eight

                                    

                                          
8

NESSA TRIED TO KEEP herself busy by cleaning the whole house, grading a few of her students' art projects, preparing lessons, and even working on her dreaded training weekly report. 
Around 5 pm, her anxiety was already through the roof and she no longer could ignore it. Throughout the day, her eyes kept drifting towards the phone and not even the music blasting from her record player could dim down her expectant thoughts. 
She knew Dave had probably gotten caught up with work or was busy with something else, but Nessa couldn't stop thinking that he hadn't called yet. Maybe he forgot, she would think. But then she would shake her head disapprovingly and kick her irrational thoughts away. Dave said he'd call, and if hadn't, it meant that something had come up. 
When 6 pm rolled around, Nessa resigned to a night of solitude. She had been living alone for months now, so she shouldn't even be feeling so lonely. But she was. Apparently, one night sleeping next to Dave had been enough to change her notion of comfort. 
Nessa turned on the television and got comfortable and cozy on the couch, laying a fuzzy blanket over her legs and sipping from her cup of hot chocolate, a routine she followed through pretty much every night, lately. 
Ever since she started teaching and Stacy landed a nursing position at a local clinic, their outs had reached a bare minimum.
They would still see each other regularly, whenever their schedules matched, but their hangouts now consisted of either dinner back at Jimmy's and Stacy's, or ice cream and movie nights back at Nessa's.
A soft knock on the door nearly sent Nessa into shock. She almost tripped over the coffee table when she shot out of the couch like a bullet, throwing the blanket to the ground and power walking towards the door.
She silently peeked through the peephole and her heart raced when she spotted him. Dave had his hair pushed back into a low ponytail and was staring right at the door. 
Behave, she scolded herself internally, before breathing in and opening the door. Nessa tried her best to feign slight surprise as if she hadn't spent the entire day expecting the moment she would see him again. 
"Oh," she tried to sound nonchalant. "You're back" 
Dave's wide smile almost knocked her out. He was leaning against the doorframe, his body covered in a thick leather jacket that looked about two sizes too big for his thin figure. Don't behave, her heart screamed louder than her head.
"I'm sorry for not calling beforehand," he said apologetically. "Stuff took a little longer than I had anticipated"
Nessa flashed him an assuring smile. The low and raspy tone of his voice, along with the way his shoulders slightly slumped downward, made his tiredness obvious. 
As Nessa's eyes surveyed him, she spotted the duffel bag propped on his shoulder. She didn't mean to make her stare noticeable, but Dave timidly shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
He didn't want to impose anything, but he had recovered his belongings from the hotel before heading to Nessa's house under the expectation that he would be able to spend the night at her place again.