Chapter 14
It was weird to wake up and grab my phone first thing not to check my work email but to see if Jack had messaged me. But that’s what happened the rest of the week. Every single morning. And every single morning, he had. And I’d smile and write back.
I didn’t have time for any long exchanges so mostly I sent gifs of people drowning in paperwork, fighting tornados, anthills in crisis, and anything else to represent job chaos and Jack sent seagull gifs.
We’d picked up a new client that meant a massive amount of overtime for my team as we worked like said ants to integrate our software with their systems. I got home late every night, worked some more, and fell asleep exhausted, but it was funny how fast those morning exchanges became a part of my routine. They were almost better than coffee for waking me up.
Fine. They were better than coffee.
On Saturday morning, I slept in a whole hour and had my phone in my hand before I was even fully awake. Jack had sent a picture of a seagull doing a yoga child’s pose to the sun and a message: “Good morning, sunshine.”
EMILY: A yoga seagull? Mad talent.
JACK: Don’t know if I can explain how hard that was. I know I make this look easy, but imagine a weightlifter doing lifts with popped out veins and bulging eyes and that was pretty much me with Photoshop last night.
EMILY: I’m honored.
JACK: I just realized how pathetic I made my Friday night sound. Please say you did something better.
EMILY: Is falling asleep at 8:00 and waking to this on my nightstand “better”?
I sent him a picture of a Haagen-Dazs pint I had only half finished before nodding off. Now it was a melted and congealed chocolate mess.
JACK:
EMILY:
JACK: But how is it possible that this is your Friday night? I thought maybe you went out and had wild nights on the town with Ranée, or…
EMILY: Or…?
JACK: …dates?
I held the phone against my chest and grinned like an idiot. He was fishing, and that meant I could too.
EMILY: You must be confusing me with yourself.
JACK: You think I’m going out for wild nights on the town with Ranée?
EMILY: Or…?
JACK: No dates.
I hugged my phone again. I was fine if he was dating people. Not seriously, or it would make him sketchy for messaging me. But it wouldn’t surprise me if lots of women were interested in such a smart man.
Fine. And a hot one.
EMILY: Same here. No date.
JACK: Because?
There were several options here, like the truth. Or a version of it.
EMILY: Too tired. I was asleep an hour after I got home from work.
JACK: I feel you. I used to work a lot of long hours.
EMILY: On the railroad?
JACK: All the livelong day.
EMILY: I have an earworm now.
JACK: You started it.
EMILY: Quick, give me a chaser, something to knock it out with.
A minute later a YouTube link appeared for “Who Let the Dogs Out?”
EMILY: I thought we were friends.
JACK: Do you remember the other earworm?
EMILY: I guess not. Am I really about to thank you for “Who Let the Dogs Out?”
JACK:
EMILY:
JACK: But no work today. So, plans tonight?
EMILY: Why are you forcing me to tell the truth and sound like a loser?
JACK: So that’s a no. Me either. Which is normal, so judge away. But that doesn’t seem right for you. Are there no smart men there? A smart man would take you out.
EMILY: Maybe I don’t want to be taken out. My prerogative, right?
JACK: A smart man would say yes. And I’m a smart man, so now I’m torn. Because a smart man would both ask if you’d like to go out this evening but also recognize that it’s your prerogative not to want to go out.
Wait. Did that mean he’d been about to ask me out for tonight? What the…
EMILY: Before I try to pick through all of that, let me start with: are you in San Francisco now or planning to be sometime today?
JACK: No.
Well. I was glad I’d asked before jumping to an embarrassing conclusion. I wasn’t sure what to say next though. Umm, funny cat gif? It was always time for a funny cat gif. I was searching for one when his typing dots appeared.
JACK: …
JACK: …
JACK: I take it back. I’m dumb. I meant to ask you out but it came out wrong. So I’ll try again.
JACK: Hey, Emily. Are you available for a virtual date tonight?
EMILY: Let me check my calen—yes. Yes, I am.
EMILY: Except I don’t know what I just said yes to.
Jack sent a gif of a woman diving from a sheer cliff into the ocean.
EMILY: Pretty much.
JACK: I…like that.
EMILY:
JACK: I can guarantee you a Cheeto-free evening.
EMILY: Swoon.
JACK: If I was in San Francisco, I’d see if you wanted to grab lunch some time. I think the equivalent here is a phone call? How about I call you and we can chat with our actual voices. Is that called a conversation? But not Skype or anything. Just a regular phone. Then we don’t have to do our hair. Conditioning is such a pain, amirite?
EMILY: I…
JACK: I’m only half kidding. I’ve only come to appreciate how true that is over the last two years. Now I feel bad for making fun of how long my sister took in the shower. But I’m not kidding about calling. In case you don’t want to do that, in which case I was definitely kidding.
EMILY: Sorry, I was just really stunned that you would even half-joke about something as serious as conditioner. Okay. Let’s not do our hair and talk on the phone tonight.
JACK: Does this feel like middle school? Getting on the phone and talking forever to a girl you like?
EMILY: I didn’t really like girls that way.
JACK: Fine. To a boy you liked?
EMILY: No. I punched them and ran away.
JACK: I’m talking about when you were a teenager.
EMILY: I am too.
JACK: I deserve this.
EMILY: Transcendent Seagull agrees. But in all seriousness, no. I didn’t get a cell phone until high school, and by then, it was mostly texting or IM-ing with boys I liked.
JACK: YOU’RE SAYING YOU LIKE ME?
EMILY: I’m saying if you want to call me around 7:00, I’ll answer.
JACK: Cool. I’m just going to calmly saunter out of this conversation and go look up “Interesting Discussion Questions for Phone Conversations.”
EMILY: I’ll prepare some in-depth descriptions of our current weather.
And I signed off from the chat with the dumbest smile ever and went to condition my hair anyway.