Elective Affinities [Complete]

Nightly Phone Calls (I)

Jay entered his room and closed the door with a sigh. He had just been through a rather heated and unusually emotional discussion with his normally very cool and calm flatmate.

The auburn-haired young man sat down on his bed and carefully took a folded piece of paper from his shirt pocket. He unfolded it and gently tried to flatten the small creases. With a happy smile he looked at the name and number that were written on it.

Jay took his phone from the small nightstand next to his bed and saved the number to his contacts. He really, really wanted to call this number right now, or at least send a text message - just to make sure he had read the details correctly, of course - but he wasn't confident enough to do so.

Seriously, who in Ninjago came up with that stupid rule that you shouldn't call a girl immediately after the first date? Although... I mean,  technically we weren't on our first date... well, at least not with each other...

Jay was still caught up in his thoughts, when his phone gave a little buzz to notify him that he had received a new message.

Probably from Mum who wants to know how my blind date went. He thought. I guess I should be glad she didn't call me while we were at the restaurant to talk to the girl herself. Jay dearly loved his parents, but they could sometimes be quite embarrassing, especially when it came to the topic of his relationships – and their future grandchildren.

But when he opened the message, Jay saw that it came from the same number he had just added to his contacts. 'RU still awake?' It said.

Jay smiled and immediately wrote back. 'Yep. What about you?' The moment he pressed the 'send' button, he realised that this was indeed a very stupid question, so he anxiously waited for a reply.

'Obviously XD'. He was relieved that the other person had not been put off by his mistake. And at that moment Jay decided to simply ignore the 'do not call straight after the first date' rule. 'Wanna talk?' He quickly typed into his phone.

'Sure. Just gimme a minute, I'll call U.' Jay was ecstatic when he saw the positive answer. But it took a bit more than a minute – Jay had counted exactly 83 seconds – before his phone rang. He took a deep breath, before he pressed the green answer button.

"H-hi Nya." Was all he managed to say.
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Jay had said – or more like stammered – only two words, but Nya's heart had still skipped a beat upon hearing his voice.

Following a rather eventful evening, Nya and her roommate had gotten ready for bed straight after their conversation and Pixal's recovering from her breakdown. Nya could tell from the regular breathing from the other side of the room that her exhausted friend had immediately fallen asleep, while she herself was still way too excited.

It had taken her a while to muster the courage to send a – very short and very casual – message to Jay. She was worried that she might appear too desperate to speak to him again, only a few hours after meeting him. So she had been delighted when it had been Jay to suggest the phone call.

"H-Hi." She replied nervously. "I-I just wanted to make sure that you... got home alright."

Great job Nya. You just came up with the lamest excuse ever for texting him.

But Jay either didn't notice or didn't mind."Yeah, no problem... thanks. As you've seen yourself earlier, Zane is a very safe driver." This was followed a short moment of awkward silence.

"Is... everything alright?" Jay asked. "Your voice sounds a bit... different."

Nya was glad that he couldn't see her blushing.

"Pixal is already sleeping, so I don't want to wake her up. I am in our tiny bathroom and I can't talk too loud."

I hope he doesn't think I am actually using the bathroom while talking to him...

But Jay just laughed. "Yeah, having to share a room is one of the things I definitely don't miss about college. My former roommate is still my best friend, but I am more than happy that I don't have to deal with his snoring anymore..."

"This makes me feel very lucky that Pixal is an incredibly quiet sleeper. I think she doesn't even move."

"That's good. But I really couldn't imagine her being as bad a snorer as Cole is..."

Nya joined in his laughter. She realised that this little chat had taken away some of her nervousness, so she was finally able to think more clearly again.

"Well, actually... I-I also wanted to tell you that you were right."

"Of course I was." He joked. "But what about?"

Nya had to giggle again. "When we got home, I spoke to Pixal and... she admitted that she is madly in love with Zane."

"Aah, that's great news." Jay replied. "I also had a longer conversation with Zane and... I really hope you won't be disappointed to hear that your blind date is more interested in your roommate than in you."

"Not at all, I am so happy to hear that." Nya told him. "When we talked, Pixal was very emotional. I've never seen her like this before. It took me a good bit of convincing to make her promise me that she will confess to him tomorrow. So it would be really awful, if we had been wrong about him. I'd hate to see her getting disappointed."

"Nah, there's absolutely no reason to worry about that. But it sounds like we had a similar idea. Zane also has to tell Pixal, when he sees her at work tomorrow. After weeks and weeks of denial, it was hard enough for him to admit his feelings for her to me - and especially to himself - so he wanted to have a bit of time before talking to the actual object of his affection."

Nya felt very happy for her friend – and maybe for herself as well.

"I guess... that also means that he is fine about you going out with me, right?" She asked hopefully. "Or... didn't you get to ask him?"

"Of course, I did. And he doesn't mind at all." Nya was almost sure she could hear his wide grin through the phone. "I..."

At that moment, there was a little 'click' in their connection.

"Was that your phone?" Jay was slightly bewildered. "It sounds like someone is trying to call. But it's not for me."

Nya checked her phone. "Oh, sorry, that's my brother."

Great timing Kai, as always. She thought.

"O-okay." Jay sounded slightly disappointed. "Well, I guess that means..."

"No, please wait." She interrupted him. "I can just call him back in a few minutes...."

You haven't finished asking me out yet! She added in her mind.

"Don't worry, I'd rather see you in person again anyway."

Nya blushed. Yesss!

"Me too." She said as calmly as she could. "Do you still want to go out for Valentine's Day?"

"I-I'd love to." Jay quickly answered. "Not sure if we can still get a table for dinner anywhere nice though. But don't worry. I'll get Zane to ask around. He knows a lot of other chefs. And, depending on how tomorrow turns out, he might owe us one anyway..."

"Sounds great. And please don't forget you promised me a dance."

"I wouldn't want to miss that in the world. Goodnight Nya. I'll call you tomorrow with the details, okay?"

"Perfect. Goodnight Jay." Nya replied. 

I can't wait for tomorrow - and for Thursday. She thought.