[Late Night Phone Call] [Two Distinct Voices] [Male Voice and Female Voice] [No Vocal Overlap] [MALE VOICE] ...You picked up. I didn't think you would. I was ready to just talk into silence again. [Pause] [FEMALE VOICE] I almost didn't. I was staring at the screen thinking if I answered it... that would be it. Whatever "it" is. [Pause] [MALE VOICE] Yeah... I think we've both been doing that for years. Staring at things we don't call. [Pause] [FEMALE VOICE] You sounded different on the voicemail. Not different like someone else. Different like you finally stopped pretending you were fine. [Pause] [MALE VOICE] That's because I'm not. Not about this. Not about you. [Pause] [FEMALE VOICE] I know. That's why I answered. [Silence] [FEMALE VOICE] I keep thinking about that café. It's ridiculous. [FEMALE VOICE] It was just rain and bad coffee... [FEMALE VOICE] and you giving me your jacket like it meant something. [Pause] [MALE VOICE] It did mean something. It still does. That's the problem. [Pause] [FEMALE VOICE] Yeah... That's the problem. Because I didn't forget it either. I just got better at pretending I had. [Pause] [MALE VOICE] I tried to make you smaller in my head. So I could live. But it didn't work. You didn't get smaller. You just got quieter. That's worse. [Pause] [FEMALE VOICE] I did the same with you. Not smaller. Just further away. Except you never really went. You stayed in the background of everything. Like a song I didn't realise I still knew all the words to. [Pause] [MALE VOICE] I've been replaying that night we ended it. Trying to find the exact moment it broke. I can't. [Pause] [FEMALE VOICE] There wasn't one. That's what I think. It just drifted. Until we were both pretending we weren't drifting. [Silence] [MALE VOICE] When you said I mattered... I didn't know what to do with that. Because I've spent years assuming I was just something temporary in people's lives. [Pause] [FEMALE VOICE] You weren't. You really weren't. And I don't know why it took this long for either of us to say that out loud. [Pause] [MALE VOICE] Because if you say it out loud... it becomes real again. And then you have to decide what to do with it. [Pause] [FEMALE VOICE] Yeah. And I don't think either of us are good at deciding that part. [Pause] [MALE VOICE] No. We never were. [Long Silence] [FEMALE VOICE] Can I say something? And you don't interrupt me, yeah? [Pause] [MALE VOICE] Yeah. Go on. [Pause] [FEMALE VOICE] When you said you weren't a passing thing... I felt something shift. Properly shift. Like I've been holding my breath since the day we stopped talking. And hearing you say that... I think I finally let it out. [Pause] [MALE VOICE] Yeah. I felt that too. When you replied. I've been walking around pretending I was fine. Apparently I wasn't even close. [Pause] [FEMALE VOICE] So what now? [Long Silence] [MALE VOICE] I don't know. But I don't want this to end as another voicemail I regret. [Pause] [FEMALE VOICE] Me neither. [Pause] [MALE VOICE] I don't want another version of us that only exists in memory. I want this. Whatever this is. Even if it's messy. Even if it doesn't survive the next hour. [Pause] [FEMALE VOICE] That's the part I'm scared of. Because it doesn't feel like it's over. It feels like it's still happening. Just delayed. [Pause] [MALE VOICE] Yeah. That's exactly what it feels like. [Silence] [FEMALE VOICE] If I see you... I don't think I come back from it the same. [Pause] [MALE VOICE] I don't think I do either. [Pause] [FEMALE VOICE] And you're still asking. [Pause] [MALE VOICE] Yeah. Because I think not seeing you is worse. [Silence] [FEMALE VOICE] Say it properly then. Not "can I see you" like it's normal. Say what this actually is. [Pause] [MALE VOICE] I'm asking you to step back into something we never actually finished leaving. And I'm terrified I won't be able to pretend after I see you. [Pause] [FEMALE VOICE] Neither will I. [Beat] [FEMALE VOICE] Then we shouldn't hang up. [Pause] [MALE VOICE] No. We shouldn't. [Silence] [FEMALE VOICE] But we also can't stay on the phone forever. Because this is already too real. [Pause] [MALE VOICE] Yeah. It is. [Silence] [FEMALE VOICE] If we meet... it has to be honest. No pretending we're healed. [Pause] [MALE VOICE] No pretending we're finished either. [Pause] [FEMALE VOICE] That's dangerous. [Pause] [MALE VOICE] So were we. [Broken Laugh] [FEMALE VOICE] I'm scared. [Pause] [MALE VOICE] Me too. [Pause] [FEMALE VOICE] But I'm still here. [Pause] [MALE VOICE] Yeah. So am I. [Silence] [FEMALE VOICE] Okay... then— [MALE VOICE] Wait. Don't turn this into a clean decision. Not yet. Just stay with me for a second. [Pause] [FEMALE VOICE] I am with you. I just don't know where this ends. [Pause] [MALE VOICE] Neither do I. [Long Silence]
