Quench Me
      Chapter 12
 

The ringing of the telephone wakes me up. Mindlessly, I roll over and look at my alarm clock. It's seven o'clock in the morning, Saturday morning. I start to answer, but then I remember that Rick is already up. He has to be at the hospital by eight.

The phone keeps ringing, two, three, four times. I hear Rick yell at me from his bedroom, "Michelle, can you get that? I'm in the shower."

Sure Rick, no problem. So much for sleeping in.

"Hello," I say in a very groggy voice.

"Michelle," I hear from the voice on the other end of the line. It's Danny, and immediately a smile spreads across my face.

"Hi," I say, still struggling to get alert. "How are you?"

"Well, I'm lying here in my bed," he answers. "I dreamed about you when I slept, and when I opened my eyes this morning, the first thing I though of was you. So, I decided to call you and tell you. Did I wake you up?"

"Well, sort of," I say. "But I can't think of a nicer way to wake up." That's not quite true, because I know how nice it is to wake up in the morning and see his face, but it's very nice nonetheless.

I hear him laugh slightly, and then he says, "Michelle, I've thought a lot about what you said last night."

"Danny, I hope that I didn't give you the impression that I didn't enjoy last night. It was wonderful. It really really was."

"I'm glad to hear you say that," he answers. "But you know, you're right about a lot of things."

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"I do have trouble opening up," he says. "Obviously, in my family, that wasn't a trait that was necessarily in demand, and I'm just not used to having someone actually care about what I'm feeling."

"I do care, Danny," I say. "I care very much. Not just about the way you feel, but about you."

"I know I'm going to have to work on not being so closed off," he says. "But I'm not going to be able to stand it if I don't at least get to talk to you in the meantime. I know you've got finals coming up, and that you're busy, but can I call you?"

"Of course," I say. "It's not like we're off limits to each other."

"Well, in that case, maybe you could come by my office sometime, when you have a free moment?"

"I'd love that, Danny," I say. "Yes, I'll come see you at your office when I can."

"Good," he says. "Michelle, about last what happened last night - what I did - I hope you know that it wasn't some kind of power trip. And I didn't plan it. But when I felt your body in my arms, I just… I needed to. I'm sorry if I got ahead of myself."

"Don't be sorry," I say. "I'm not."

"O.K.," he replies. "I'll talk to you soon."

When I hang up the phone, my heart is full and my mind is racing. I've never known a man who can change gears so quickly. Despite my better judgment, I jump out of bed, brush my hair, and quickly throw on some clothes. A quick teeth-brushing and half of a make-up job later, I'm out the door, in my car, on my way to Danny's house.