~*~

On Wednesday, Randy lost his phone.  Well, not so much as lost, but misplaced it horribly.  It had to be somewhere in his apartment, but after searching cushions and corners wide, he had no idea where it could have gone.  

“What are you doing?”

Randy jumped at the sound of Simon’s voice and rose from the floor where he’d been investigating beneath the couch.

“Looking for my cell.  I thought I left it on the kitchen counter, but it’s not there.”

“When did you use it last?”

Randy shrugged.  “Couple of days ago.”

Simon moved closer and hooked his arms around Randy’s waist.  “I’m sure it’ll turn up.”

“Yeah, I guess.  I don’t think I dropped it anywhere and I’m pretty sure I used it here last time.”  His message to Gale.  That was the last time he’d seen the phone before plugging it up to the charger.

Simon leaned in and gave his lips a quick peck.  “Aren’t you going to be late for rehearsal?”

“Yeah, I’m going,” he answered, pulling away to grab his bag.  “I guess I won’t be able to call, but I should be back around eight.  Maybe we can go out for a late dinner.”

Simon walked over to his jacket, hanging on the back of a chair.  “Here, take mine,” he offered, handing Randy his phone.  “Just let me know when you’re on your way home so I can make sure I’m ready.”  

Randy pulled his bag over his shoulder and nodded, grabbing his keys from the table on the way out.

~*~

Simon sat down on the sofa, staring at Randy’s phone.  He almost felt guilty about hiding it, but he had to do <I>something</I>.  Things were off.  They had been for a few months and he had to find out why.  Randy was becoming more and more distant, definitely keeping something from him.  It was becoming increasingly difficult not to suspect what he hoped was his imagination.  Especially after he answered the phone call from Tina.  The same Tina Randy was supposedly meeting a couple of weeks earlier.  The Tina he couldn’t possibly have met with, because she’d called the apartment looking for him the same day they were supposed to have been together.  It was after Simon hung up with her that he decided he wasn’t going to let Randy go without a fight.

He flipped the phone open and began scrolling through the recent calls.  Nothing.  Randy must have been deleting them.  He thought twice about it but decided to switch the menu, calling the voicemail option.  As he learned a long time ago, Randy was in a lot of ways predictable and it wasn’t hard at all to guess his password.  Who the fuck actually uses their birth date?  Isn’t that one of the most notable taboos with security?  

He shook his head and listened.  Nine saved messages.  

The first one from Randy’s mother, worried because she hadn’t heard from him in two weeks. Simon would have to remind him tonight to call and check in.   

The second from his agent… same old bla, bla, bla…longwinded information that he was sure he already knew by now.  Though she worked hard and seemed to have Randy’s best interest at heart, Simon had never liked the bitch.  No amount of arguing would convince Randy, though.  

The third was from the drycleaner reminding him to pick up his shirts.  They were Simon’s, actually… but Randy’d had the time to drop them off.  

The fourth was something he wasn’t prepared for.

“Hey. If you’re still there, don’t go anywhere. I’m about ten minutes away. (Pause) I never should have left.”  It left him chilled to the bone.  So casual, but something… Followed by five more of the same.  

He couldn’t place the voice.  But he certainly couldn’t deny what the messages implied.  “If you need me to tell you not to do it, I will. I don’t want you to commit to Simon.”  The message couldn’t be any clearer.

Fuck.  This <I>was</I> serious.  When he first became suspicious, he was hoping there was a reasonable explanation for Randy’s behavior.  Something else besides this, though in his heart he knew.  Who was it?  He re-played the last message and heard the hurt and desperation.  Heard the pleading tone and still couldn’t decide who it might be.  Someone from Randy’s theater group?  He really wished he’d paid more attention to the people Randy talked about.  Maybe this person was right under his nose the entire time, and he hadn’t realized it.  

He couldn’t sit back and let Randy do this.  He had to figure out what was going on and how long it had been happening.  Were they fucking?  He didn’t want to jump to conclusions, but all the signs… the edginess Randy had been on, the excuses for why he didn’t want to go away on weekends together, the lack of sex.  It was all there.  Randy was pulling away.  The trouble was, it had been going on this way for months, and Simon was only now realizing it.  What did that say about their relationship?  How were they supposed to commit to each other when Randy was obviously…  

He couldn’t even wrap his mind around it.  Randy fucking someone else.  Knowing he couldn’t go in blind, he had to find out who it was before he could confront him.  Randy’s phone was his only hope.  He scooted down on the sofa, cradling it in his hands, urging it to ring before Randy made it home.  

Two hours later, it did.