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“If you don’t call, then I will.” Robin thrust the phone at him with a glare sharp enough to kill. And Steve wanted to, he did. He wanted an answer more than anything, but maybe not like this.
Ghosted was just such a public way to go about it, a crazy way to ask Eddie why he’d not heard back from him in two years. Most people wouldn’t like being accosted on a live radio show, right?
“Robs, this is crazy,” Steve groaned. “It’s been two years and we went on one date.”
“And yet you’re still pining over him,” she rolled her eyes and folded her arms over her chest; Steve knew it was over for him once she did that. Robin meant business, and there was no way of getting out of it now. “I’m sick of hearing about it. So tell all of Indianapolis instead.”
“Robin, I –” Steve sighed, staring at the phone.
“Jesus christ,” Robin muttered, snatching the phone from Steve and dialling the number that she had googled just moments before. She threw the phone back at Steve with a pointed grin, and he couldn’t go back now that the ringing of the phone filled the air around them.
*
Getting on the radio wasn’t as easy as Steve thought it would be. It wasn’t as easy as calling and getting straight through to the hosts, Steve relayed his story to multiple different staff members at the radio station and during every second of it, he wanted to peel his skin off.
But they’d decided that his embarrassment would make good radio, apparently, and soon Steve found himself picking up the phone to hear unfamiliar voices on the other end.
“Hello, is this Steve?”
“It is,” he confirmed, nodding even though he knew they couldn’t see it.
“Great! I’m Sara, and this is Shaun,” they introduced themself as though Steve was in the room with them, with Shaun giving a “Hey” at the mention of their name. It made him feel slightly calmed; Robin swore by UDRadio, saying that queer radio hosts were the best radio hosts, and Steve was starting to believe it.
“Hi,” he offered in return, barely recognising his own voice.
“So we just have a song playing right now,” Sara continued, unfazed by his nerves. “We’ll get you on to tell us your Ghosted story right after that, okay?”
“Yeah,” Steve forced out. “Yeah, okay.”
“Are you nervous?” The other host, Shaun, asked.
“A little,” he admitted. “I’ve never been on the radio before, let alone for something so… personal.”
“Don’t you worry, sweetie,” Sara said, with a voice so warm and reassuring that Steve almost forgot what he was worrying about. “It’s just like a conversation. Ignore the idea of the radio, it’s just us, okay?”
Steve exhaled, releasing some of the tension in his chest, “Okay.”
“We’ve got about thirty seconds,” Shaun reminded them both. “We’ll be back with you soon, Steve, okay?”
“Okay.”
*
“You’re joining Shaun and Sara here at UDRadio,” Shaun greeted the audience as the song came to a close. “We have another Ghosted story coming up for you next, and I have been informed that this is one of our craziest yet.”
“Let’s get Steve in here before he hangs up,” Sara chimes in, and before he knows it, Steve is being greeted by the hosts again.
“Hey there, Steve!” Shaun called down the phone. For a moment, he forgot that a substantial amount of people in Indianapolis could hear it too.
“Hi guys,” Steve returned their cheery demeanour and ignored Robin holding back laughter behind him. He swatted her away from him, not wanting the sound to carry through the phone.
“Tell us a little bit about why you called us, Steve,” Sara prodded, and Steve ran an anxious hand through his hair.
“So, this is a long shot,” Steve chuckled nervously. “I got ghosted like… two years ago now.”
“Two years?” Steve could hear the slight judgement in Shaun’s voice.
“Be nice,” Sara chastised them. “He’s just taking his time, you know, climbing that mountain to get to this point.”
“If he doesn’t hurry up, he’ll be one of the skeletons decorating Mount Everest,” Shaun quipped.
“Ignore Shaun. Tell us your story, Steve.”
“Well, I got ghosted by this guy, Eddie, and my roommate is fed up with me complaining about it…”
“Understandable,” Shaun chimed in. “How long were you dating?”
“So that’s the thing,” Steve chuckled. “We went on one date.”
“That must have been some date, huh?” Sara encouraged him, probably stepping in before Shaun could say something else.
“Yeah,” Steve nodded. “Yeah, it was. We just really connected, you know? We talked all night about everything and anything. I really thought that this could go somewhere, and then I heard nothing from him.”
“What is it about this guy?” Shaun asked. “Most people would accept this as a missed connection, what makes you so sure that it’s meant to be more than that?”
“I don’t know,” Steve sighed, “We just really understood each other, and that kind of spark is hard to find. I’ve been on dates since then and – I can honestly say that the date with Eddie was the best date I’ve ever had.”
“Well then,” Sara’s sunny tone came down the line once more. “Let’s give Eddie a call.”
Steve had been instructed to stay quiet while the hosts spoke to Eddie, that they would introduce him (or re-introduce him) at the right time, whenever that was. He couldn’t help the way his heart sped up as he heard the dial tone ring out. Robin had even demanded for him to put it on speaker so that she could listen in too.
*
“Hello?” Eddie didn’t usually answer unknown numbers, unless it was to mess with the spam callers, but something in his gut pulled at him and told him to answer this one.
“Hi, is this Eddie?” A slightly familiar voice asked.
“Uh, yeah,” he cleared his throat awkwardly. “This is Eddie. Um. Who’s this?”
“You’re speaking to Shaun and Sara from UDRadio,” another voice confirmed, which made the slight familiarity make sense.
“Oh, right! We actually play you guys in the tattoo shop,” Eddie nodded. “Uh, why are you calling, exactly?”
“Do you happen to keep track of your ghosting history?” Shaun asked, and the question caused a queasiness to settle in Eddie’s stomach.
“What do you mean?” Eddie asked tentatively.
“Did you possibly ghost someone a couple of years ago?” Sara asked, more tactically. “Does anyone come to mind, or stand out, maybe?”
He wound a strand of hair around his finger as he answered, a nervous habit. “Someone stands out, yeah.”
“Do you want to tell us about them?”
It’s now or never, Eddie told himself, and took a deep breath before asking, “Is this about Steve?”
“Yeah,” Shaun confirmed, “Yeah, this is about Steve. Do you remember him?”
“Do I –” Eddie scoffed. “Of course I remember him. We had a fantastic time when we went out. And – God, it’s so stupid – but I’ve thought about him a lot.”
“Why did you ghost him, then?”
Eddie sighed, there really was no escaping this, was there?
“I just – I wasn’t in a great place. I’d lost my job and my financial situation was, frankly, embarrassing. It was too much to put on someone on a second date, especially such a good guy like Steve, who would’ve tried to help. It wasn’t his burden.”
Eddie only slightly regretted trauma dumping on live radio, but it had been stewing in him for some time, so sue him for needing to get it out.
“Don’t you think it might have been better for him to hear that, though?” Sara asked.
“Maybe, I don’t know,” Eddie groaned. “I’m a runner. I’ve never been good at the whole honesty and vulnerability and confrontation thing. I tried to tell him, it just never came out. And then it was too late.”
“Maybe it wasn’t,” Shaun was smirking, he was sure of it. He could tell based on their voice alone. It didn’t help the queasiness. “Let’s stop dragging this out. Steve, why don’t you say hi?”
Steve?
“Um, hi, Eddie,” Steve chuckled nervously down the line. Eddie was worried he might puke at any moment.
“Steve, holy shit,” Eddie breathed.
“Please don’t swear on radio, we don’t have the budget to keep bleeping you,” Shaun cut in.
“Fuck, sorry,” Eddie cringed.
“I’m sorry if this is weird,” Steve babbled on. “I know it’s been two years but, honestly, you just stuck with me and –”
“I’m just –” Eddie spluttered, “I’m a little baffled right now. But, uh, it’s great to hear your voice. Really great.”
“Yeah?” Steve asked, and fuck, he sounded so hopeful.
“I guess I have some explaining to do,” Eddie chuckled, breathy and nervous. “I’m sorry, Steve.”
He heard a small “Yep,” come from one of the hosts, though he couldn’t put a finger on whether it was Shaun or Sara. Either way, it was deserved.
“I was just in such a weird place in my life; I got let go from the mechanics because they had to downsize, and they weren’t about to fire family members from the family business, you know? I was still living with my uncle and –” Eddie sighed. “It’s a lot to discuss on the radio, honestly. I was just so embarrassed about my life; you deserved better than what I could provide. You were too good for me, hell, maybe you still are! But I’m finally in a better place in my life. At least, I’d like to think so. I work in a tattoo studio now, it’s pretty sick. I’m just – I’m really happy to hear from you, Steve.”
*
Steve was floored. Robin had made him put the phone on speaker from the moment the hosts dialled Eddie, and her jaw was on the floor too.
“Wow,” Steve breathed, barely loud enough for them all to hear him, before finding his voice again. “Wow. It’s – it’s amazing to hear all of that, honestly.”
Steve flinched as Robin elbowed him in the ribs, silently chastising him for not shooting his shot after two damn years of being hopelessly in love with a near-stranger.
“I can’t get that one date out of my mind,” Steve admitted. “This whole time, I thought I was the only one who felt that connection between us, that I was insane for even feeling it.”
“Definitely not insane,” Eddie jumped in to assure him.
“So where do we go from here?” Shaun urged them; it caused Steve to jump slightly, he’d forgotten that anyone else was there. It was just him and Eddie, finally him and Eddie.
Eddie cleared his throat, “Well, I would love to take you on another date, Steve. If you can forgive my missteps from last time.”
“I –” He hadn’t expected to get this far. He’d anticipated a rejection, mostly, a confirmation that he was the only one to feel that spark, that Eddie hadn’t been into him at all.
“I mean,” Eddie sounded more frantic now, anxious for some reason. “If you’re still single, it’s okay if you’re not, it’s just – are you single?”
“I sure hope he is,” Sara joked.
Shaun laughed loudly at that, “Wouldn’t that be quite the twist?”
Robin elbowed Steve again. “Yes, of course, yes. A date sounds great.”
“Cool! Cool. Uh…I’d love to take you to that bakery I told you about, do you remember?” Eddie continued, ignoring the hosts. It was just them. Just Steve and Eddie.
“Of course I remember,” Steve’s voice softened. “That sounds perfect.”
“Well, we’ll leave you guys to sort out the details,” Shaun interrupted once more. “And remember to invite us to the wedding!”
Steve tripped over his words in an attempt to get them out as quickly as possible, “We – we’re not even dating yet!”
“Yeah well,” there was a pause long enough for Shaun to have shrugged at him. “I’m a lesbian. We don’t work on the same time scale.”
If anyone else responded, Steve didn’t hear them, because Robin’s cackling laughter beside him drowned them all out.
Once the hosts said their goodbyes and Robin had calmed down a little, she knocked her shoulder into Steve’s.
“Hey,” she said, a smirk spread across her face, “I get to be the best man.”