He hopped over to the phone. Jon was all worked up in his head, and Beel couldn’t very well take on human form to have a chat, but it was clear Jon needed to chat with someone. If he called Gabe or Az, at least Beel knew they would reassure him that this Damon guy was ok.
Jon seemed to get the hint, sort of, because he said, “Oh, poor Beel—are you missing your humans? I should probably call and check in with them. It’ll be good to stop thinking about my love life for a few minutes anyway.”
He left the phone face up on the counter, went into calls, dialed Gabe, and put it on speaker. Gabe picked up, although for once Beel had been hoping to hear Az.
“Good morning, Jon? Everything ok? How’s Beel? Did something happen?” his owner asked, and Beelribbitted a reply so Gabe would know he was fine.
“Hey Gabe! No, everything is fine, and as you can tell, Beel is doing just great. He hopped over to the phone and I thought maybe he wanted to hear your voice. Sounds kinda silly when I say it out loud, though,” Jon laughed.
“No, not silly at all,” Gabe answered.
There was a bit of a pause, and Beel filled it with some croaking and ribbitting, hoping Az was nearby to translate.
“Ah, hold on a minute, Jon? I’m sure Az will, ah, want to hear Beel is ok, too, so let me just get him,” Gabe answered, clearly getting the hint that Beel had some talking to do.
Jon just looked a little bemused. “Sure, sure, no problem. I know how much you guys love Beel,” he answered, then he grinned down at Beel and stroked his back again, earning a satisfied croak from him.
Gabe clearly put them on hold, and Jon whispered, “You are a lucky frog to have such caring owners. Of course, they’re lucky owners to have such a special frog. I’d be damn attached to you if you were my pet, too.” Jon looked a little sad then, and Beel realized that he would be missed in his froggy form when this petsitting thing was all over. Jon would be all alone again.
Well, hopefully not too alone, because he really intended to convince the guy to date him in human form.
Gabe came back on the line then, and apparently they were on speaker with Az, because his voice came over the line, saying, “Good morning, Jonathan. What has our little troublemaker been up to?”
Jon laughed good naturedly and answered, “Beel is the farthest thing from a troublemaker.”
Beel had a few words for Az, however, and he ribbitted and croaked for a good minute while Jon stared at him. He gave Az a very quick run down on their date, leaving out the juicy details but letting him know things had gone well. At least until the whole stalker thing came up.
When he was done, Az started giggling.
Great. He was glad he could amuse the lust demon.
“Ah, do Az and I need to come pick up Beel early?” Gabe questioned, clearly having no idea what was going on.
Both Az and Jon answered, “No!” at the same time, and Jon looked surprised at the phone.
Az smoothly cut in, “No, no, my love, we don’t want to cut things short.”
“But we aren’t even—” Gabe began, but Az cut him off again.
“We aren’t even done spending time together, my love, and besides, I’m sure Jon is enjoying the company, aren’t you, Jon?” Az asked.
“I am. I love having Beel here and watching him. He really is a special frog,” Jon said, looking down fondly at Beel. Beel croaked softly up at him. Aww, his petsitter was the sweetest.
“And no more trouble, I take it?” Az asked. “You did mention some last time we talked, and I hope that ex of yours hasn’t visited again.”
Finally. Az was going to steer them toward his visit and hopefully reassure Jon, and then everything would be fine.
“No, no, he hasn’t bothered me again,” Jon murmured, blushing a bit. “But, ah, the other guy did pop by. His name is Damon. I should have gotten a last name, but I didn’t. We actually had a date, sort of.”
“I sense some hesitance. Did things not go well?” Az asked.
They could hear Gabe whispering, “Who’s Damon?” in the background, but Az just shushed him.
Jon filled him in, though. “Damon was the guy who showed up to, ah, sort of rescue me from my ex. It was really strange. He said he came in through my fire escape, but I don’t have one, and then he said he did parkour, and that’s how he got up to my window in my bedroom. It was kinda weird.”
“He appeared in your apartment from the window,” Gabe said dryly. “How very odd. And really, what a way to call attention to yourself, when the guy probably could have just come in through the front door,” Gabe added judgmentally.
Beel gave a grumpy croak. Fine, he sucked at being human. Heknew it. He was out of practice, which was kind of Gabe’s fault, since he’s been masquerading as a pet frog for twenty something years.
