“Yes, but I do that with Marj.”
“Have we kissed?”
“Yes.”
“Do you do that with Marj?”
“Just that one time at the Christmas party but we were both loaded,” she joked.
“Do you think about me all the time?”
“No, of course not. I keep my mind on my job.”
“Right. Me, too. Like I wasn’t in any way so distracted during today’s presentation that I said your name right out loud.”
“You didn’t!”
“So did. One of the guys in my session went, ‘what is Britt? Is this another of your American terms?’ and I said, ‘no she’s my girlfriend’ and everybody laughed.”
“You said I was your girlfriend?”
“Oh my gosh, do NOT break out in a rash or something.” He laughed. “Yes, I said that because you are. And don’t give me that crap about how it’s too soon to say that or my dad is your boss or anything because, he’s my boss, too and it doesn’t have one damned thing to do with how I feel about you, Britt,” he declared.
“Well, crap.”
“That’s what I always dreamed you’d say to me.”
“No, I mean, I wish you were right here.”
“So do I, believe me. I mean, it might be awkward if I just disappeared from Hong Kong right this second because they’d for sure think terrorists kidnapped me for my superior graphic design skills and mobilize an entire national task force to get me back....”
“I’m sure they couldn’t live without you,” she said.
“I don’t want you living without me. That’s something we need to talk about, girlfriend.”
“When you say girlfriend I feel like we’re on a talk show and you’re my white trash cousin with the dreads and the septum piercing who thinks I stole your microwave or something.”
“That was extremely specific. And no I don’t mean it like ‘Oh no you didn’t, girlfriend!’ I mean it like, I’m with you. You’re with me.”
“I want to be with you,” she said.
“Well, look at that. A declarative sentence with clear intentions toward me. It’s almost sentimental. I promise I won’t tell anyone, so don’t freak out.”
“You are giving me such a hard time, boyfriend.”
“How was your day?”
“Boring as shit, and yours?”
“You pretty much know about my day already. So, I don’t want you to hang up. Every time we talk I feel like the salt is pouring down the hourglass too fast and I have to try to keep you on the phone because, as much as I can’t wait to talk to you, it’s like I start missing you again before we even hang up. So I want to keep talking to you. Can I—can I play for you?”
“Pla
y what?”
“The guitar.”
“Are you at work?”