The Dumpster

Garbage

I glanced at the card on my dresser. It had been three months. I didn't need him. I could get out of my situation. I could finish this hit.
But I was bored. And he was so entertaining. No! He'd eat my heart out. I didn't need that. But…
I dialed the number on the card. It rang and someone picked up. "Welcome to the anonymous, over-the-phone, totally fake dating hotline. You've been paired with a Zander Harley. He hopes you got and liked the flowers."
I laughed so hard I cried. It's weird how much you can miss people like him. My sides hurt and it hurt to breathe. I missed his weird answers to calls.
"Oh God. John," I finished laughing. "I missed you."
"Yeah. I missed you too Huggable. How's it been?" His voice was still lighthearted, but somewhat raspier than I remembered.
"It's been manageable. The flowers are nice. Thank you," I replied.
"Glad you like them. I arranged them myself. You didn't call me earlier and I got lonely." He seemed to pout.
"I was busy."
"So busy that you couldn't talk with an old frenemy? I'm a little offended."
"I've been helping Vanessa rebuild the Agency. It's now known as the Syndicate and was recruiting."
"Ooh. You defected. I'm proud of you." His voice was smug. "Did you need any help?"
"No, well, I was bored."
"You called the right place. Over two billion random facts in my head and lots of embarrassing stories about myself," he replied.
"How about an embarrassing story?" I asked.
"I knew you'd ask. Okay, um, oh! I got one. Okay. So when I was little, I was afraid of lizards and snakes. We did training exercises in the forest. I was about thirteen at the time. And, uh, Vanessa and Jules decided that a test of courage game would be fun. Except no one knew of my fear of reptiles except Stella. I was sure she'd never mention it.
"So the other kids are being dared to eat bark and climb trees and harmless stuff like that, and I am over there sweating bullets, right? Because there is obviously a snake slithering into the clearing and the others were bound to notice. So my turn came and I was so nervous in the stomach. I regretted acting tough my whole life.
"Anyways, long story short, I was dared to kiss the snake. I had my honor to protect, so I did it. But it felt so foul to me that I dropped the snake, threw up, and started to have a panic attack. In that time, the bastard snake decides to bite my leg, and yeah," he ended.
I snickered, "He showed you."
"Yeah." He seemed to smile. "Hold on."