Not Sarah's Number

Chapter 1: The Name is Jess

"A hold of Sarah. I know. You're not the first. And don't call me ma'am. I'm not old enough for that."

There was a pause. I knew this guy himself was on the younger side. All of the callers were in the late teens and early 20's range. I hadn't figured out the exact age yet, but it was very clear from the way they acted. They usually tried some crusty pick up line because they hadn't learned yet that girls hated that stuff, and when it didn't work, they threw a little tantrum. Never though, had someone apologized to me before. That was new.

"I'm sorry I just assumed, because normally older women kind of sound a little impatient... Wait, what do you mean?" the guy asked slowly.

The fact that he was trying to be respectful in such a stereotypical way really irked me. Minus five points for assuming.

"Don't call me ma'am because-"

"No, about not being the first or whatever."

I sighed yet again. Never mind. Minus ten points for interrupting me. "You're not the first guy to call this number asking for Sarah. She obviously played you dude because I'm not Sarah, but so many guys think this is her number."

"So she gave me a fake number... Man, talk about a harsh rejection. She couldn't just say it to my face, could she?"

I let out a little laugh. "Guess not. But hey, if you see Sarah again, then you can let her know that the actual owner of this number is not happy, since I'm obviously never going to talk to her. We probably don't even live in the same state."

"Well, the number she gave me had the same area code, so I thought it was legit."

I held the phone away from my ear and looked at the area code of this guy's number. It was the same as mine. How had I not noticed that?

"Wait, you live in Kirk, Texas?"

"Yeah. Wait, so who are you then?"

I paused. I had said the words without another thought. I basically revealed my location, so of course he was curious, but was he someone I could trust? Did I really want to expose that information? I honestly didn't. "I'm not at liberty to say," I responded slowly.

The guy let out a chuckle. "Okay then, but if I'm judging correctly, you're around my age, which is seventeen. Maybe a little older or younger."

Dang it. He was seventeen too, which meant he was most likely about to start his senior year of high school like I was. Did he go to my high school? There were only two around, Kirk High School and Warrendale High. Wait, no. I didn't want to know. If he did end up going to my school that could spell disaster. Maybe he was a sociopath who wanted to follow me around the halls.

My pause was a good enough answer for him and he chuckled again. "So I was right! Cool."

I took a quick glance at my wall clock. It was a few minutes before midnight. Why was I still talking to this dude? "So was that all you wanted to say?" I asked quickly.

"Umm I didn't know you were in a rush..."

"Well, you don't know my life, or me for that matter," I said defensively.

"Okay! Okay! Sorry. I was just calling back to apologize. If I would've known it was a fake number, I wouldn't have called in the first place. I was just trying-"

"To hook up with Sarah. I know," I finished his sentence.

The guy seemed baffled. I could tell because he hesitated a little before beginning to speak again. His nervous chuckle also added to the equation. "Well when you put it that way it sounds pretty horrible. I actually thought she was really cute and was genuinely nervous for this phone call, but it's almost a good thing she didn't pick up or I would've probably said something stupid and embarrassed myself."