Page 106 of Just for Fun
“Zara, this is Alex Connors. I am Kyle’s friend,” he introduces himself.
The second I realize who he is, I feel instant anger. He has some nerve calling me.
“How did you get my number?” I ask in a brisk tone.
He chuckles in amusement, and I hate him a little more than before.
“You’re really not that hard to find,” he explains. “Once I entered your first and last name on the internet…”
He continues speaking, but I am spaced out. I remember when Kyle told me a similar thing that first time he called me. I was scared but then excitement took over, especially when I realized that Kyle was at my front door.
“What do you want?” I snap at Alex. I don’t care to make small talk with him, and I will die if he is at the door right now.
“A straight shooter,” he comments. “I like that.”
“Hmm, do you, though?” I call him out. “Since you like it so much, I will send you an invoice for the minute of entertainment I provided you with.”
He starts laughing. “Okay, that’s fair. I deserve all that and more. And next time we see each other, if you want to finish the job and actually break my nose, I will be available.”
“It didn’t break before?” Disappointment tastes bitter in my mouth. I saw him bleeding after I punched him. Why did nothing break?
“No,” Alex tells me. “But it hurt for quite a while, longer than I’d have expected.”
My fingers squeeze around the phone. “If that’s all you wanted to tell me, Alex, please know that your pain brings me joy. So, thanks for sharing.”
He is surprised into silence, but not for long.
“I would like to apologize to you, Zara.”
And now it is my turn to be stunned into silence. I didn’t expect for him to apologize. I don’t know what to make of it.
“There is absolutely no excuse for the way I behaved toward you,” he continues. “There was a certain sense of entitlement on my end, I suppose. I was convinced that there was no way you’d have any reason to be with my friend other than for money. I also thought…”
“That I was too plain to catch his attention?”
Alex lets out a long breath of air. “That was a mistake for me to say that. I will never be able to apologize to you enough for everything. The comment about being plain as well as making it sound like having been a virgin when you met Kyle was a bad thing.”
I feel tears gathering in my eyes at the reminder of all the horrible things he said to me.
“I really hate you.” I sniffle into the phone, not even caring that he knows I’m crying. “Kyle is a good person. And he doesn’t deserve to have a friend like you.”
“He told me the same in no certain terms.” Alex sounds thoughtful when he says that. “You are both right. I have no excuse, and I will do anything to make amends.”
My ears perk up at that. “Anything, huh?”
“Within reason,” he makes sure to add.
I start pacing my apartment, doing a few laps around the living room before going back to the kitchen and back.
“If things between me and Kyle work out, I will not participate in any social events that you will be present at. I want nothing to do with you.”
“Some of these events are for work,” he tries to explain.
“I don’t care. I will never be put that in that situation ever again.”
“Dully noted, he sighs.
“Kyle told me he creates his video games for your company,” I say, seemingly out of nowhere.
