Chapter 10: The Call

Noah

Of course, I would still be awake at three in the fucking morning. My thoughts would not let me sleep. The diving incident and the nightmare the morning after were still haunting me. Honestly, the worst part was that Rain witnessed my night terrors. I had never intended for anyone to see me like that—let alone someone I had only known for a few weeks—but he didn't comment on it, which was a relief. 

 I also constantly thought about the moment I had with Rain in my bed. This bed. I put my face to the pillow Rain slept on, and it still smelled like him. Something expensive, name-brand cologne, I guessed. I tried to recall the feeling of his body pressed against mine, a ghostly memory that ended too soon.  The feeling of his lips touching mine was more vivid. Who gave him the right to kiss me like that? He kissed me like…I don’t know. It was intense. No one had kissed me like that in a long time. Not even Aiden, and he was a decent kisser. How was I supposed to sleep when I could still feel the way Rain's hands were on my body? 

I knew that I was attracted to him, but the line between friends and lovers was not somewhere I liked being on. Aiden was an example. He was a friend that I occasionally had sex with. Then he wanted a relationship, and I was not ready for that. Or was I? Maybe I didn’t want to have a relationship with Aiden? Why was Rain so good at kissing? I can’t think straight because of him. 

Then I had an idea. If I couldn’t sleep peacefully, neither should he. He should take responsibility for what he did to my…feelings? I searched my bed sheets until I found my phone and then proceeded to call Rain. He picked up immediately, and I stopped breathing.

“Why did you kiss me like that?” I asked hurriedly. Fuck! Why did I ask him that? What is wrong with me?

There was no answer. All I heard was the sound of Rain moving around. The sound of him moving around on his mattress, accompanied by the silence, surprisingly made me nervous. I was about to hang up when my phone started ringing again. I looked down and was surprised to see Rain was trying to video-call me. I answered cautiously. 

“Turn on the light,” Rain asked, his voice a little raspy and deeper from just waking up. 

His voice brought me back to the way he kissed me. His hair was a little messy, and it made my heart skip a beat. It was really unfair for him to be that good-looking late at night. I turned on the light and watched Rain put on his hearing aids.

“Why did you kiss me like that?” I repeated, needing an answer. 

“Like what?”

“You know,” I paused, thinking, “like that?”

Rain’s eyes were wandering around his room as he thought about my question.

“I honestly don’t know how to answer that,” Rain said, pulling on his hair. “Did you not like the way I kissed you?”

Rain had begun to lay on his side, his hair falling around his face and neck. My eyes followed his hair down to his chest and realized Rain was wearing a sleeveless shirt, barely clinging to his body. I mimicked his pose, and it almost felt like we were lying next to each other. “I don’t know how to answer that question,” I whispered as I looked at him. 

“Did you… not want me to kiss you?” He asked, unsure. 

Whenever Rain played with his hair, I thought it was so cute. I bit back a smile. 

“I did. I wanted you too,” I responded, “I just didn’t think it would feel like that.”

“Like what?”

“Good.” 

Even through the phone screen, I could feel how intense Rain’s stare was. He was examining my face. When did he start looking at me like that? Rain opened his mouth to respond but then closed it, failing to find the right words.

“Have you also been thinking about our kiss too, or am I a lunatic?” I laughed to break the silence lingering between us.

“It’s the only thing I've thought about since it happened.” 

There it was again, that intense stare. I wondered if I was looking at Rain in the same way. “Cool. Cool.” I attempted to answer calmly, even though my heart was jumping around in my chest. 

Rain’s face was a bright red. The reddest I had seen yet. Blushing looked good on him. I couldn’t help but smile. 

“So what happened in the hospital room after I left? Did you get to talk to Aiden’s brother?” Rain asked, obviously trying to change the subject. Hands filled with his hair.

“Maya just wanted to see if Dylan remembered what happened exactly that night at the cove.” 

“What did he remember?”

I let out a deep sigh. I didn't want to think about Dylan right now. I wasn’t ready to face what Dylan had said. 

“Not much. When Dylan was in the water, he heard a song calling out to him. He followed it, and then something in the water attacked him,” I blurted out. 

If what Dylan said was true, does that mean the shadow attacking me in my nightmares was real? Was the shadow another siren? Why was it singing for me to follow it? And why did it say I could’ve stopped something? This dumb dream was too much. 

“Does he remember what the thing that attacked him looked like?” Rain asked, tearing me away from my many thoughts. 

“No. Dylan said,” I paused, not wanting to say the words, “it looked like a shadow.” 

I could feel the cold sweat that was trickling down my back when I closed my eyes. I forced the thoughts of the shadow away. Now I knew there was a 100% chance that I wasn’t going to be sleeping tonight. 

“Are you okay, Noah?”

My eyes jerked open to look at Rain. Was that the first time he had said my name?

“I’ll be fine,” I whispered. “Say it again.”

“Are you okay?”

“No, my name. Say it again.”

Rain had tucked his hair behind his ears that were turning red. I patiently waited for him to call my name. 

“Noah,” Rain muttered, looking away from his phone screen. He had a shy smile on his face but used his hair to shield it from my view. 

 The way he said my name was enough to make my breathing hitch in my throat. I placed my hand on my chest to relax my heart muscles. Why was this feeling so intense? All he did was say my name, but it was enough to keep my mind away from the thoughts of the shadow. I wondered how my name would sound from his lips at different octaves.

Rain’s eyelids were heavy. I forgot that it was late—or early— and maybe I should let him sleep. “I should probably try to sleep. I didn't mean to wake you up.”

“Do you want me to stay on the call?” Rain asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I can stay on the phone…until you fall asleep. If you want?”

I chewed on my bottom lip to stop a stupid-looking grin from invading my face. “I would like that,” I whispered.