between × and in the spring i shed my skin
"Need the phone, need the phone, need the phone!"
"What d'you need it for?"
"What the fuck do you think I need a phone for, you useless cockshite?"
"...Jesus, Enfys, what crawled up your arse and died?"
"You'll be next if you don't toss that over here."
Timothy squints at her over the back of the dilapidated sofa that they keep meaning to burn for fun or something, but he throws over the cordless and she yells, "I'll pay the phone bill this month," which he takes (correctly) to mean that this is another one of those international calls she takes out the back door.
Beer acquired, door shut, Enfys dials the number and waits.
...impatiently. "Pick it the fuck up," she orders the ringing tone, irritable, while she works the beer can open.
"Do you have any goddamn idea what time it is, Enfys?" His voice is still thick with sleep, but the answering irritation comes through crystal clear and she takes a drink before she says anything, offensively bright:
"You did get caller ID!"
"No, you're just the only person who calls me at four in the fucking morning. What do you want?"
"I need someone to help me document phenomenon, and since you picked up the phone, you just volunteered, gorgeous. The thing is it's a big project and I need you to come here and do it, and I can hear you breathing in to start arguing with me, and don't argue with me because you're going to come in your trousers when I tell you what it is. I'm not going to bother if you can't get out here, though, so just figure out if you can or not and call me back in a couple of days."
There's silence on the other end of the phone so long she's briefly concerned that he's actually put it on the side table and gone back to sleep. (It wouldn't actually be the first time he'd done that and she knows from experience he leaves it on the line so she can't call back and wake him with the noise.)
...and then he sighs. "It's that important."
"I'm not fucking around, I promise."
"And you're really not going to tell me anything until I play your little game."
"Zip, zilch, nada." (Hamster overlords are the kind of thing you have to tell someone in person so they can't hang up on you.)
"I'll give you a ring back in a couple days. And Enfys?"
"Mmmm?"
"You know what the timezones are, don't be such a bitch."
"Sweet dreams, babe."