The consistent buzz from Sarah's phone pulls her from her deep sleep with a sudden jolt.
"There's no way it can be 6am already..." she says, voice scratchy and groggy.
Without bothering to look, Sarah throws her hand on top of her phone, flips it around and immediately hits where the snooze button should be. She then flips over and falls back into a light sleep hoping to get a few extra minutes in before her 9 hour shift at work.
But as soon as Sarah begins to get comfortable, her phone starts buzzing away yet again.
"What the fuck!" Sarah yells into her pillow while grabbing her phone.
Deciding to look at the screen this time, Sarah realizes the buzz was not from her alarm, but from a phone call. She also realized that it was not in fact 6am, but 3am. To say the least, Sarah was not happy.
But then she saw the caller ID. It was Tom. Tom only called this late if it was an emergency, like when he was having a panic attack before a big test or when he was having a breakdown because he was scared his new puppy didn't like him.
Sarah sighed and contemplated answering. Whatever he was calling about had to be important but Sarah has work in 3 hours and could honestly use all the sleep she could get.
Just as the call was about to go to voicemail, Sarah answered.
"Is everything alright?" Sarah asked, concern laced through her voice.
"Absolutely not!" Tom replied with a worryingly upset tone.
"What's going on? Do I need to come over? Should I just sit here and listen to you vent? Do you need advice? Is someone dea-"
"No, no!" Tom yelled enthusiastically, cutting Sarah off from her ramble.
"Oh...then why are you calling me at 3 in the morning?" Sarah said, beyond confused at this point. Tom knew she had to be at work earlier than most people. He would never call at this hour without there being a very good reason for it.
"Listen, darling, I poured myself a bowl of cereal and guess what! I'm out of milk."
"You're joking."
"Nope! There isn't a single ounce of milk in my pla-"
"You called me for milk?" It was now Sarah's turn to cut off Tom.
"I absolutely did. Now, I'm outside and it's cold so will you so kindly let me in so I can eat my Cheerios?"
Sarah sighed heavily enough that Tom could hear it through the phone.
"Give me a minute to get dressed and I'll let you in..."
Sarah could hear Tom saying "Thanks!" in an overly happy voice for 3am as she swiftly hung up.
Sarah half contemplated just going back to sleep. She needed it considering she has a 9 hour shift in a couple of hours. Instead, she dragged herself out of bed, throwing on the closest pair of pants and the sweatshirt she always kept at the end of her bed.
***
She opened the door to see tom caring his full bowl of dry Cheerios and shivering from the near freezing temperatures.
"You did not bring your own cereal in your own bowl all the way over here." Sarah said unbelieving.
"Of course I did, I need milk not a bowl."
Sarah opens the door slightly wider, silently inviting Tom in. Automatically, Tom heads for the fridge, grabs the milk, and gently pours it all over his dry cereal.
"God, you really are a life saver, darling." Tom says through a mouthful of cheerios.
"Glad you think so since I have to be at work in a few hours." Sarah said following a long, exaggerated yawn.
"Can I tell you the truth about why I actually called? Because it wasn't for dry Cheerios, that was just the best excuse I could come up with at the moment."
Sarah tilted her head in confusion and slowly nodded. She was worried something serious did happened and Tom was trying to soften the blow. He did hate to burden her with his troubles even though she has said countless times that she actually happy he talks through his issues with her. It shows a level of trust that many people in the world lack.
"I...just wanted to spend more time with you..." Tom said softly as his gazed shifted to the floor, "I just really like you, and kinda have for a while and I just want to spend more time with you than just a lunch meet-up every once in a while..."
Sarah's heart stopped. She walked over to where tom was standing without saying a word and lifted his head, so that their eyes met.
"Sarah?" Tom questioned her, worried she would turn him away.
But Sarah would never do that. Instead she leaned in for a kiss. A kiss with fireworks and butterflies and everything else that happens when you truly love someone.
"That was the best possible thing you could have woken me up at 3am for..." Sarah sighed, breathy from the kiss.
"I'm just glad you answered and let me in or this would've been really awkward later." Tom joked.
Sarah punched his arm hard enough to hurt at least a little.
"What was that for!" Tom pouted, rubbing his arm carefully.
"For being and adorable idiot that has now stolen my heart with a bowl of damn cereal..." Sarah drifted leaning into yet another blissful kiss.
