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Noa knew she was being ridiculous, she knew this was crazy.
In fact, if anyone else could see her right now, they’d probably be laughing at her.
But she didn’t care.
Because it was nighttime and it was storming and the power in her apartment had gone out thirty minutes ago and had yet to come back on.
Sighing to herself she realized that there was no way she was ever going to sleep, so she rolled over and grabbed her phone, pressing the call button next to the last number in her recent call list.
She listened as the phone rang, saying a silent prayer that the person on the other end picked up.
“Hello?” The voice was groggy and sleepy and she realized that she had probably just woken said person up.
“Hey, it’s me.” There was a soft shuffling sound and then a soft sigh. “Sorry it’s so late.”
“It’s alright.” She fell back against the pillow, cringing as another clap of thunder sounded in the distance. “You okay?”
“I don’t know, Mario, you tell me.” Getting snippy with him hadn’t been her intention, but she was tired and a little scared and she just didn’t want to be alone right now. “It’s almost midnight and it’s storming like hell outside. Not to mention that my power went out and now everything is dark and eerily quiet.”
“So, not okay?” Even in his half awake state he was a jerk.
“Not even close.” She huffed out, tugging the blankets around her tighter as she tried to control her breathing. “I know it’s late, and you can’t physically be here, but can you at least stay on the line for a while? Please?”
“Yeah, I’m here.” She didn’t doubt that he was about to fall back asleep on her though and she closed her eyes, willing herself to calm down so she didn’t have to do this. “Wanna talk?”
“I don’t know what to talk about.” In fact, she hadn’t expected him to pick up in the first place, so the fact that they were here was mind blowing.
“How was your shift today? I felt like I barely saw you.” That part had sucked for sure, especially when that had been the case for the past six shifts that they had worked.
“It was fine.” It had actually been a rather boring day, and that was never a good sign in the ER. “I think Dr. Rorish is keeping us separated on purpose.”
“Probably.” He had known the woman longer than any of the rest of them had, if there was anyone that would know, it would be him. “It’s just what she does, Noa, trying to keep the peace.”
“That’s what Ethan said.” Not that it surprised her that the man knew what their supervisor was thinking, those two could read each other’s minds in a way that was terrifying. “I miss you.”
The words had left her mouth before she even realized what she was saying and she held her breath as she waited for him to freak out or hang up.
“Yeah, I miss you too.” That was not what she was expecting. “We’ll see each other this weekend, okay?”
“Okay.” Letting out a breath of relief she opened her eyes back up and let the blanket fall from around her face, her eyes staring into the darkness of her bedroom as she waited for the storm to creep up on her again.
“I think the storm’s over.” He whispered on his end, letting out a yawn as she nodded in agreement, even though she knew he couldn’t see her. “Try and get some sleep.”
“Okay.” She found herself whispering back and she heard him chuckle softly. “Goodnight Mario.”
“Goodnight Noa.” And then the line went dead and she let out a sigh.
She knew it was crazy to be afraid of the dark at her age, but she couldn’t help it.
Just then her phone buzzed in her hand and she looked down, smiling at the words he had just sent to her.
You know I’m never gonna let you live this down right? But perhaps I could ‘forget’, at a cost.
Rolling her eyes she quickly typed back a response and hit send.
What kind of cost? And if you tell Angus, I will murder you in your sleep.
The last thing she needed was anyone at the hospital finding out about her phobia.
Dinner and drinks, on me. Friday night?
She could do that, she could definitely do that.
Tell me it’s a date and you’re on.
They hadn’t been out together, just the two of them, in weeks, and it was driving her crazy.
It’s a date.
The smile that came over her face was probably very unnatural looking but she didn’t care.
I’ll be there.
If it took her being afraid of the dark to get a date out of him, she’d panic about it more often.