books
Stevie wakes with a start, sweaty and shaking, and immediately reaches out and turns on the lamp on her nightstand. She takes a couple deep breaths to slow her racing heart. Her roommate's gone like she is every weekend, and right now Stevie's not sure whether to be relieved or upset about that; she doesn't have to worry about waking her up, but at the same time she hates being alone after a nightmare. The details have faded already, but the slightly sick, terrified feeling is still there. When she was a kid her dad used to come in when she had nightmares and read until she fell back asleep, and even though it's been years since she's needed him to do that she's freaked out and upset and lonely and before she knows it she's picking up her phone. Her dad's on the other side of the country, though, so she calls the next best person.
Four rings in, right before it goes to voicemail, he picks up. "Mmmm?"
"Zander?"
"Stevie?" He instantly sounds more awake. "What's the matter?"
"I…." Now that she's got him on the phone she feels stupid and silly and she shakes her head. "Nothing. It's nothing. Sorry I woke you up."
"It's not 'nothing' if you're calling at three in the morning, Stevie," Zander says.
She's quiet for a moment, then, "I just… had a bad dream, is all." She can barely hear her own voice; she wonders if Zander even heard her.
There's some rustling sounds coming from Zander's end. "I'll be there in five minutes."
"Z, you really don't have to-"
"Be at the front door of the building to let me in," he says, and then hangs up.
"You really didn't have to," she tells him again after they make it to her room.
Zander lets out a yawn. "Come on, you called me in the middle of the night. Must've been some nightmare."
She hops up onto her bed. "I don't even really remember it anymore," she admits. "I guess I just… my dad used to come in and read to me when I had nightmares. His voice helped me fall back asleep." While she talks, he crosses the room, pulling open the blinds. She looks at him quizzically. "What are you doing?"
"Watch." He flicks off the overhead light and the room fills with a soft, pink and orange light instead – the streetlamps reflecting off the snow outside. Grabbing a book at random off her desk, he comes to sit on the end of her bed. "Lay down," he says, and she does, burrowing under the covers as he starts to read. "Four-part chorale writing is used to teach and analyze the basic conventions of-"
"Are you seriously reading me to sleep with our music theory book?" Stevie asks sleepily.
He laughs. "I could read you our chem book, if you prefer."
The thought makes her shudder. "I'm good."
He's reading something about harmonizing Bach chorales when she finally falls asleep.
