How you holding up?

What do you mean?

Didn't you just fly home?

Yes. . .

So. I repeat. How are you holding up? You were still sick yesterday.

OH! Sorry. I'm dumb af. #oblivion

You love your #hashtags

The very fact that you hashtagged the word hashtags makes you my lifelong best friend.

Do answer your question, I'm doing okay. I have a headache but I haven't thrown up since the plane took off. The guy sitting next to me totally freaked out haha

I can imagine, but I don't want to.

Oh come on, you know you feel bad for me. Don't make me feel bad, too. It's not like I wanted to throw up in front of two dozen people.

Well, it's after midnight. It's been, what, six hours?

Yep

Think you've finally gotten it out of your system?

Yeah, and thank God, because I don't know how much more I could take. It's really damn hard to keep from passing out and I don't think I've ever been sick that much before.

You didn't get dehydrated?

No. I know I said I was dumb af but I'm not quite that dumb. I mean, it's pretty hard to care about drinking when you know it's going to come back up soon, but again, not that dumb.

TMI

Not really. Besides, you asked.

I hereby withdraw from any and all questions now.

Fair enough. How was work?

After working two shifts at diners, babysitting two three year olds and then working a late shift at the coffeehouse . . . Let's just say I was glad to come home and shower and flop into bed.

Do you sleep naked?

Fuck, don't answer that, none if my business.

Curiosity plagues me.

I'll blame it on the testosterone but okay. And no, I don't sleep naked. Usually.

But tonight?

I may or may not be laying down in my towel right now.

You suck.

What?

I'm a guy. You know what that tidbit of information does to a man?

Don't tell me that he gets hard.

Again, you suck.

OMG. I'm sorry, but I find that incredibly hilarious.

You. Fucking. Suck.

I'll go get dressed now, LMFAO.

I hate you, bitch.

Same to you.

I'm not a bitch though.

Could've fooled me.

Okay, I'm dressed now.

Can I get some proof of that?

*IMAGE*

Fuck, girl. I knew you were cute but daaamn.

Haha thank you.

Hey, where'd you go?

Hellooo?

Sorry, I was very slowly making my way to the bathroom. The phone was not on my mind.

Okay then. . .

What?

OMG. NO. THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT.

Sure, buddy, sure.

I SWEAR.

Whatever your needs are.

NO.

I'M NOT.

AND WHY WOULD I TELL YOU THAT?

Am I scaring you a little?

I DON'T KNOW.

Relax ;) I'm teasing now.

I think I might throw up again.

Am I that revolting?

No, that's why I came to the bathroom.

Ohhh I hate this.

Sick again?

Yup.

Still alone?

No, my mom came in. I'm at the couch now. She's in full Mama Mode now.

I think she misses comforting me.

She's stroking my hair. I actually like it.

Now she's asking who I'm texting.

But the contact name clearly says Annabelle.

What's your mom's name?

Marlyse.

It's nice that she's taking care of you.

I don't have anybody else.

What's that supposed to mean?

*insert a long sigh here*

It's a long story.

Do you want to tell me about it?

Is it okay if I say no?

Just for now?

Of course.

But I feel bad because you told me your long story.

Shouldn't I tell you mine?

When you're ready to.

Were you ready to?

If I wasn't, I wouldn't have told you.

How did you know you were ready to talk?

I just . . . did.

It just . . . happened? You just knew?

It took a long time, and I was nervous, I'm always nervous telling someone new. But I think it helped that I'd already been through it all with my brother, so I wasn't alone. And my mom knew everything, and I had to discuss it all with a therapist anyway. It wasn't easy, talking to the therapist, I mean, but it helped. I took a chance and it worked for me.

Nobody but me and my mom know my long story.

That's okay :)

So you aren't mad?

Of course not. You'll tell me when you're ready to. After all, we haven't even met yet, not personally.

Sometimes people say strangers are easier to talk to than people you know.

Hey. Stranger danger.

You're funny ^_^

My mom just asked me if you're my girlfriend.

Moms.

You gotta love them. :)

My mom's the best.

Seriously, I mean, I don't even know where I might be if it wasn't for her.

The long story?

Partially, yes, but also no. She raised me, you know? She taught me everything, gave me all the values I've got. Without her, I'd be nothing.

Same here. I mean, I fought with my mom sometimes, yeah, but at the end if the day she's a wonderful mom and I love her for it and for who she is as a person.

Same here. I remember when I was little we'd celebrate Mother's Day three times a year.

Three?

Because when I was little I thought it was stupid that there's a single day set aside for everyone to practically be required to be nice to their own mother. I was about five, and it made me sad, so I cried. I remember my dad picking me up and asking what was wrong. We talked about it for a little and he compared it to a birthday; he always said he'd never forget that that was the day I mastered my bitch face.

You are quite the character, Louis Willis. :)

You know you love me. ;)

Eh ;)

Just eh?

I thought you called me sexy. ;)

You drunk texted me, remember?

I concede.

You concede. *insert snort here and strange look from dear old mama*

Okay, okay, so what happened after you mastered the bitch face?

I decided we would celebrate Mother's Day every four months. Same dates each year. I still do that. As a kid I would make her goofy cards coated in stickers and glitter and that ridiculous, childish writing you see kids doing with colorful crayons. I'd get my dad to buy flowers or bring us to breakfast. Now I buy her flowers or make breakfast for her. Once I sang a song for her at the closing of one of my shows.

Mama's boy.

Hey, I love my mother. Is that wrong?

Of course not, silly. #Teasing, haven't you ever heard of it?

Girl, I was a prank master in middle school. You don't tell me about teasing. I owned my school.

Not buying it.

Okay so maybe my school had a total of two hundred kids in it and my jokes and so-called pranks were kind of lame, but who cares?

Now we're talking.

Haha you sound like this guy from my hometown. He would think that TP-ing the whole school and putting tacks on a teacher's chair were the greatest pranks in the world. The little football team would high five him and everything.

Sounds like my kind of pal haha

We weren't ever in the same grade so I never saw a lot of these "pranks" personally, but hey, word gets around in a small town.

You don't know a small town until you've been to mine.

What is it? Your town.

You're kidding, right? Lived here my whole life and I still can't spell it.

How do you pronounce it, then?

Haha, you're still kidding.

Sure.

Trust me, nobody hears about my town unless they're hillbillies.

Are you a hillbilly?

No, but my dad was a rancher.

I'm a cowboy at heart, pardner.

Pardner? Isn't it spelled 'partner'?

Does it really matter? I spell it how it's pronounced 'round here. *imagine that in a thick and fake southern accent*

I'm laughing so much I might cry

Don't cry please

Happy tears, Louis, happy tears. I know, I know, hard to believe, but it's true, they exist ;)

Glad to hear it ^_^ I've experienced said happy tears once or twice in my life

Hopefully I experience it again sometime

You will :)

You sound so sure haha

Life is a long eide, my friend.

Stop paraphrasing Nicholas Sparks

You read those!?

Maybe. . .

You just get better and better.

Don't I though? :)

Back to the mom topic, I think it's sweet that you care about your mom so much. Do guys usually admit to that openly, like, in public?

Probably not, which explains why I got teased in high school for hugging her in front of the school. Of course now I'm famous and have hormone-crazed teenage girls as fans, which means when I hug her now they all think it's cute. :)

You're hilarious.

Thanks, I know I am. ^_^

Annabelle?

Hmm?

I promise I'll tell you my long story sometime. I'm okay though, honest.

I believe you.

We should meet soon.

I'd like that, Louis.

Me too, Annie.

My brother calls me that.

Should I not then?

Nah. It's different when you say it.

Well it better be.

Are you coming towards Chatawood anytime soon? In Michigan.

I am now.

By the way

Yes?

I still am the master of the bitch face. ;)