Saturday had become the day I looked forward to the most, the work amount was getting really heavy, and I no longer had a free moment to devote myself to what I liked to do. Sport had always been a fundamental part of my life; so, I reserved every Saturday morning to the gym. I had found one in the area and immediately signed up. I was making coffee in the kitchen before I went there when I noticed that Noelle kept lowering her voice on the phone, so I understood the message and got out of the way to let her to talk to Evelyn. When I walked behind her she froze, and I saw her head turn slightly in my direction. Something told me that the two were talking about me, but I paid little attention to it and went to my room. Soon after, however, I had to go back to the kitchen to get a protein bar, but luckily she had finally finished the call.

"Did I interrupt your video call with my presence earlier?" I asked passing by.

"I don't know what you're referring to," she replied nonchalantly.

"Mm... I think you do." she knew very well what I was referring to. I knew she was aware that I had seen her get lost for a moment when I walked behind her.

"Don't give yourself so much credit, I was only distracted because I saw something moving behind me. Reflexes, I didn't even think about the fact that it was you."

"Okay..."

"You're weird and I'm already late to go out, I'll see you later." she concluded as she walked away quickly.

In case you didn't understand, this was a failed attempt to flirt. I didn't know what I had lately, I didn't see Noelle as more than a friend, but something about her made my heart rate higher. I wasn't sure how to explain it, but it was as if a part of my brain stopped working every time I looked into her eyes, and the result was failed flirtation attempts and awkward figures. But Noelle was my friend, nothing more. As thoughts of her filled my head, I went back to my room and started packing my bag to go to the gym. Shoes, headphones, towel, water bottle and keys for the locker. I had everything. I was about to leave the house when my cell phone started ringing. It was Julie, my sister. She was probably calling me to give me some more details about the wedding. Lately she had been calling me for that, so I wasn't surprised when that turned out to be the actual topic of our conversation.

"Hello?" I asked, trying to close the door and hold the bag with one hand.

"William, I've been trying to call you for three days. You've become unreachable," she replied nervously.

"I know, I’m sorry, I'm up to my neck in work."

"Understood, you're forgiven. Otherwise, how's it going?"

"It's all right. You?" I already knew what she was going to tell me.

"Me too, even though the preparations are driving me crazy. Aaron made me change all the dishes at the last minute, the dress got stained..."

"Julie, you know I love you, but I'm going to the gym before I go back to work from home, I'm a bit tight with the times, can we talk about these things later?" it wasn't entirely true, but I was too focused on my thoughts to listen to the dramas of the wedding plans.

"Okay, okay. Look, I just wanted to ask you if you've finally decided who you're going to take to the wedding."

"Yes, I'm bringing a girl friend," I replied, finally interested in the conversation.

"A girl friend?"

"Yes, am I not allowed to have girl friends?" I should have thought of all the questions they would ask me.

"I didn't mean that, do we know her?" I wondered why she had used the "we" on call.

"Christie's there, isn't he?"

"Hi little brother!" my other sister on the other end of the phone replied.

"I've told you a thousand times not to call me that," I replied annoyed.

"Details. So, who is this friend of yours?"

"It's a long story, but she's my new roommate. Her name is Natalie. I mean, Noelle."

"Natalie o Noelle?" asked Julie confused.

"Noelle."

"Is she pretty?" continued Christie in that tone.

"I would say so..." I answered, losing myself again thinking of her. 

"Okay, I get it. Look, I have to go now, I'll see you on the day of the ceremony," Julie concluded.

"You get what? Julie? I tried to ask, but she had already hung up.

Of course, I knew very well what she was referring to, but I would never agree with her. I grabbed my bag and headed outside. The gym was close to home, so I could easily walk there. Without even doing it on purpose, I walked past the window of the bakery where Noelle and her friends were. I couldn't help but wonder if they were maybe talking about me. However, I decided to proceed quickly to avoid being seen. The problem is that I couldn't stop thinking about her and I didn't know what was happening to me.

When I got to the gym, I immediately started warming up before starting the deadlifts. I had started working out to let off steam after work and clear my head, but since I noticed how good it made me feel I had never stopped. Despite the physical exertion, the image of Noelle was still not out of my mind, so I decided to up the weight on the barbell, in order to think less. I had finally managed to finish a full set without interruptions when my cell phone started ringing. I prayed it wouldn’t be James. Luckily, it was Christie.

"Hello?"

"Hi little bro..." she began.

"If you finish that sentence, I'll end the call."

“Ok, ok, sorry.”

"So, what do I owe this call to?" I asked as I looked around to pick up the weights for the next set.

"I just wanted to know how you were doing."

"Christie, you call me twice a year. What do you actually want to know?"

"I wanted to know more about this Noelle girl that you are going to bring to the wedding." I had no doubt that she had called me for that. I sat on the bench and let the weights go, it was going to be a very long break.

"Like what?"

"In general, what kind of girl is she?" she asked excitedly.

"So... First of all, she is a very beautiful, sunny, sometimes introverted girl.  But she is also very stubborn and doesn't let anyone step on her. Let's just say that I never get bored with her."

"Mh... understood... do you like her?"

"Huh!?" I asked, taken aback by the question. I had actually been thinking about it myself for days, but I very confused and very worried about these types of feelings.

"You understood very well what I asked of you."

"I don't know. I don't think so. A little. We're just friends."

"I see you have very clear thoughts."

"Anyway, it doesn't matter. We won't see each other anymore in a couple of days, so I better not get weird ideas in my head."

"Then why did you invite her to the wedding?"

"Because literally all my friends were already busy. Plus, she's doing me a huge favor. It was the least I could do for her."

"Does she let you stay with her without paying?"

"No, of course I pay her rent."

"Then what favor is she doing you?" she asked confusedly.

"I'll make it short: the hotel that the company assigned us really sucks, so I looked for another place to stay. She was looking for a female roommate, but she made an exception considering how unaffordable the other offers were and the bonus I pay her. I'm at risk of being fired for changing accommodations, but honestly it wouldn't be the end of the world."

"What can I say, I never expected that from you."

"Let's just say James is pushing me to the limit."

"I see, I understand. Where are they now?"

"James?" I don't understand what my boss's private life had to do with it.

"No, you idiot. Noelle." ok, now the question made more sense.

"Out with her friends, why?"

"It's the perfect time then."

"Perfect time to do what exactly?"

"Perfect time to send her selfies and become a topic of conversation between her and her friends."

"Why would I want to be a topic of conversation?”

"Because then she'll think about you even while she's out and slowly she will start to reciprocate your feelings, simple."

"Christie, you're kidding, aren't you? I would never do such a thing. And who talked about feelings? Look, I was glad to hear from you, but now I have to get back to my workout."

"Okay, go ahead. But think about what I told you to do."

I hang up the call and turned off my cell phone before finishing my series of deadlifts. Not before sending Noelle a couple of selfies though. It was all Christie's fault.

 ***

In the evening, after dinner, I was sitting quietly on the couch reading a book, when I noticed Noelle frantically going from window to window, continuing to check that she had closed the shutters properly. There was a really strong storm outside, but this maniacal control seemed a bit excessive.

"Noelle, are you all right?" I asked, out of curiosity to understand what was going on.

"Yeah, I'm just checking that all the windows are closed. You know, I don't want any rain to come in."

"I see... But you've already checked several times. Are you sure you're okay?" I asked a second time.

When I asked her, she stopped, walked in front of the couch and slumped on it, grabbing a pillow and hugging it.

"Promise you won't make fun of me if I tell you?"

"Of course, why should I make fun of you?"

"I'm terrified of thunderstorms. The thunder, the lightning, the sound of the rain against the windows, they’re the things that scare me the most. It's a fear I've had since I was little, I never got over it." she said, squeezing the pillow further into her arms.

"It's normal to be afraid of thunderstorms, especially such strong ones, but I assure you that no water will enter through any of the windows. You've closed them all. In addition, such strong thunderstorms are often also very short and...." I couldn’t even finish the sentence that the sound of thunder pierced the silence of the evening. Noelle threw the pillow into the air, and before I could say anything to reassure her, I found her clinging to my arm, her face in the crook of my shoulder. The initial thunder was followed by others, and she showed no sign of moving. And the closer he was to me, the more I felt her closeness reach my heart and increase my heartbeat. The same thing that happened to me when I saw her in her wedding dress, when I saw her smile after helping her. It was a strange feeling. Yes, Noelle was my friend, but there was something more, something I didn't know how to name yet. What scared me the most, however, was the speed with which I had been overwhelmed by these emotions; I had only known Noelle for two weeks, yet sharing all those moments with her had brought us closer very quickly. Suddenly there was thunder louder than the others, and the noise stopped my thoughts, bringing me back to reality. After this, the storm began to calm down, until it stopped completely. Only then did Noelle pull away from me, and as soon as she realized what she had just done, her whole face turned red, and her gaze was fixed on the ground.

"Noelle..." I said to reassure her.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what got into me. I... I’m going to bed. Goodnight."

"Wait, Noelle..." I tried to tell her, but she didn't listen to me and turned to go to her room. I reached out and took her hand, turning her to face me.

"You don't have to apologize, nothing happened. In fact, if you're still scared, we can stay awake for a while." maybe it was too much, but that's what I felt like saying at the time.

"In fact, I wouldn't mind watching a movie to calm down a bit."

"Let's watch a movie then. What did you have in mind?" I asked.

I saw a smile light up on her face again, and she sat back down on the couch next to me, taking the remote from the coffee table.

We chose a Christmas movie, one of those she liked so much, and we started watching it. But it wasn't even half an hour after the beginning of the movie that Noelle fell asleep. I turned off the television and covered her with a blanket, trying to make as little noise as possible. I decided to go to sleep too, it was getting really late. Thoughts about Noelle still filled my head, but I decided to ignore them. I would have time to think about it in the morning, with a rested mind.