Hot Line | ✓

call #31

"hey," he says, holding the last letter a bit longer than necessary.

"hi. is this weird now?"

"nope. definitely not weird. to show you just how not weird it is, i have a song."

she laughs nervously. "um, okay."

"you like me, i like you, we should go and get fondue at the melting pot- i heard it's really great, won't you accompany me on this date?"

her nervous laugh becomes more genuine as he finishes his song. "did you really just sing that to the tune of the i love you song from barney?"

"damn right i did."

"oh my god."

a grin finds his face as he hears her laugh boom through the phone. "so? how about it?"

"a date?" she asks.

"i think that's what the kids are calling it these days."

"what about val?"

"i ended that."

"oh," she says, surprised. "that was quick."

"i told you it wasn't serious. besides, i don't want to keep hooking up with someone while another person is on my mind."

a fiery heat spreads across her cheeks and she's grateful that he can't see how flushed she is.

"so," he says, "a date?"

before she has a chance to answer, her other phone rings.

"shit," she mumbles.

"is that a landline? how old school." he laughs.

"no. it's a cellphone. it's, um, my work phone."

there's a long silence on his end while the phone continues to ring on hers.

"evan, i have to take this."

he gulps. "right, yeah. i sort of forgot about that."

"i'm sorry," she says quietly.

he doesn't say anything and she doesn't have time to wait for him to say something. just as she goes to hang up the phone, she hears his soft voice. "hey, teagan?"

"yeah?"

"think about the date."