Page 42 of Your Echo
11Wait Up || Tokyo Police Club
ACE
“She won’t answermy texts. Or my calls. Nothing.”
I pace the length of my apartment, dodging guitars and scattered pages of ink-smudged notes. The floor is so full of random shit that it’s less like pacing and more like navigating a minefield.
“Look I’m sure it’s,ah, not that bad.”
Matt makes a weird Yoda-like noise into the phone. He’s sounded distracted the whole time we’ve been talking, like he’s browsing the internet or waiting for the metro or something, but I just keep droning on about Stéphanie. I haven’t bitched to him about a girl in years, and even in his spaced-out state, I can tell he’s surprised we’re having this conversation.
“She just...She looked so angry after, and I don’t know where things went wrong. If I knew what was wrong, I could do something about it.”
“Yeah, I totally get what you,uh, mean.” His voice is so strained it cracks at the end of his sentence.
“Dude, are you...okay?” I venture.
“Yep, I’m great. I’m just,oh, fucking great.Mmhmm.”
“You sound like Yoda on the verge of having an orgasm.”
And then it hits me, just before I hear Matt cover the phone with his hand and mumble, “Fuck, Kay. Fuck.”
“Tabarnak, man. Are you getting head from your girlfriend while you talk on the phone with me?”
“No. No that’s—oh shit—not what I’m doing at all.”
“God, you two are disgusting.” I rub my hand over my eyes. “Now hang up and show that woman some respect. Who picks up the phone in the middle of getting a blowjob?”
“Wait!” he shouts, just as I’m about to end the call.
“Was that meant for me or Kay?” I ask dryly.
“For you. Just wait a second.”
I hear a noise like a belt buckle clanging.
“Five minutes,” Matt whispers to Kay, even though I can still hear him perfectly. “This is really important for him.”
“Matt, just hang up the—”
“Ace, listen,” he continues at a normal volume. “To me, it sounds like this chick has some major hang-ups, and if she said you didn’t do anything wrong, I think you should believe her. She’s supposed to be your meditation teacher, not your fuck buddy, and youarealso one of the most famous people in Montreal. She’s probably got some shit to adjust to.”
“I never said I wanted her to be my fuck buddy.”
He snorts. “Right, you want to actuallydatethis girl.”
My half-second of silence is all it takes for him to drop the sarcasm from his voice.
“Shit, youdoactually want to date this girl. Oh my fucking god.”
“I never said that either!”
He doesn’t pay any attention to me. “Damn, Ace. This is serious. We’ve got to get you two back on track.”
“I just—”
“Oh wait,” he interrupts me. “Kay is saying she wants to talk to you.”
