answering machine

[rivalappeared]

"Hey, you've reached Green Oak. If this is League business, leave a message. If not, I've got caller ID. What are you, 70? Whatever.

BEEP."

[Feel free to leave Green a voice message or a text message here, with date and time.]

Comments

We can decide the exact time later but AFTER PROM on a NIGHT.

[travelingbelle]

She'd never felt so completely lost in her life. At least not like this, with the queasy feeling of restlessness in her gut. Blue had hoped the feeling would clear as the days ticked away from prom and her birthday, but they hadn't. The more she let her thoughts linger on it the more she got confused and just didn't know what to do at all.

Blue laid on her bed, staring up at her ceiling. The words I love you Bluebell still rang in her ears. He loved her. Green had been right, it had been terribly unfair. He had however long to come to terms with whatever he was feeling and the other trainer didn't even know where to start arranging her feelings about it. She could take her time, he said, but it didn't feel that way at all. It felt like each moment she didn't have an answer a divide that had appeared just got wider and wider.

She cared about the boy deeply, but she hadn't pictured something like actually going out with him like that in more than fleeting moments. It had never felt weird being very close to him. She'd never felt shy sitting against him or holding his hand or laying beside him on the grass. Now sometimes when she closed her eyes she could still feel his lips against hers and she had no idea what the feeling she felt was. She suddenly had no idea what he must have been feeling all those times she had just been with him comfortably. Blue crossed her arms over her face, trying to quiet the thunderous roar of her thoughts.

The flash of light outside her window was not the most welcome of distractions. Blue froze, her breath hitching as she counted the seconds. The rumble of thunder did not wait long to follow.

Thunderstorms had never been the biggest problem when she was a kid. They had always made her a little nervous, but when she was safely tucked in her house there was nothing to really worry about. It was once she was on the road and her closest traveling companion was highly susceptible to dying in them that they really started to bother her. She'd always wished she could have held someone to hold on to until the rumblings were over, but she was too afraid of anyone getting hurt. Sienna's fire was at risk. Acacia disliked it almost as much. Aralia's timid nature kept her away from the winds. By the time she had gotten Indigo, keeping them away way too much of a habit to break. They'd all stay in their pokeballs where she could keep them safe.

When it all got too much she would call or text one of the boys, huddled under an overpass and staring worriedly at her tiny phone screen, hoping one of them would reply. It was silly, she realized. She never blatantly said why she called so much. Never said how much she hoped one of them would pick up. Never said how relieved she was when they did. And when they did, it was usually Green. As troubled as she might have seemed at the beginning she was always fine by the time they were done. She'd never really mentioned how grateful she was for that either. Or how much she missed him later on when he stopped picking up as often.

Her phone was in her hands before she realized it when the next clap of thunder shook closer than before. Blue stared at the lit up screen, taking a deep breath. No, this wasn't something she could do. She couldn't bother him now, not with all this going on. That was unreasonably selfish and pigheaded of her. The last thing she needed to be doing was sending weird mixed signals by calling in the middle of the night. The rain fell heavy against the window and Blue moved to grab her pillow, clutching it against her and curling up around it. She could see Jock or Blake, she tried to rationalize, but she didn't want to bother them either. She didn't want to give them another reason to fret over her. She'd just have to deal with it and learn to get over her fears.

Afraid of the rain afraid of the sound afraid of losing him afraid of not knowing anything anymore.

The whirling emotions caught in her chest and she could physically feel the panic gripping her.

She didn't think about it. She hit the call button on his name.

WORKS

[rivalappeared]

Luckily for Blue, Green had already been asleep by the time she had called, so he answered the phone in a groggy haze, only realizing half a second after he had already spoken that there was a large monolith of A Thing between the two trainers at the moment, and what was she even calling about? He had picked up on instinct, much like how she had called him in the first place.

"... Hello?" came a sleepy, husky, very disoriented voice.

[travelingbelle]

Her breath caught in her throat at the sound of his voice, acutely aware that she had woken him up. Of course she had woken him up, it was balls o'clock. The sudden conflict of her feelings just tied more knots in her stomach, on one hand relieved to hear him and on the other regretting pushing that button.

It took her a moment to speak, and when she did her voice was shakier than it should have been and just barely over a whisper. "... Sorry." She apologized. For a moment what followed was just the sound of cloth moving as Blue curled herself around her pillow a bit tighter.

"I'm sorry."

[rivalappeared]

Green was silent for a moment before he heard a crack of thunder outside his own window, and perhaps a hitch in Blue's voice at that exact moment. Of course. Putting aside everything else he could have said in that moment, he put the phone on speaker and placed it next to his pillow.

"Are you okay?"

[travelingbelle]

She wanted to say she was fine. She wanted to pretend everything was okay so she could hang up the phone. There were a few shaky breaths in and a few shaky breaths out before Blue ignored the question entirely.

"I'm sorry for calling. I shouldn't have I just..."

The lightning came again, a quick flash. The storm was coming in faster than she thought. Blue fell mostly silent, bracing herself for what would come next.

[rivalappeared]

Falling into his old habits, Green inhaled a deep, deep breath, loud enough for Blue to hear over the phone, and then exhaled it just as audibly. Then, it was her turn.

"Slow your heart down. Don't apologize."

[travelingbelle]

It was effective enough. Her eyes closed as she listened to him, trying not to think about it too much and letting herself draw in a long breath of her own. It hadn't occurred to her as she braced for the following thunder that she had been holding it. She released it slowly. Took another one in. Let it go.

"... Please don't hang up yet," she whispered into the receiver, knowing full well how selfish it was and hating herself for it, but not nearly enough to keep her from doing so.

[rivalappeared]

He felt just as selfish in that moment, really wanting nothing more than to hang up the phone and just go over there to do what he had never been able to do on the road: wrap his arms around her until she fell asleep. However, the fact remained that the idea of this was just as much for his benefit as it was for hers, and the way things were... this would have to do.

"I'm here," he promised, though his voice was still not quite free of the sound of sleep. He kept on breathing for her.

"What do you want me to do?"

[travelingbelle]

"I don't know," she murmured, her other hand tangling in her hair as she pressed her palm against her ear to block out everything but him.

"I... just want to listen to you for a bit. Sorry, I know that's stupid..."

[rivalappeared]

"It's fine," he assured her, settling in to a pose more comfortable. Take care of this now, worry about the other issues later. He hummed.

"Hm. What should we talk about... ?"

[travelingbelle]

Blue's brows still furrowed slightly as she stared ahead of her at her wall. She couldn't shake the nervous tension, knowing she must have been bothering him. And yet she couldn't bring herself to stop.

"I don't know," she said again, unable to think of anything. "How... mm." She shifted with her pillow again. "How was your day...?"

[rivalappeared]

Green couldn't help a short laugh at her words.

"Uneventful," he sighed, "I didn't do much at all. Got up... had breakfast... read a little... I even took a nap."

He kept his voice at the same level through the description, slow, deep, and lazy.

"What did you do?"

[travelingbelle]

She listened intently, putting more focus on each word as they came. Her breathing tried to match his, slow and steady.

"Woke up a little late," she said softly. "Got lunch. Played with Jock a while. Visited Blake while he was napping."

Thought about him. Blue closed her eyes.

"Nothing very exciting."

[rivalappeared]

"Sounds relaxing." He suppressed a yawn, and the sound of his pillowcase rustling could be heard through the phone as he nestled his head into it deeper. He knew there were probably not a whole ton of relaxing moments alone since their last conversation, but...

"Am I helping... ?"

[travelingbelle]

Her eyes opened slightly as the thunder boomed once more.

Blue took a deep, audible breath as it passed, easing it out as she whispered, "Yes. Just like always."

[rivalappeared]

There was silence on his end, as his own breathing hitched.

"... You don't have to say things like that. But I'm glad you're starting to calm down."

[travelingbelle]

Oh. Right. Those kind of things just made more trouble, didn't they?

"...Sorry..." She frowned. Apologizing for it was kind of stupid. "It's true though. You've always helped..." She didn't feel completely calm yet this time though. Her heart was still skipping and her face felt a bit hot. That was just the tail ends of her panic though, she assumed. Probably. That's what made sense.

"Um. Thank you."

[rivalappeared]

It came through in the tone of her voice-- and he immediately felt guilt about turning the conversation into one about that.

"It's fine. You don't sound calm, though."

[travelingbelle]

She didn't want to talk about how she didn't sound calm. She didn't want to confront the fact that even if she assumed it was her own panic, it didn't feel like it was entirely due to that and that kind of confused her at a level she didn't know how to piece together.

So her response was a breathy, slightly nervous bout of quiet laughter at first.

"One does not simply calm down," she said, trying to make light of it.

[rivalappeared]

Unaware of Blue's constantly running internal monologue, there was a smile in his voice as he replied,

"You want me to sing you a lullaby?"

Sardonic as ever, even in the middle of the night.

[travelingbelle]

The suggestion struck her oddly. Lullabies were something she used to do. For him, anyway. There were still plenty of times she would sing them to her Pokemon. But for him... When had the last time he let her been...?

"Oh goodness," she said in actual surprise. "Be careful, I might take you up on that."

[rivalappeared]

"You wouldn't," he chuckled, "I don't even know the last time you've heard me sing."

[travelingbelle]

"Were you not already indulging me too much, I would have to do it just because," she replied with a very small giggle.

[rivalappeared]

He quieted down, as if contemplating something, and then started to softly hum psyching himself up to quietly sing.

""I'm so tired, I haven't slept a wink... I'm so tired... My mind..."

He stuffed his face into his pillow.

"Haha. Nevermind."

[travelingbelle]

He had done it anyway. Blue pressed her lips together firmly for a moment as he sang his nasally little song, focusing more on the familiar melody than the strange warmth she felt. She couldn't really help the little smile that followed.

Probably she should have teased him a little. There was another soft giggle.

"...My is on the blink... I wonder should I get up and fix myself a drink..." she picked up after him instead, still more concentrated on the sound than the words that were supposed to follow.