I sat silently in the passenger seat as Rowen and I drove to the little town located not too far away from the cabin that Rowen was renting. As we drove, I was still grumbling to myself about this morning's wake up call.

I had been sleeping soundly on the couch, minding my own business as everyone should know to do, when I had felt a presence in the room.Upon opening my eyes, I had found Rowen leaning over me with a glass of water. Being startled, I had tried to sit up and accidentally jabbed my knee into his ribs, causing him to lose his balance, land on my stomach hard enough to knock the air out of me, and in the process, spill his entire glass of water on my face. The only upside about the water was that it had been cold enough to thoroughly wake me, at which point I furiously shoved Rowen off onto the floor and stormed into the bathroom.

I was still seething to myself when we arrived at our destination. We pulled up to a small building with a big antenna on the top that looked like something straight out of the 70's. Actually, the entire town looked straight out of the 70's, but this particular building really completed the look. 

"Please tell me this isn't the phone station," I muttered.

We walked in and Rowen went to the desk at the center of the one-room building. "Twenty minutes," Rowen said as he handed a ten dollar bill to the man at the desk.

The guy pointed to a small cubicle a few feet away with a wall-phone on a cord .Looking around, I noticed that all the phones were the same and I sulked. It would be a miracle if any phone as ancient as these could still make calls.

"Is that it?" I asked.

Rowen shrugged. "This place has been around a while, give them a break. They don't exactly have the community funds for an upgrade."

I knew he was right, but it didn't mean the phone would work any better than it looked. At least it appeared like kept them in good shape. When I picked up the phone, I admit I was mildly surprised to hear a dial tone. I dialed my mom's number. It felt like it took forever for someone to pick up, but finally, I heard the scratchy voice of a woman who had been crying for some time. "Hello...?"

My mom couldn't have sounded stuffier. She was sniffling, and she had to clear her throat after she spoke. An intense sense of guilt washed over me.

"Hey, mom. It's Kevin," I said tentatively.

There was silence for a few seconds. Then I heard a sharp inhale and my mom's voice sounded even worse when she spoke again. "K-Kevin? Where are you?! Why didn't you come home last night?!" She was sobbing on the other line. "We called the police and had a whole search party looking for you and-"

There was a shuffled and then my dad's voice came through the line. "Kevin?" he asked harshly, as if to check that it was really me. "What's going on? I want an explanation right now."

I grimaced at his words; I hadn't anticipated this sort of reaction. "It's just a misunderstanding. I was helping some friends pack for a trip and I accidentally-"

My dad didn't let me finish. "A real explanation, young man."

He was mad. My dad never cut me off like that unless he was really upset. I had to reset my courage before speaking again. "It's like I was saying, Dad. It's a misunderstanding. There were some kids playing ball, and I got hit. No one knew what happened, so when I woke up..." My dad had gone silent which was never a good sign. I decided to skip to the end. "Basically, I'm stuck in the mountains."

I heard my mom's voice from a few feet away. "Then we'll come get you. We'll go get him, right?"

That would've been great. God, I wanted that. At that moment in time, I wanted that more than anything else in the whole world. But... 

I sighed, looking outside at the drizzling rain. "You can't..." I said.

"Why not?" My dad sounded angrier than before, like he suspected a lie.

"Because there was flooding or something and the roads are all blocked," I said. "My friend was going to bring me home, but he can't either. We have to wait for the waters to go down."

"Kevin-" My mom started to say something, but she was cut off by a beeping sound. I glanced at Rowen and he pointed to his watch. It had already been ten minutes and it was giving me a warning signal.

I nodded and turned back to the phone. "I don't have a lot of time on this old-as-shit payphone, so just let me talk. The news says that it'll clear up in a few weeks and my friend promised he'd take me home then. I'll call often to check in, okay?"

My mom sniffled again and I heard my dad give a grunt of annoyance. "Be safe, okay?" my mom made me promise. She had taken the phone back from my dad.

I told my mom I would be as safe as I could be, and we told each other goodbye. As soon as the call cut off, I pulled the phone away from my ear with a disheartened frowned. Rowen rubbed my shoulder. "It's only a few weeks," he assured me.

He was right, but that didn't make me feel any better about it. I was going to catch hell when I finally got home. I put the phone to my ear again and started dialing a new number.

"Who are you calling now?" Rowen asked.

"Zane," I answered. "I told him I'd call when I got home last night and I didn't. I'll just give him the details and we can go."

The phone rang three times before Zane's voice asked. "If this is a solicitor, go suck a dick. We don't want your life insurance."

I grinned, knowing my best friend's cocky gay attitude anywhere. "Sorry, but I'll stick to lollipops if that's alright."

There was a pause. "Who is this?" he asked.

"It's Kevin. Who'd you think it was?" I countered.

"Jeez, man. Where the hell have you been? I saw on the news that you were missing," he said. News traveled fast, it seemed.

"I accidentally got locked in the back of Rowen's van," I said, knowing full-well I was about to be accosted with a horrendous amount of laughter.

As predicted, Zane went dead silent for maybe a second before he couldn't resisted laughing so loud I thought my eardrum would start bleeding. "Are you for real?! So, you're telling me that you're all the way up at the top of a mountain with the guy you hate, and unless he drives you, you're stuck up there?" he asked. Zane burst into another bout of laughter and my attitude soured.

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm telling you," I said. "Except even if he drives me, I'm still stuck up on the top of a mountain."

Zane stopped laughing. "What? Why?" he asked.

"Because for some reason, God decided it was time for another flood," I said bitterly. I knew Zane was probably still laughing on the inside, but for my sake, he kept it controlled. "The water is supposed to go down in the next few weeks, but until then, I just have to stick it out."

"I guess all I can say is to watch your back," he said. He paused. "Actually, you know, your back will probably be fine. Watch your butt."

I narrowed my eyes at the wall and gripped the phone tightly as if to choke my best friend through force of will alone. "I'll kill him if he tries anything," I growled. I could feel Rowen leering closer at that comment, but I hurried to hang up. "I'll call you tomorrow if I can. There's like, no phone service on this ant hill."

Zane chuckled. "I'll watch for your call then," he said.

When I hung up, Rowen was eyeing me curiously. "What was all that about?" he asked.

I turned to him with a look that said everything. "Keep your hands to yourself and you won't need to worry about that," I said icily.

Rowen smiled, obviously getting the hint but choosing to ignore it. He leaned closer to me with a hot breath next to my ear. "Wanna head home?" he whispered.

I narrowed my eyes, refusing to let his innuendo get to me the way he wanted. When he saw I wasn't about to snap back at him, he sighed in disappointment. "You're no fun," he said as we walked back out into the rain. 

*******

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