When Josh got to his room he messaged Andy, "Are you still up?"
She responded, "Yes, not in bed yet. Want to video chat?"
Josh logged into his computer and activated his web cam. Andy appeared on the screen, wearing her pajamas, "I thought maybe you weren't going to be done with dinner before I had to go to bed."
"I didn't want to miss talking to you. It's really a pain to work the after school shift, especially without Amanda there. There are a lot of customers in a short time. And that's really the best time for us to be able to talk."
"You don't have to work tomorrow, right?" Andy asked.
"I only have a couple of afternoons a week," Josh said. "I'll be working afternoons on Saturday and Sunday, but I'll have the mornings off. A three hour time zone difference is really a pain."
"Maybe we can get in some G-Force?" Andy suggested. "Has Katie been around?"
"She was doing her homework at the Rack this evening," Josh said.
"So, have you done it? Have you asked her on another date?" Andy asked. "You took her to the movies. You can't just leave it hanging there. The girl will think you don't care."
"I did ask her to the Friday dance after the game," Josh told her with a hint of reluctance.
"That's my boy," Andy said. "A slow learner but he catches on."
"I'd rather go with you," Josh admitted.
"You'd look pretty silly dancing with a cell phone," Andy laughed.
"Yeah," Josh looked at her image for a moment, "Is there anyone in Cleveland who catches your eye?"
Andy shrugged, "It's far too soon. No one went to the trouble of finding me a new boyfriend."
"That was inconsiderate of me, I guess," Josh said.
"So, I'm still in the resume gathering stage," Andy said airily. "After that I have to sort through all the candidates, do the interviews, then the callbacks. It takes a lot of time."
"You make it sound like quite a production."
"Of course it is," Andy said. "Look at all the work I had to put in on you, training you from the ground up on how to date. I don't want to go through that again. I'm going to get someone who's broken in."
"And who can kick your ass in G-Force," Josh added.
"Well, that wasn't a requirement for you, was it?" Andy challenged him. "I think we can get by with simple competence. Do you want to be part of the interview team? We can have the final candidates log in and play G-Force with us."
"That would be fun," Josh's voice didn't sound like it would be fun at all.
"Yes it would," Andy had a similar lack of enthusiasm.
They sat looking at each other for a while. Then Josh reached up and stroked the cheek of the image on the screen. "I miss touching you."
"I miss you touching me too." They looked at each other for a while longer in silence then Andy said, "I have to log off and go to bed or I'll have two mothers in here."
"Good night, Andy," Josh said.
"Good night, Josh," Andy said. And then, quietly, "I love you."
"I love you," Josh said. The screen went blank.