No chance I was letting that poisonous weasel spend any more time with her than he already had. Especially because he went around me to contact her in the first place.
“I… No it’s stupid. Sorry to bother you.”
“You’re not bothering me. Come on, it can’t be stupid, you thought of it.”
Eva rolled her eyes, giving me a look that saidunbelievable. I ignored her.
“I’ve been getting a lot of calls from your…friends? At first I thought I could just remember the numbers because I thought it’d be two or three but… I’m at eight now. I need to start keeping track, but I feel like maybe I shouldn’t just leave a bunch of villain’s numbers lying around. I was wondering if maybe youcould help me make up a cypher or something?” She paused for half a second. Before I could even open my mouth she was rambling. “Ugh, no, that’s dumb. I’m sure you have better things to do. I can do it myself.”
“That’s not dumb. It’s a great idea, I’m sure they’ll appreciate the diligence you’re taking to keep their information safe. I’d love to help.”
“Really?” Her voice perked up. “Okay. Cool. Um… Do you want to come to my place tonight?”
Did I fucking ever.
“Sounds like a plan to me. What time and should I bring food?”
“I’m off today so any time and yes. You should always bring food.”
“Always, huh? You want to make this a regular occurrence?”
She sighed. “Ah, there it is, back to insufferable. Let me know what time. I’m a picky eater, so I’ll order food if you can pick it up on your way?”
I looked over at Eva. She was leaning back in her chair with her arms crossed. The disapproval was practically oozing off of her.
“Sorry, can you just give me one second?”
“Oh, sorry! Did I catch you at a bad time? I should have asked. You can call me back.”
“No, no, not at all. Just give me one sec. I’ll be right back.”
“Sure.”
I put my phone on mute. “What?”
She shrugged. “Nothing. You’re just curious. I can see that now. Very clear,” she said sarcastically.
“Fine, yes. I’m more than curious. She… I don’t know, okay? I don’t know what I’m thinking. But she makes me feel like a normal person and that’s kind of nice. Can we not do this right now?”
Her face softened. “Aw, Matts. You could have just told me you were in love.”
I sighed.
“Are you seriously teasing me right now? I just met her, I’m not in love.” Maybe, probably not. “Can I get back to my phone call now?”
She grinned.
“You got it, buddy.” She hopped off her seat and pat me on the back. “This conversation isn’t over though.”
I waved her away and took my phone off mute.
“Sorry about that. Door to door salesman, you know how it is.”
Violet laughed. “I’m surprised they don’t run away screaming the second you open the door.”
“Yeah? Why’s that?”
“The permanent scowl and obscene height. Scary combination.”
