Thank You for Listening(49)
BROCK:
Here it is:
I’m not a reader.
I don’t like reading!
There! I said it!
SEWANEE:
The first step is admitting you have a problem.
BROCK:
I feel so much better!
Freeeeeeedom!
I want to dance! I want to sing!
SEWANEE:
lol
BROCK:
I want to grab you up and kiss you!
Got carried away.
Sorry.
SEWANEE:
Don’t be.
BROCK:
ok.
(I wasn’t anyway)
From: Jason Ruiz
To: Brock McNight; Westholme, Sarah
Date: March 1, 4:56 PM
Subject: Casanova, LLC payment
Hi,
Just made the first deposit, let me know if you don’t see it hit your accounts in the next few days. Receipt attached.?
JR
From: Brock McNight
To: Jason Ruiz; Westholme, Sarah
Date: March 1, 4:58 PM
Subject: RE: Casanova, LLC payment
HOLY SHIT!!
From: Westholme, Sarah
To: Brock McNight; Jason Ruiz
Date: March 1, 4:58 PM
Subject: RE: Casanova, LLC payment
HOLY SHIT!!
BROCK:
did we send that email at the same time?
SEWANEE:
did we reply at the same time again?
BROCK:
lol
SEWANEE:
LOL
BROCK:
STOP IT
SEWANEE:
omg stop
k you go, I’ll wait.
BROCK:
I REPEAT: HOLY SHIT
SEWANEE:
SERIOUSLY. Congrats!
BROCK:
You too! See, now I care! Now I feel like the trophy wife!
SEWANEE:
I wish we could go celebrate.
BROCK:
I wish we could go celebrate.
SEWANEE:
AGAIN?!
BROCK:
AGAIN?!
SEWANEE:
This is ridiculous!
BROCK:
This is ridiculous!
SEWANEE:
LOL!
BROCK:
LOL!
SEWANEE:
Four score and seven years ago
BROCK:
You got out! Well done.
SEWANEE:
Thank you.
Now go buy yourself something pretty.
BROCK:
Will do, Daddy.
Ew.
SEWANEE:
Ew.
SEWANEE WAS STANDING over her kitchen sink, eating a salad, running lines–for her upcoming audition–in her head, Golf Channel on in the background, when her phone vibrated.
ADAKU:
Hey, what day did you say you wanted to go over the scenes?
SEWANEE:
The 4th. Day before the audition.
ADAKU:
Sweet, then can I ask a favor?
SEWANEE:
Course
ADAKU:
Can you help put me on tape for the Angela Davis thing? I wore him down! He said he’d at least watch a self-tape.
SEWANEE:
OMG YES! Exciting.
ADAKU:
She’d just set her phone down when it vibrated again.
BROCK:
Can I be honest? I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up.
SEWANEE:
Are we doing innuendos again?
BROCK:
No. Seriously.
SEWANEE:
What?
BROCK:
Narrating.
SEWANEE:
oh. Phew.
BROCK:
phew what?
what did you think I meant?
SEWANEE:
Uhhhhh this. The texting thing.
BROCK:
Why would I want to stop this?!
And do we have a THING?
SEWANEE:
I don’t know! Lol
BROCK:
Actually, maybe we should stop this.
Remember that telewhatever invention I was telling you about? I hear it’s up and running. Wanna give it a try?
Sewanee froze, forkful of lettuce halfway to her mouth. She set it back in the bowl and stared at her phone. She wrote Okay, sent it, and typed When do you want to set up a time to The phone vibrated with an incoming call.
She threw it on the counter as if she’d been electrocuted. It kept vibrating, pulsing away from her in bursts, the words “BROCK MCNIGHT” taunting.
She didn’t move again until it stopped moving.
Don’t panic, don’t panic, she thought. Why are you panicking? There’s nothing to panic about.
The phone vibrated once.
BROCK:
?
She spun in a circle, blew out some Lamaze-style breaths, and made herself pick up her phone. She quickly typed:
I wasn’t ready. I mean I’m not ready. I don’t know why I’m not, but I’m not. I’m being weird. Sorry. I’ll get back to you. Double sorry.
She pressed send before she could second-guess it.
She watched his bubbles appear.
Then:
No worries. Take your time.
*
March 2
BROCK:
Question. Weren’t you gonna get back to me?
SEWANEE:
Sorry. Yes. Just got tied up.
BROCK:
kinky.
SEWANEE:
Fifty Shades of Deadline. In the middle of a book intent on killing me. World War Two. Every accent on earth. Screaming men. Gonna need a couple of days.