Page 39 of Waves
After I checked to make sure Kai was still sleeping, I discreetly pulled my tablet from my nightstand drawer. I liked to think I was about as tech-savvy as the average millennial, but in reality, maybe slightly less so. For this reason, I kept my devices synced to one cloud account. I looked over my shoulder again before I opened my messages on the tablet. Every single correspondence from Thom still preserved safe and sound, along with meticulous screenshots of every insult, every threat, and every delusional rant since he and I split. After adding screenshots of the calls and messages from last night, and downloading all the voicemails, I attached the files in an email to Mary. Then I quickly typed in the subject line not to open this since I only forwarded it to her for additional safekeeping.
Before I could change my mind, I hit the send button then returned my tablet to the nightstand. I didn’t even want to acknowledge this was still happening after months of successfully convincing myself Thom would stop any day now. I knew I was wrong. He was only getting worse.
I woke up to Ezra, tapping away at his little screen. The guy loved that thing. I couldn’t even imagine what compelled him to play with his phone this early. Who could he possibly call right now? I rolled onto my side so I could watch him swipe and chuckled to myself. Maybe I’d never understand.
“What are you doing?”
“Just checking my messages,” Ezra mumbled without even looking in my direction.
“Doesn’t a phone make calls?”
“Yeah, but this kind does way more than that.”
“What else can it do?”
Ezra’s face lit up at the promise of teaching me something new. He always enjoyed showing me how things operated in this century, but never offered until I asked or showed an interest. “What can’t it do? Take pictures, play music, go on the internet...”
“What is the internet?”
Ezra scrunched his eyebrows at his screen. “The internet... how can I say this in a way that makes sense... The internet is supposed to be a way for people all around the world to communicate. This thing is like an encyclopedia of everything; every idea, every school of thought, every theory or opinion... you can find it all on there.”
“That actually sounds incredible.”
“Yeah,” Ezra agreed with a chuckle. “Except most people only use it to post pictures of what they’re eating or look at pornography.”
I rolled my eyes. Humans were so creative, they continually found new ways to ruin something.
“Here, let me show you,” Ezra said before he scooted closer.
I rolled before he could stuff the screen under my nose. “I’m fine, thank you.”
“Not that, you perv.” Ezra giggled and pulled me back onto the mattress. He snuggled closer and propped his phone on my chest while he ticked away at the screen. His typing speed impressed me, considering he only used his thumb. “I just messaged Mary, telling her we’re going to call her.”
“Now?”
“Yeah,” he mumbled, tilting the screen so I could better see what he wrote.
Well, the notion of sending correspondences instantly intrigued me, and it certainly explained why he hovered over his phone so much.
A few seconds passed, and Ezra’s phone rang in his hand. He tapped the screen. Mary appeared with her red hair more tangled than a fisherman’s net and her eyes drooping while she held a mug to her lips.
“What do you guys want?”
“I’m just showing Kai how the video chat works,” Ezra explained with a smile.
“It’s seven-thirty in the morning, Ezra. We could have spoken after I showered.”
I chuckled because Mary had a valid point. “You look exactly how I would expect anyone would this early, Mary.”
Mary mocked my laugh and put her mug down before scrubbing the back of her head with her fingers. “Don’t flatter yourselves. You two don’t look much better.”
“Wait, she can hear us... and see us?” I asked Ezra.
“Yes,” Ezra and Mary answered in unison.
“Oh, I don’t think I like that,” I mumbled to Ezra while my brows knotted.
“Thank you, Kai. Your charm never ceases to surprise me.”