs in most friend groups—all three I’ve had—but it still hurts once in a while.

Like now.

Watching them drive away leaves me alone in the humid April air, and I glance up at the sky for any sign of the moon behind the thick, oppressive clouds. “I forgot it’s going to storm,” I murmur to myself, gaze flicking down to the house directly across the street. Sure enough, I see Patrice’s living room light on behind the curtains, and instead of flipping her off like I’d prefer doing, I give her a small wave on the off chance she’s watching through a tiny, invisible gap.

It wouldn’t surprise me if she was. Not one bit. I stand there for a few more seconds, still leaning on the doorframe, and sigh heavily to myself. I’m used to my own company. Used to being alone, and in a lot of ways, usually prefer it. Just…not always. Not tonight, though I’m definitely not looking for the company of my two best friends after the shit Mads pulled. “You know it’s not out of character for her,” I mumble to myself, finally stepping back into my small house. Aunt Hortense leaving it to me is probably the best thing that’s ever happened in my life, apart from actually graduating college after my dad told me many times I would never make it.

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