A Dark and Stormy Night
"You are so corny, you know that?" Casey asked.
"Is that supposed to be a pun?" Kelly asked cynically as he fished another handful of popcorn out of the huge bowl he'd made.
Casey fought back a small laugh and pointed out, "It's a raging thunderstorm outside so you want to sit here in the dark and watch a horror movie."
"It's a perfect atmosphere for it, why waste it?" Kelly replied as he munched the popcorn on one side of his mouth.
Matt shook his head and smirked as he dug a handful out of the bowl and chewed it one piece at a time.
Outside the rain was beating down and they could hear that even over the movie. Thunder rolled and occasionally clapped, and they definitely heard that over the movie.
"Do you do this on dates?" Casey asked.
"No," Kelly answered without missing a beat.
"Why not?" Matt asked.
"Because they'd think it's corny."
Casey rolled his eyes.
"Besides, you can't plan anything by the weather," Kelly pointed out.
"Truth in that," Matt conceded.
"Especially not something like this."
"True too." Matt reached back into the bowl and only came up with a few unpopped kernels. He looked over at Severide and asked him, "How much popcorn can you eat?"
"More than this," Kelly said as he hopped up and grabbed the bowl, "I'll make another batch."
"Keep it up and one of these days you're gonna pop," Casey commented as he leaned back against the couch.
"Ha-ha," Kelly dryly remarked.
Five minutes later he returned to the living room with the large bowl filled above the brim again and rejoined Casey on the couch.
"Do people really find this kind of stuff scary?" Matt asked as he grabbed another handful.
"Beats me," Kelly replied as he shoveled in another fistful of popcorn himself.
"I mean...it's okay to kill an evening but I always thought these kinds of horror movies were kind of cheesy," Casey said.
Kelly snorted and about choked, "You think I'm corny and the movie's cheesy, that's some combination."
The whole room lit up from a blinding flash of lightning accompanied by a deafening explosion of thunder.
"That'll get on your nerves after a while," Casey dryly commented.
The music in the film got steadily louder and more intense as it neared its climax and the room was filled with a high pitched scream that caught Casey off guard and had him slam his body against the back of the couch.
There was another clap of thunder and suddenly the apartment was pitch dark and dead still as the TV went black. It all happened so quickly and so perfectly that it succeeded in jerking a mutual yelp of shock out of both men before they realized what had happened.
"Oh great," Kelly said as he stood up.
Casey got to his feet, "Think a breaker got thrown?"
"Let's see," Kelly picked up his phone and turned on the flashlight feature so they could make their way to the fuse box.
They headed into Kelly's room and he opened the cover on the fuse box, all the breakers were in place.
"That's not it."
Lightning illuminated the room despite the blinds being closed, Casey went over to the window and opened it. The whole block was pitch dark.
"The storm must've taken the power lines down or maybe taken out a transformer," he commented.
"Oh great," Kelly muttered, "either way we'll have a long night ahead of us."
Casey shone the light from his phone into the cupboard over the kitchen sink and reached up and pulled down a half full box of black votive candles leftover from last Halloween, they reeked like black licorice, but so far they were the only ones he'd found. He put a couple on a plate and lit them, then carried the plate and the box into the living room.
"This is all I could find," he said as he sat down on the couch.
Kelly picked up the box and tried to read by the light of the flames. "Burns four hours...hopefully the power will be back on before that."
Matt couldn't resist ribbing him, "Leave it to you to have three flashlights and all of them dead."
Kelly shrugged, "You don't think about it when you don't use them."
Casey snorted, then remarked, "I'd imagine this would be the ideal date situation for you, get a girl all alone in the dark, no distractions."
By the flickering candlelight, he could see a mischievous smirk on his friend's face as Kelly hesitantly admitted, "Actually, I tried it once in high school."
"Oh?"
"Didn't work," he answered without missing a beat. "She put me in a headlock and made me throw the breaker back on."
Casey fell back against the couch laughing. "You certainly have a way with women."
"Which explains why I'm sitting home in the dark with you."
Casey threw his head back laughing even harder until he could hardly breathe.
Out of nowhere there was a surge and a slight hum as the TV came back on as well as various items all over the apartment.
"Well how about that?" Casey stood up and turned on the floor lamp and the living room lit up, "looks like we won't be stuck in the dark all night after all."
"Almost too bad," Kelly commented, "It was kind of fun."
"You have a weird sense of humor."
"And now that the TV's working again, we can catch the next horror movie," Kelly added.
Casey snorted, "You are relentless."
"And the popcorn's cold," Kelly replied, "I'll make another bowl."
Casey leaned back against the couch and laughed.