Price Check On Monogamy

"Tiger?"

I sat up suddenly, startled out of being asleep. "Milo?" Glancing at my clock and rolling my eyes, I grinned; it was two in the morning. This was typical Milo.

"Were you asleep?" He asked hesitantly. When I didn't answer right away, instead opting for a yawn, he started freaking out and apologizing quickly, "Oh my God, I'm so sorry, I woke you up, I'm sorry, I'm so stupid, calling you at two in the morning, I'm sorry--"

"Milo!" I interrupting, laughing. "Chill, alright? Every thing's fine. So what did you want to talk about?"

"Well..." Milo said, still hesitant, still making me smile. He'd always been so hesitant about calling or texting me. It was pretty funny; in person, he always seemed so... confident, I guess, in an awkward sort of way. "I was kind of just hoping to talk?"

I laughed again, hugging a pillow to my chest and crossing my legs. Milo had gotten me over my insomnia; after days of tiring myself out with my friends, and then nights talking to him, I'd slowly gotten over my constant fear of nightmares. I don't think I'd ever missed a call from him. "Of course, man. What's up?"

"The roof, dog." Milo burst out laughing, unable to keep his voice level, so I started laughing, too. I'd missed this; I'd missed this a lot in the past two months. "Nothing much, you?"

"Just the usual stupidity," I sighed, laying back. It was... weird keeping things from him. I'd never really had to keep any secrets from Milo; I'd always just kind of assumed that he would be there for me. He'd never failed me before. Suddenly uncomfortable, I hurried to ask, "And you?"

There was a sigh on the other end of the line before I heard a whirring in the background. Fan? "I don't know; it's just really hot and I'm really unhappy about it."

I laughed, cuddling up under my blanket. "I don't know what you're talking about; I'm cold."

"Because your air conditioner isn't programmed to go off at eleven!"

"So?"

Milo laughed again, which made me start laughing. Even though we usually only talked about stupid stuff like this, it was still nice to be able to again. "So how've you been, Milo?"

"Ehh, things have been alright. Just the typical deal, you know? Hold on, I'm gonna go outside; it's seriously way too hot in here." Milo lived basically in a forest; his dad, a nationally acclaimed sports trainer and medical doctor, loved to hunt. When Milo was five, he'd learned how to shoot a hunting rifle. When he was nine, he'd shot his first deer. His dad was insane, but he was full of surprises; the first time I'd met him, he'd told me instantly to call him Uncle Tanner, and nothing else. About six months ago, despite everything I told everyone, I'd always hoped that Milo would turn out like his dad-- wild, crazy, but completely devoted. Milo's mom had died four years ago, and the man was refusing to remarry out of respect for her.

Now was so not the time be thinking about things like that.

"Okay, so, anyway,” Milo sounded out of breath, which meant he’d probably run into the forest. “What are you up to?”

“Formally sleeping. You?”

“Talking to a girl who I haven’t talked to in ages,” he said, laughing. “How’ve you been?”

“Ehh, I’ve been better,” I mumbled, hugging the pillow tighter. I didn’t want to talk about what was going on; it would make things awkward, and I really didn’t want that with Milo; I’d gotten enough of that from the past two months to last me a lifetime. “How’ve you been?”

“Same,” he sounded relieved, and I decided it was safe to breath again. Apparently, he didn’t want it to get awkward, either. “I’ve got a competition in about a month, so I’m missing a week of school to practice with my dad up in the Alps with some of his clients. What do you want from Switzerland?”

I laughed. Of course Uncle Tanner would pull Milo out of school to practice for a snowboarding contest. “I don’t want anything, man, it’s alright. Want me to help you catch up with homework?”

“Is that an insult?”

“Maybe…”

“Jee, thanks, Tiger,” Milo laughed, interrupting himself with a yawn. “Umm… listen… sorry about what’s been going on lately, okay? I know that things have been… weird. I’m just really sorry, okay? I’m trying to get better at it. I promise.”

“Milo…” I bit my lip, not wanting to say anything I would regret later. Did I still like him? Hell yes. Was that acceptable in the least? … not by a long shot. The fact that he’d been talking to another girl lately, according to Lexy, came to mind, and I was suddenly nauseous. “Get some rest, okay? Night.”

“… night, Tiger,” he said quietly. I waited until the dial tone to throw my phone across the room and scream into my pillow.

Things just couldn’t get easier, could they?