Gray stared at his phone for a long second.
Then, without overthinking it, he opened one of his chat threads. It had been months since either of them messaged each other. The last one was a dumb voice note from Mara where she was ranting about a group project.
"Uh oh..." He had reacted to it with a laughing emoji and promised to reply, but he never did.
Now, he typed something quickly.
[Gray]: Hey. You busy?
His message was simple. It was something he knew that she wouldn’t overthink. He stared at the message a bit, then pressed send.
The message got marked as delivered.
Less than three seconds later, his phone lit up.
Incoming Call – Mara
"...Huh?" Gray blinked.
She was calling him?
That fast?
"Hey," He picked it up and pressed it to his ear.
"...You good?" Mara’s voice came through, her tone was casual but sharp. It was just exactly how he remembered it.
"You’re messaging me at 3 p.m. in the middle of the week. Are you dying?"
Gray leaned back again, a hand rubbing his face.
"I’m not dying."
"Oh my god, you are dying."
"I’m not," he said again, exasperated this time.
"That’s something a dying person would say." The girl on the line answered. Her voice was serious, but he knew that she was just joking.
Gray groaned and dropped his head back against the chair, his eyes briefly shutting as a small grin pulled at the corner of his lips.
"Mara," he muttered. "You’re exactly the same."
"Don’t change the subject," she fired back immediately. "What’s going on? Are you getting married? Are you in jail? Are you finally shaving your head?"
Gray laughed quietly, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"No. None of those. I just... needed to talk."
There was a pause. Then, her voice softened.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
On the other end of the line, he heard the faint sound of typing momentarily stopping. It was followed by the rustle of something. Maybe she was pulling off her headphones or closing her laptop.
She must’ve actually been in the middle of something.
"Hold on," she said. "Let me go somewhere quieter."
"Alright."
Gray waited in silence. He just listened to the subtle shifting of background noise until it faded.
Then she spoke again after a minute.
"Alright. Talk to me. What’s going on, Gray?" she sounded seriously worried this time.
Gray chuckled at it. Mara must have thought that he had had a problem or something. After all, he doesn’t just chat with her that easily.
"So..." Gray exhaled slowly, running his fingers through his hair. "I’ve been working on this new job..." he began. "And it’s been eating me alive."
"You’re still doing the grocery thing?"
"Yeah. But it’s... big now. It’s not just groceries anymore." He leaned forward, elbows on the table again, voice quiet. "There are investors now. Deals. Partnerships. Logistics. Distribution channels. I’ve been drowning in paperwork for hours and I still feel like I’m behind."
Mara let out a low whistle.
"Damn~"
"Yeah." He glanced sideways at the mountain of folders again. "I thought I could handle all of it, you know? I used to think, if I just worked harder, I’d stay ahead. But now... I think I’ve hit my limit."
There was silence for a moment.
Then her voice came through again. It was gentler this time.
"So why’d you message me?"
Gray hesitated for a minute.
"I need help," he admitted.
Mara didn’t answer right away. But she didn’t scoff, or laugh, or brush it off either.
He continued. "I don’t mean like... a favor. I mean actual help. A job, if you want it."
"So it’s that serious, huh?"
"Yeah."
"What would I even be doing?"
"Helping me make sense of all this," he gestured around instinctively, even though she couldn’t see him.
"You were always good at breaking shit down. At calling bullshit when no one else would."
"Wow, what a job description. I’m flattered," she said dryly, but still followed by laughter.
Gray grinned.
"I’m serious. You’ve always been the only person who could keep me in check without kissing ass."
"Well. That’s because I’ve seen you cry over spilled ramen."
"Don’t bring that up," he muttered.
"You were fifteen, Gray."
"I was tired."
"You were sobbing."
Gray sighed through a tired smile.
"Are you interested or not?"
Mara was quiet for a second. Then she said, "...Can I think about it?"
"Of course. I don’t even know if I can pay you yet."
"Oh, wow. Amazing offer. Now I’m definitely in."
"You’re gonna make me regret calling you."
"You already do," she shot back, then paused. "But yeah. Send me the details. I’ll take a look."
"Thanks."
There was a brief silence. Then Mara asked, in a different tone, "You alright, though? Like... really?"
Gray sat with the question for a moment. His eyes drifted again to the folders. To the untouched coffee. To the stack of post-its on his monitor that all looked the same by now.
"...I don’t know," Gray finally answered. "I think I’m trying to do something bigger than I ever thought I could. And I don’t know if I’m gonna screw it all up."
Mara didn’t speak for a long time.
Then she said quietly, "That’s exactly when you’re supposed to ask for help."
Gray closed his eyes.
"...Yeah."
"Hey." Her voice shifted, lighter again. "I’m proud of you, by the way."
He blinked. "Huh?"
"I’ve seen how far you’ve come, even if it’s just through random check-ins and stalking your name in news articles. You’re doing big things. Don’t let the pressure make you forget that."
"..." Gray’s eyes widened at that.
"What the? Why are you stalking me?!"
With the sudden anxiousness in his voice, Mara laughed out loud. Her voice echoed on the other side of the phone. It was obvious how badly she was laughing.
"Why? Can’t I? Mr. Popular."
"You’re really so stupid." Gray shook his head.
Mara just let out another laugh.
"Don’t worry. I won’t tell them you peed your pants once because we were watching a horror movie."
"You motherfucker!"