diff --git a/lib/minch/client.ex b/lib/minch/client.ex
index b2c6790..1ffe539 100644
--- a/lib/minch/client.ex
+++ b/lib/minch/client.ex
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ defmodule Minch.Client do
         {:noreply, %{state | conn: conn}}
 
       {:error, error} ->
-        handle_disconnect(error, state)
+        {:noreply, handle_disconnect(state, error)}
     end
   end
 
@@ -69,27 +69,27 @@ defmodule Minch.Client do
 
   def handle_info(message, state) do
     case Minch.Conn.stream(state.conn, message) do
-      {:ok, conn, []} ->
-        handle_connect(%{state | conn: conn})
+      {:ok, conn, response} ->
+        {:noreply, %{state | conn: conn} |> handle_connect(response) |> handle_frames(response)}
 
-      {:ok, conn, frames} ->
-        {:noreply, handle_frames(%{state | conn: conn}, frames)}
-
-      {:error, error} ->
-        handle_disconnect(error, state)
+      {:error, conn, error} ->
+        Minch.Conn.close(conn)
+        {:noreply, handle_disconnect(%{state | conn: nil}, error)}
 
       :unknown ->
         do_handle_info(message, state)
     end
   end
 
+  defp handle_frames(state, %{frames: frames}) do
+    handle_frames(state, frames)
+  end
+
   defp handle_frames(state, [frame | rest]) do
-    frame
-    |> handle_frame(state)
-    |> handle_frames(rest)
+    frame |> handle_frame(state) |> handle_frames(rest)
   end
 
-  defp handle_frames(state, []), do: state
+  defp handle_frames(state, _), do: state
 
   defp handle_frame(frame, state) do
     case state.callback.handle_frame(frame, state.callback_state) do
@@ -113,27 +113,27 @@ defmodule Minch.Client do
     end
   end
 
-  defp handle_connect(state) do
+  defp handle_connect(state, %{status: _}) do
     case state.callback.handle_connect(state.callback_state) do
       {:ok, callback_state} ->
-        {:noreply, %{state | callback_state: callback_state}}
+        %{state | callback_state: callback_state}
 
       {:reply, frame, callback_state} ->
         {:ok, state} = send_reply(state, frame)
-        {:noreply, %{state | callback_state: callback_state}}
+        %{state | callback_state: callback_state}
     end
   end
 
-  defp handle_disconnect(error, state) do
-    state = %{state | conn: nil}
+  defp handle_connect(state, _response), do: state
 
+  defp handle_disconnect(state, error) do
     case state.callback.handle_disconnect(error, state.callback_state) do
       {:reconnect, backoff, callback_state} ->
         timer = Process.send_after(self(), {:"$minch", :reconnect}, backoff)
-        {:noreply, %{state | callback_state: callback_state, timer: timer}}
+        %{state | callback_state: callback_state, timer: timer}
 
       {:ok, callback_state} ->
-        {:noreply, %{state | callback_state: callback_state}}
+        %{state | callback_state: callback_state}
     end
   end
 
diff --git a/lib/minch/conn.ex b/lib/minch/conn.ex
index 91438ff..b8bf4fa 100644
--- a/lib/minch/conn.ex
+++ b/lib/minch/conn.ex
@@ -1,17 +1,25 @@
 defmodule Minch.Conn do
+  @moduledoc false
+
   @type t :: %__MODULE__{
           conn: Mint.HTTP.t(),
           request_ref: Mint.Types.request_ref(),
-          status: non_neg_integer() | nil,
-          headers: Mint.Types.headers() | nil,
           websocket: Mint.WebSocket.t() | nil
         }
 
-  defstruct [:conn, :request_ref, :websocket, :status, :headers]
+  defstruct [:conn, :request_ref, :websocket]
+
+  @type response :: %{
+          optional(:status) => Mint.Types.status(),
+          optional(:headers) => Mint.Types.headers(),
+          optional(:data) => binary(),
+          optional(:error) => term(),
+          optional(:frames) => [Mint.WebSocket.frame()]
+        }
 
   @spec open?(t()) :: boolean()
-  def open?(state) do
-    Mint.HTTP.open?(state.conn) and not is_nil(state.websocket)
+  def open?(c) do
+    Mint.HTTP.open?(c.conn)
   end
 
   @spec open(String.t() | URI.t(), Mint.Types.headers(), Keyword.t()) ::
@@ -58,8 +66,8 @@ defmodule Minch.Conn do
 
   @spec close(t()) :: t()
   def close(c) do
-    if open?(c) do
-      send_frame(c, :close)
+    if Mint.HTTP.open?(c.conn) do
+      unless is_nil(c.websocket), do: send_frame(c, :close)
       {:ok, conn} = Mint.HTTP.close(c.conn)
       %{c | conn: conn}
     else
@@ -69,8 +77,8 @@ defmodule Minch.Conn do
 
   @spec send_frame(t(), Mint.WebSocket.frame() | Mint.WebSocket.shorthand_frame()) ::
           {:ok, t()} | {:error, t(), term()}
-  def send_frame(c, frame) when c.websocket != nil do
-    case Mint.WebSocket.encode(c.websocket, frame) do
+  def send_frame(%{websocket: websocket} = c, frame) when websocket != nil do
+    case Mint.WebSocket.encode(websocket, frame) do
       {:ok, websocket, data} ->
         case Mint.WebSocket.stream_request_body(c.conn, c.request_ref, data) do
           {:ok, conn} ->
@@ -86,50 +94,58 @@ defmodule Minch.Conn do
   end
 
   @spec stream(t(), term()) ::
-          {:ok, t(), [Mint.WebSocket.frame()]} | {:error, Mint.WebSocket.error()} | :unknown
+          {:ok, t(), response()}
+          | {:error, t(), Mint.WebSocket.error()}
+          | :unknown
   def stream(c, http_reply) do
     case Mint.WebSocket.stream(c.conn, http_reply) do
       {:ok, conn, responses} ->
-        handle_responses(%{c | conn: conn}, responses)
+        responses
+        |> build_response(c.request_ref)
+        |> handle_response(%{c | conn: conn})
 
       {:error, conn, error, _responses} ->
-        Mint.HTTP.close(conn)
-        {:error, error}
+        {:error, %{c | conn: conn}, error}
 
       :unknown ->
         :unknown
     end
   end
 
-  # upgrade response
-  defp handle_responses(%{conn: conn, request_ref: ref, websocket: nil} = c, responses) do
-    resp =
-      Enum.reduce(responses, %{status: nil, headers: nil, data: nil}, fn
-        {:status, ^ref, status}, resp -> %{resp | status: status}
-        {:headers, ^ref, headers}, resp -> %{resp | headers: headers}
-        {:data, ^ref, data}, resp -> %{resp | data: data}
-        {:done, ^ref}, resp -> resp
-      end)
-
-    case Mint.WebSocket.new(conn, ref, resp.status, resp.headers) do
-      {:ok, conn, websocket} ->
-        {:ok, %{c | conn: conn, websocket: websocket}, []}
+  defp build_response(responses, ref, response \\ %{})
 
-      {:error, conn, error} ->
-        Mint.HTTP.close(conn)
-        {:error, error}
-    end
+  defp build_response([{key, ref, val} | rest], ref, response) do
+    build_response(rest, ref, Map.put(response, key, val))
   end
 
-  # websocket frames
-  defp handle_responses(%{request_ref: ref} = c, [{:data, ref, data}]) do
-    case Mint.WebSocket.decode(c.websocket, data) do
+  defp build_response([{:done, ref}], ref, response), do: response
+  defp build_response([], _ref, response), do: response
+
+  # WebSocket frames
+  defp handle_response(%{data: data} = response, %{websocket: websocket} = c)
+       when websocket != nil do
+    case Mint.WebSocket.decode(websocket, data) do
       {:ok, websocket, frames} ->
-        {:ok, %{c | websocket: websocket}, frames}
+        {:ok, %{c | websocket: websocket}, Map.put(response, :frames, frames)}
 
-      {:error, _websocket, error} ->
-        Mint.HTTP.close(c.conn)
-        {:error, error}
+      {:error, websocket, error} ->
+        {:error, %{c | websocket: websocket}, error}
+    end
+  end
+
+  # upgrade response
+  defp handle_response(%{status: status, headers: headers} = response, c) do
+    case Mint.WebSocket.new(c.conn, c.request_ref, status, headers) do
+      {:ok, conn, websocket} ->
+        c = %{c | conn: conn, websocket: websocket}
+
+        case response do
+          %{data: _} -> handle_response(response, c)
+          _no_frames -> {:ok, c, response}
+        end
+
+      {:error, conn, error} ->
+        {:error, %{c | conn: conn}, error}
     end
   end
 end
diff --git a/lib/minch/simple_client.ex b/lib/minch/simple_client.ex
index 8b4d10e..1f682a1 100644
--- a/lib/minch/simple_client.ex
+++ b/lib/minch/simple_client.ex
@@ -62,34 +62,42 @@ defmodule Minch.SimpleClient do
 
   def handle_info(message, state) do
     case Minch.Conn.stream(state.conn, message) do
-      {:ok, conn, []} ->
-        {:noreply, reply(%{state | conn: conn}, {:ok, conn.request_ref})}
+      {:ok, conn, response} ->
+        {:noreply, %{state | conn: conn} |> handle_connect(response) |> handle_frames(response)}
 
-      {:ok, conn, frames} ->
-        {:noreply, handle_frames(%{state | conn: conn}, frames)}
-
-      {:error, error} ->
-        {:stop, {:shutdown, error}, reply(state, {:error, error})}
+      {:error, conn, error} ->
+        {:stop, {:shutdown, error}, handle_disconnect(%{state | conn: conn}, error)}
 
       :unknown ->
         {:noreply, state}
     end
   end
 
-  defp reply(%{caller: nil} = state, _message), do: state
+  defp handle_connect(state, %{status: _}) do
+    GenServer.reply(state.caller, {:ok, state.conn.request_ref})
+    %{state | caller: nil}
+  end
 
-  defp reply(%{caller: caller} = state, message) do
-    GenServer.reply(caller, message)
+  defp handle_connect(state, _response), do: state
+
+  defp handle_disconnect(%{caller: caller} = state, error) when caller != nil do
+    GenServer.reply(caller, {:error, error})
     %{state | caller: nil}
   end
 
+  defp handle_disconnect(state, _error), do: state
+
+  defp handle_frames(state, %{frames: frames}) do
+    handle_frames(state, frames)
+  end
+
   defp handle_frames(state, [frame | rest]) do
     frame
     |> handle_frame(state)
     |> handle_frames(rest)
   end
 
-  defp handle_frames(state, []), do: state
+  defp handle_frames(state, _), do: state
 
   defp handle_frame(frame, state) do
     send(state.receiver, {:frame, state.conn.request_ref, frame})
diff --git a/mix.exs b/mix.exs
index 2901931..17c8319 100644
--- a/mix.exs
+++ b/mix.exs
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ defmodule Minch.MixProject do
   # Run "mix help deps" to learn about dependencies.
   defp deps do
     [
-      {:cowboy, "~> 2.9", optional: true},
+      {:cowboy, "~> 2.9", only: :test},
       {:ex_doc, "~> 0.27", only: :dev, runtime: false},
       {:mint_web_socket, "~> 1.0"}
     ]