I am currently getting adapted to a new schedule and am working out when I will have time to write. Fortunately, we aren’t busy on the farm much this time of year so that’s nice for the sake of this project.
Speaking of this story, I had someone ask in the comments of Part 8 how many parts I expect there to be and to be blunt, I don’t have an exact number. I am very much a discovery writer and don’t have much of a rigid outline. I understand it can be frustrating having to re-read previous parts, I myself like to read a series all at once if possible. However, I much prefer writing in shorter segments. That being said, I would approximate the number of parts to be somewhere around 15-20. I feel like plot wise I’m about at the midway point so that’s my best estimate.
I get that having a bunch of small segments to read can be frustrating, but I feel like this method works well for me as it works well with my writing process. I apologize for my readers who find it frustrating.
Regardless, back to Chase and Sarah.
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Sarah returned to her bedroom after getting out of the shower. As she laid down, she found herself thinking about what had happened that afternoon. God had she gotten flustered when Stacy brought up the thought of sex. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, Chase had to turn and make eye contact with her! She was pretty sure her face was just about fire engine red at that point as she looked away.
“If nothing else,” she thought to herself, “surely that simple exchange had tipped him off to the fact that I’m into him. I mean, he didn’t quite seem as focused as he usually was after that.” She also realized that his distraction might have come from the fact that he got to see her in leggings for the first time.
She felt her heart flutter in her chest. The thought of him staring her down was a real turn on for her. She had caught him looking at her a couple times, but she never did catch the desire in his eyes she had been hoping for. Still, at least he’d been looking her over. That was something right?
The sound of the wind outside interrupted her train of thought. A look at her phone revealed that it was currently around 6:30, well past sunset. She looked out of the window in her bedroom at the dark, starless sky. The wind was howling away, carrying snow from the roof with it.
“Brr…” she thought to herself, pulling her sheets and comforter over herself and snuggling down into them. Thoughts about her neighbor crept back into her mind as she laid there listening to the wind outside. With herself bundled up and fantasies about snuggling up with Chase on her mind, she slowly drifted off to sleep.
When she woke up, she found herself shivering in her bed. She reached for the lamp on her nightstand and tried to turn it on. The switch clicked but the room remained completely dark. She tried again, and again before she realized that her power had been knocked out. A gust of wind outside explained the source of the power outage. At that moment, fear closed in around her like a pair of cold hands on her neck. She fumbled around on her nightstand looking for her phone. Once she found it, she unlocked it and called the first person that came to mind, her mom.
The call went through, but her mom never picked up. She tried again, with the same result. At that point, she looked at the time on her phone and found out that it was 5:10 in the morning. Her mom probably wasn’t awake yet and wouldn’t be up for over an hour. Her mind raced as she tried to think of someone she could call. Stacy wouldn’t be up either, maybe Carla would, but even then, she was probably sleeping in since the diner was closed.
As she scrolled through her contacts, she absentmindedly ended up clicking on Chase’s contact and calling him. She wasn’t fully aware of what she was doing as she put the phone to her ear and listened to it ring.
“Hello?” Came Chase’s voice from the other end of the line. She stood there, paralyzed for what must have been a couple seconds. “Hello?” He repeated.
“Chase?” Was all she managed to say. She knew she needed to call someone but she hadn’t expected anyone to pick up, so now she found herself unprepared for what to say.
“Sarah…?” Was his reply. “Is everything alright over there.?” He asked.
“My power’s knocked out.” She said, still trying to process what exactly she wanted to say.
“Mine got knocked out last night too.” He replied. “Is everything ok?” He repeated.
At that point her brain finally started working and she managed to articulate a complete sentence. “Hey Chase,” she began, “my power must have gotten knocked out last night because I don’t have any lights. I woke up a few minutes ago shivering from the cold, I don’t how cold it is or why I woke up, but I know my power is out and it’s definitely getting cold in here.”
“Ok,” Chase responded, “do you want to come over here since I still have heat? I think I can make it over there with one of the tractors to get you.”
“It’d be nice, but don’t feel like you have to.” She told him.
“Ehh, they won’t even think about trying to restore power until the storm ends and even then, we probably aren’t super high on the priority list. We might not even get power back tomorrow.” He explained.
“Oh…” Sarah felt her heart sink after hearing that news.
“Also, did you say it’s already getting cold inside?” Chase asked.
“Yeah.” She replied.
“And you woke up shivering?” He added.
“Yes.” She shivered again both from the cold and from the thought.
“Have you layered up any?” He asked.
“Not yet.” She asked, bemoaning the thought of having to get out of bed.
“If you’re shivering enough to wake yourself up, you probably need to get warmed up,” he cautioned, “that shivering means your body temperature is dropping.”
“Well that’s comforting…” She thought out loud, biting her tongue once she realized she’d actually said that.
She heard a sigh come through the phone. “Sarah, do you want me to come get you out of there? I have heat and everything over here.”
“You don’t have to do that.” She preemptively said, not really thinking.
“I didn’t ask that, I asked if you wanted me to.” He sighed again. “If you’re shivering already you need to get somewhere warmer.” His tone had gotten more serious. “If you can, get bundled up the best you can and pack a change of clothes. I’ll be over in a few minutes with the 2755 to get you. You’re gonna stay with me until you get power back.”
“Are you sure Chase?” She replied. “You probably shouldn’t be going outside in this weather.”
“Don’t worry about me.” He said firmly. “Get yourself around the best you can and I’ll be over as soon as I can.”
“Ok…” she replied. Chase then ended the call leaving her to her own devices. She took a couple seconds to psych herself up and pulled the comforter and sheets off of herself. The rush of cold air around her body made her breath catch in her throat and prompted another strong shiver. At that point she tore herself out of her bed and made her way to her closet. She grabbed her duffel bag and headed to her dresser. She grabbed two pairs of sweatpants and put them on over the shorts she slept in. She went back to the closet and grabbed two hoodies and put them on over her shirt. The fabric of the extra layers was cold at first, but they did help a little bit. At that point she returned to her dresser and pulled out a set of clothes and threw them in her bag before zipping it up and returning to her bed to cover back up.