Aspen scrolls through the group chat trying to figure out who’s who. Dani was the one talking about skipping right? And Haylie mentioned agreeing with Luca on something so the previous text about that must’ve been Luca. The only people left were Lyric and Theo. Dangit, they’d never really texted Lyric cause she didn’t like to text much. They’d just have to ask one of them which number is theirs.
They think for a moment before deciding to ask Theo. They want to text them later so it would be best to give them a heads up. Aspen looks up from their phone, realising suddenly that they’re getting left behind as the others head off in different directions.
“Dang guys, don’t leave without me!” Aspen hurries after them, slowing down when they get close to Theo to walk beside him. “Heya Theo, I was wond’ring which one is your number on the group chat?” They pull up the group chat info, going to the members tab and scrolling till both unknown numbers are visible. “My phone sometimes doesn’t get the maybe: person thing which can be slightly annoying but oh well, idk how.” They smile reassuringly at Theo, they don’t want to pressure him since they don’t know each other too well and not everyone is as confident as them.
“Oh, uh, that one.” Theo points at the last one which Aspen immediately pulls up, adding him as a contact before slipping their phone into their pocket. Wait, it’s quite late, everyone else has disappeared in different directions, what if Theo has somewhere to be?
“Oh dangit, sorry, am I holding you up?” Aspen asks, concern filling their voice, they’ve definitely got nowhere to be but that doesn’t apply to everyone.
“Oh, not tonight, no.” They’re walking down some random street aimlessly and it definitely isn’t in the direction of Aspen’s train’s closest station. Dang, Aspen wants to chat longer, knows they’ll be bored on the way home on the train, maybe they could ask to call Theo? That would be fun.
“Are you heading down this way? I’ve gotta head back down that road so I should probably head off but do you want to call on the way home?” It’s a stretch, maybe even a leap but Aspen’s used to taking leaps of faith and the likes. If you don’t have at least a little ambition to do something you won’t get anywhere, Aspen smiles. They’re still slightly puffed out from before but that’s never stopped them, they’re used to still having to walk or do things when they’re already tired.
“Oh, I have to head down that street too, actually, though I turn off at the next major road. Um, I can call, sure. Video chat?” They turn and start heading down the street before stopping at Theo’s turn off.
“I’d love that!” Aspen smiles cheerfully, they’re excited to talk more but they’re even excited for the next session. Dangit, why is it so far away? There’s like a millennium between now and then. Ooh, they should totally make a costume for Leaf. They focus their attention back on Theo as they wave goodbye, each going their separate ways. Aspen wants to call him straight away but they should probably get to the train station first at least. Then, a few moments later they get a text as they grind to a stop in surprise. Is it Theo, did Theo text them!? They hurriedly ruffle through their pocket for their phone, turning it on quick as lightning. Dang, it’s just a text from their mum, they scroll through the rest of the notification, deleting ones they didn’t care about, reminders, unimportant emails etc. Then they get another text and they immediately open it in ecstasy, this time it is Theo!
Hey Aspen, did you want to call soon? It’s fine if not
Aspen frantically types a short reply as they start walking again, pulling out their earphones as they hold their phone and type with one hand.
I can do now?
Sounds good :)
Aspen pulls up their contact again, pausing for a moment as they unknot the earphone cord and plug it in, slipping the buds into each ear. They press the Facetime call icon and wait, a skip in their step, till they realize they’ve gone past the entry to the train station and turn around again, sitting down when they make it to their platform.
There’s a click and Theo’s face appears on their phone.
“Hi.” Theo’s voice is quiet, which is probably because Aspen’s volume is down so low. They raise it a bit before replying.
“Heya! How are you? Though we did just see each other.” Aspen laughs, “How long do you have to call?”
“I’m good, I just got on my bus so maybe around 20 minutes?” A whistle is blown nearby as the next train is announced over the speaker, it’s their train. “Is that for your train?” The bus is dimly lit in comparison to the train station and the majority of Theo’s face is only lit up by the glow of his phone as he speaks, illuminating his olive skin and creating a glowing outline of his short, wavy hair.
Aspen glances up, finding the timetable and the time of the next train after the one currently arriving, surprisingly it’s in six minutes, it takes 15 mins to get home, “Nah, not yet. The one I’m catching is coming in six minutes.”
“Ok.” Theo trails off and for a moment it’s silent, other than the faint chatter from people nearby and the sounds of trains arriving and leaving. It’s nice.
After a moment Aspen asks, “What are you up to this afternoon, do you have any tv shows you like to watch?” Aspen smiles as they hold their phone. They’ve been looking for some new shows to watch and they’re curious about the genres Theo likes. If Theo watches things. They’ve met a few people who don’t like to watch tv shows and that’s their choice in the same way it’s Aspen’s choice to obsess over tv shows with their infinite collection of fan merchandise galore, self-made fanfics and comics and stickers and posters everywhere.
“Oh um, I’m just sorta doing homework tonight. I like a lot of tv shows based on Greek mythology, though. Like Percy Jackson, but also some of the less widely known ones. What about you?”
“That’s so cool, personally I like cute animated shows, fantasy, space and sci-fi etcetera. After finishing some school work and planning for a few upcoming assessment tasks I think I’ll probably watch some of those shows and maybe do some little doodles of characters.” Aspen smiles. Though there aren’t actually any assessment tasks that they’ve been properly given yet they want to plan ahead for when they’ll work on what, only after that can they binge watch tv shows. Maybe they should check out Percy Jackson, they’ve definitely heard about it before (how could you not?), but they’ve never gotten around to watching it. They’ve read the majority of the books and have a folder dedicated to cute fanart of them on their laptop, and several physical folders of their own fanart, but they’ve never watched the show. Nor the movies for that matter.
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
Aspen and Theo continue chatting over the phone, their train comes and they get on, ten minutes pass then they’re getting off and walking, though they aren’t really paying much attention to this. In fact they nearly missed the next train due to being so engrossed in conversation, it was only due to Theo pointing out the announcement that they realised. Heck who knows if they were even going down the right street right now, they look up, yup right street after all.
Theo gets off his bus and starts walking at which point Aspen starts worrying that he’s as glued to his phone as themself and not paying any attention to his environment but as Theo looks around and stops looking at his phone much, Aspen relaxes, evidently he isn’t as dumb as themself. They continue to talk about school, interests, goals for this year, thoughts on how the next session will go and how their characters would react in random situations.
“Hmm, I think if one of the spoons Leaf has ended up being enchanted and started to talk to him he would probably think it’s the voice of his subconsciousness finally come to give him advice on where to find the best spoons OR he’d think it was a god and would proceed to pray to this god and worship them every night.” Leaf is adorably stupid, aside from the random knowledge and facts he possesses somewhere in his brain about absolutely random things, and Aspen already loves them and their spoons.
“Haha, that’s hilarious.” Theo laughs and Aspen joins in. It’s fun, talking to Theo, before they didn’t really have anyone to call, Haylie is usually busy with work or planning and spending time with Lyric and her fathers. They weren’t really close enough to anyone else to warrant spending time calling one another, not that Aspen minds, they’re happy to watch their phone or listen to music from tv shows on the way home. This is definitely much funner though.
“What would Silas do if they were attacked by… hmm.. a copy of himself?”
“Honestly? He would probably try to seduce himself.” Aspen bursts out laughing at that and Theo chuckles.
“Wow, that would be so funny to watch! Now I want to draw that!” Aspen can already picture the doodle, Silas 1 leaning in, a flirtatious smile on his face as he uses a bunch of funny pick up lines riddled with puns, and Silas 2 smirking before returning the flirts.
“Oh, do you do a lot of drawing?”
“Sorta, only really doodles though, I’m not that good but it’s fun.” Aspen smiles as they say this, they don’t really care that they can’t draw too well, it’s not really about the ability for them, just being able to express their thoughts with little doodles and have fun doing it.
After a moment Theo replies, “Can I.. see them at some point?”
“Sure! I can bring them into the next session or send you images of some of my favourites? I’m gonna do a few scenes of our characters and their chaos tonight so I’ll wait till I’m finished them so I can send them to you too!”
“Oh sure, I don’t mind.” They both smile… till Aspen nearly walks into a poll and bursts out laughing to Theo’s complete and utter shock and confusion.
Too soon Theo’s made it home and they’re having to say goodbye before Theo hangs up. Aspen turns off their phone, slipping it into their pocket as they continue navigating through the dimly lit streets, they’re nearly home. Though they probably could’ve found a bus to take from the station they’ve never bothered, always preferring to walk through the quiet streets. Soon enough though, they are home. They open the door quietly, slipping inside and taking off their shoes.
“Heya mum, I’m back, sorry dnd club ended late.” Aspen wanders into the kitchen to find their mum arranging food on to plates as well as some into a tupperware container.
“Oh hi! You’re just in time for dinner!” Aspen’s mum smiles as she finishes serving, pushing a plate towards them. It’s heaped with rice mixed with peas, ham and egg as well as pork balls, salmon and a small bowl of miso soup. She always makes miso soup with dinner because grandpa always made it for her when she was a child, at this point it’s become a family tradition. Aspen takes the plate gratefully and they sit down together at the table to eat.
It’s delicious as always and they chat about both of their days, Aspen talking about the club fiasco with Mr McKay and their mum laughing.
“Some teachers are so strict nowadays, though they certainly weren’t better when I was at school! Really though, if you want to spend more time at school isn’t that a good thing?” They both laugh as Aspen smiles. Their mother is brilliant, a breath of fresh air in the chaos of the world. She’s someone Aspen never fails to confide in when anything happens or if they’re feeling down and Aspen never hesitates to support her when she’s struggling too.
“Yeah, exactly my thought!” They continue talking as Aspen savours the delightful taste of the meal, their mother’s cooking is superb, though they miss the creative and wonderfully unique meals their father would create on a whim. They smile softly to themself, remembering the taste of the exotic spices their father used to buy from all sorts of places to add a flare to his cooking. From the look on their mother’s face it seems she’s thinking about the same thing as the conversations dwindles for a moment. Then Aspen remembers the sci-fi book they heard of recently that seems like a great book for young adults and above. They instantly tell their mum all they’ve heard about it from the blurb to the reviews and the themes riddled throughout. They both eventually come to the conclusion that they must read it at the same time so they can talk about it together.
Once they’re both finished, Aspen puts the dishes in the dishwasher and they sit together on the sofa as their mum pulls out her phone, dialing one of the only numbers Aspen knows off by heart as if engraved into their very soul and being. It doesn’t even ring once before the screen lights up with the face of Aspen’s father.
He smiles at them and Aspen can’t help but smile back as their body fills with liquid warmth, as it always does everynight when they call him together. Aspen wishes they could visit more but the hospital is a little while away, and, though they visit him every weekend for several hours to chat, binge watch tv, eat in the food their mum has packed in containers over the week, and just be in each others’ company, Aspen finds themself clinging onto the calls like a lifeline, keeping them together like glue.
“Hey honey, and my little mage! How have your days’ been?” His voice fills Aspen whole and they instantly melt, all stress and tightly wound tension in their mind and body fleeing from his light. Second pass, minutes then an hour as they all chat together, they even manage to sync their tvs so they can watch the same things as they continue watching Carmen Sandiego before eventually moving on to watch the Percy Jackson tv series. Before long it’s way too late and they’re wishing each other goodnights and exchanging ‘I love you’s. Aspen sighs, stretching as they stand up before saying goodnight to their mum and heading off to study and doodle.
By the time they go to bed they’ve memorised mostly everything they learnt today, come up with a rough weekly schedule of study/work times for each subject and have filled several more pages of their doodle journal.
It’s late and sleep comes easily, soon the world is no more than an expanse of comfortable darkness, like the soft embrace of a warm blanket.
What would you do if you were in a fight with yourself?
