1000 words (exactly)

"Come on... please..."

click!"

"Oh! Callie! I... didn't think you'd actually answer."

On the other end, Callie didn't say anything. Marie could hear the way her cousin's breathing shook, a clear sign she'd been crying.

"It's-- I--" Marie cleared her throat. "I wanted to talk to you. It's been a while since we've done that, you know?"

The line remained silent.

"You don't have to say anything, it's ok. I promise, alright? I know you're there. That's enough for me. I just, it's been so long, and things haven't been right since... then."

Marie used the lull in conversation to reorganize her thoughts and sit down on the couch. "It's not like it's been all bad. I've met a lot of cool people through my show, helped a lot of people with things. You've been killing it in your roles, I've loved seeing each one..."

Through the mic, she could only hear Callie's staggered breathing.

"But.. I don't... Cod, why is it so hard to just SAY things?" Marie buried her head in her hands. "I miss you Cal. I miss you a lot."

Over the phone, Callie's breath hitched.

Marie rambled on, afraid she'll never be able to start again if she stops. "I miss having breakfast and bantering in the break room between news sets. I want to have a movie movie marathon with you were we both get so tired we sleep in the living room. Cod, I miss it so much."

"I'm, not good, Cal. Things aren't right anymore, and I don't know what to do about it! Nothing is going the way I wanted it to. I--" Marie cut herself off just before her voice rose. Tears were streaming from her eyes now, too. This isn't fair for me to do.

She took a couple of seconds to calm her breathing, gathering her thoughts and carefully cinching them down. "I'm sorry, Cal. I shouldn't have lost my cool like that. You have your whole life going on, you shouldn't drag all that through the mud for me."

The only response she got was the sounds of Callie quietly crying.

"I--" Marie shook her head. I shouldn't have done this. "I'm sorry, Cal. I'll leave you alo--"

"NO!" Callie's shout was hoarse, like she'd been crying for a long time already. "Don't-- I. Don't go..."

"I won't." Marie answered without thought. "I'm still here."

Neither of them said anything for several minutes, simply feeling the other's presence. It had been weeks since they'd talked. Almost a year since they'd seen each other. Simply hearing Callie voice was an unmatched comfort, despite the less than ideal circumstances.

Eventually, she broke the silence. "I still buy your ice cream, you know? I'm just in the store and I go 'Callie hasn't asked for any ice cream in a while.' There's three boxes of mint chip in the freezer right now."

"...Really?"

"Yeah. It's uh. Its taking up a lot of space."

"Can I have some?" Callie meekly asked.

Marie couldn't help it, she started laughing. Something about Callie's question was just reassuring to hear. Relief flooded through her system. "Of course you can, I bought it for you! I'll leave it in the freezer until you can come and get it, deal?"

"Yeah, ok."

Despite the relief, Marie felt the mood fall again. "Is everything ok on your end?"

"It's fine."

Marie frowned at the phone, but tried to keep the worry out of her voice. "You can talk about it, if you want."

There was an excruciating pause. "It's nothing, I promise. I just messed a few things up. Everything should work out in the end!" Fake bravado laced the end of her sentence, painting a very poor picture of Callie's current situation.

"Are you sure? Cal, I promise I'll listen. I know it's been a little bit since we--"

"It's fine, Mar."

Part of Marie wanted to push for more, but she bit it back. They were talking again, that was good enough for now.

"OK, I'll trust you on that. But you'd better call me if anything's going on, alright?"

That got a small chuckle out of Callie. "Fine, fine. Is everything ok for you? It's a bit random for you to just call me like that."

It didn't used to be. "I'm ok, really not much going on for me." Marie's doubts made her pause for a moment, before she shook her head and pushed forward. "I called because I wanted to invite you to take a trip home with me next week."

"Home? Like, out to Calamari County?"

"Yeah! Uncle Lewis has been asking when we're coming to visit, given we missed Squidsmas... And I figured it might be... a good chance to catch up?"

"How'd you know I was done next week?" Callie asked.

"You sent me a copy of your schedule when you started filming a few months ago." Marie pulled her phone away from her ear to scroll up through their text history. She didn't have to scroll for very long.

"That... sound nice. I think I'd like that."

Marie wanted to cry in relief. "Oh, good! I'll tell them we're coming then." A much more comfortable silence filled the line while Marie texted her answer. "Oh Cal, this will be so nice. I don't know about you, but I know that I need this."

Callie sighed. "I think I do too. This whole acting thing is crazy tiring. I just want things to go back to how they used to be."

"I'm ready to be past all this," Marie agreed. "Get into the next chapter of our lives. Like a fresh start for both of us!"

"...yeah." Callie quietly agreed after a pause. "I think I'm going to go to bed now."

"Alright." Marie pushed back a sudden wave of emotion. "It was good to talk to you, Cal. Really. See you soon."

"...Bye."

Marie closed her phone, feeling better about her life than she had in months.