Hot Line | ✓

call #8

"i've got a joke for you."

"hello to you too."

he laughs. "hi, tee. ready for my joke?"

"super ready."

"my life. ha. funny, right?"

she stays silent for a bit, indicating her lack of amusement. "i'm laughing on the inside?"

"i'm just kidding. that wasn't my joke. but it was a good one. why did cinderella get kicked off the soccer team?"

"because it'd be impossible to run in glass slippers?"

"no. because she kept—" he starts laughing, hardly able to finish his joke, "s-she kept running away from the ball."

there's a brief moment of silence on her end before a wheezing laugh leaves her mouth. "that sounds like a joke that children on the playground run around telling each other."

"well, my six-year-old niece is the one that told me it."

"you have a niece?"

"and a nephew. he's only a year old though."

"i didn't even know you had any siblings."

"i have an older brother and a younger sister. chad is 30 and samantha is 19."

"are you close?"

"yeah. we're all really close. our mom was one of those parents who forced her kids to hang out a lot and i guess it worked out all right for us. do you have any siblings?"

"an older brother."

"are you close?"

"too close," she says with a laugh.

"what's his name?" he asks mindlessly, curiosity dancing through his mind.

"um, i don't know that i should say it," she says sheepishly.

"why not?"

"it's just that, uh, i have to keep some level of privacy. i don't want to disclose too much. it's not exactly safe for me."

"oh. i get it. don't worry, i don't expect you to trust me. you hardly know me."

"i'm sorry," she says with a sigh.

"don't be, honestly." he pauses."hey, want to hear another joke?"