Page 29 of Psync
After his first class finished, he fished his phone out of his pocket. He hadn’t turned it on yet, and he really didn’t want to, either. But yesterday had been his no-phone day and that was his limit. He couldn't have two no-phone days in a row, it was against the rules he’d agreed to with his mom and sister. If he didn’t answer after twenty-four hours to a phone call or text from his family, they had the right to make him come home.
It was the only way they’d agreed to let him go to school so far away. Which was a bit excessive in Eli’s opinion, but he’d agreed to it to keep them from worrying. He did wonder what they were they going to do when he got a job and left the country, though.
He shook his head at his overprotective family. Then he steeled his nerve and turned on his phone. He was past the agreed upon twenty-four hours, but hopefully no one had thought to message him until last night.
Once his phone booted up, his lock screen lit up with notifications. Ten missed calls and thirty-seven texts.
Eli pulled his hoodie up, and his spiking anxiety ratcheted down several notches—something that didn’t usually happen when he used his own hoodie. He was lucky if it calmed him down at all. Maybe it was the smell. He should ask Haruka what laundry detergent he used.
Taking a deep breath, he checked the thing he was most afraid of first—the missed phone calls. The first had been from Haruka. He hadn’t left a message, but Eli could see from the time stamp that it had been Haruka who had called him last night right before Eli had turned off his phone. The rest of the calls were from Alice and Nate, none from his family. He breathed a sigh of relief.
No matter what his text messages had in store for him, at least he didn’t have to deal with needing to convince his mom not to drag him home.
The spike of adrenaline in his gut told him avoiding the voicemails from Nate and Alice was in his best interests. Instead, he’d read their texts. It would be easier to be friend-dumped by text.
mAlice:I’m so sorry Eli, forgive me! I got carried away. Nate will apologize too when he stops freaking out.
NateTheGreat:I’m not freaking out, just worried. We don’t even know that guy, Eli. I’m just trying to look out for you
mAlice:He really does mean well, Eli. He just gets overprotective sometimes
Eli hit his head on his desk softly. He was the one who had overreacted and nowtheywere apologizing tohim.He forced himself to keep going, even though most of his brain was telling him that the end of the chat would be them telling him to go fuck himself after ignoring them all day. He tugged absently at a hoodie string.
mAlice:Eli?
Eli?
Eli?
Eli?
Eli?
NateTheGreat:You should answer her, man. She can get way more annoying.
mAlice:I caaaaaaaan. And I will
Instead of the feared friend dumping, the rest of the messages were Alice spamming his phone.
Huh.
As soon as he’d finished reading everything, another message popped up from Alice.
mAlice:He read it!!!!! Ok, talk to us Eli, or I’ll spam your phone until you cry
Eli’s fingers hesitated over the screen. What was he supposed to say? Apologize for having a broken brain? That was such an old and tired exercise, and he was done apologizing for being himself. But that didn’t mean he shouldn’t apologize for his actions.
Eli:Um
I overacted
I’m sorry for turning off my phone
I needed a day off from thinking
I’m sorry for ignoring you, that was super shitty
mAlice:Only because you scared me! I thought you hated us now!
