Chapter 3: References

"Illusory"
© 2007 Lisolette Gilcrest

The phone rang.

"What color panties are you wearing?"

The question caught me a bit off guard, as it usually does, but I quickly regrouped and replied matter-of-factly.

"I'm not."

"You're not…?" He replied surprised and this time he was the one caught off guard.

"No."

"Well… what color do you normally wear…?"

He tried to recover by pushing the conversation back to his original line of questioning but I already had the upper hand when I heard the pause between his first two words, so I replied casually trying not to reveal that I was suddenly realizing that I had no idea with whom I was speaking and furthermore that this was not who I initially thought it was.

"I don't."

"You don't???” He was pleasantly stunned, chuckling a bit in a congratulatory fashion and then asked playfully, “Do you have a nice derriere?”

Merde, I have no idea who he is. He could be a reference from Remy or he could just be some pervert randomly pranking me. Anything's possible... but if I break character now, the illusion for him may be lost. However… if I get commissioned, it could be a rude surprise for him or for me.

"Only if you have the proper references..." I finally blurted.

"What do my references have to do with your ass?"

His response wasn’t condescending, just challenging enough to let me know that I was not dealing with a fool. In fact, I began to note at this point in the conversation that I was strangely attracted to his voice. His croon combined with his wit was delicious.

"Because I am different things for different people -- as we all are." He had posed a good question about my previous poor answer and the conversation volley came at me too quickly for me to retort with clever sarcasm. So I responded truthfully and, in all honesty, vulnerably to him – though I easily could have played it off as a front. This time I thought I had him in the banter, but all I heard was a strange, small sigh that sounded almost proud and then he said something so quiet that I couldn't discern it.

"Pardon?"

"Nothing that I can share with you at this time, Lisolette," he paused and then said in a heartfelt tone: "Thank you..."

He hung up. There was nothing but dial tone and me staring at the receiver.

Damn. I lost him. A perfectly good reference and he even seemed benevolent enough. Ah well, I'm well taken care of by Gaston anyways.