Searching for a sound we haven't heard before

 "All is well here," Tristan forced a smile, even if he was on the phone with Nic. 

"Really?" He did sound doubtful.

"Um, Dale and I got the room." Although, he thought he might have been an animal about it. Somehow, he was just not going to let Mona wallow there all summer. He cleared his throat. "Sure it was kind of a bad week or two." Maybe more like three. God, it felt like a year, he thought. "But Mona is..well, she's still here." He didn't want to tell Nic that she lost her job. "I don't think she's going home, but her mom knows and well, she's she's being taken care of."

"Did you two have a fight?" Nic sounded as if Tristan wasn't doing his job.

"We don't really talk." It was better off that way. "Do you like the job?"

"Oh, its..um..well.." he sighed as if he didn't know what to say. "I'm in a suit most days."

"Huh, I never thought of you as a suit and tie kind of guy, but I bet you look sharp." Tristan did his best to keep everything positive.

"I wish I felt that way," Nic sighed.

"Are you really, OK?" Tristan hoped it wasn't that hard of a transition for him. "Everything is fine here. Don't worry about ... Mona, is you know..so Mona."

"Yeah, I feel really awful..about what I did." He did sound sad about the Mona situation.

"Are you learning the language?" Tristan wanted to know. It was best to keep the conversation about Nic and not about the woes of apartment living. If only he could get Hoyt to take Mona out of here. It would be best if it could happen, but Tristan didn't know how to make that so.

"No, not really, but..but I have a translator..so you know."

"Oh." Tristan nodded as if that must have been hard.

"She's Canadian, and..and her name is Felicity..and..well, she..she's really nice. She actually lives next door." He explained how he lived in a building close to where he worked. The apartments were pretty much an open space with a kitchen, livingroom area, and a bed.

Tristan was trying to imagine Nic's space. Like a hotel room, he wondered if it was truly spacious.

"The thing is..she...she.."

"What?" Tristan found himself back to reality and noticed Hoyt was standing next to him and he was actually taller than him which made him all the more bitter.

"She makes me think of your sister."

"My sister?" Tristan winced.

"I didn't really know her," Nic went on to say.

"Well, I don't know my sister all that much either." Tristan sighed. Why did he have to bring up Liv? He told Nic that he was just a little homesick. That's all this was. "As long as you don't start seeing somebody who looks like Mona, you'll be fine."