Love on the Line

by Hall, J D

  “You're not pushing me,” she said cautiously. “I feel that way too. I just, well, I don't have a very good history of these things turning out too good.”

  Darryl was quiet for a few moments as he realized she must have been hurt in the past. “You can trust me, Jillian. I'm not going to do anything to hurt you. It's okay if, when we meet, you find you don't feel the same way. But I won't do anything to hurt you.”

  Jillian was shocked by his words. Not only did Darryl know what she meant, but he had been brave enough to make her a promise without even meeting her.

  “You seem like a really nice guy,” she said with a smile around her words.

  “You haven't met me yet,” he reminded her, and they both laughed.

  A few days later Viveka decided to pay a visit to Jillian, who had abandoned the girls since she began chatting with Darryl. While they were all ecstatic that she had finally found someone, they were also sad at how it had changed things in their relationship. There had been no more Girls’ Night Out because Jillian only had time for her new online interest. Neither would they accept her bringing her cell phone as that would have spoilt it for everyone, Darryl included.

  As Jillian’s dating coach, Viveka was kept in the loop concerning all the details via emails. She had heard all kinds of wonderful things about Darryl, but still she was not entirely convinced that he was Mr Right. She was thinking there might be something more to Darryl's game than he was showing. After all, if it was too good to be true, it usually was. As a relationship expert, she knew how eager Jillian was to find the one and she felt she needed to keep her level headed about the situation. So she dropped by unannounced, giving Jillian no chance to avoid the discussion.

  “Viveka,” Jillian said as she stepped back from the door. “I wasn't expecting you.”

  “Can't a friend visit a friend?” she asked with a smirk.

  “Of course,” Jillian held the door open for her.

  “So let's talk about Darryl,” Viveka said and sat down on the couch. Her long legs ended up under the coffee table. Jillian sighed and rolled her eyes, thinking that her day was going to go from good to bad.

  “It's just a date, Viveka.”

  “It doesn't sound like just a date the way you talk about him.”

  “Look, we're just getting to know each other,” Jillian insisted. “See for yourself!” She pointed to the computer screen where the dating site was open. She had been checking out Darryl's profile yet again so that she could see his picture. Viveka stood up and walked over to the computer. She plopped right down in the computer chair and turned back to face Jillian.

  “Cute, but that doesn't mean he isn't a dog.”

  “I know that,” Jillian sighed.

  Viveka pursed her lips as she met Jillian's eyes. “I love you, hon, but you really are very naïve.”

  “What do you mean?” Jillian asked defensively. Jillian suddenly began to realize that Viveka was always negative when it concerned her online dating activities.

  “Any man that dates online isn't just dating one woman. He throws out a net and sees how many he can pull in at once.” Viveka took a sip of her wine and shook her head. “If you really like this guy, you have to test him out and make sure that he's not playing you.”

  Jillian wanted to protest, to claim that Darryl wouldn't do that, but the truth was she didn't really know him. And when it came to men, Viveka really was a bit of an expert. “Okay, but how?” she frowned. “He's coming to visit next week. That's already been decided.”

  “You don't have to see him to find out.”

  Viveka grinned devilishly as she spun around in Jillian's computer chair and began typing away on her computer.

  “What are you doing?” Jillian asked as she peered over Viveka's shoulder.

  “I'm making my own profile,” Viveka smirked. She began to create profile, making it sound as sexy as possible with references to her ample assets and her willingness to have a good time.

  “Oh, my god. You slut!”

  Jillian giggled nervously. She wasn't sure if this was a good idea, but she figured as long as Darryl didn't take the bait she had nothing to worry about.

  “Alright, let's go fishing,” Viveka smirked and sent a steamy opening message to Darryl's account. Jillian shook her head.

  “He's really a good guy. I've gotten to know him really well over the phone,” she stated confidently, and just as she spoke her last word the computer chimed announcing a new message to Viveka's account. It was from Darryl.

  Jillian stared with shock at the screen as she read the words in the message. They were very flirtatious and welcomed Viveka's interest.

  “Well well,” Viveka muttered and arched a brow slightly in Jillian's direction.

  “Well who wouldn't respond to that smut you put out there?” Jillian asked sharply.

  “Hm, let's see how far he will go then?” Viveka suggested.

  Jillian set her jaw, trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to form. She could not believe she had been so easily duped. She felt sure that if Viveka pushed things further Darryl would back off.

  In Darryl's apartment, fingers were flying across the keyboard of his laptop.

  And just how do you look in those lacy black panties?

  Roger hit the send button. He was getting more turned on by the minute. When Viveka had messaged him, he thought it was too good to be true, but it was only getting better.

  Would you like to find out for yourself?

  Viveka had messaged back and Roger took a sharp breath.

  “What are you doing on my computer?” Darryl demanded as he walked out from his bedroom, buttoning up his shirt. He had gone to take a shower and had left Roger alone in the living room. He peered over Roger's shoulder.

  “Nice,” he muttered. “Hooking up with another girl?”

  Roger leaned back against the couch and smirked up at Darryl. “No, bro. Actually, you are.” He laughed and pointed out the name on the profile.

  “Roger!” Darryl shouted. “What are you doing? You have your own profile!”

  “Right, but all those women know me. You're the one that gets all the sweet innocent ones. Well at least I thought so!”

  He laughed as he pointed to the last message he had received. “This one is hot and ready to go. I'm about to send her a spot to meet up.”

  Darryl was a little angry at first, but then he shrugged. What did he care if Roger used his profile? He only used it to talk to Jillian and he was sure that after they met, he wouldn't be using it at all anymore. What harm could it do to let Roger have some fun? And the woman's messages were very arousing.

  Anywhere, anytime, Roger sent back, and then followed it up with: The sooner the better, because you've got me so wound up, I might have to hunt you down.

  “Nice Roger,” Darryl rolled his eyes. “Now whoever it is will think you're a serial killer. Or actually, I am a serial killer.”

  He laughed it off and went to finish getting dressed. He was looking forward to seeing Jillian and counting down the days.

  “Do you want me to set up a place and time, and we can see if he shows?” Viveka asked Jillian, whose heart had been slowly breaking during the entire conversation. She had been stupid enough to trust Darryl and now she was realizing how much of a mistake that had been.

  “No it doesn't matter,” she shook her head. “You were right. I was an idiot.”

  “No, hon,” Viveka said with sympathy in her eyes. “You were just looking for love. I get it. I just don't want to see you get hurt.”

  Jillian recalled how Darryl had promised he would not hurt her. She didn't expect him to marry her, but she thought that meant he would not try to pick up girls behind her back. She frowned as she realized that her instincts must have been really off. She had actually believed him.

  “So what are you going to do?” Viveka questioned her.

  Jillian was so angry and so upset that there was only one thing she wanted to do. She leaned acro
ss Viveka and deleted her profile. She had removed her information from the site. Then she turned off the cell phone she used for corresponding with the guys from the site. She was careful not to use her real phone, just in case. She was glad she hadn't given Darryl her address or her last name. He would have no way to track her down, if he even cared to try.

  “Good girl,” Viveka said with a frown. Inwardly though, she made a mental note of Darryl's profile. She had really enjoyed the way he talked to her. Viveka was the type of woman who enjoyed a little dirty talk. She didn't think it would hurt to reconnect with him, if she needed a little fun. She just wouldn't tell Jillian. She spent the rest of the afternoon consoling her friend, and promising her that the men she would set her up with would be nothing like Darryl.

  Even though she was breaking apart inside, Jillian put on a brave face in front of her friend, to show her that she was in control of her emotions. If Viveka were to ridicule her, she would be devastated.

  “I am so glad that you came here tonight, Viveka. I can’t believe that I just fell for his game, hook, line and sinker.”

  “Oh, darling, these men are such players. In the world of internet dating, everything is just so make believe. Nobody tells the truth anymore. Just look how easy it was for me to pull this off. With just a few taps on the keyboard, I converted myself into the hot and sultry ViVi22, who is ready for anything, anywhere. On the net, even a stone cold criminal could project himself to be Prince Charming. But you don’t have to worry about that anymore. You know I have your back. You would be up and dating a great guy in no time,” Viveka assured her.

  Jillian was too crushed to even think about dating another guy. How could she trust someone after what had happened? After pouring out her heart and soul to Darryl, she felt that she didn’t have anything left to give to anyone else. He had such a profound effect on her and this sad state of affairs had dashed away all her expectations of a “happily ever after”. She had tasted love, only to have the cake swiped away from her. The pain was unbearable. All she wanted to do was to simply roll into a corner and die. Firstly, she had to get rid of Viveka.

  “Ah, Viveka, if you don’t mind, I have some laundry to finish. I will call you later.”

  “Oh, sure thing. I have a meeting with a client anyway. You sure you would be cool?” asked Viveka in a concerned voice.

  “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  Jillian knew that she would not have been able to sustain her Oscar-winning performance any longer. She turned her back, hoping that Viveka would take a hint. She did.

  “Well, bye then. Take care of yourself.”

  They embraced each other briefly.

  After Viveka left, Jillian ran straight to her bedroom. What began as a silent cry, quickly escalated into a screeching howl.

  Darryl arrived home from work and loosened his tie right away. He poured himself a glass of the expensive wine he had bought to celebrate his impending trip to meet Jillian. Then he settled down on the couch and picked up his phone. He dialed Jillian's number, expecting to have a nice long conversation with her as usual. He ached to hear her voice all day when he was at work, but he never called her from work. He knew he would be too distracted to do his job if he had spoken with her. When the phone number he called claimed it was disconnected, he was surprised. He thought that somehow he had dialed it wrong. He called it again and then for a third time before slamming his phone down on the table. He was starting to panic, fearing the worst. He opened up his computer and accessed the dating site. On it, he could connect with her through chat or through messages. But when he placed the mouse over her name to connect with her, it was grayed out. He couldn't send any information. He tried to get to her profile but landed on a page that said the profile had been deleted. Now he was really starting to freak out.

  At first he had thought she might have been in some sort of accident. However, that would not explain what had happened with her online profile. If she was injured or in some way incapacitated, she could not have deleted it in any case.

  "Jillian, where are you?" he wondered. He had already tried the phone and now her profile was gone. He wondered if he had done or said something to offend her. But he couldn't think of anything. He realized he didn't even know her last name. All he knew was the town she lived in, and the high school she went to. He had no way of finding her! Everything was going so well or at least he thought so before this happened.

  "What's up, buddy?" Roger asked as he walked casually into Darryl's apartment. He helped himself to a glass of wine before he noticed how much Darryl was stressing himself out.

  "Something wrong?" he asked.

  "Jillian, she's gone," Darryl said, his eyes wide.

  "What you mean gone?" Roger asked with a frown.

  "Her profile is deleted. Her phone number doesn't work."

  "Oh that’s cold, man. Sorry about that.” Roger shook his head. He could not understand what his friend was fussing about. It is true that he did put him up to joining the site, but he thought that Darryl would have approached online dating as he had, just as a way to meet new people who one could get freaky with. He had not expected that his friend would have actually fallen in love. He should have warned him, but then again, Darryl was made of a totally different stock.

  "Why would she do that?” Darryl asked. He could not figure it out. "She was fine yesterday. We had plans for this weekend. Why would she just disappear like that?"

  "Maybe she got a better offer," Roger volunteered. He took a long swallow of his wine. "Tell you what, you get back on the site. I've got this girl so hot for me on there, she’d jump me in a second. She likes the way I talk to her."

  Roger laughed. At that moment, Darryl felt like punching him in the face for making so light of his predicament. He calmed himself and tried to relax. It was not Roger’s fault that he found love to be unnecessary. That was Roger’s way and Darryl had to accept him for it. Still, that did not mean that he had to tolerate it.

  “Is that the way you get women? By talking smut?”

  "Don’t worry. You can have her. It's under your name anyway. The other night, she kept calling me Darryl. Kind of killed it for me."

  "Ugh great, Roger. Now half the site probably thinks I'm just some player. Are you sure you didn't send something to Jillian by mistake?"

  "No, man. I swear!" he shook his head firmly.

  "I guess you're right," Darryl sighed as he finished his glass of wine. He started to think that he should just let it go. After all, Jillian did not really mean anything to him. She was just some random female that he had met on the internet. However, the more he tried to convince himself of the casual nature of the relationship, the more he couldn’t deny that there had been some genuine feelings there. They had both shared an immediate and strong human connection. At least that was what he felt and he had sincerely thought that the feeling was mutual.

  “You know how women are. They can never make up their mind. One day they love you, the next day, they aren’t sure. That’s why I never bother. For me, the friends-with-benefits type relationship is the best. Once there are benefits, I’m in. And the minute the bitch starts getting feelings, I’m out! None of them ain’t going to tie me down. Ever!” remarked Roger. In his own way, he was trying to lessen the impact of the hurt and confusion that Darryl was experiencing. His method was not working effectively though.

  “But this is Jillian we are talking about. I refuse to believe that she would just blow me to the wind, just like that.”

  “Did you guys argue?”

  “No. Nothing like that. And that is why I am so confused right now. We spoke last night. We were making plans for this weekend. Everything was positively great. And now this! I can’t even get on to her for an explanation. I wonder if something happened to her. Maybe that is it. Yeah, but if anything happened, like an accident for example, that does not provide a reason for her profile just disappearing. I can understand the lack of phone communication, but having a deleted profile is odd.
”

  Roger kept looking at his friend as he engaged in his musing. He still could not understand why Darryl was eating his heart out over this particular issue.

  “Just get over it, pal. The night is still young. I am heading to this slamming salsa club that just opened on thirteen and fourth. Wanna come? I have two extra senoritas just for you. No is not a word in their vocabulary,” hinted Roger.

  Darryl knew that his friend had good intentions, but all he wanted to do was to stay in his apartment and sulk.

  “Thanks, Roger, but no thanks,” he replied.

  “Well that is your loss,” responded Roger.

  After Roger left, Darryl sat at the desk, staring at the computer. However, his attention was not fixated on the screen. He was thinking about Jillian, still trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle.

  The thought that he might have been replaced and that someone else was enjoying her affections proved too much for his ego. He hated rejection, especially when he didn’t see it coming and this one had dropped on him like a ton of bricks. He certainly hadn’t expected Jillian to take a 180 degrees turn on him like that.

  Even though he felt deflated, he muscled up enough energy to get up. He shut off the computer and resolved that he would just put that episode in his life behind him. He did not think that it would have even made a difference, after all, if his profile remained active or not. He had no intention of ever returning to City Cupid or to any other dating site on the internet.

  The next day, he woke up with Jillian still on his mind. Apparently forgetting her was going to take a little more determination than he had expected. How could she just push him out of her life without any consideration for his feelings? What about the plans they had made for the weekend and the plans he had been making in his head for the countless weekends after that? Life must go on, he thought. Besides, he did not want to cry over spilled milk. Roger certainly wasn’t going to throw him a pity party for him.

  At work, Darryl spent the majority of the day inside his office. He tried to keep busy in order to forget the turmoil in his heart. Suddenly he got a whiff of that old, so familiar scent.