Boy Meets Ai

Chapter 37

Chapter 37

This morning...

Hey

So simple. So innocuous but Hendricks felt like he was going to have a heart attack just looking at the text. He excused himself from the table, throwing out some unintelligible assortment of words that served as a poor explanation. He hurried back to his nook and shut the door.

Hey? What does that even mean? Like hey, can we talk? Why should he? After everything she put him through? A shiver went through him as he remembered how pathetic he looked weeping in the mirror over her. How long he spent with a fake smile on his face, masking the pain. Hendricks quickly pecked out a response.

Hey.

Hendricks' heard his heartbeat pound in his ears as he watched the screen. A text bubble materialized quickly as she started to respond.

What u doin?

Nothing u?

Nothing...

Just thought about you

Was she really doing this? Hendricks felt his skin prickle.

Yeah? What about me?

Idk I just wanted to tell u I feel bad about everything

Me too

Did you want to meet up and talk about it?

Idk, really busy with work

Why couldn't she just leave him alone? He was over it. Over her.

Well maybe after then? You're in Gebrochen for the tournament, right?

I saw you on stream when you guys took down Gearheardt

You were amazing! Bet you could win the whole thing!

Hendricks stared at his phone. It was done. They didn't have anything left to talk about. So why was she chatting with him like it was the good old days? They had met in the Ether and even used to be partied up when they first started dating. That stopped though when he found out she had been lying to him. Still, Hendricks couldn't deny he still felt something toward her. He hated that a small part of him felt good when she hyped him up.

"Your stress levels are elevated. Should I block this caller?" Marquis buzzed from his ear piece.

The gears spun in Hendricks' head. He should know better. He should! But...

She wanted to talk... It couldn't hurt to just listen.