Social Distancing

Chapter 18: Streaming Service

Three days and one hour later, my phone rang with a call I'd waited fourteen days to receive.

"Hi Maggie."

I'd never been so happy to hear his voice, even if he sounded slightly strained.

"Noah!!"  I nearly dropped the phone in excitement. "How are you?"

"I'm not dead." His voice jokingly rang through the phone. "Although felt close a few times. I've been at the hospital for two weeks."

"I know, I'm so sorry." As I sat back in my desk chair at work, everything inside me relaxed. Even the sound of his voice was that powerful over me.

"How did you know?"

"I talked to your Gram when I was in the hospital, then Amy and I tracked you down through the trial..." My voice trailed off as I realized I sounded like a complete stalker. "Sorry, that sounds bad. I didn't know anything really until four days ago."

Should I tell him? I should.

"I was so scared, Noah." My voice softened. "Thought I'd lost you."

"I'm sorry you were upset, Maggie. Back up, you were in the hospital too?"

My heart melted that his first reaction was my well-being. "Yeah, but just flu-A. I'm fine. Nothing what you probably went through. I'm so sorry... I feel like it's my fault."

"Yours? I made us go on those bloody tours."

"If I hadn't asked you to do the trial, then your immune system wouldn't have been compromised..." My voice wavered, like the tears that threatened to pour down my cheeks.

"Hey, Maggie," he said softly. "No way you could've known that would happen. And I'm okay. Say it as many times as you need to, but I am okay."

"I'm so glad to hear from you." I already felt my shoulder tension had released, his voice was just as reassuring over the phone as it was in person. "How are you feeling?"

"Much better, the doctors think I'll be fine. I'm so sorry for not calling, they took everything, including my phone. Wouldn't let me have it until discharge this morning. I was going crazy, not being able to talk to you or my family."

"Me too," I admitted. While I'd had phone access, isolation and not being able to contact him had been the worst days of my life.

"Where are you now?" He asked.

"At work, in my cubicle." I replied, then stood up slowly and looked around. Given the time was eleven am, the office was pretty much full of activity before everyone took their lunch break.

"Can I Face Time you?" He asked. "Or should I wait until you get home?"

"Can you call me in five minutes? I'll go down to the cafeteria."

"Okay. Just to warn you, my family's here, so don't hold anything embarrassing that they'll definitely say against me. Hang on."

So much for social distancing, they're all together.

I ended the call and hurried downstairs. Fortunately the cafeteria was empty and I slid into an empty corner table seat. My face felt like it would split in half with how brightly I smiled when his face flashed onto my phone screen.

"Hey you." His hand waved over the entire phone view. His eyes looked a bit tired and he definitely needed a shave, but he smiled from ear to ear. I blinked, as if I couldn't believe what I saw.

There he is.

My fingers traced the outline of his face then I replied, "Hi. Where are you right now?"