Me: Call me?

Parks: you dont have to talk. i just want to know youre there. and like youre not a bot or something.

Me: I can assure you I'm real.

Parks: thats what a bot would say. besides, youd have made a move today if you were real. you had the perfect chance

Parks: everyones not looking now, are they?

Me: Fine. You can call.

In a second, my phone started to vibrate in my hand, and I rushed to untangle my earphone before I picked up, immediately switching off video so it diverted to a voice call.

"Hey, Mystery," Parker said, and I could swear my ears tingled from the intensity of his voice and the smile I could hear it.

Me: Hi, Parker.

I flipped onto my stomach, holding my phone steady and trying to slow the pace of my shallow breaths, and my heart pulsed in my chest like it wanted out.

"Whoa, I can hear you breathing," he stated, his voice quickly falling as he added, "and now I can't."

His laughter was undertone with concern. "You're not gonna die on me, are you?"

Me: I'm not.

Not intentionally, anyway.

"Good," he replied.

His voice was a melody, so smooth and rich that it was as if he was right there, whispering to me like the music that pulsed from speakers on his end.

Me: What's that song in the background?

"Oh, it's eh, Fire on Fire by Sam Smith. You like it?"

Me: Very much.

"Lemme turn it up so you can hear it better. It's one of my favorite songs by Sam, they make the best music," Parker said with a heady sigh, followed by a crackle that came when I figured he fell back in his bed. "Their voice makes you feel you've fallen in love a thousand times in a thousand parallel universes. When in reality, you haven't? And the farthest you've gone is one-way voice calls for someone who you suspect is a bot."

I burst out in laughter, which wasn't just a surprise to Parker, but to me as well. My hand quickly went up to my mouth to suppress the vibrant sound when I realized I should have stayed quiet. Or even turn my mic off. Parker's compliment had me decide against it.

"Wow, you just made the cutest sound at the pitiful explanation of my love life," he said with laughter of his own. "You have a really nice laugh. And you're not a bot too."

The song ended with his words, and the flowing beat gave way to the silence of the night and Parker's even breaths.

Me: Thank you. Is this the only one you have?

"Nah, I have several playlists with songs like this. You wanna listen to them?"

Me: Why not?

"Exactly," he said just as a more subtle, mellow tune started with the strumming of a guitar after a beat of silence and fumbling. "This one is also by Sam, because they're an icon---keep that in mind, Mystery. It's called My Oasis, and it features this Nigerian, Burna Boy."

Shortly, Sam's voice flowed out in the most soothing waves, drowning out any other sounds and filling my ears and heart and lungs, rendering me light and weightless. It suspended me in the sort of heaven only music could provide.

Me: I love this one.

"Getting that thousand falls in love feeling?" he asked.

Me: Definitely.

Parker sighed, almost in tune with Sam Smith's last chorus. "I'll send you every single playlist I made. Would you like that?"

Me: I would. A lot.

"Great." A pause. "Do you know something? This song makes me realize you're my oasis, Mystery. You're playing tricks on me, and I feel like there's really nothing I can do when it comes to you." He sang the last bit with Burna boy, eliciting another short laugh from me. It stopped as he added, "You'll never tell me who you are, will you?"

Now it was Mysterious who was typing and deleting and typing, indecisive and clueless and a thousand times in love.

Me: I'm considering it.

The guitar strummed again as the song played on repeat. And I was almost not sure if Parker ever said those words as my eyelids fell closed. "Consider it faster."