Prompt: Hello - Adele

She's tempted to pick up the phone. Laurel had been wondering if it would be a good time. Middleton was behind her now. She was a fully-fledged lawyer now, mostly doing work with the public defender's office while she built up a record. She went into the job thinking she was going to help people and so far she felt like she was. In the back of her mind, she remembered what Frank had said to her in the first week working with Annalise. God, he was such an ass.

Most of her memories of Frank were fond. Her hand hovered over the phone again and, biting her lip, she picked it up. Just to check her notifications, she told herself. Even after leaving school and Annalise's practice and Frank, she still had his number saved. Texts were still buried at the bottom of her inbox and somewhere on her iCloud she had a large number of photos from the time they dated. Before she knew what she was doing, Laurel was in her contacts, searching his name. When she saw the numbers on her screen, the young woman hesitated. Could she call? He probably didn't want to hear from her. Did she want to open that part of herself up again? It was her past - a buried past - and she had pushed it down to get where she was.

Laurel couldn't help herself as she hit the call button, bringing the phone to her ear. Part of her was scared she would regret ever making this call, but she had to try. She had to at least explain why she cut contact and didn't look back. Frank probably hated her. Or not. If he hatred her, she could have expected some kind of retribution.

"Hello?" a male voice said from the other end of the phone.

Laurel's breath caught in her throat a little knowing that she now had him on the phone. It wasn't her trying and giving up to speak to him. He was there. After a repeated hello, Laurel cleared her throat, "It's me… It's Laurel."

Frank made a huff - that annoyed sound she'd heard so many times working in the office or when she'd piss him off at home. "Do you need somethin'?" he asked, the sound of pacing making up the background of his end of the call.

"No," she began, shaking her head, "but I just wanted to… ask if you wanted to… talk. About how we ended– how I ended things." Laurel sat down on her couch and tapped her foot a little, waiting for Frank to respond. She pushed her hair back, "I know you probably don't want to hear anything or see me but I want to apologise or at least try…"

On the other end of the phone, Frank got slightly more rigid. He'd gone years without thinking about her. He didn't make strong attachments with many, but he had done with her. That loyalty he had would likely never go away but he had stripped himself of the reminders. Her number was gone, pictures hidden by folders and he had gone back to his prior lifestyle full of malt liquors and one night stands. "I'm good. We both know you had to fly the nest and do somethin' for yourself and I moved on. It didn't tear me apart having some law school girl leave me. I'm a big boy - but you know that."

Ass. "Sure, that's fine. I just… I feel bad for making such a bolt away from you and everything we had," she explained. "I know this is selfish but I just had to know how you were doing."

"Well, I'm fine. Still here, back to doing what I was enjoying before you and the rest of your gang brought the hurricane into town," he told her, clearly frustrated to still be on the phone. Frank wanted to hand up the phone, but it was Laurel. He couldn't buff her off like the leggy blonde from three weeks ago he stupidly gave his number too.

Laurel nodded, a smile coming over her face. At least he was happy. At least she hadn't ruined everything for him. "I'm glad. I'll, uh… let you go. Look me up if you're ever doing your work up in West Chester."

"Sure," he said, before hanging up the call. Laurel heard the beep which ended their brief interaction. She moved the phone away to be certain that it was over and sighed when it was just the 'call ended' screen confronting her.

The brunette bit her lips together and put her phone on the coffee table. She buried her head in her hands and exhaled heavily. It was over. Clearly over. He had moved on and she was just a past memory for him. Looking up, Laurel took another breath in and laid back. Clearly, she didn't have the right to care anymore.