Page 31 of What I'm Looking For

“I’m just taking off my shoes!”

My other roommate Deb chimes in, “Get your butt in here! We’ve been waiting for you to get home!”

Everybody’s barking at me. “Okay, hold your horses!”

After dutifully putting my shoes on the shelf and hanging up my sweatshirt, I head for the kitchen to find Deb and Pam sitting at the table with odd looks on their faces.

Rufus greets me in the doorway, his front paws just reaching my knees, and I scratch his head. “Where’s the fire?”

Pam clears her throat. “You have some important messages to listen to, and we didn’t want you to miss them.”

“Is everything okay?” I straighten, abandoning Rufus. I haven’t heard from my mom in a while. Or my brothers.

“Oh, yeah. This is all good stuff.” Deb gives Pam a sly look. “Well, we think so.”

I take a moment to decide how to play this before heading to the fridge. “I’m starving. And thirsty.” One hundred percent of my attention is on its contents, which’ll drive them crazy. “Do we have any leftovers?”

Deb sighs dramatically. “Get out of there. I’ll heat up some pasta if you listen to your damn messages.”

When she reaches around me to grab something from the fridge, I pretend to ignore her. “I really need something to drink. Hmm. Water or beer, which should it be?”

“Gah! You are so impossible!” Deb shoves a Tupperware container at Pam and hip-checks me out of the way. Before I know it, I’m seated at the table with a bowl of pasta, a glass of water and a beer in front of me. Deb’s finger hovers over the play button of the answering machine. “Are you ready now?”

“Jeez, yeah, but you gotta get a life,” I tease. “Do I need something to write with?”

“Not for the first listen.” Pam cocks a finger gun at me. “You can take notes the second time around.”

“‘If music be the food of love, play on.’” I take a big gulp of water. Deb’s face looks like it’s going to explode. “I’m listening, I promise.”

She blows out an exasperated, “Pfft,” and then presses the button.

BEEP.

Hey Will, it’s Jay Fowler. Great job on the dairy spot, man. Listen, I had a call today. Some guys who are shooting a little film in Boston saw it, and they want to bring you in. Here’s the thing. They’re only in town for a couple days for casting so you’d have to come in tomorrow. And you should read the script first. Call me as soon as you get this and I’ll messenger it over to you tonight. Oh, and the shoot dates are… June twentieth to the thirtieth. A good chunk of work. And the money’s decent. So call me.

I take a long pull from my beer. “Well, that’s cool. I guess. But I can’t do it.All’s Wellwill be running part of that time, and the kids’ show will be in rehearsals.”

Deb sighs. “Yeah, yeah—but hang on, there’s another message.”

BEEP.

Um, hi Will. This is Kate. Kate Bishop? From the, uh, juggler incident and the fake drink?

“She is so adorable,” Pam whispers to Deb, who shushes her.

Um, so, I’m just calling because I saw you in the commercial. I don’t usually watch TV in the morning but I was at my friend Alice’s early Saturday before running and, anyway, she said it’s on TV a lot and I thought it was really funny, so… congratulations? Yeah. So. Okay. I just wanted to say that, and that it was good to see you again. Well. It’s not like I really saw you because you were on TV, but that was fun. So, okay. I’m gonna go now. Bye!”

Deb grabs my wrist before I can rewind the tape. “Wait, there’s more.”

Kate’s voice continues, listing her home number, her work number and her pager number.

“Is that it?”

“Yes!” Deb claps her hands and bounces in her seat. “Isn’t it awesome?”

I take a sip of beer and fork up some pasta. “I guess.”

Truthfully, it’s kinda kismet that Kate called me right before I showed up at her office. No wonder she was confused. I’m looking forward to seeing her this weekend, but there’s no way I’m sharing that intel with my yenta roommates, or they’ll have us married in a week. I chew, aiming my eyes straight ahead, maintaining a blank expression on my face.

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