"Lelouch, please come home. I am so worried about you." Kallen's voice was a mixture of her blissful voice and static from being in such a rural town.

"You know I can't. You know why. Don't tempt me." Lelouch buried his forehead into his hand, gripping onto all the memories he shared with Kallen.

He couldn't have them flooding into his mind, clouding his judgment.

"How's things with…her?" Kallen's voice projected out blunt and stern. A jealous mistress had hung her noose of question and Lelouch was about to fall into it.

"C.C.? Fine. You know her, she never talks much." He bit his lip, a punishment for lying to one of his dearest friends.

"Do you ever wish…That it was me instead of her?"
Kallen was tangling the phone cord between her fingers like a preteen talking on the phone with her first boyfriend. The silence between her question and his answer, already spoke for itself.

"Yes and no. I miss you Kallen, but you're a distraction. I can't have distractions." Lelouch looked in the mirror as he spoke to her. The facial expressions he used when he lied made him disgusted with himself.

"C.C. distracts you. I can hear it in your voice right now. Even though she isn't around, she's distracting your mind right now…"
Kallen laid against her bed and placed her forearm over her eyes to catch her tears and contain the smearing makeup. "I can also hear the absence of me from your mind."

"Kallen, it's not like that. I don't love C.C. She's just here. If I was by myself, I'd go crazy. I needed someone." Lelouch buried his eyes into his hand again; too ashamed by what he was saying to look at himself.

"I always told myself, you'd love me someday. But I guess the saddest lies are the ones we tell ourselves." Static clouded over Kallen's tone.

"You're telling yourself the biggest lie ever right now, Lelouch."

Lelouch hesitated to answer. Gathering ideas and words to replace the atmosphere from her last statement was difficult. But his stutters were soon answered with a dial tone.

As he stood up, Lelouch gathered himself. Not only did Kallen's words put a lonely haze around him, but an alerting idea in his brain.

What if C.C. isn't just here? What if she means more to me than just a companion?

Could such an idea be suggested?

As Lelouch opened the door, he found a note on the ground. Scribbled handwriting speckled by tiny drops of moisture.

"Sorry for just being here in your way. Maybe Kallen and Shirley can be your travel companion since you much rather have them here. It'll be better this way. –C.C."

Lelouch's eyes shifted from the paper to the absence of his emerald haired friend. Her slinky body was not lounging on the bed nor the floor. Her almond gold eyes were deprived from his sight. Even Cheese-Kun's displacement had ruptured his balance.

C.C. was gone. Even though she was nowhere in the room, he echoed out. "Stay."