Midnight Love || ✔️

11:43 pm

vi | | six

A MONTH had passed since Ella and Noah's friendship began. Ever since that night at the diner, they spent most of their time together. They never seemed to run out of things to say to each other, and slowly any awkwardness that was present vanished. This change in their relationship did not go unnoticed by people, and Ella had been questioned numerous times by both Jessica and Rose as to the true nature of her relationship with Noah. They refused to believe her when she told them it was nothing but friendship.

Thanksgiving was approaching fast, and Ella and Rose were readying the house for the arrival of relatives. Their weekends involved long hours of organizing, cleaning, and preparing the house for criticizing aunts and judgmental grandmothers.

After a particularly exhausting cleaning season, Ella collapsed onto her bed with a sigh. She had showered, and was now ready to go into a deep sleep. Ella meant to reach for her phone to reply to Noah's earlier text but instead, with arms heavy like lead, she drifted off into the darkness.

◯●◯●◯●◯

THERE WAS an insistent buzzing sound in Ella's ear, and at first she thought it was the bee that was chasing her in her dreams. Slowly, she regained consciousness and realized that it was her phone. She was receiving a call.

There was no light coming in through her bedroom curtain, and neither was any light visible from under her door. It must be late if even Rose had gone to sleep. So who could be calling her?

Squinting her eyes against the harsh brightness of her phone, Ella stared at the screen. It took her sluggish mind a few moments to comprehend Noah's name on her screen. But why would Noah be calling her at 1:47 am?

Ella tapped the answer button, and brought the phone to her ear. "Hello?" she knew her voice was groggy, but could do little to wake it up.

"Sorry, were you sleeping?" came Noah's response.

"Yeah," there was no point in hiding it. "But it's okay. What's up?"

"I, uh, it's going to sound weird and you can totally say no, but I just . . . Fuck," he swore and Ella raised her eyebrows in surprise. She had never heard Noah swear before.

"Noah?" she probed after a few seconds of silence. She heard muffled noise she thought were shouts, but Noah was silent.

"Can you just talk?" he said.

"What?"

"Just talk. About anything. I just need to hear your voice."

Ella was stunned by his request, "Uh, just talk? You want me to talk?"

"Yeah. Please," his voice was pained, and Ella's heart fractured a little. She did not know what happened, but if she could help, then she would do what she could.

"Okay. So, in grade one or something there was a game that the whole class was playing. Basically we were getting into couples and 'getting married.' It's ridiculous, but as kids we enjoyed it," she chuckled. "I asked this guy, but there was also another guy who wanted to marry me. Apparently I was quite the catch back then," Ella heard a breathy chuckle from Noah. "They decided to race to win my heart. They wanted to run so fast that light would come after them, like in the cartoons? Anyways, it was set for the next day.

"But that afternoon, my mom got a call from her friend, who happens to be the mom of one of the guys. She told my mom that the guy was practicing and for what. My mom sat me down and explained to me that that's not how marriage works, that you're supposed to be older and to actually love that person. Something like that, I don't quite rememb—" Ella cleared her throat. "I remember that she was trying really hard not to laugh. Now that I look back at it. It's a pretty hilarious thing."