Just back from his first fifteen minute break of the day, Sam adjusted his headset as he logged back onto the call system. While he waited on the system to load he poked his neighbor with a pen and mouthed, 'How long in between calls?' She held up two fingers and Sam grinned and leaned back into his chair with his book.
Most of his calls had been pretty routine, "I don't understand my bill." "Why is it $30 more this month?" "I can't connect to the internet." "How many gigabits have I used?" And so on. Two minutes later as the warning beeps sounded through his headset he sat up with an inaudible sigh, "Thank you for choosing Family Business Wireless, my name is Sam. Can I get your first and your last name please?" he asked, waiting on the customer's account to load.
"Gabriel Novak."
"Thank you Gabriel, I see you've been a customer with us since August of 2005. We like to see long standing customers stay with us, so what can I do today to ensure that?" He kept his tone bright and professional as he clicked on various tabs to give the man's account a once over.
"Ah, thanks for noticing!" Sam could hear the smile in the man's voice. "Something simple today. I'm having a hard time getting my new phone activated."
Thank god something simple. "Absolutely, Gabriel. In order to do that I need you to find the IMEI or MEID and the ICCID on your paperwork, please."
"Uh... hang on." Sam heard the rustling of papers and a muffled thump and a curse. "Got it!" Gabriel rattle off a few numbers and Sam faithfully typed them in.
"Alright, the next is your ICCID. That's the SIM card number." Sam fiddled with his keyboard a little.
Gabriel rattle off another string of numbers.
"Alright, what i need you to do now is turn off both your old phone and you new phone for me," Sam told him as he input the change into the system.
"Done!"
"Now we wait." Sam chuckled.
"Oh, really? How long does something like this usually take?"
"Eh, usually about five minutes or so." Sam tapped his dry erase marker on his board. "Why don't you tell me a little about yourself, where you are, that kind of thing while we wait?"
Gabriel laughed and Sam's toes curled at the sound of it. "You can see everything on my account, nuh huh. You start. Where am I talking to?"
"Lawrence Kansas." The truth slipped out before Sam could stop himself and he could see the row he would have with his supervisor over revealing their location over the phone.
"You live in my neck of the woods?"
"Apparently, I do." Sam grinned. "Now you know where I work, there's only one call center in this town."
"Yes well," A laugh, "You know my address so I think that kinda makes us even. You got a last name there?"
"Nope, no last names here." Sam quipped, rolling a dry erase marker in his fingers. "But I do have a last initial, I just wish i would tell you want it was."
"Oh? That must be pretty hard on you, not having a last name and all." The line goes quiet for a moment, "You want mine?"
"Mr Novak, are you hitting on your call center agent?" Sam laughed and rolled his eyes at his coworker who had started to give him odd looks. Got a flirt he mouthed at her and she stifled a giggle of her own.
"That depends, will my call center agent be available for dinner this Friday?" There was a mildly hopeful tone to the man's voice.
"You don't even know what I look like," Sam pointed out, "I could be hideous for all you know. Or straight, did you think of that?"
"With a voice as delightful as yours, Sam, I doubt you are hideous. And besides, if you were straight that would have been the first thing you said to me." Sam was sure he was being given puppy eyes over the phone.
"I'm afraid I must decline, Mr Novak. I have to be a professional." Sam checked the timer on the call log. "Its almost time for you to turn your new cell phone on. Actually," Sam refreshed the account, "Go ahead."
He heard the phone boot up, "Its on now."
Sam rattled off the test call number, "Dial that for me would you?"
Sam heard the tone of the buttons being dialed and the automated system blaring out that everything was fine. "It says the call was successful, does that mean everything is good?" Gabriel sounded a bit down at that.
"Yup, was there anything else you needed today other than activating your new phone?" Sam inquired.
"How bout that date?"
"Sorry, Mr Novak, no can do." Sam laughed again. "You have a great rest of your day, ok?"
"Yeah, you do the same." And the line went dead. Sam finished remarking the account, smiling at the name until he closed it and moved on to his next call.
Every day for the rest of his shift he arrived to a bouquet of flowers on his desk. They all bore the same card "Call me -G" and the phone number he had worked with. At first he laughed and dumped them out. Three days later though, he was seriously considering calling the man just to get him to stop.
Finally Monday rolled through, his Friday, and he could leave and go relax at one of the local bars without needing to worry about customers who didn't know when to quit.
Sam slouched into the bar and took his place at his favorite seat. "Hey Ellen."
"Hey, kid. You finally offa work?"
"Yeah, its been a hell of a week. Too many damn idiots that have no idea how the real world works." He rolled his eyes, "Its always, 'I know I did this but I shouldn't have to pay for it!' and I just want to strangle people through the headset."
She laughed and patted his arm, "First beer's on the house then, I'll be right back." She returned a few moments later with his beer and swept off to take care of the other patrons.
Halfway though that beer Sam heard a voice that made his heart stop, "Well, look at you gorgeous. You are one tall drink of water." Sam turned slowly in his seat to see the owner of the voice that haunted his memory. Golden eyes met his and thin, adorable, his brain helpfully supplied, lips curled into a smile. "What's the matter cutie, cat got your tongue?"
Sam cleared his throat and thanked every god there may or may not have been that his work voice was different than his normal voice. "You startled me, that's all."
"Startled you? By calling you cute?" The man, Gabriel, replied with a laugh, "Don't tell me you don't get compliments like that often."
"I don't go out, often." Sam smiled at that laugh.
"Apparently. something about you seems eerily familiar though." Gabriel settled next to him at the bar. "Must have seen you here before. Oh well. You got a name, or should I just keep calling you handsome?"
"Sam," he choked out, "Sam Winchester."
Gabriel's eyes narrowed a bit, but he didn't say anything about Sam's name. "Well, Sam-a-lam, I'm Gabriel and do you mind if i sit here?"
Sam shook his head dumbly and took another swig from his beer. Gabriel flashed him another grin and then started talking. Eventually Sam opened up enough to start talking himself and finally, Ellen put out the notice for last call and Sam started to gather himself to leave.
"Wait, Sam," Gabriel reached into a pocket and pulled out a card, "Call me, eh? I want to see you again."
Sam snorted, "A card, Gabriel? You made cards with your number on them?"
"hey, I never know when there will be a delectable cutie at the local bar scene. Though, you are the first one I've seen in quite some time." He leered.
Sam rolled his eyes but pocketed the card. "I might call you, I might not. Goodnight, gabriel." And with that, he left the bar and went home.
The weekend finished without him calling Gabriel, and the week rolled by with more flowers on his desk. He toyed with the idea of giving the man a call a few times, but he eventually shoved the thought down.
He found himself sitting in the same spot at the bar at the end of his work week again, staring moodily at the wood grain.
"What's wrong, kid?" Ellen asked him.
Sam took a careful look around the bar to see if Gabriel was anywhere in sight before he lowered his voice and explained. At the end of it all he raised an eyebrow at the inscrutable expression on her face, "What?"
"I think you should call him." Ellen shrugged. "He's obviously interested in you, you're interested in him."
Sam spluttered, "I am not!" he protested.
She leveled a look at him until he dropped his gaze back to the wood grain. "You're not foolin anyone."
Sam mumbled, "I know." at his bellybutton before looking at her again.
"Tell him," she insisted again. "And the next time he comes whining to me that you aren't calling him, I'm going to give him your number." She grinned at his terror stricken face, "And your work extension."
"Ellen, no!" Sam started laughing and fished out Gabriel's card. "Fine, fine. I'll do it right now."
She nodded at him, satisfied. "Go outside, he won't be able to hear you in all this mess."
Sam nodded and picked himself up and headed out the front door into the cool night air. He took a deep breath, pulled out his cell, and dialed Gabriel's number.
"Yello, this is the County Morgue, you stab 'em we slab 'em."
Sam started to laugh and used his 'phone voice,' "Is that the way you answer every unknown caller, Mr. Novak?"
"Oooh!" Sam heard scrambling noises, "My mystery phone operator, why are you calling me after hours?" he chided.
"Oh, no reason. This is my personal phone number and i thought I'd take you up on that date." Sam offered, "Besides," He swallowed and took the plunge, "Your eyes are gorgeous."
Silence.
"Gabriel?" Sam started to panic and then he heard swearing that turned into laughter.
"You asshole!" Gabriel managed to get out. "Here I thought I was going to have to choose between two different Sams. I should have known it was you in the bar."
Sam grinned, even though he knew Gabriel couldn't see it. "Yeah, well. I didn't know if I wanted to date you or not. Ellen told me to tell you or she'd give you my work extension."
"I like that woman." Gabriel said fervently.
"So," Sam said a little impatiently, "When and where?"
"How about now? Where are you?"
"Outside Ellen's."
"Stay there. I'll be by in a few minutes. See you soon, Sam-a-lam."
"Yeah." Sam smiled a little foolishly at his phone as the call ended. "See you soon."