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“Holy shit.”
“I know right?” The exuberance in Jay’s voice enthralled Hailey just as much as the wild case he was telling her about.
“I’ve been here for a week and nothing has come close to being that crazy.” She told him as she crawled into bed. She held her phone between her ear and shoulder as she made herself comfortable, paying special attention to Jay on the other end.
“At least you get to play dress up.” The sarcasm was there in full force. He knew she hated the FBI’s stuffy attire. She longed for her casual and comfy clothes she wore in Intelligence.
“Yeah, at least I have that.” She sighed, bringing her comforter up to her shoulders. She then placed her phone down and put Jay on speaker, feeling more comforted by the sound of his voice carrying out through the entirety of the hotel room.
If she closed her eyes, she could probably fool herself for a few seconds that Jay was right next to her.
“You okay?” It scared her sometimes how accurate he could read her. Right now though it only made her miss him more.
“Yeah, I’m good.” It felt silly to rant to him about how different and weird New York was. How their pizza was like sauce on crackers, everyone acted all high and mighty being part of the FBI, and how lonely she felt. “I miss Chicago, that’s all.” ‘And you’ was on the tip of her tongue, but she withheld it.
“Just Chicago?”
She rolled her eyes, not surprised that he was egging her on. “I can’t have you get an inflated ego, Jay.” She teased, but finally voiced what was frequently on her mind. “You know I miss you too. Not as much as Chicago, but it’s close. Right under deep dish pizza.”
She could imagine him smiling, making her wish they were FaceTiming. She purposely called him for a reason though, not wanting to make herself miss him more. “Making sure you haven’t forgotten about me, that’s all.”
“I don’t think that’s possible.” She admitted to him, instinctively curling her toes at the sound of his sharp intake of breath. They had been teetering dangerously back and forth between their typical friendship and partnership and something potentially more. It had only increased with their time spent apart.
But they continued to ignore it, as they have been for the past week. Their physical distance made it possible to do so, really the only thing Hailey was grateful for regarding their separation. Skirting around the topic was easier than confronting it.
She never got a verbal response to her reply, as Jay began muttering about a call from Will. “Shit, I gotta take this.” He said apologetically. “I can call you back—“
She picked up her phone. 12:30 was displayed across the screen, meaning it was 11:30 back in Chicago. Although they could talk literally all night, it wouldn’t be wise with both of them having a busy work day ahead.
“No, we should get some sleep anyways.” She told him, phone against her ear again. “We can talk tomorrow.”
At the same time, Jay goes “I’ll talk to you in the morning.”
Hailey smiled. She wasn’t planning on putting an exact time on their next phone call, but she hardly could complain. She found herself already looking forward to it.
“Talk to you in the morning.” She repeated his words.
Once she was sure he wasn’t on the other line anymore, she tossed her phone down on the bed, laid back, and tried to ignore how much she missed Jay Halstead.