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A loud and urgent knock woke Zoey out of her sleep.
"This better be a damn emergency!" Zoey screamed, climbing out of her warm bed. She hated being woken up like this. Glancing at the alarm clock on her night stand, it read 1:03. "There better be a damn good reason for waking me up at 1:00 in the morning!" Zoey cried, yanking the door open.
Standing there was the last person she ever expected to see at her door step at this time of night. "Joan?" the younger girl asked, shock evident in her voice.
Joan stood there, not sure what to say. "Hi. I-, we-, me and Charli got into another fight. He left with a bag. I don't think he will be back this time." Joan cried, wiping stray tears away from her eyes. "I don't even know what I'm doing here. But you told me if I ever needed to I could come over, so here I am. I just....I should leave. I'm sorry I woke you up Zoey." Joan was rambling now, her nerves getting the best of her.
God why was she so nervous around Zoey?
"Oh Joan." Zoey sighed. Not sure what to say, so she wrapped her in a warm embrace. Letting Joan go, after lingering at little to long, Zoey stepped back, letting her boss into her apartment. Something that had ever happened. The two woman had become almost inseparable since their trip. They had talked to each other all most everyday since. Even outside of work they were always texting each other, even late into the night. Something that Zoey had to come to love.
While on the trip the two woman had grown really close. Something that neither of them expected, but welcomed with open arms.
"I'm sorry I didn't call you before I just showed up." Joan said now sitting down on the couch. Zoey wasn't sure if she should sit in the arm chair across from Joan or sit right next to her. Choosing the later, she sat cross legged so she could see her boss better. "I just could not stay in that house. Not after that fight." Joan had turned, now looking Zoey in the eyes.
"God, her eyes... even full of tears, they are still beautiful." Zoey thought to her self, having to break her stare, feeling her cheeks warm up. Joan really did something to her.
Zoey quickly shook the thought from her head and wrapped the woman in another hug. Something she had grown to love to do. They had been sharing more of them after their trip. "So what exactly happened?" Zoey asked, pulling away.
"Charli just being Charli. He came home from another two week buisness trip, and he was acting strange. I could tell something was up the moment he walked in the door. I confronted him about the way he was acting and that's when he told me he had gotten drunk and slept with a woman from the conference he went to. He told me I was the problem with our marriage and that he was not happy anymore. He wanted out. So I told him to pack a bag and leave if that's what he really wanted. So he did. He left." Joan was crying again. Watching the tears stream down her beautiful face broke Zoeys heart into a million peices. "Twenty years of marriage down the drain for a woman he has know a couple of months."
Zoey sat there, stunned. She knew the couple were having problems but she never dreamed it would end like this. She always thought Joan would be the one to leave Charli, not the other way around.
Before Zoey could speak, she heard the faint music begin to fill the room. Something that had been happening a lot more when she was around Joan. Watching Joan closely she saw her face change from sadness to hopelessness.
Since there's no more you and me
This time I let you go so I can be free
And live my life how it should be
No matter how hard it is
I will be fine without you
Yes I will
Watching Joan sing a heart song about Charli stuck a cord with Zoey. Something about watching the beautiful woman in front of her hurting because of something he had done had made Zoey mad. "You know Joan, I think you are going to be just fine. You have been in a relationship for twenty years, now you can be free and live your live the way you want. That is what you want right? To be free?"
"How do you do that?" Joan asked, a few tears still threatening to fall. "We have not had a close relationship- any relationship for that matter- but for only a couple of months and it is like you can see straight into my soul."
Choosing her words carefully Zoey slowly responds, "I don't know. I guess I am just good at readying people? How are you feeling? Like you want to scream? Cry? Break something? Do you need another cup of coffee?" Zoey was the one rambling now. Man, she really needed to come up with a better answer for that question.
"You are good at many things Zoey Clarke, and the longer I am around you, the more you prove my theory to be correct. And no, I am fine now. You have helped me in more ways than you could ever imagine. All of the venting and the company has really helped." The older woman answered, her cheeks now a light pink. "And I'm sorry for crashing in on you. I should get going, let you get back to sleep. It is almost 3 in the morning and-".
"No! You can't leave!"
Joan gave Zoey a questioning look, making Zoey question her next thought. "Well I mean, you are in no shape to drive. Just stay here tonight. I would be worried sick about you. Please?" Zoey was basically begging, especially with the way her eyes were looking at Joan.
"Are you...sure?" Joan asked, uncertainty in her voice. "I am 100% sure. I would not have offered if I wasn't. You know that Joan." Zoey answered, hoping to persuade the woman.
Pausing a second to think it over before answering, Joan finally responded, "Okay, but I'm sleeping here. I'm not taking your bed. The couch is fine!"
"Are you kidding? Have you seen the size of this couch, it is the tic-tac of all couch and you are a tall woman! There is no way I'm letting you sleep here. Nope, ain't happening." Zoey had already got up, making her way back to her room. "Come on, your sleeping with me." Her choice of words hitting Zoey like a ton of bricks. "I mean...sleeping in my bed-not with me."
Zoey mentally slapped herself. She needed to get her thoughts about her boss under control. Especially since she was going to be sharing a bed with the woman she had been secretly in love with for the past three years.
Joan chuckled slightly following Zoey to her room. "I understand Zoey. No need to get so worked up"
The two woman laid with their backs together until Joan turned over, half asleep. She wrapped her arm around Zoeys waist and the younger girl froze. She had not been asleep, her mind racing with the thought of Joan being in the same bed as her.
"Good night Zoey." Joan spoke in a low tone, her voice already raspy with sleep.
Zoey didn't sleep a wink that night. Instead she just laid there, dreaming about falling asleep like this for the rest of her life.