Behind the Screen

Chapter 16

I called Emily on the way home so I could tell her how everything had gone. She knew that I had take two of meeting up with Chloe tonight, so I'm sure she was eager to know.

"Alright, tell me everything," she answered.

"Well hello to you too," I said.

"Sorry," she laughed, "I want to know."

"Well it was awkward as hell," I sighed, "but I did at least stay through dinner."

"That's good...I think?" She said hesitantly.

"It was okay I guess, she was obviously just about as shocked as I was when I showed up, didn't believe it was me at first," I told her.

"Damn, did you guys decide what you were going to do?" She asked.

"Kind of, I don't know," I sighed again, "she said we should continue to get to know each other and see what happens."

"Which is kind of what I said too," Emily said.

"Yeah, I um - I don't know Em, this is so damn weird," I responded.

"I would say I know," Emily said hesitantly, "but I can't even imagine."

"But for what it's worth," she continued, "I do still think you should give it a chance."

"Maybe," I said quietly.

"Was dinner at least somewhat fun?" She asked.

"Yeah it wasn't bad," I said, "she is definitely a different person than what I've seen at work."

"Ohhh, so you're saying she's not a completely terrible human like you thought she was?" Emily teased.

"Okay I never said she was terrible," I said, "she's just - I don't know she's difficult, and not the easiest to work for."

"Well maybe this will make her more bearable at work," Emily said.

"I'm not going to hold my breath, but we'll see," I said, "but hey I'm about to pull into my driveway so I'll talk to you later."

"Okay, better keep me updated," she said before hanging up.

Once I got home, I ended up in bed shortly after that. Tonight had been exhausting. I stared up at my ceiling as I thought about what to do.

Part of me still felt like there was no way that this would work and that it was a terrible idea, but another part of me couldn't let it go.

***

When I woke up the next morning, I looked over at my phone and saw a text with Chloe's name on it. I was so used to seeing messages from the dating app that it threw me off for a minute.

"Morning sunshine :)"

I sighed as I read it before I sat my phone back down.

Come on, just give this a chance, I thought to myself, you know you want to try.

"Morning :)" I sent back.

It did seem a little easier to go back to talking through a phone screen, even if I did know that it was Chloe now.

"How are you feeling about everything?" She asked.

"I'll let you know when I figure that out," I responded.

"Glad that everything is out in the open now, I will say that," I sent again.

"Agree, making things more difficult but at least we know now," she sent back.