Page 37 of Finding Jack
Wait. Did that mean he’d been about to ask me out for tonight? What the…
EMILY: Before I try to pick through all of that, let me start with: are you in San Francisco now or planning to be sometime today?
JACK: No.
Well. I was glad I’d asked before jumping to an embarrassing conclusion. I wasn’t sure what to say next though. Umm, funny cat gif? It was always time for a funny cat gif. I was searching for one when his typing dots appeared.
JACK: …
JACK: …
JACK: I take it back. I’m dumb. I meant to ask you out but it came out wrong. So I’ll try again.
JACK: Hey, Emily. Are you available for a virtual date tonight?
EMILY: Let me check my calen—yes. Yes, I am.
EMILY: Except I don’t know what I just said yes to.
Jack sent a gif of a woman diving from a sheer cliff into the ocean.
EMILY: Pretty much.
JACK: I…like that.
EMILY:
JACK: I can guarantee you a Cheeto-free evening.
EMILY: Swoon.
JACK: If I was in San Francisco, I’d see if you wanted to grab lunch some time. I think the equivalent here is a phone call? How about I call you and we can chat with our actual voices. Is that called a conversation? But not Skype or anything. Just a regular phone. Then we don’t have to do our hair. Conditioning is such a pain, amirite?
EMILY: I…
JACK: I’m only half kidding. I’ve only come to appreciate how true that is over the last two years. Now I feel bad for making fun of how long my sister took in the shower. But I’m not kidding about calling. In case you don’t want to do that, in which case I was definitely kidding.
EMILY: Sorry, I was just really stunned that you would even half-joke about something as serious as conditioner. Okay. Let’s not do our hair and talk on the phone tonight.
JACK: Does this feel like middle school? Getting on the phone and talking forever to a girl you like?
EMILY: I didn’t really like girls that way.
JACK: Fine. To a boy you liked?
EMILY: No. I punched them and ran away.
JACK: I’m talking about when you were a teenager.
EMILY: I am too.
JACK: I deserve this.
EMILY: Transcendent Seagull agrees. But in all seriousness, no. I didn’t get a cell phone until high school, and by then, it was mostly texting or IM-ing with boys I liked.
JACK: YOU’RE SAYING YOU LIKE ME?
EMILY: I’m saying if you want to call me around 7:00, I’ll answer.
