A new girl in town
Chapter 34
J.J./Kane/Taker/Wade/Vanessa/Cassie/Kayla
"Nah, not at all. It needs a few seconds to start up," Cassie said.
"Oh." Kane said looking a little embarrassed he was used to things like the TV turning on right away.
"Victory!" Wade said as the icons appeared.
"Alright, first thing should probably be... fuck. Guys, what should the first thing be?" Wade said.
"Where things are... hello!" Cassie said.
Wade nodded.
"Alright. See the icons at the bottom of the screen?
"People usually put the apps they use the most there. For now it's your phone, texts, camera and browser." Wade said. "We can add things as you start to use them more and more." He added.
"Ok." Kane said warily.
"Yo Cass, do you have a stylus?" Wade asked.
"What is that? My hair is fine." Kane said. "And what does my hair have to do with the phone?" Kane added flipping his hair back.
They all laughed.
"You do have fuckin' awesome hair. So jealous. But nah, it's just a pen thing."
"Most guys have trouble using their fingers on the screen because our hands are so big," Wade said.
Cassie rummaged through her bag for a moment then pulled one out.
"Fuckin' seriously... that thing could hold the god damn world," Wade said as Cassie handed it over.
"Oh ok." Kane said when he saw the small thing in Cassie's hand.
How the hell am I going to write with that? It's too small. Kane thought.
Kane took the pen thing and tried to click it open but nothing to write with came out. He touched the end and found it was rubber. He looked askance at Wade for a moment.
"It's not really a pen. You use it to tap on the screen," he explained.
Wade carefully began showing Kane how to move around the screen, then how to open and close apps.
"It'll all make sense, I swear," Wade said.
Kane watched closely but Wade was moving all over the screen quickly.
"Jesus fuck, Wilson. Here, I'll do it," Vanessa said, snatching the phone out of Wade's hands.
"Now, much slower this time," she said.
Taker began to move toward the door. As much fun as watching Kane learn how to use a phone was he was tired.
J.J. joined him to walk him out.
"It's a good thing we have tomorrow off." J.J. said. "Something tells me they are going to be at it for a while."
Taker laughed softly.
"Yeah looks like it." Taker said opening the door.
J.J. closed the door behind him and turned to watch her husband again.
No one but J.J. had noticed him leave.
Vanessa made sure to start from the beginning.
This is like teaching someone how to dance or play an instrument. She thought.
Slow everything down to its smallest detail. Eventually, it becomes muscle memory.
I can't believe how much patience they are showing him. I hope they realize what a big step this is for him. J.J. thought sitting down across the room to watch him.
Vanessa smiled encouragingly and handed Kane the phone.
"I'm here if you get stuck," she said.
"What should I do?" Kane asked still not sure what a phone was for except talking.
Suddenly Kane looked up. J.J. was sitting across from him and when she saw him looking smiled encouragingly.
"When did Taker leave?" he asked noticing his absence.
"About an hour ago." J.J. said with another smile.
"You probably want to add some contacts first," Vanessa said.
Then she carefully showed him how to open the phone app.
Now I know what phones do. Kane thought. They steal time. I'll have to remember not to take too much time away from J.J. using it.
Vanessa carefully guided Kane through adding his first contact.
"The keyboard may take some getting used to," she said as they got to the name boxes.
"But it's set up exactly like a computer keyboard so that may help if you've worked with one of those," she added.
"I've never touched a computer." Kane said sheepishly.
"No worries at all," Vanessa said with another encouraging smile.
Then she began slowly walking him through the layout of the keyboard.
"Why aren't they just in alphabetic order?" Kane asked noticing they were spread out weird.
"I have no idea," Vanessa said with a laugh.
"The minds of the people who create this kind of thing are a complete mystery to me," she added.
"Oh so it doesn't make sense to you either." Kane said with a short laugh.
"No, not in the slightest," Vanessa said.
Kane laughed again.
"Do you want to try adding someone?" Vanessa asked.
"Take your time; there's no rush," she added.
"Yes." Kane said after a moment. "J.J."
J.J. smiled happy that he'd thought of her first.
"Cool, let's do it," Vanessa said.
Then she began slowly guiding Kane through adding J.J. to his phone.
"I know her number." Kane said when they got to that part.
"From memory? That's awesome," Vanessa said sounding impressed.
"At least this dial pad is normal," she added.
"How else would I call her when she's not with me?" Kane said confused.
Vanessa shrugged.
"We are all just slaves to our phones," she said with a laugh.
Kane laughed not quite sure he understood.
"They're the real brains of the operation. We put our lives in to them then immediately forget so that we can move on to something else that's pointless and irrelevant," Vanessa explained patiently.
"Oh." Kane said.
I will not be that way. I will always remember phone numbers it's better that way. He thought.
Vanessa smiled.
"You're a better man than most of us," she teased. Then she had Kane add number.
Why am I a better man? Kane wondered. But he put his mind on adding J.J.'s number correctly.
"That definitely needs a custom ringtone," Cassie said.
"Quick, what's your guys' song?" she asked.
"Song?" Kane said wondering what to use. Then it hit him.
"I miss my friend." Kane said. "I heard that song right before my accident and that's when I realized I loved her and missed her."
"Aw!" Vanessa said.
"Cass, please work your magic," she added.
"I've got a better one for us." J.J. said. "Santa I'm right here. Because you were dressed as Santa when you proposed."
"Kay, I've made that one too," Cassie said sending it over.
A few minutes later, Cassie looked up from her phone.
"I've edited it so that it's just the chorus. Let me know if you want something else and I'll make it happen," she said as she texted the file to Kane's phone.
"Cassie's obsessed with making ringtones," Wade said.
"Yeah. She stays up half the damn night making them and only stops when she forgets what she's doing," Kayla added.
"Whatevs. None of you complain when I give you exactly what you want," Cassie said.
Wade and Kayla laughed.
"I'll take I miss my friend as my ring tone for him then." J.J. said smiling.
"I'll use the one J.J. said. It fits." He added.
"Didgets?" Kane said.
J.J. began reciting her phone number. Then her email address.
Vanessa slowly guided Kane through changing the ringtone for number.
"Let me know if I'm going too quickly or if anything is unclear," she said.
"There are always at least three different ways to explain something. If none of those work, I'll invent some more," she added with a wink
"You may have to." Kane laughed.
"Cool, you're in. Hey, are you on Facebook?" Cassie said.
"What's that?" Kane asked innocently.
"It's the king of the social media empire," Cassie said.
"It's everything rolled in to one: text updates, pictures, videos... yeah. You can add people and see whatever they post. You can also share posts with people you've friended and comment on other people's posts," Cassie explained.
"I hate it," Kayla added.
Vanessa laughed.
"If it's so cool why does Kayla hate it?" Kane asked.
"It's just everywhere... and there's no escape. I don't give a shit about how cute your dog is or how pretty that cake is that you didn't even make. It goes on for pages and pages. It's a study in irrelevance," Kayla said.
"Fuckin' hipster," Wade said.
"J.J, can you call Kane's phone?" she asked.
"You definitely need to know how to answer," she added.
"Sure what's his number? I'm going to want that anyway." J.J. asked.
"Does his phone have international calling?" J.J. asked.
"Yeah, we made sure to include that," Wade said looking up from his phone.
"Also a data plan that roams too. It's a pretty sweet deal," he added.
"Who's name is on the account so we can change it to one of our names?" J.J. asked knowing something like that could get expensive really fast.
"It's in my name but it'll be an easy switch over," Cassie said.
"Good." J.J. said. "Now the number please." She added excited to be Kane's first caller.
Cassie opened her contacts and recited the number.
"Do I even want to know why you have your old number on your new phone?" J.J. laughed.
"Um. Because I'm not so secretly a hoarder?" Cassie said with a laugh.
"But seriously, it's because I wouldn't have remembered it otherwise and I forgot to delete it," she added.
"Ok." J.J. laughed and dialed the number.
Kane heard the tune of Santa I'm right here and looked at the phone.
"Just slide you finger along the screen and it will pick up." Wade said.
Kane slid his finger along the screen using the red arrow not the green and hung up.
"What did I do wrong?" he asked.
"You slide the green one to pick up and the red to hang up or ignore a call." Wade said.
"Ok," Kane said.
J.J. called him again. This time he dropped the phone and the battery popped out.
Once the phone was back together again J.J. tried a third time. This time he successfully picked it up and said hello.
"There you go," Vanessa said with a smile.
"I love you Kane." J.J. whispered into the phone making him blush.
"I love you too." Kane shouted thinking he had to talk louder than a regular phone.
Vanessa smiled.
"You can use your regular voice. The mic is pretty good," she said.
"Pressing it the red button on the bottom ends the call," Vanessa said.
"This one." Kane asked accidently hitting it and hanging up again.
"Yes hun. That one." She said when the call abruptly ended.
"That's the one," Vanessa said.
"You may want to call her back though. Looks like you hung up," she added.
"Show me how again." Kane said.
Vanessa slowly walked him through making a call again.
Kane went through it slowly a few times so he would remember. Then he pressed J.J.'s number and the call button.
But J.J. didn't answer.