"Steve. Steeeeeve, I need you to come pick me up. Now."
"Umm, I think you have the wrong number."
"Steve. Stop dicking around," Gail whined into her phone. "I'm outside the Penny and I'm freezing my ass off."
"I'm sorry, but... I-I don't know anyone named Steve. This is Holly Stewart."
"Steve! Are you listening to me?" She shook the phone. "Come get me! I want to go home," she practically yelled into the mouth piece.
"Uh, look, I don't know who this is, or what is going on, but I'm fairly certain you have the wrong number."
"Steven. Michael. Peck. I don't know what's wrong with your voice, but I've had a lot of alcohol. So get your ass over to The Black Penny, and come pick me up. Preferably before I punch Dov in the nuts."
With a click, the line went dead. Holly looked at her phone, shocked. What the hell had just happened? Who was that? But mostly, what concerned her, was that this woman expected this Steve person to come and get her. She glanced at the outdoor thermometer on her kitchen window, it read negative twenty degrees Celsius.
"Where the fuck is that prick?" Gail muttered through a clenched jaw, shivering.
"Gail, are you sure we can't give you a ride?" Dov offered one last time.
"Dov, if I have to spend another minute with you and Princess Sunshine over there, being all mushy and gross, I'm going to gouge my own eyes out with a plastic spoon."
"Ok, ok! Just trying to help. I'll see you at work on Monday," Dov said as he made his way to the parking lot.
"Bye, Gail!" Chloe waved enthusiastically toward the other girl, as Dov caught up to her.
She wrapped her arms tighter around herself in an attempt to keep warm.
"Gross," she said to herself. Where the hell was Steve? It wasn't like him to be this late. Sure he could be an ass, but he wasn't one to leave his little sister out in the freezing cold.
She didn't know how long it'd been, but she was beginning to think walking home would be a better idea than waiting for her idiot brother.
That's when a car pulled up to the curb. It was a nice little car, but it wasn't her brother's. She frowned. He was going to pay for this later.
A woman stepped out of the driver's side, she looked a little apprehensive. Gail briefly noted how attractive she was, but was distracted when another car pulled up. This one looked like Steve's, she thought, but it was dark and her eyes were getting tired.
When two men exited the vehicle and entered the bar, she scowled at the departing car. How dare it get her hopes up.
A movement to her left distracted her. The woman from the other car was cautiously approaching.
"Excuse me," she began. "Uh, I, uh… I got a call from someone, um, I think it was a wrong number. She kept asking for someone named Steve, but she hung up before I could explain that I wasn't him, and I got worried that she'd be waiting out in the cold for this guy and—"
"Wait, how do you know Steve?" Gail was very confused, and the alcohol wasn't helping matters.
"Steven Michael Peck?"
"Yeah?" Gail eyed the woman carefully. She couldn't decipher whether this woman was attractive, or if it was just beer goggles.
"W-well I don't, actually. But you called me instead of him. And I couldn't exactly just leave you out here, I mean, it's below freezing! And you know this place isn't exactly easy to find?"
"Wait, wait, wait. Let me get this straight. I called you, instead of Steve, asking to be picked up. And even though you don't know me, and you could be doing literally anything else right now, you came, probably out of your way, to come get me?" Gail needed clarification, because this couldn't possibly be happening.
"Yes, I did." The woman's eyes flicked to the ground, and then back to Gail's.
"Are you, like, a crazy person?" Gail pushed off the wall as she spoke, stumbling a bit as she did. The other woman immediately stepped forward to help steady her, but Gail raised hand to deter the woman as she regained her balance.
"Look, I didn't want to just leave you out here in the cold waiting for your boyfriend or whomever, who obviously wan't going to come, because you drunkenly dialed the wrong number. I was just trying to be nice. But if you don't want a ride, I can just leave." The woman turned back towards her vehicle.
"Woah, wait! I didn't say that." Gail took a step towards her. "I just… it's not something I would have done, so I just... it kind of threw me that someone would do it for me." The dejected look on Gail's face almost broke the other woman's heart.
"I'm not exactly a nice person," Gail said quietly.
"Well, so far you don't seem so bad." She gave Gail a reassuring smile. "I'm Holly, by the way. Holly Stewart. Come on, it's cold. Let's get you home."
Holly moved to open the passenger door, but Gail remained in place.
"Gail Peck. And I'm a cop, so don't even think about trying anything."
"Well, I probably shouldn't mention that I'm the city's Forensic Pathologist, so I know exactly how to hide a body. But I'm tired, and that'd take too much effort tonight, so you're safe for now. Scouts honor," Holly stated, completely deadpan.
Gail looked at the woman in front of her for several moments before she burst out laughing. Holly breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, for a moment, she was afraid she'd taken that one too far.
"I like you, you can stick around." Gail was still laughing when she slid into the seat after Holly opened the door.
Holly smiled to herself as she rounded the car, she had a feeling this woman didn't casually admit to people that she liked them. She felt strangely privileged that this woman she didn't even know wanted her to stick around.
"So, is your husband a cop too?"
"What?"
"Your husband, what does he do?" Holly asked, turning into a subdivision she didn't recognize, but her GPS told her that she was headed in the right direction.
"My what?"
"Steve? The person you were trying to call when you dialed me?"
"Oh my god!" Gail covered her face with her hands. "Ew, gross! No, no, no. Nope."
"I-I'm sorry? I think I missed something." Holly glanced over at the woman and noted her visible discomfort.
Gail was fervently shaking her head, "Steve is my brother."
"Oh! Oh my god, I'm so sorry! I just assumed, because his name is Peck, and your name is Peck, and I'm so sorry!" Holly blushed, she was glad for the darkness.
"It's fine, just don't ever say anything like that again. Barf." Gail mimed throwing up in her lap.
"I really am sorry—"
"Honestly, it's fine, Holly." Anyone else, and Gail would have tormented the shit out of them, but this Holly person, she just couldn't do it.
Holly pulled the car into the driveway of the address Gail had given her. She threw the car in park, suddenly not ready for the other woman to leave.
"Well, uh, thanks. For the ride. I, um, yeah. Thanks," Gail managed to say.
"Of course. Anytime." Holly flashed her a lopsided grin.
Gail hesitated, she didn't know how to tell Holly she wanted to see her again, at least without sounding creepy or awkward. Fuck it. She'd own the awkward.
"So, I should probably buy you dinner, right? I mean you did drive out of your way to pick me up, and it would only be fair," Gail proposed.
"Well, it is only fair…" There was a glint in Holly's eyes that Gail only managed to catch from the light on the porch.
"Tomorrow night? 7 o'clock?"
"Sure! Text me tomorrow with the details. You should already have my number." That lopsided smile flashed across Holly's face again.
Gail unbuckled her seat belt, but Holly's hand was on her wrist before she could open the door.
"Are you… Will you be okay making it inside?"
"Holly, I'm a pro." Gail opened the door and fumbled out of the car. Luckily, Holly was unable to see the confident look that had been on Gail's face falter. "I'm okay! I'm okay," she assured, standing up straight and turning back to face the other woman. Holly looked skeptical, but gave her that lopsided smile once again. That smile was going to cause problems for Gail, she just knew it.
Gail shook her head, and walking backwards, made her way up the steps of her childhood home. Laughing, Holly reached over and pulled the door shut. Once Gail had made it safely inside the front door, she pulled out of the driveway and began the drive home.
Out of habit, Holly checked her phone before climbing into bed for the night. She had one message from an unknown number:
'Thanks again for the ride. Sleep well, nerd.'
She smiled to herself, what a night.