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“I see all the stuff you say about Microsoft, you know,” Bill sneered. “Like in those articles and stuff.”You care then, Steve thought. It stayed a thought because it was pathetic that his first reaction to the comment was relief.“It’s true, though,” he breathed.Despite his current position, he still accused Microsoft of selling third-rate products--no taste, no culture.“Who cares,” Bill replied. “I don’t talk about you. Why do you still talk about me?”“That’s not true,” Steve snickered.He reminisced about an interview where Bill had called him “weirdly flawed as a human being.” His smile faltered a little. That wasn’t really a “gotcha” moment. Bill stared back at him, clearly knowing what was going through his head.“I don’t like you, Steve,” he said bluntly.Steve looked away, pretending he didn’t hear or that it didn’t affect him. Something like that. Like Bill could even see him on the other end of the phone.“It’s true, though,” Steve muttered, still not looking up. “All that stuff I said. ‘You don’t invent anything, you just rip people off.’ Do you even care about the stuff you make?”“Who cares,” Bill repeated, a stupid smile forming on his face. “Steve, what do you even do anymore at Apple?”“You don’t hate me,” Steve ignored him.Apple was a sore topic right now. He had recently returned from Europe after touring the Apple II. That was the kind of bullshit Sculley had him doing. Sculley had moved Steve to a practically empty building away from the Apple campus, and Steve had honestly stopped showing up for work all that much.“I do,” Bill snorted. “You’re a bully. You deserve what they did to you.”“I’m depressed.”Bill ignored him. Steve stood there, fidgeting with the phone cord, unsure of what to do now.“Why are you even talking to me?” Steve went on.It was sort of a kick in the gut that it had turned out this way. He didn’t understand why Bill was even entertaining this phone call if he just hated him. Steve wasn’t sure himself how he’d thought this would go. Stupidly, he’d sort of hoped it would be a nice reunion where Bill apologized for the whole Windows thing and they made amends. There was a moment of silence, like Bill wasn’t really sure what to say.“Because I’ve wanted to say all this for a long time,” he finally answered.So you think about me, Steve thought.“Was working on the Macintosh that traumatic?” he joked.“I thought you were insane,” Bill said. “That whole thing was a mess. You had to be crazy to run a project like that and end up with something like that. People call it ‘the beige toaster’ for a reason.”“The Macintosh is a good computer,” Steve snapped.That computer was like his child--more so than his actual child. That was just one file in the cabinet of reasons Bill thought he was the most repulsive man on Earth. It was the reason he was fired. It was the reason he and Bill fell out in the first place. He would never admit the Macintosh was bad, though.“Why can’t you admit you’re wrong for once in your life?” Bill sneered. “You think you’re so cultivated and artistic and better than everyone else. You’re a mess, and you’re an asshole.”Steve stared back.“You sound jealous,” he said arrogantly.“That’s the worst part,” Bill laughed. “You think no one could ever not think you’re all those things. You know other people have their own lives that don’t revolve around you.”Steve only stared at him with an unreadable expression. His heart was being torn apart as Bill went on.“You’re unlovable.”Steve held the phone to his ear, listening to the buzz of the dial tone after being hung up on.