“Oh, I don’t know about selflessness…”
“Are you kidding? You’re risking your life every day.”
I smiled. “Thanks, that’s nice of you to say.”
“I was thinking of you this morning,” Megan said unexpectedly.
“Oh?” I asked. “What were you thinking about?”
“About how you’re the first person I’ve met since getting here who I’ve actually been able to have a real conversation with—and that includes my brother.”
“You know what?” I said. “Same here.”
“Did you know anyone at Brent’s party?” she asked.
“I’ve met a couple of the guys before,” I replied. “But just in passing. Brent introduced me to two girls that night. Five minutes talking to them, and I knew I needed to get the hell out of there.”
She laughed. “Are you referring to Melanie and Tracy?”
“Were those their names?” I asked. “I wasn’t paying attention.”
“Oh, but they were paying attention to you,” Megan told me.
“Is that why the blonde one made it a point of telling me she could do amazing things with her tongue?”
Megan burst out laughing. “She didn’t!”
“She most certainly did,” I said. “And the other one kept touching my arms and telling me how she could cut rocks on them.”
“To be fair, I thought the same thing,” Megan said, but I could tell she was teasing.
I laughed. “So, what made you decide to come to Philly?”
“Uh… I suppose I had no place else to go,” she replied. “And since Brent lived here, I thought it might be nice to have a familiar face around.”
“Where were you studying again?”
“Virginia,” she replied.
“Right,” I nodded. “Did you like it there?”
“I liked the university I was enrolled in.”
“You did?” I asked, frowning a little. “Then why did you drop out?”
There was a second of silence on the phone, and I sensed that she was uncomfortable with my question. “You don’t have to answer that if you don’t want to,” I said quickly. “I was just being nosy.”
“I’m sorry,” Megan said, and I was glad that she didn’t sound upset. “I just… I’m not really ready to talk about that yet. Is that okay?”
“Of course,” I said.
“You know what I haven’t done in ages?” I knew she was trying to change the subject and gloss over the nearly awkward moment between us, but I didn’t mind. I was just grateful she wanted to keep talking to me.
“Tell me?”
“Seen a movie in the theater,” Megan replied.
I smiled. “Same here.” I nodded. “I love watching movies; my idea of a perfect day is sitting at home with a bunch of junk food and about ten movies ready to play.”