Author's Note: this is an extended version of the phone call that takes place in Chapter 14, told from both Wally and Kuki's perspective.

The Phone Call

It was the last thing he ever expected to happen: to find a missed call from her. He had spent the day busying himself with whatever activity he could find - helping his Mom out with errands, hanging out with his Dad, playing with his little brother - anything to take his mind off the fact that it was the last day of summer, and that he was about to go into another school year following Kuki around like an idiot, hoping that she wouldn't notice. Except this time, it was slightly worse. This time, she had a perfect boyfriend that no one would ever be able to compete with. Why would she have any space in her head to think of anyone else?

He gazed at his phone to make sure he had read it correctly.

Missed call: Kuki

It had to be an accident. There was absolutely no reason for her to call him.

He walked into his room and sat on the edge of his bed, running a hand through his scruffy hair as he debated what to do. Should he ignore it? Should he call her back? And if he were to do so, what would he even say?

He sat there for a while, going back and forth in this head, but in the end he knew it was pointless to even give it any more thought. Right from the moment he saw her name on his phone, something inside him had already made a decision. It wasn't even a question.

He pulled up her name on his phone, and with only another moment of hesitation, he tapped the call button.

The first ring was enough to make his insides tense up. The second was a little easier, though part of him still wanted to fling his phone out the window. By the time the third ring happened, part of him was relieved. Maybe she wouldn't answer. At least he could say he tried. And by the time the fourth ring sounded in his ears, he had gone to a completely different place. Of course she wouldn't answer, he thought. Why would she? She's got better things to do than take calls from some idiot who can't even gather the nerves to tell her that he's been in love with her since the fourth gra-

The line clicked, and the ringing stopped, and he became paralyzed as the sound in his ear changed into a low hum that told him that someone else was now in the room with him.

"...Hello…?"

He froze at the sound of her voice, suddenly realizing that he hadn't heard it in weeks. It was so pretty and light, and it never failed to catch him off-guard.

"Hello?" he replied, his jaw tense from his efforts not to sound eager.

"Wally?"

He frowned at the question. Was he that uninteresting to her that she couldn't even tell it was him or bother to have his name saved on her phone?

"Yeah," he muttered, hating himself a bit.

"Uh… Hi…"

"...Hey."

"Um… What's up?"

"...You called me. I'm calling you back."

"Oh… Right…" Her voice faded for a moment. "Yeah, that was um… That was just an accident. Don't worry about that."

There you go, he thought to himself. Confirmation. Shouldn't have hoped for anything.

"Hello?" her voice floated through again.

"I'm here."

"Oh…"

He sat there, stalling, hoping that she wouldn't detect the edge of eagerness in his voice. "So… You weren't calling for a reason?"

She was quiet for a second. "No… No reason."

His insides sank. Hanging up was the last thing he wanted to do, but he also decided that there was no point in prolonging the disappointment. "Well uh… If there's nothing, then uh… I guess I'll just hang up."

He paused to see if she would protest, but she didn't. Instead, she mumbled, "Uh, yeah… I guess so...".

That stung, but he accepted it. "...Okay."

This was it. This was the part where he would hang up. It's easy. All he had to do was hold the phone in front of him, tap the End Call button, and done. The call would be over.

Except he didn't hang up. He couldn't even take the phone off his ear.

"Uh...hello?" her voice floated through again.

I'm an idiot. "Yeah, uh… I'm still here."

The line went quiet, during which he mentally slew a string of profanities at himself, each one getting more profane than the one before. His thoughts were interrupted when she spoke again.

"Um… So uh… Are you ready for school?"

The voice in his head stopped. Was she really asking him a question? Was she actually starting a conversation?

He shifted slightly on the spot as newfound eagerness took over, and before he could stop himself, he responded the only way he could think of. "I'm never ready for school."

That split-second right before she responded was like a gaping hole of tension on his end, but he was surprised when an unexpected sound came through. Laughter. His core melted at the sound of it. He loved her laugh.

"I guess I should have known better than to ask you," she joked, and it flooded him with so much relief that he ended up laughing too.

"Nice weather outside, huh?"

Kuki frowned at herself when she asked the question. Their bout of laughter earlier had been encouraging, and she was now determined to keep the conversation from falling into awkwardness again, so was talking about the weather really the best she could do?

"Uh, yeah, it's pretty nice," he replied, and she could tell that he was making an effort not to sound flat.

She tried again. "So um… What have you been up to today?"

Not bad, she thought. That was something a normal person would ask, right?

Wally seemed to struggle, and when he responded, he spoke rather robotically. "I...woke up. And then I...brushed my teeth. And then I...ate breakfast."

Kuki winced, and she had a feeling that on the other side of the line, he was wincing too. When did having a conversation become this hard?

"What'd you have for breakfast?" she blurted. She'd given up on trying.

The line was quiet for a second, then to her surprise, he snorted as if he just thought of something funny.

"I had a super manly breakfast," he said, and something about the way he sounded told her that he was smiling.

She shifted slightly, and eagerness slowly replaced the tense expression on her face. Something in the atmosphere had changed, and it felt as if the conversation was now on the verge of a joke. All she had to do was play along.

"Super manly breakfast?"

"Yup."

"And what exactly does one eat when having a super manly breakfast?"

"Can't tell you. It's a Man Thing."

Kuki's face rearranged into the beginnings of a smile. The words were starting to flow out of her a little easier. "Let me guess - ten pounds of steak and a protein shake?"

"Even manlier."

A smile twitched on Kuki's lips as Wally paused for dramatic effect.

"I had a bowl of Rainbow Munchies."

The line exploded with Kuki's laughter, and she laughed so hard that it obliterated any awkwardness left in the conversation.

"Crunchy or creamy?"

Wally smiled at the question. He had gone downstairs to his kitchen to make himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and when he casually mentioned it to her, she fired the question. It was already a charming question to begin with, but what really made him smile was realizing how much more at ease their conversation had become since they started talking an hour ago. "Creamy, of course."

"What!"

"Oh crud, Kuki, don't tell me you like your peanut butter crunchy."

"Of course I do!"

"Gross."

"What do you mean gross? It's amazing!"

"Yeah, if you like having rocks in your mouth."

"You just don't know the art of enjoying a peanut butter and jelly sandwich!"

"Yes I do, and it involves delicious, creamy peanut butter."

"More like icky, sticky, goo that gets stuck in the roof of your mouth."

"More like heaven."

"Well then. I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree."

"I feel like we've agreed to disagree about forty times since we started talking."

"Well then this will just have to be the forty-first."

He smiled. "Agreed."

A beat passed before Kuki spoke again. "I am surprised though. I would've thought you would be into crunchy peanut butter."

"What makes you think that?"

"It's just that you're so… You're so..."

Wally paused to see what she would say. He could imagine her with the phone wedged between her ear and her shoulder, her hands held out in front of her, making some kind of sculpting motion as if she were literally shaping the phrase into existence.

"It's just that you're so crunchy."

Wally stopped, and his eyebrows rose over a pair of puzzled eyes, then he burst out laughing.

"Why are you laughing?" she cried, even though he could also hear laughter in her voice.

"Did you hear what you just said?" he cried through his laughter. "I'm crunchy?"

"Well, you know what I mean!"

"I really don't."

"I just mean that you're so… I don't know. You're so solid and tough, and peanuts are hard, and…" She trailed off then groaned. "Nevermind, I can tell you're just going to make fun of me again."

"No, go on, this is like poetry to me."

"Stop, I can hear you smiling!"

Wally spent a minute collecting himself. She wasn't wrong. He was smiling. In fact, he was beyond smiling.

"All I'm saying is you're pretty tough," she insisted, her voice sounding peevish in this adorable way he couldn't describe. "Tough like a nut. Like when people say someone's a tough nut to crack. You're like that."

Wally smiled as he finished putting together his sandwich. "Well then," he said as he took a bite. "In that case, you're fluffy like a marshmallow."

He laughed again as he headed back upstairs, and not for one second did he imagine that she was blushing on the other side of the line.

Kuki listened to the rhythmic thuds from the other side of the line as Wally repeatedly bounced a rubber ball off of his bedroom wall.

"It should totally count!" he argued.

"No it shouldn't!"

"Yes it should!"

"No it shouldn't!"

"Yes it should!"

"No it shouldn't!"

"Yes it should!"

"Wally," she said sharply, even though she was on the verge of laughter. "The whole point of gym class is to get people moving."

"Exactly, so what's the issue?"

"Throwing a ball against your bedroom wall isn't exercise!"

"I'm using my arm, aren't I?"

"Yes, but you're also laying in bed."

"The whole thing is stupid anyway. Why grade someone for moving?"

"You're one to talk. Haven't you been acing every gym class since the third grade?"

"That's not the point. The point is -"

She heard a faint smack, and the line got quiet for a second, so much that she had to check if the call got cut off. It didn't. "Are you there?"

"...Yes."

Her face grew into a smile. "Did you just hit yourself on the face with the ball?"

"...No."

Her smile grew wider. "Okay."

"Stop it."

"Stop what?"

"Stop smiling."

"I'm not smiling!"

"Yes you are."

She couldn't take it anymore. She burst out laughing. "Do you still think it should count for gym class?"

Wally groaned, though he started laughing as well. "No, maybe not… Too dangerous..."

Wally folded an arm behind his head and smiled as he listened to the bouts of fading laughter in the line. He didn't know how long they'd been talking at this point, but somewhere during the conversation, he had ended up on the floor with his feet propped up against the side of his bed. They had just finished talking about their friends, and he imagined that if she felt anything like he did, then she was probably sore from laughing too.

The line grew tender and quiet as the last of her giggles faded, but to his own surprise, he didn't feel any discomfort from it. Somehow, it felt natural, kind of like breathing.

The seconds drew by in silence, during which his thoughts wandered over to their previous conversation - about that time Hoagie got stuck in a fence, about the way Nigel peers over his glasses like an old man, about how Abby was like a sister to both of them…

"What are you like as a sister?" he found himself asking.

Kuki thought out loud. "Ummm… Okay, I guess. I try to be a good sister, but… It's kind of hard to tell with Mushi."

He smiled. "No offense but… Isn't your sister kind of a psycho?"

"Hey," she snapped charmingly. "That's not nice."

"Why are you laughing, then?"

"Because… It's kind of true. She's crazy."

This time, they both laughed, then the line settled again.

"But seriously," she continued. "She may be crazy, but… She's all sorts of wonderful too." She paused for a moment as she mused about it warmly. "I adore her."

Wally's eyes softened, and he looked to the side towards his phone, as if doing so would let him look at her directly. He would have loved to see her at that moment, to watch the way her lilac eyes grow tender and her lips stretch into a warm smile. He'd never met anyone so capable of seeing the light in others as she was.

"You're so great..." he said without even thinking about it.

The line got even quieter. At any other time, he would have instantly regretted what he said. In fact, those words never even would've made it out his mouth, but for some reason, he felt so perfectly at ease at the moment that he couldn't bring himself to care. Saying it just felt like the natural thing to do.

Kuki cleared her throat, and it snapped both of them out of the silence. "What about you? What are you like as a big brother?"

"Terrible," he said immediately. "Worst role model anyone could possibly think of."

"Stop it," she laughed, and he did too.

Their laughter gently brushed the silence between them, and when it faded, he realized that she was still waiting for an answer. A serious answer.

The ever-present crease between his eyebrows tightened. He didn't like conversations like these, and had it been another situation or a different person, he would have shut it down immediately. But there was something about her. Something that always managed to disarm him, and he could never understand why.

He let the line sit in silence for another minute before he spoke.

"I try," he said eventually. "For Joey. I'm not the best at it, but I try."

He paused to see if that would be enough for her, but she responded with silence, prompting him to continue.

His eyes glossed over as his mind drew towards some distant thought. "He deserves a good brother," he said solemnly. "I mean... I'm not an achiever like Nigel and Abby, or funny like Hoagie, or pleasant like you, and... Truth be told, I don't even know why he looks up to me like he does, because I don't really have much to offer him, but... I'm always there if he needs me for anything. It's the least I could do."

Silence greeted him from the other end, yet somehow he didn't mind. He could feel her listening, and it was all he needed.

"He's a good kid," he concluded, making his tone casual again. "He's a little too rowdy for most people, but who cares."

He laughed slightly, as if to tug at the space between them and get a reaction out of her, but he was met with none. And as the silence drew on, a small part of him began to fear what she would say. But then he heard a faint murmur, like a gentle sigh, and he immediately pictured her smiling tenderly on the other side.

"I knew a really rowdy boy when I was a kid," she said softly. "He used to run around town all the time, acting like he was so mean and tough."

Wally smiled wistfully at the memory. "I wonder what happened to that kid. I bet you he ended up a deadbeat."

"No…" Kuki whispered, and she did it so softly that it was as if she were drifting off to sleep. "He turned out pretty great..."

Her voice faded into the gentle hum between them, and Wally's insides quelled like an ocean drifting into stillness after a storm. He then closed his eyes as if he too were drifting off to sleep.

"You're so great..." he whispered again.

Wally's green eyes gazed pensively out the window, watching as the sky outside slowly faded into the early colors of twilight. He was back on his bed, leaning against his headboard with the phone still stuck to his ear, and a faint smile stretched gently across his lips. The line had been quiet for some time now, but there was nothing awkward about it. Somehow, the pure stillness of it, combined with the thought of her just being there, comforted him.

He suddenly remembered that it was the last day of summer, and though it wasn't the end of the world, it painted him with a certain hopelessness. It felt like the end of something, like an opportunity lost. He realized now that they had never talked on the phone before, and he wondered why it had been so difficult to even attempt in the past. All those times he could have called her, yet he never did out of fear. Part of him wanted to acknowledge it now, almost as if he wanted to apologize for missing all the times they could have had, but he decided against it. What was the point? The only thing it would do is highlight all the times he could have called her and didn't. It would've been just another thing to regret, just like all the other times he didn't do things he should have done. Like tell her how he felt.

Melancholy descended upon him as deliberately as the fading sky outside, and before he could stop himself, he sighed.

"What's wrong?" Kuki's voice floated from the other end of the line, soft as if she had just drifted back from a dream.

He was silent for a moment before he spoke. "The sun's gonna start setting soon," he said quietly. "I suppose... I should let you go."

Something in his chest ached at his own words. There was a weight to them that he hadn't intended. It was one thing to let her go from the phone, but it was a whole other thing to know that he was letting her go in general.

"Why?" She asked in an almost-whisper, and though he didn't want to believe it, he thought he heard sadness in her tone. As if she didn't want to let go either.

"There's only so much time before summer's over. I figured you'd want to spend it with…" He paused. "...with Walter."

That name - that someone else, someone who was deserving and lucky enough to have her - seeped into the space between them like watercolor on canvas. He was happy for her. He chose to be happy for her, and he had vowed some time ago that he would be content standing back, watching her from a distance as he always did. So whatever this was - this deep aching - it was just going to have to be part of him from now on.

He noticed that she hadn't spoken. "You there?"

"Yes," She said quickly. "Yes... I'm here..."

He stalled by listening to the silence from her end, and it drew on for so long that a flicker of hope ignited within him, wondering if she might be stalling too. He snuffed it out immediately.

"Right," he said eventually. "Well uh… It was nice talking to you." He paused to see if she would protest, and when she didn't, he powered through his words."I'll see you at school tomorrow."

He was just about to utter his goodbye when her voice suddenly cried out from the other end.

"Wally!"

The very sound of It made him freeze. She had called his name with such urgency that her voice practically echoed in his head. "Yeah?"

A few heartbeats passed before she spoke again. "I um… I have something to tell you."

He furrowed his brows and waited.

"I uh… See uh… Well…"

At that moment, while Kuki danced around her words, something changed. Wally's solemn eyes shot up with urgency as something ignited within him - that familiar flicker of hope that always stubbornly materialized no matter how many times he crushed it. And this time, it grew rapidly, too strong for him to ignore.

He controlled his heaving chest as he held on to her every word. He had no idea what she was going to say. For all he knew, it would change nothing. Or it could change everything. Whatever it was, something in him decided at that moment: if he could just get one shot, one measly flicker of hope, he would take it. He was ready for his world to collide. All he needed was to hear the words from her.

The world receded into the background until the only thing left existing was the space between him and Kuki. Then finally, Kuki spoke, and hope flooded through him like never before.