Look, if I said anything I shouldn't've, I'm sorry.
[Merlin, she's horrific at this.]
It's dinner, Chase, because I've been awful about the other times. It hasn't got to be any more complicated than that. Not even sure how to do complicated, anyway.
I'm not, I promise. Just wanted to make sure. I mean—
[She doesn't want to throw around "friend" again and she doesn't want to throw in "concerned," either, though both are true. So she goes with - ]
I've known you the longest here. [ - which says a bit of both.] I know it doesn't feel like it to you, but whatever the case, I'm fond and I miss hanging out with you properly. That's all.
[She has to pause to think how long, exactly. She hit four years in December.]
Definitely before I got to my first year here. [She breathes out a laugh.] I've been acquainted with other people from around then, but actually known? That's you. Would've been Amory if he hung around.
[He showed up barely a month after her. Odd that she kept track of these things, but what else can you do here?]
[She shakes her head on her end, though he can't see her. Not his fault. The next thing has her smiling a little and it leaks into her voice a bit, but it's quiet.]
Tell me about it. [And it's been six years, really, for him. Three years he barely remembers, here. Three more years he'll never forget, back home. He's missing the first three, everyone else is missing the latter.]
→ TEXT
→ TEXT
→ TEXT
→ TEXT | 10 minutes later
→ TEXT
→ TEXT
→ TEXT
→ TEXT
i've just... gotten used to a certain way of relating to people. women. and it's hard to get back out, even when i should.
→ TEXT | 1/2
→ TEXT
→ TEXT
→ CALL
Because texting sucks.]
→ CALL
Hi.
→ CALL
[Merlin, she's horrific at this.]
It's dinner, Chase, because I've been awful about the other times. It hasn't got to be any more complicated than that. Not even sure how to do complicated, anyway.
→ CALL
[Oh if only he didn't know how to do complicated.]
It's great.
→ CALL
[A pause. Then, a little more gently,]
Hey. You alright?
→ CALL
→ CALL
[She doesn't want to throw around "friend" again and she doesn't want to throw in "concerned," either, though both are true. So she goes with - ]
I've known you the longest here. [ - which says a bit of both.] I know it doesn't feel like it to you, but whatever the case, I'm fond and I miss hanging out with you properly. That's all.
→ CALL
You've known me the longest, really? I don't think I've asked how long it's been.
→ CALL
Definitely before I got to my first year here. [She breathes out a laugh.] I've been acquainted with other people from around then, but actually known? That's you. Would've been Amory if he hung around.
[He showed up barely a month after her. Odd that she kept track of these things, but what else can you do here?]
→ CALL
[There's the squeak of an office chair as he sits, a slow exhalation.]
Sometimes, when I stop by [Building 12, he means, the apartment that never really belonged to him] ...it feels like other people are there.
→ CALL
Still feels like that to me, too.
→ CALL
...Am I different?
→ CALL
[Pause.]
I don't know. [Honestly.] A little. Loads of things happen in four years.
→ CALL
I don't know if I can be whoever I was to you.
→ CALL
→ CALL
→ CALL
→ CALL
→ CALL
→ CALL
→ CALL
→ CALL
→ CALL