I placed the phone on the receiver and was getting ready to climb into bed when my pager vibrated on the floor next to me.It was Lee with his code and since I was at home when I got it, I called him right away.He answered after the first ring.
“Hi Ellie!”
“Hey!I got your page!”
“I know.I’m sorry for hitting you up so randomly.It’s been a while”
“Don’t apologize; I was actually just thinking about you.”
“Oh yeah, what about?”
“It’s really random, but remember that time we were laying on the hill by the lake and you almost kissed me before a frog jumped on your leg?”
I laughed.
He laughed.
Then he got serious.
“I heard our song on the radio the other day.I wanted to call you then, but I stopped myself.”
“I heard our song yesterday too.It always makes me think of you and it plays on the radio a lot.Why did you stop yourself from calling?”I asked.
“I didn’t think you’d want to hear from me.”
“You should have called.I always want to hear from you.”
“I seem to think about you all the time, Ellie.Even when I shouldn’t be.”
“Well, why shouldn’t you?”I could hear him breathing on the other end of the line before he answered.
“Because I’m with someone.And she doesn’t know that when she kisses me, I wish it were you.”
“I wish it were me, too.”
There was a silence while we both tried to come to terms with the way we felt about each other but knew there wasn’t anything we could do about the distance between us.I grabbed the empty coke can from my nightstand and flipped the tab back and forth until it came off and I laughed at how everything feels like it’s meant to be but can’t actually be.
“What’s so funny?”Lee asked.
“Don’t make fun of me if I tell you.”
“No promises.”He laughed.
“So, I take the tabs off my coke cans, and I save the ones that land on‘L’.I have a whole strand of them on my wall.”I tell him.
“I don’t get it.What does it mean if they land on‘L’?”
“You flip it back and forth going through the alphabet and whatever letter it falls on is the letter your future husband’s name starts with.I know it’s stupid!”
“So the coke cans determine who you will marry?”
“I told you not to make fun of me!”
“Okay, okay.But why are you only saving the‘Ls’?
“You know why.”
“I don’t think I do; you should tell me.”He teases.
