The hours stretched between them, the glow of Evelyn's bedside lamp casting soft shadows against the walls. Adrian's breathing through the phone's quiet hum was strangely comforting, grounding her as she let her pencil glide across the page.
She hadn't even realized how much time had passed until she heard Adrian exhale heavily on the other end.
"Still there?" she asked, her voice softer than intended.
A low chuckle rumbled through the phone. "Yeah. Just thinking."
"About?"
Adrian hesitated for a moment. "How weird it is that this feels so… normal."
Evelyn paused her sketching, tilting her head. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, talking to you like this. Sitting in the dark, listening to your pencil scratch against the paper. It's kinda nice. Like… I don't know. It makes the silence feel different."
Her breath caught at his words. A different kind of silence.
It wasn't the empty, lonely silence she was used to—the kind that had filled her room for years, leaving her with nothing but her thoughts. This was something else. Something… warm.
She swallowed. "Yeah. It does."
There was a beat of quiet between them, but it wasn't uncomfortable. If anything, it made her more aware of the steady rhythm of his breathing, the occasional rustle of fabric as he shifted.
"So," Adrian broke the silence, his voice lower now, almost hesitant, "what are you drawing?"
Evelyn glanced down at the page, suddenly self-conscious. Without really thinking, she had started sketching something different from her usual intricate patterns. A silhouette of two figures sitting side by side, close but not quite touching, surrounded by stars.
Her chest tightened.
"Just… something," she said vaguely, flipping the page before she could think too much about it. "What about you? What do you usually do when you can't sleep?"
Adrian hummed. "Besides talk to you?"
Evelyn rolled her eyes, but her lips curled into a smile. "Yes, besides that."
"I don't know," he admitted. "Sometimes I go for a drive. Or play guitar. Helps me clear my head."
She blinked. "You play guitar?"
"Why do you sound so surprised?"
"I don't know, I just—" She frowned, trying to picture it. Adrian, sitting somewhere, strumming a guitar, completely lost in the music. For some reason, the image felt too intimate, too raw. "You never mentioned it before."
Adrian let out a soft laugh. "Guess it never came up."
Evelyn hesitated. "Will you play for me sometime?"
There was silence on the other end, and for a moment, she thought she had pushed too far. But then, his voice came through, quieter this time. "Yeah. I will."
Something warm unfurled in her chest.
"Evie?"
She inhaled sharply at the way he said her name—soft, like it was something fragile. "Yeah?"
Adrian shifted, and she heard the faint rustle of fabric again. "Do you ever think about what it'd be like if things were… different?"
Her fingers tightened around her pencil. "Different how?"
"Just… if we had met at a different time. If things weren't so complicated."
Her pulse quickened. She wasn't sure what he was trying to say, but she could feel the weight of it. The unspoken words hovering between them.
"I don't know," she said honestly. "I think… I think everything that's happened has made us who we are."
Adrian was quiet for a long moment. "Yeah. I guess you're right."
Evelyn bit her lip. She wanted to say more, but she was afraid—afraid of what she might admit if she let herself be too honest.
"Evie," Adrian said again, softer this time.
She swallowed. "Yeah?"
"I'm really glad you're in my life."
Her heart stuttered. "Adrian…"
"I mean it," he said, and she could hear the sincerity in his voice. "Even when you overthink everything. Even when you try to push people away. I'm still glad."
She closed her eyes, gripping her phone a little tighter. "Me too," she whispered.
The silence stretched between them again, but this time, it felt like something had shifted. Something neither of them was quite ready to name.
"Get some sleep, Evie," Adrian murmured.
Evelyn nodded, even though he couldn't see her. "You too."
But long after they hung up, she lay awake, her heart still caught in the space between what was said and what wasn't.