Say Hello For Me

s i x t e e n || three questions

Less than thirty miles separate Nessa and Liam from each other, but tonight, they are connected through signals sent from telephone towers for the nth time. Eagerness overcomes him as he holds the phone in his hand. The surface is pressed against his ear as he waits for the girl whom defines herself with dark curly hair to pick up.

While the phone rings, Liam looks outside at the recently fallen night sky. There's a full moon present amongst the stars tonight. It's keeping him company as he picks out an outfit to wear to a party tonight that's supposed to start in thirty minutes.

Nessa picks up right before the phone call is about to cut off. He can hear her short breaths on the other side of the call.

"Sorry," she apologizes immediately, still trying to catch her breath. There doesn't seem to be enough air in the world to fill her lungs. "I was in the bathroom. I had to change, but I made it back in time!"

"Change what?" Liam says the first thing that comes to mind out of habit. It's only after the question leaves his mouth that he realizes the spectrum of answers that can be given.

"Wait!" he shouts before she can even respond. "I don't really want to know if we're talking about that time of mon—"

Nessa's giggling cuts him off. The soft sound catches him off guard, but in a good way. "No, I didn't mean it that way. I had to change because I'm supposed to be going somewhere tonight."

"So does that mean we don't have time to play twenty questions?" Liam asks, sounding a little upset.

"Why twenty questions?"

"We're supposed to be friends, but I know absolutely nothing about you." His voice drops off into a silence before he follows up with, "How are we supposed to ever become best friends then?"

"Well, what do you want to know, Liam? We can make our own game. How about you have three questions instead?"

"Okay."

Liam takes his time to think of the three questions, not wanting to have any regrets. Almost everything about Nessa is a mystery to him, and he wants to know everything.

"If you could have one wish come true, what would your wish be?" Liam finally asks.

"This one changes all the time," she warns him before continuing, "but right now, I wish I hadn't dropped out of college. I would've been graduating this year with all of my friends. I wish someone would've told me to keep going to my classes."

"That's technically two wishes," Liam teases. "I guess we're the same age then because I'm graduating this year. Can I ask you a follow up question free of charge?"

"I'll let it slide this once."

"What did you major in?"

"Art."

"That's so cool! I wish I was artistic," he says. "I'm an engineering major. We spend more time doing calculus than painting."

"I couldn't do math to save my life." She laughs.

"Okay, moving onto the next question. What's the most embarrassing thing you've ever done?"

"I've done a lot of embarrassing things over the years, but I think that drunk calling my ex-boyfriend and telling him how much I wanted him back while he was sleeping with his girlfriend has to top the list. Hands down. Kids must learn that alcohol is really not their friend."

"Ouch. I think that lets you off the hook for the rest of the night."

"Are you not going to ask your last question?" Nessa calls Liam back.

"Not tonight," he tells her.

"Why not?"

"It gives me a reason to call you tomorrow."