Brian knocked on the door to Naomi’s apartment; he was worried something had happened. He had called and no one answered, he knew she should be home, after all it was about three in the morning, she had never answered the phone and he decided to go over there. He stood nervously at her door now, thinking it was a bad idea to come here. Just as he started to turn around and go home the door opened and there stood Naomi, wrapped in a towel. She rested her head against the side of the door as he stood there with his jaw down on the floor.
“Brian? Is somethin’ wrong?” She asked softly, having no idea why he was at her door at 3:15 a.m. even though she had only been in the shower herself. Brian stammered for a minute before answering her.
“I called and you didn’t answer the phone, so I thought maybe something was wrong.” He answered slowly as his eyes subconsciously roamed her body. He stopped himself from what he was thinking, ‘your married, Bri! You love Leigh!’ He screamed at himself, now knowing it was a bad idea to come here.
“Well, I was in the shower I must have not heard the phone. I’m fine, nothing’s wrong.” She said soothingly. She opened the door a little, “You wanna come in?”
“Uh, well…sure.” He whispered. He stepped into the room and immediately looked around at his surroundings. Naomi excused herself to go change and he sat on the couch and looked around, it was a rather small apartment, as he sat on the couch he looked to his right and could see a small kitchen, with tiled floors of black and white checkers and decorated in a futuristic fashion, between the kitchen and the couch he was sitting at was a hallway, obviously leading to a bedroom and bathroom. In the living room was the couch sitting in the middle, backed up to the wall, a small entertainment center sat in front of the couch with a medium sized T.V. and VCR, and small nick-knacks sat everywhere. To his left was a large, clear window, looking over the small city, and over a tower was a beautiful view of the water, with the beach being not far from there, it was the perfect view from that window, and Brian could see the full moon shinning over the ocean water. He sighed loudly and jerked his head abruptly as this big fury animal jumped up on him, he looked down and saw a huge dog wallowing all over him. Nay soon came in and got the dog to calm down and back off of Brian.
“Cute dog.” He said as he caught his breath. Naomi laughed and walked into the kitchen.
“You want some coffee?” She asked, he shook his head and got up to follow her. They sat down at the table and just sat there in silence for a little bit. “Bri, why are you here?” She asked him, not in an irritated tone, but more of a comforting question like tone. He looked up at her, not really knowing the answer to her question.
“I don’t know?” He raised his eyes up to meet hers as he played with his hands resting on the tabletop. “I had this dream,” He started, not really knowing any other way to explain it. “I couldn’t get back to sleep, I just needed to talk to someone I guess.” He whispered.
“This must be really hard for you…I mean…I know how much you and Leigh love each other and to see her like this must just be…tearing you apart.” Naomi thought of each word she spoke. She had been having thoughts more and more of Brian lately, and she wasn’t sure what to do about them. It was strange, at first they were best friends, then when they got closer he started to shut her out, she didn’t know if it was something she did, or said, but she missed his friendship. Even if she kept having these other thoughts about him, she still wanted him to be her friend.
“Yeah.” He whispered, “I’m scared, I admit. Dr. Dolman told me on Tuesday that she had about a twenty percent chance of getting through this…he…he asked me if I wanted to just pull the plug.” He barely breathed out. Naomi’s jaw dropped. She looked over at him trying to lock eyes with him but he kept his head down at stared at his hands. “’She’s just breathin’ of the machines anyway.’ That’s what he said…he told me it would be better…for god’s sake; she’s only been like this for a week! She’s ganna come out of this…and he just wants to give up, this soon.” He whipped a tear out of his eyes before it started to roll down his cheek.
Naomi felt sad, but jealous. She could see how much he loved Leighanne, and with these new feelings she had, it felt wrong to see Brian as more than a friend. She pushed those feelings aside for the moment and reached up to wipe away a stray tear on his face, he turned his head and looked away from her. She pulled her hand back, a little offended and looked away as well. There was another minute of silence before Naomi sighed loudly and got up to get a glass of water. Brian stood up too and walked over to her, her back turned to him he stood right behind her so she didn’t expect him to be that close when she turned around. She looked up at him and swallowed. She sat her cup of water down on the bar next to them as there faces inched closer. Their noses touched as Brian turned his head slightly sideways, his hands placed on her waist He looked down into her eyes.
“Brian?” Nay whispered, he could barely hear her; he ‘shushed’ her and their lips touched right as the phone started to ring. They backed away from each other and Naomi reached for the phone. Brian stood there, shocked at what he just did. What was he thinking? He had no idea what was going on with him lately, he had just had the unbearable urge to kiss her and usually he never acted on feelings like this! He looked over to Naomi as she turned around, her eyes wide as she hung up the phone.
“Leighanne’s awake.” She said. Brian didn’t quiet know if he heard her right or not but when she started moving around to the front door he followed and they raced downstairs and got in Brian’s car, driving off towards the hospital.