Four Letter Word.

The clock read 11 PM. Alycia had just gotten home from the amusement park, and there was no denying that she was as tired as ever. Her currently wavy, dark brown hair was all over the place, and her makeup was smeared all over her face. Aly looked into the mirror, disgusted with her appearance. She quickly replaced her tank top with an oversized sweater and her jeans with a pair of soft shorts that read “MAUI” on the back. Jumping into bed, Aly sighed and turned on her lamp before heading onto the laptop and scrolling through her dashboard on Tumblr.

Her phone was placed right next to her head, as if she was waiting for a call — which she wasn’t. After all, whoever sent a text or even made a call to Aly? It wasn’t because she didn’t have friends. Actually, Aly had plenty of friends. It was just that they knew that she barely ever replied to her texts or answered her calls. It was much more efficient to send her a tweet, an ask on Tumblr, or maybe even write on her Facebook wall — though who even goes on Facebook anymore, really?

It definitely caught Aly off guard when she felt her phone vibrate next to her. She figured it was just another person mentioning her on Twitter or commenting on her status. Unlocking her phone, she checked to see which of the two it was. To her surprise, it was none of the above.



Aly sat up in her bed and arched a brow at the message. “Weird,” she muttered to herself, wondering who it could’ve been. She was at Six Flags today, but she didn’t give out her number to anyone new. Aly decided to just ignore the text, setting her phone back down and watching How I Met Your Mother until she fell asleep.



She woke up to a loud, annoying song playing right next to her ear. Aly groaned and didn’t bother checking the caller ID on her phone and just pressed answer.

“Hello?” She grumbled, her voice muffled by the pillow.

The voice on the other end chuckled. “Did you just wake up? I’m sorry, I probably woke you up.” Aly stayed silent, trying to figure out who it was. Then again, she didn’t know many — if not, then none at all — people with English accents. “Sorry, I just... I couldn’t sleep last night. I kind of waited for you to text back all night. I’m pathetic, aren’t I?”

“Erm, who is this?” Aly spoke into the phone hesitantly. Obviously this guy got the wrong number, but Aly didn’t have the heart to tell him just yet.

“It’s Harry,” the voice replied, sadness evident in his tone. “I, uh... You don’t remember last night? Well, you did have a bit too much to drink, Lace. I bet you have a massive hangover. But I was wondering if you were free today? Liam’s given me permission to actually hang out with you today, that’s if you wanted to.”

Aly sat up in her bed and rubbed her eyes. She let out a yawn and tried to figure out why he sounded so damn familiar. “Uh, I’m sorry babe. I think you’ve dialed the wrong number. This isn’t ‘Lace’ or whatever. My name’s Aly,” she spoke into the phone.

“A-Aly...?” Harry asked. “I thought this was Lacey. I’m sorry for bothering you. I swear, this was the number she wrote on my arm. It’s literally the exact same number. Ugh, she probably wrote a fake number and it turned out to be yours. God, I’m such an idiot. I can’t believe I thought she actually liked me.”

“Whoa there, big guy. Don’t beat yourself up. Maybe she wrote it in wrong.” She tried to reason with him, without even thinking much about it. Here was Aly, talking to a complete stranger, trying to get him to think positively. “I mean, it happens all the time. You did say she had a bit too much to drink. I’ve never drank alcohol before, but I think I know enough about it. When girls are drunk, they get a bit... dumb.”

A sigh escaped the other line. “Maybe you’re right... Thanks Aly,” the guy spoke after a few seconds of silence.

“No problem, Harry. You seem to really like this girl. Don’t hesitate to call or text me when you see her again, because you two sound so cute. I expect to be invited to the wedding!”

Once Aly heard the guy on the other end laugh, she knew she did a good job. “Thanks, I’ll text you the next time I see her, which hopefully will be very soon. I’m really sorry for waking you up. Go get some sleep. You shouldn’t be up at 7AM on a Sunday.”

“Well, now I’m up and I can’t sleep. But what the hell are you doing up at 7AM on a Sunday, hmm?”

Another chuckle was heard on the other line. “I told you, I stayed up waiting for her to text back. Or well, you. Well, I guess I was waiting for you to text back, but I thought it was her, so I guess technically —”

“Stop. You talk too much. Go get some sleep, crazy British boy. Sleep all day. Convert to Alyism. Sleep, eat, bathe, repeat.”

“Can’t sleep. Too much running through my mind. One of those thoughts is ‘why am I talking to a complete stranger who I thought was the girl I liked?’”

“Because I’m an entertaining little girl. Sleep. Now.”

“Sing me to sleep?” Harry asked, suddenly sounding like a little five year old. Aly rolled her eyes and replied with a simple ‘no’. “Please?” he whined, “it’s the least you could do after leading me on.” Aly could practically imagine the smirk on his lips, even though she had no idea what this stranger looked like. For all she knew, he could’ve been a 30 year old man.

Nah, he sounded much too young for that. No 30 year old man would stay up waiting for a girl to text them back... Right?

“Ugh...” Aly sighed and tried to think of a song that might put the man to sleep. “The space in between us starts to feel like we’re worlds apart, like I’m going crazy and you say it’s raining in your heart. You’re telling me nobody’s there to dry up the flood. Oh, but that’s just crazy, ‘cause baby I told you I’m here for good.” Aly chewed on her lip, insecure with how she sounded. Her voice was raspy, since she just woke up about ten minutes earlier.

“You have a lovely voice, babe,” Harry yawned. Aly imagined his eyes slowly closing as he cuddled his phone. She scrunched her nose up at what she was doing. “Keep singing until I fall asleep, please?” he pleaded.

Aly nodded, though he couldn’t see her. “My love’s like a star yeah, you can’t always see me but you know that I’m always there. When you see one shinin’, take it as mine and remember I’m always near. If you see a comet, baby I’m on it making my way back home. Just follow the glow yeah, it won’t be long. Just know that you’re not alone...”

By the end of the chorus, she could hear Harry softly snoring. Aly laughed quietly to herself. “Goodnight and good luck Harry,” she spoke into the phone before ending the call.