The best I came up with was a sheep in a tuxedo

But that’s just a different piece of clothing

<Drew>

It’s creative though

I’ll leave the designing to you

So am I your non-booty booty call?

Erm text

Sorry I couldn’t sleep again

Are we breaking like a million company rules right now?

We weren’t even supposed to talk before the assignment

Ehh what do they know?

They just have a dedicated analytics team to scrutinize every piece of data we get

Maybe we’re actually helping by getting to know each other even better

We’re talking about sheep pajamas

Well if your parents ask me what your favorite sheep pajama is, I’ll now know to answer tuxedo

That’s not my favorite

It’s just the one I came up with

My fave is your mooncake one tied with the antigravity boots

Well good thing we straightened that out by texting, right?

Haha right

Sleep loose

You too

December 17, 12:23 a.m. CST

<Chloe>

I’m sorry about your parents

I should’ve said that a few days ago when you told me about them

<Drew>

Rereading our texts? Has that replaced thinking about embarrassing things?

And don’t worry I haven’t been rereading our texts either

No I haven’t been doing that

Oh

Me neither

that previous text had no subtext between the lines

My apology is part of the spiral

I replay all my previous interactions at night searching for where I went wrong

But with you (unlike with Jerry), I can correct it

I didn’t say anything that night because I was so worried about crossing a line since you don’t like to talk about stuff, but I should have at least said sorry

I didn’t mean for it to come across like I didn’t care when really, I was just making sure to respect your rule to keep the role and real you separate

Though I did want to know more

I mean, only if you want to tell me

Which you don’t

So you shouldn’t

Maybe I should stop texting you in the middle of the night when my filter’s asleep before me

Sleepiness, alcohol’s sneakier sibling

Are you old enough to drink?

I’m 21

So you *are* older than me by 2 years!

That wasn’t a lie to my mom

Why is that so hilarious?

Because it’s after midnight (for you)

Alcohol’s sneakier sibling strikes again

Thanks for the kind words about my family

I haven’t talked about them to anyone in a long time

I get that

It’s too hard, especially when other people don’t understand

Yep

I hear “good riddance” a lot but it’s not like I chose this

Is it hard for you to spend holidays on the job, away from family?

One could argue that’s why this job is perfect for me