She had always told him that she hated his dirty jokes, the ones he'd tell her in the middle of night through the phone. She'd tell him they were vulgar and it was completely inappropriate to call her and tell them right when she was about to fall asleep.
One night after a long lecture, he asked her why she still picked up the phone for him if she knew it was only going to be a dirty joke.
She told him she didn't know, then hung up.
As they neared graduation, he stopped calling. He didn't want to bother her and take away her sleep since entrance exams were just around the corner.
But as he lied in bed, his phone buzzed. He was half asleep when he put the receiver to his ear.
The voice on the other end started speaking, and once the punch line was delivered both parties were silent. She then asked why he never called her anymore before hanging up.
In their first year at college, he started calling her at nights again. He'd lead off into a dirty joke and they'd laugh about it. Then they'd converse like any old friends would.
It had been a while since he called, after he dropped out of school he came home exhausted from work and only wanted to sleep. Not to mention a grown woman probably wouldn't appreciate the call.
He decided to do it anyway. Once he heard breathing on the other end, he begun. After he delivered the last line of the joke, no words came from the other end. But he could hear the muffled sounds of crying laced brimming with sorrow. Through her soft tears he could hear her whisper to him she missed his calls. He knew she had be quiet because of her husband lying in bed next to her.
Now the two only called one another during the daylight hours, a few second snips to tell the other they were going to be late for getting coffee. Her husband had put a ban on late night calls after she woke him up with her laughter.
He was roused from sleep one night, his arm wrapped around his live-in-girlfriend.
After a groggy hello, a woman on the other end sobbed through a dirty joke. Even when it was over, he couldn't laugh since her crying had turned hysterical. He removed himself from his lover's sleeping embrace and took himself outside to talk to an old friend.
He had left her, because of their friendship. Which surprised him since they had stopped the late night phone calls.
One night after he had delivered the joke and said good bye he heard her whisper something. He didn't catch it, so he asked her to repeat it. She told him she was in love with him before abruptly hanging up.
His arms wrapped around the woman next to him in the bed they shared. He whispered a select few words into her ear and she cracked a smile. She told him to quite down, or the kids might pick up on his words through the thin walls. He didn't respond, he just brought his lips to hers and whispered he loved her.