Like a rash or a mosquito, she just wasn’t going away.  “What’s up, Jemma?” Paul answered.<br/><br/>“Why have you been avoiding me?” she asked, an edge to her voice.<br/><br/>“I haven’t been avoiding you,” he explained.<br/><br/>“You don’t answer my calls.  You don’t respond to my texts.”<br/><br/>“I’m talking to you now,” he correctly pointed out.<br/><br/>“Before this one, Paul,” Jemma tersely replied.<br/><br/>“That’s not avoiding you.  I just, uh, chose not to answer.”<br/><br/>She sighed.  “Okay, whatever.  So.  Your little friend.  Is she with child?”<br/><br/>Unable to help himself, Paul snorted.  “You make her sound like the Virgin Mary,” he said, stifling a laugh.<br/><br/>Jemma, on the other hand, chose not to contain her derisive laughter.  “Trust me buddy.  She’s far from virginal.”<br/><br/>Yeah, like I dunno this, he thought, but kept his mouth shut.  Instead, he said, “Not sure.  She hasn’t said anything one way or the other.”<br/><br/>“Don’t you wanna know?” Jemma snapped.<br/><br/>“Of course I do, when she tells me,” he replied, his ire on the rise.<br/><br/>Silence.  And then, “Okay, lemme know when you find out,” she concluded.<br/><br/>They bid each other goodbye, then disconnected.<br/><br/><i>Psst, Old Man.  Ever considered joining the priesthood?  Hahahahaha.</i><br/><br/>Man, shut the hell up.