The Accidental Hacker

Chapter Three

‘Very nice to meet you, Tom. I think I prefer Captain Hammer though. It’s more colourful.’

I could almost hear him laughing. I hope he found me as funny as he seemed to.

‘True. Are you enjoying Dirty Dancing?’

‘Actually I opted for Guardians of the Galaxy. My DVD came this morning. Dirty Dancing is next though. How’s the party?’

‘Party’s okay. Think I might leave soon, I have an early call time tomorrow.’

‘So you have a job at the moment? Do tell.’ I was genuinely curious. Being an actor can mean anything from being an extra, to being Leonardo DiCaprio.

‘It’s just a few days of reshoots.’

‘Do you have anything else lined up?”

 ‘I have a part in a BBC mini-series, filming in the New Year.’

‘Anything I might have heard of?’

‘It’s based on a John le Carré book.’

I knew nothing but the basics about his books. ‘Ooh, spy stuff!’

I could almost hear him chuckle as he typed out a reply.

‘Yes, spy stuff,’ he agreed. ‘It’s a bit different from anything I’ve done recently, so it should be fun.’

I took that to mean he’d been doing theatre or something, and working in front of a camera would be new.

‘A lot different from being the hind end of a donkey, at least people will see your face ;)’

I really did wonder if I was being a bit close to the line with these insults, hence the wink face at the end. He can probably tell when I tease him on webcam but with just text, teasing can easily be read as bitching.

‘Yeah, and far less sweaty than a donkey suit.’

Yes! He got me and my twisted humour, but maybe it was time I stopped acting like an ass, or at least tone it down a little.

‘Well I hope you enjoy it and I’ll be sure to watch it and cheer for you when the series airs. Unless you’re a bad guy, in which case I will boo and hiss at you but you shouldn’t take this as a reflection that I don’t support you.’

‘You are marvellously mischievous, Harri Horrible.’

‘Hey, horrible by name, horrible by nature.’

‘So, how is your film?’

‘Not sure, some weird guy keeps texting me so it’s paused just before the final fight scene. Still, a gorgeous redhead has his head buried in my lap, so I’m being well cared for.’

There was a very long pause there and I wondered if I’d offended him, or put him off. Why had I joked about that anyway? Did I want him to think I was seeing someone? Worse still, that I would text while someone was going down on me?

A worrying thought occurred to me then, what if the guys I dated weren’t the weirdoes, what if I was the weirdo? They couldn’t all be weird, right? And I was the only common denominator so…

I was about to text again and remind him about Jasper but he beat me to it.

‘The red setter you painted, right? You said he was coming over.’

‘The very same.’ I actually sighed with relief, causing Jasper to look up at me. ‘He’s spoiled rotten, almost treated better than a child. If he wasn’t such a sweetheart, I’d be jealous of all the money they spend on him. Seriously, he even attends doggy day care while they go out to work.’