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"Hey, Ari, is it a good time?"
"Yeah, I was just… wiping the inside of my fridge," I said, honestly.
"I was just icing my hamstring," he said. "So, I guess we were both doing cold things."
I laughed. "When I was a little girl, we would go to Virginia every year during the winter to see my mom's family, and I would always love to play in the snow. All of my cousins, even the ones who lived there and were used to the snow, all went inside before me. My mom used to tell me I could live in Alaska and be happy."
"Does that mean you spend more time than normal cleaning your refrigerator?" Isaac asked, making me laugh again.
"No, I clean it the normal amount, I think. It's probably been about a year since I did it."
"Uhhh," he said, making a noise like that was disgusting. I knew he was joking by the way he said it, but I still defended myself.
"What? It's not like I go around spilling everything in there. It's clean. It never gets dirty."
"How clean would you say you keep your apartment, one to ten," he said.
"Are you interviewing me?"
"What would I be interviewing you for?"
"For the job of advertising tycoon?"
Isaac laughed.
"I'm just joking. I'm a six or seven with cleaning. I don't like gross stuff like crusty food or stinky laundry, but if you went into my apartment you would probably find a few articles of clothing spread on the foot of my bed or on backs of chairs. I don't like gross clutter, but… six or seven, I would say."
"I was only asking because I was trying to picture it. All I think of in Atlanta is a peach farm or the Braves, the baseball team."
"I just have a regular apartment in a big city," I said. "I don't live on a farm or at a ballpark. It's north of downtown Atlanta, but it's still just city. And my apartment is nothing fancy. I'll take a picture while I'm sitting here and text it to you, hold on. I feel like I know you so well just from the book," I added. "My character was completely made up, but I feel like yours was actually you."
"It is pretty close to me," he said. "Of course, she made me witty and charming all the time. She never had me sitting on my couch, watching TV, with an icepack tied to the back of my thigh."
"Is that how you are sitting right now?" I had Isaac on speakerphone while I took a picture of my apartment and texted it to him. I was looking at my screen when a text came through from Isaac's phone. I opened it and smiled when I saw a picture of Isaac's lap and couch and feet. He was not trying to show off, but I could not help but notice his thigh. I told myself to stop looking.
"Is your leg going to be okay?"
"Yeah, it's just tight. I'm okay. Oh, I see your place. That's nice. You're more like an eight or nine."
"There's a bunch of papers spread out on my table, and I didn't get that in the picture."
"Oh, one of your place," I said when I saw a second photo come in. "I love it. That's so nice."
"My mom and sister decorated it for me. My sister goes to flea markets and estate sales all the time. She's got a good eye for vintage stuff. She's been buying old stuff since we were kids. She loves the thrill of the hunt, and every time we went on vacation she would spend half of her time thrift shopping. She started by collecting, but then it got to be too much and had to start selling it. She's got a big storefront now, in the building next door to the restaurant."
"I might have noticed that place. Is it just you three? You, your sister, and your brother?"
"Yeah. I'm the middle child. How about you?"
"There's five of us. I'm the youngest."
"Wow."
"Yeah. My mom is into art. I have two sisters who both do theater and a brother in a rock band."
"Oh, really, are they popular?"
"No," I said, laughing and thinking of the last time I went to see my brother play music in Savannah in this little dive. "There were about thirty people at the last concert, and we all knew Nick."
