On Call

On Call
Published	July 13, 2022 (2022-07-13)
Page count	18
Major characters	Mike, Sandy
Locations	Mike’s house
Chapter navigation
← Essential Worker	Another Perspective →
Read in the BCI Members’ Library

On Call is a Bittersweet Club International-exclusive comic that tells the rest of that fateful phone call. Hours after the breakup in Eternal Flame, Sandy is still calling back over and over, and Mike has to decide whether he can bear to pick up.

Synopsis

A few hours after the breakup in Eternal Flame, Mike’s phone buzzes again with Sandy’s name on the screen. Instead of answering, he hides completely under the covers, with only his tail poking out. He eventually picks up and answers shakily. Sandy bursts into tears of relief when she hears his voice. She says she has called back over and over because she “thought you did something really bad.” Mike rights the tipped-over chair beside his desk and apologizes. He says he went out to clear his head and left his phone behind. Mike does not mention Lucy when he explains the walk.

Mike adds that going to the park usually helps him feel better. Sandy asks whether it helped this time, but he remains hunched over and silent. He then asks, “I’m sure you don’t want to talk to me right now.. So why did you call?” Sandy replies that she has made a serious mistake.

Sandy has been calling back over and over, fearing the worst.

Character dynamics

• Mike and Sandy: The comic begins only hours after their breakup in Eternal Flame. During that earlier call, Sandy confessed her feelings for Francis. Sandy calls Mike back over and over because she fears the worst, while Mike initially hides beneath the covers before answering.

Trivia & observations

• On Call was temporarily readable in the public main archive before settling into its permanent home in the members-only BCI library.
• Sandy describes Francis at one point as “the only person my age around”. Veronica later confirmed on Tumblr that Francis was an adult in his twenties while Sandy was a teenager.
• Mike’s phone shows Sandy’s contact photo with the caption “meow”.

Related chapters

• Eternal Flame: On Call begins with the callback shown near the end of this chapter. During a 4 a.m. call earlier that night, Sandy confesses her feelings for her hairdresser. Later, Mike returns home to find his cracked phone buzzing with her return call.
• Model Girlfriend: Francis gets his first mention in this chapter, back when Sandy warmly praised her mother’s apprentice hairdresser during her visit to Roseville.