Samantha and Not-Boring

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prompt: A man made a wrong phone call to a woman he doesn't know. - dialog.


"Hey Jane! How's it going? Listen, I spoke to Randy this afternoon and he said he's in, so we're all set. We're leaving on Thursday at seven."

"Umm... that's great, but there's a tiny problem."

"Yeah what's that?"

"I'm not Jane."

"You're not... OK. Umm, Jane, are you feeling well? Is this some kind of a psychological thing?"

"Excuse me? I don't have a psychological thing. I'm just not Jane. You've got the wrong number."

"Really? Are you sure that you haven't got the wrong phone?"

"I'm sure."

"That's interesting."

"OK then..."

"Hold on. So you're not Jane, but maybe you would like to join me and my friends for a little road trip anyway?"

"You're asking me to come on a road trip?"

"I am asking you to come on a road trip."

"You don't even know me. More importantly - I don't know you."

"See, here's the good part. After a few days with me and my friends you can't say that anymore."

"What if I'm a serial killer?"

"That would be bad, but I don't think you are. You see, my work has me calling people on the phone a lot and I've developed a sense about it. I can tell you're a nice person just from your voice. You're a little uptight because you don't want to go on a road trip with a bunch of strangers, but in general I'd say you're nice. I'd even say you're great, because you have a great sense of humor."

"And what makes you think that?"

"You haven't hung up yet."

"Well, I'm thinking about it."

"But you can't. You haven't given me an answer yet."

"About the road trip?"

"Yeah, about the road trip. We're going to Florida, just so you know."

"That sounds nice and all, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to say no."

"That's too bad. What's your name anyways? Is it Samantha? Because you sound like a Samantha."

"It's not Samantha."

"I'd say it is."

"You'd say it is?"

"Well yes. It depends on how you define the word name. If you're into that boring birth certificate and passport thing, then sure, but if a name is something you're called then yours would be Samantha, because that's what I'm calling you."

"You're really annoying, you know that?"

"I thought I was being funny. Cute, even."

"OK, well, I'm going to hang up now."

"Oh... I think you shouldn't."

"Why should I not hang up?"

"Because I like talking to you."

"You like annoying me."

"Well, here's what we're going to do - you can annoy me for a change. You could ask me about David Bowie. Or about Star Trek. I find Star Trek very annoying."

"Really? So what's your favorite Star Trek episode?"

"There you go! I'm annoyed. Good job.... Was that a chuckle? Are you laughing at me?"

"A little."

"Well, maybe I'm gonna hang up now."

"No, don't hang up."

"I'm sorry, I thought you said don't hang up."

"I'm afraid I did."

"Wow, now I don't know what to say."

"This will be one boring phone conversation then."

"No, I can't let that happen. Not-Boring is my middle name."

"That's a pretty good middle name."

"Thank you. You have a beautiful name too."

"You don't even know my name."

"Sure I do, it's Samantha, remember?"

"OK, fine, we'll go with Samantha."

"No, actually I'd like to know your real name."

"Yeah? Why's that?"

"Because like I said, I have a lot of phone conversations at work, but they're never as much fun as this one. Of course, they usually revolve around computer details, but that doesn't mean anything, because it's completely possible to have a fun conversation about computers. I bet you and I could pull it off."

"I have no doubt that we could."

"So I've told you about my work, can I ask what do you do? Or should I use my super-voice-analysing-powers and guess?"

"I'm almost tempted to let you guess, but since you asked, I'm a journalist."

"You should have let me guessed, because my version included a horse."

"In that case you need to work on your super-voice-analysing-powers."

"I guess I do. Can I ask a few more questions?"

"If they're not what are you wearing right now kind of questions."

"You know, now I'm tempted to ask that!"

"Then no, sorry."

"Fortunately I have different kind of questions too. Like what's your phone number?"

"That's a funny thing to ask from someone you're on the phone with."

"Well, I could try dialing Jane's number wrong again to call you, but I imagine that would take a lot of time."

"What does Jane's number end with?"

"It ends with 745."

"There you go, mine ends with 744."

"And it's OK if I call you again and annoy you some more?"

"Well, we haven't had that conversation about computers yet."

"And about what you're wearing."

"And about that."

"OK then. I'm gonna try and call Jane now.

"Tell her I said hi."

"I will. And I might call you tomorrow."

"And I might answer."

"Sounds good. Bye, Samantha."

"Bye, Not-Boring."