Drifting, falling, floating, weightless... Final

____“Hello?”
____“Happy birthday! Did I wake you up?” The voice that came through was unusually happy for eight in the morning. A gear, dislodged by sleep, slipped back into place and the caller was no longer a mystery.
____“Hey Vanessa.” From out of nowhere, and almost unnoticed, a smile grew on Michael’s face as his birthday got better. “Sorry, no, I accidentally set my alarm last night.”
____“You did that on purpose.” Vanessa smiled as well, and Michael could hear that smile in her voice. It was better than any alarm he’d had before.
____“I did no such thing. I don’t wanna be rudely woken up by a piece of screaming plastic for no reason.” He laughed as he spoke, forgetting the cars driving by on the street below.
____“Would you say the same thing about your cell phone? Hmm?” She said coyly.
____“Not if it’s somebody important calling I wouldn’t. Besides, that’s totally different. Ring tone easily trumps annoying alarm sound.” He could still feel the air from the vent, but the whirr was gone.
____“I agree. But,” she paused, and let out a light, happy sigh. “Am I somebody you would call important?”
____“I don’t even see why I should have to answer that. You already know the answer.” The memory of an interrupting alarm clock dissolved.
____“Say it.” Mock seriousness punctuated the two powerful syllables.
____“Not if I’m going to be coerced into saying-” He could no longer see the ceiling, or his sun bleached belongings
____“Say it, buttface.” She had to control her laughter in order to get this out, but the control was lost when Michael laughed into the phone. The looming, non-descript buildings lost interest, and reverted back to their still selves.
____“Yes, Vanessa. You are an important person. I almost died even getting the phone. I’m still in bed and it’s all the way over there.” Michael pointed to where his phone had been sitting, as if Vanessa had been right there. She laughed, either delighted that Michael would risk his life to talk to her, or that he would put his phone somewhere so dangerous. He wanted nothing more than for there to be no need for a phone for this conversation he was having. The mumbling, oddly familiar shapes had left now too. There wasn’t even an empty street; only what he had always focused on. “Vanessa Fluer Stahl, you are very important to me, and I love you.”
____“I know, Michael. I love you too.”

The End