You'd only been dating Richie for about three months, God knows you needed something soft and easy, despite neither of those words accompanying anyone's description of Richie. Obviously he was good to you, he was dating you for Christ's sake.. you'd swapped numbers and were each saved in the others phone, you'd never seen it but he always teased you about the cutesy name he had you saved under.

You understood how busy his work could be, and always appreciated any texts you received from him when you knew he was working. Before you went to bed that night, you knew he'd still be knee-deep in dinner service, so you sent him a goodnight and a few heart emojis, nothing like an emoji to remove the tone from a message.

You were on the edge of sleep when you felt your phone buzz, too far gone, you didn't read the message and drifted off.

~

A cold sweat, shaky hands, erratic, ragged breathing woke you, your subconscious forcing you out of your nightmare. Heart in your throat, it felt so real.

Richie.. that was the first thing you were certain of. You needed to hear his voice. Uncaring of the time of night, you called him.

The taunting tone of the connecting call, the ringing sound, all echoed of desperation but you didn't care.

"M'sorry, I know it's late-" you pushed out

"Ey, nah it's nothin', peach." he answered firmly, reassuring you.