The Lost Phone Pt 2

• Leigh Taylor
• Short Story
• 2017

Maria's brows pull together, a chord of familiarity ringing deep inside her. She enlarges the profile picture—a selfie of an attractive guy she doesn't recognize, who has to be a year or two younger than her—and then she swipes to the next profile picture, hoping maybe she'll still be able to collect some kind of clue about who Jason Carver is. In a small town such as hers, it requires no leap of her imagination to think that they might have some mutual friends.

The next photo is of Jason with another guy, and they're standing on a football field, giving each other one of those one-armed man hugs.

Unthinkingly, Maria zooms in on the nameless, dark-haired guy, studying his chiseled features. With his model good looks and killer smile, she feels her heart flutter, before quickly exiting out of Facebook, cursing herself for getting distracted.

Running out of ideas, she clicks into the contacts on the phone, deciding to text the very first name on the list: Adam.

Pushing down her nerves, she starts a conversation with him and thumbs off a quick message.

-hey, is this adam?

Maria's prepared to have to wait a while before he replies, but within minutes, the phone buzzes. She sucks in a shaky breath, reading the text that pops up on the screen.

-last time i checked. why? did you get high enough to forget your own brother this time?

Oops. She hesitates, unsure what she's supposed to say to that or if she even wants to say anything, considering that they're complete strangers after all.

Adam makes the decision for her when she gets another message from him.

-typical. the first time i've heard from you all year and you're wasted again.

Convincing herself that given the choices she's made so far, smart has already abandoned her, she types up a response, just to be sure he's the right guy.
-actually, no. i'm Maria. so you're Jason Carver's brother...?

-i thought we already established that. and it's nice to meet you, Maria.

-wait, why is my brother's girlfriend texting me off his phone? is Jay okay?

-I'm not your brother's girlfriend and as for Jason's current status, i have no idea. I've never met the guy

-but you have his phone?

-I found it on the train and was hoping someone could help me find him to give it back to him?

-you found a phone on the train and you didn't just pocket it? damn, you really are a good girl aren't you
as for my brother, i can't help you out there no one can he bounces around a lot and never tells us where he is

-what the hell am i supposed to do with his phone then?

-keep it.