I set my phone down and nurse my beer, watching the comedy that displays on the T.V for a bit, before I decide it's time for bed.
3
Weslyn
I head into the breakroom for my measly lunch break, grabbing my phone from my locker along with my lunch box—a boring turkey and cheese sandwich and a juice pouch. I know, groundbreaking. And then I find a seat at the empty breakroom table.
I sit down and before I tear into my food, I open up my phone to scroll through socials for a minute and that's when I see two new text messages from the same unknown number from earlier.
I read them over curiously and think of how I should respond. Do I even need to respond? Whoever this is obviously thought I was someone they ran into last night but surely, me telling them they have the wrong number would have done the trick. But their persistence to make sure causes me to wonder if it might have been important. Not that it’s any of my business. But curiosity does kind of tug on me.
Kyran.
I study the name he led with in the first message, wondering how to even pronounce it. I should justput my phone down. Clearly, he signed away any further need for conversation with his newest text, but something pulls at me to confirm to this stranger that I am not who he is looking for, to validate his concern.
8:39pm
No bother. But I am sorry I'm not who you thought I was… I definitely was not at a financial mixer last night.
I look at my response and decide it's missing something, and maybe my curious mind is going a little too far but there is literally nothing else for me to do right now, so I just decide to go for it.
What's the name of the person you're looking for?
There. Sent. Maybe they'll text back, maybe they won't. But until then, I'll enjoy the rest of my sandwich and then-
buzz buzz
I look down at my phone, seeing it light up with a new message.
That was fast.
8:42pm
I don’t know why I didn’t look at that before. She put her name in my phone as Jane Doe. I’m so sorry I bothered you.
I read the message and giggle, like an actual full, out loud, giggle. I realize that it might not actually be that funny for the person on the other end, but I can't help but find the humor in it. There could be a few different things thathappened in that scenario. Either she purposefully gave him the wrong number which happened to inadvertently lead to me, or she screwed up somewhere and mistyped a number. Either way, I do kind of feel bad for the guy.
8:45pm
Well, I can assure you, my name is not Jane Doe and I wasn't in any place other than my room last night. Sorry you got duped.
I realize my response might seem a little too personal. But I guess the same can be said for the fact that I know this man was likely out somewhere public enough to get a stranger's number entered into his phone by some random chick he'd only just met. But he stated he was at a financial mixer so who knows what the scenario was, and it truly isn’t my business. Though, I won't lie. I am slightly intrigued by the situation.
I see the text dots dance up and down on my phone, realizing that he's trying back, and I stare at them before his response comes through.
8:48pm
And I can assure you I wasn't in your room last night.
Whoa. Sorry. That came out wrong.
His text back sends somewhat of a blush to my cheeks. Of course, we both know he wasn't in my room last night. Nonetheless, I don't find discomfort in the message onebit. If anything, I like the subtle ease that comes with it, the natural response.
It takes me a few moments to decide what to respond with and ultimately, I land on something short because I really don't know what to say to that.
8:53pm
It's fine.
