Page 73 of Hurricane Love
By the time the next Tuesday rolled around, and he still hadn’t heard from the man, Diego decided to stop overthinking it and just make the call himself. He was a friend checking on another friend. It didn’t have to signify anything more than that.
“Diego?” Wylie asked after he’d picked up the call. He sounded like he’d been sleeping or maybe just distracted. It reminded Diego of how far apart they were, physically and emotionally, and that pit in his stomach grew a little larger.
“Hey, boss,” Diego said warmly, feeling better just hearing Wylie’s voice. “Haven’t heard from you lately. Just thought I’d check in and see what’s going on up there in Gainesville.”
“Not much,” Wylie answered without any inflection whatsoever, strange because even if frustrated or upset, Wylie always put passion behind his words.
“Well, how’s school been?” Diego asked.
“Fine. It’s…school.” Wylie gave him nothing more than that. Last time they talked he’d gone into great detail about his professor being unnecessarily mean to him and the smell in his apartment, a mix between cooked cabbage and rotten eggs.
“How’s that professor of yours treating you?” Diego prompted.
“Shitty,” Wylie said. Diego didn’t like that at all. Didn’t like that he was being mistreated or that they had to do this throughthe phone. He hated that Wylie was too far away to give him a hug or fix him a sandwich.
“Are you making any friends?” Diego asked.
“No. I’m trying, but I don’t really fit in here.” Wylie let out a long frustrated sigh, sounded so forlorn. So… defeated. That wasn’t like him at all. Wylie was a fighter, first and foremost.
“Give it a little more time,” Diego said, trying to be encouraging.
“Yeah, guess so,” Wylie said without much hope. “How’s the pit?”
Diego gave him the latest updates, including the fact that Frank had finally broken down and bought a new air conditioner for the restaurant. The staff had celebrated the occasion with a birthday cake and balloons and an impromptu dance party. Wylie made all of the necessary grunts and murmurs that said he was listening, but his heart didn’t seem in it.
“Is this a bad time?” Diego asked.
“No, I always want to hear from you.”
“Is there anything you want to tell me?” he asked and braced himself for the worst. Wylie seldom held back from saying exactly what was on his mind, but it seemed he was now.
“No. Nothing I haven’t said before.”
The hopelessness in Wylie’s tone was devastating, and Diego didn’t quite know how to combat it. Wylie had always been the optimistic one, the one who believed everything would work out for the best. Anything Diego might say to try and cheer him up would probably sound forced or insincere. Was this just homesickness or something else entirely? “Wylie, are you okay?”
“I don’t know. I’m just…” He paused there and Diego held his breath, waiting for whatever might come next. “I have a lot on my plate right now.”
Diego didn’t want to end the call, but he also didn’t want to take away from Wylie’s precious study time, especially if that’s what he needed. He didn’t want to be a distraction.
“Do you need to get back to it then?” Diego asked.
“I guess so. Thanks for calling. It’s…it’s good to hear your voice.”
“Yours too. I…” He stopped there, not knowing if he should continue. Maybe it’d be better if he stopped calling, if he truly let go so that Wylie could move on.
“You what?” Wylie asked.
Diego took a deep breath, summoning his courage. “I think about you…and us…a lot.”
He could feel Wylie, across the hundred or so miles, taking in that information, turning it over in his mind, deciding what to do with it.
“Me too. I didn’t think it would be this hard,” Wylie said.
“Yeah, same.” How could Diego express to him that he had regrets without making any promises or sending mixed signals? He still had some things to work through, and he didn’t want to make Wylie responsible for healing his own trauma.
“We’ll figure it out, though, won’t we?” Wylie asked after that long, awkward pause.
“I hope so,” Diego said, grasping for a glimmer of hope. “The door is open, right?”
