(Shoma's pov)

Even something as simple as talking to her, made me feel like I was floating. I wonder if she felt it too?

...

Collapsing on the couch in my living room, I pull put my phone to see if there's any notification.

And there is.

My tired and half asleep face lights up in a second when I see a message from her, the girl I can't stop thinking about.

Lexi: heyyy

Me: :) have u arrived back in England?

Lexi: yes thank you, and you?

Me: I'm home now
Me: Kinda tired

I have no shame in double texting.

Perhaps I ought to, but I really don't see what's so wrong about it. I mean, maybe I just have lots of things to say that I forgot to put in one text. I don't understand how it can come across as desperate or something. I mean, I do it way too often. I sometimes even quadruple text, especially to my best friend, Sota.

He doesn't mind, nor does he find it annoying. Plus he does it back to me too.

Lexi: oh ok.

I stare at my phone screen, puzzled at what I should say next.

How does one reply to "oh ok"?

Maybe I shouldn't reply?
But I want to keep talking to her.
I need a valid excuse or reason. Like a question to ask.

Then I notice it.

The full-stop.

I don't know why, but whenever people who don't normally type with full-stops or correct grammar and punctuation put a full-stop at the end of their sentence, I always feel like they're angry or sad or annoyed at me.

I'm probably just being crazy. It's probably nothing. Sometimes people text with full-stops and don't notice it.

But I just can't help but feel like this conversation did not end as well as I wanted it to.

Should I even say something back or not?

I don't know. I'm too tired to think straight.

But something about the way she texts reminds me of someone.

But who?

It comes to me later. When I've woken up and feel this strange longing for her.

...

(Lexi's pov)

Shoma: Kinda tired

I hesitate, turning my phone over in my hands, wondering how to respond to that.

Typically when a friend tells me they're tired, I ask them what's wrong or tell them to get some rest, or just leave them be to avoid being a nuisance.

But I feel like he's trying to tell me something else.

That perhaps he thinks I've been annoying him and that he wants me to leave him alone.

I mean, why else would someone say that unless they want you to leave them alone?

But no matter how I think about it, I can't imagine how I might've annoyed him?

I mean, all I did was say hey and ask if he got home, so it would just be plain rude for him to diss me like this. He could've atleast said, "talk to you later" or something.

I'm not angry.
And I don't want to be.

This is a small matter and I shouldn't make a big deal out of it.

So I try to sound cool and just reply with an "oh ok".

He sees it but doesn't text me back so I leave to go for a bath before getting ready for bed.

When I tuck myself into bed, I turn on my laptop and head on Twitter, realizing I have so much to tell Brogan, one of my best friends.

She's online thankfully. It should be around afternoon where she is in Canada.

When I type in all caps everything that had happened in the last 72 hours, I can practically hear her screaming.

She replies back frantically, sending text after text in full caps.

Brogan: !!!??!!
Brogan: THIS THIS THUS
Brogan: WAIT A MINUTE
Brogan: THIS ISNT SOEM SUPER LATER APRIL FOOLS JOKE IS IT?!?
Brogan: I'M SO NAPPY FOR YOU. HOW ARE YOU EVEN STILL ALIGE? ID BE DEAD BY NOWW IF I WERE YOU

I laugh at how many spelling errors she makes in her super speedy text replies.

Typical Brogan.

Smiling to no end, I reply back asap, laughing at her reactions.

But then my phone buzzes, I pick it up to see that Shoma's texted me again.

Maybe he isn't annoyed or mad.
It was just me after all.

Shoma: You're Olly!

Me: ...from everything, everything?

My eyebrows scrounge up, as my brain comes up with question marks after question marks.
How does this have anything to do with anything???

Shoma: That's right! I kept wondering why your format of texting reminded me of someone. And it's Olly!

Me: wait youve read that book

Shoma: Yeah!

Me: wait, explain why im olly. because ya know, im clearly a guy

Shoma: Well you never use caps and sometimes don't even use punctuation

Me: you don't put full-stops at the end of your sentences either

Shoma: ...That's besides the point

Me: and what exactly is the point again??
Me: shoma+admirably abrupt declaration that im a guy character from a fictional story which happens to be my favourite book = "???????" in lexi's brain

Shoma: 😂 you're funny
Shoma: the point is that you type in lower case all the time and hardly use punctuation because of Olly, right?

Me: AHAHAAHHAH
Me: this isnt even the right reason lol
Me: also are you like secretly related to brogan? cause she literally asked me the same thing when she finished reading everything, everything

Shoma: EH???!??! Then what's the reason?
Shoma: You seem really close to this Brogan person

Me: yeah, we're best friends even though we've only met once in Seattle last summer.
Me: im just lazy lol

Shoma: 😂 You're really something, you know that?

Me: thanks i try *flips hair*

Shoma: *not enough hair to flip but does it anyway and ends up cracking neck*

Me: oh gosh are you okay?
Me: i know i shouldn't be laughing but i am 😂

Shoma: That's quite alright 😂
Shoma: I'm glad you think I'm funny

Me: I need to go to sleep now, goodnight!

Shoma: Night dearie (;

Me: thank you honey (;

I probably just had one of the best text conversations of a lifetime. With the person I never knew I would ever meet.

All of a sudden, he doesn't seem so unreachable after all.

But I shouldn't get my hopes up.

But when I fall asleep that night, I can almost hear his voice saying, "you're really something, you know that?"

(Shoma's pov)

As I push myself to my bed that night, I end up lying awake for a while, unsuccessful in falling asleep.

And then her words ring in my mind.

"Isn't it ironic how you have to pretend to fall asleep in order to actually fall asleep?"

Quoth Lexi,
The Art Of Falling Asleep - a true story

...

Hehe ;) everything, everything basically ruined me and brought me to life. As you can tell with the overwhelming references.