Hot Line | ✓

call #16

"hey, tee," he slurs.

"hello, evan. you all right? you sound funny."

"i'm fantastic. great. osmosis."

she laughs. "what does that even mean?"

"i don't know. hey, want to hear something?"

she pauses, wondering why he's behaving so oddly. "um, okay."

"i'm drunk. like, super drunk."

"oh." that explains it, she thinks to herself. "why are you drunk?"

"who are you? my mom?" he scoffs, laughing immediately after as if he's just made the best joke in the world. "i don't know. i felt like getting drunk. i'm with my friend benny. say hi, benny!"

a loud shout can be heard from the other line. she furrows her eyebrows before muttering an awkward, "hello, benny."

"benny, no, stop. i'm talking to tee. benny—" there's some rustling on the other line before a new voice begins speaking.

"hey, tee. i'm benny."

"hi, benny," she says, amused. the soft sound of evan yelling in the background can be heard but benny simply shushes him.

"so you're the girl my guy is always talking about?" benny says. she hears evan screaming in protest and doesn't know how to respond.

"um, maybe? i didn't know evan talked about me."

"oh, he talks about you all right. can't get him to shut the fuck up. but that's okay—" more shouting. "shut up, evan! i'm trying to talk to tee!"

she laughs awkwardly, unsure if she should speak or just wait for him to continue on.

"what i was saying," benny says, "is that it's okay that he talks about you a lot because you seem to be making him happy."

"thank you," she says, feeling proud of herself at the mention of making evan happier.

"but you also seem to be making him sad," benny says, ending her celebration sooner than she had hoped.

"why's that?"

"because he knows you don't really care. he knows that this is your job and you just have to say whatever you think will get him to keep calling back and earning you money."

before she has a chance to protest she hears evan yell, "benny, stop! that's not what i said!"

"i care about him," she mutters weakly.

"i'm sure you care about all your clients. i mean, that is your job."

she hangs up the phone.