Page 77 of Never the Same

Reed: Did Audrey give you my number?

Me: Do you really think it was hard for me to find an unlisted number myself?

Reed: Why are you even texting me?

Me: It’s 0300 where I’m at, and I can’t sleep. Bored.

Reed: And you thought . . . let me bother Reed?

Reed: Where are you anyway that it’s so late?

Me: Russia.

Reed: Why?

Me: Classified

Reed: Bother someone else, will ya? Or you know, sleep.

Me: Well, you have my # if you ever want to chat.

Reed: The idea of talking to you because I want to has never, and will never, cross my mind.

And yet, a few days later, he reached out.

Reed: Just checking to make sure you’re home and didn’t die. Audrey would hate that.

I didn’t respond, so he’d texted the following afternoon.

Reed: You good?

It was as if I were eavesdropping on someone else’s life. Reading their story, not mine. I was relieved to see I finally answered him four hours later and hadn’t died (as if I wasn’t sitting right here, very much alive).

Me: Sorry, things went sideways. Let me tell you, Russian prisons . . . 0/10 don’t recommend. All good now. My dad made a call and a deal.

Reed: WTH

Me: Sweet you cared. Also, just pointing out the fact you texted first.

He didn’t respond back to that, but now I was hung up on the fact I’d been in a prison and my father had to negotiate for my release.

We didn’t text again for a few weeks, and it went about the same as before. Next three exchanges after that, too. I poked, he jabbed back.

The next back-and-forth, though . . .

Me: Thought you’d want to know I got back that artifact we had to auction off in NZ. Had to deal with lions, tigers, and bears to get to it.

Reed: You’re joking.

Me: The correct response to what I said is: “oh my.” Haven’t you seen The Wizard of Oz?

Reed: Nope. Why would I have?

Reed: So, the artifact was at a zoo, is that what you’re trying to tell me in your typical weird way?

Me: More like at the home of a rich asshole who collects wildlife. Got what I went there for and set all the animals free. Annnnd without getting mauled. Believe it or not, that scar above my brow was when a lion cub almost had me for dinner two years ago. Gideon tranquilized him before he could eat me. Just a scratch.

It was hard to believe I was truly this person I was reading about. I took a few more seconds to digest that—decided I couldn’t—and moved on, back to our messages.