He was driving down a long, empty stretch of highway when he saw his phone screen light up. He noticed the smiling speech bubble on his notifications and took his hand off the wheel long enough to pick up his phone. If this was who he thought it was, she was worth it.
He slid his thumb across the screen and opened the app, glancing up every few seconds to make sure he didn't drive his rig off a cliff. He tabbed to his inbox and saw that it was indeed a message from his favorite single lady.
Her name was Hermione, and her profile picture showed her beautiful, shining smile and captivating dark eyes. She was somewhere tropical, probably Florida, and she wore a turquoise bandeau bikini top underneath a gray oversized tank top. Her curls were dancing on the wind and he imagined what it would be like to run his fingers through them while holding this beautiful woman in his arms.
Bookworm79: Shouldn't you be sleeping?
He chuckled out loud and set his phone down long enough to tousle his short, ginger hair. He picked his phone back up and typed out a message.
DragonTamer: Sleeping and driving would be hazardous to my health.
He didn't have to wait long before his phone lit up with her response.
Bookworm79: What's the destination this week asphalt cowboy?
He laughed at the nickname she had given to him the first night they had spoken.
DragonTamer: Somewhere on the West Coast. What's got you up at this hour my bookworm beauty?
Bookworm79: I've just finished the latest book on my reading list and can't sleep. I thought I might check in.
DragonTamer: I'm glad you did. I've missed talking to you.
Bookworm79: Such a charmer. I've missed talking to you too. Anything interesting going on out there in the great, wide somewhere?
DragonTamer: Unless you count my lackluster karaoke skills, not really. Tell me more about this book you finished.
Moments later, he got a response.
Bookworm79: It's a romance. Typical I know but I get so sucked in by the dreamy idealism of a good romance. It's a retelling of the movie You've Got Mail.
DragonTamer: Sounds intriguing.
Bookworm79: It was. Instead of using laptops, they had used an app, similarly to us. She's a struggling single mom, overwhelmed with loneliness after being widowed two years previous. He is a antisocial divorcee who has to come to terms with finding his father in bed with his girlfriend.
He smiled at her description. It reminded him of them. He was twice divorced with no children, and being a truck driver hit the nail on the head as far as being antisocial was concerned. He was by himself for long stretches of time with no one else to occupy his social faculties. Aside from overly dramatic air guitar demonstrations and off-key karaoke to old school power ballads, Charlie Weasley led a solitary life.
According to her bio, she was a never married book shop owner, with no children, plenty of romantic prospects but none who captured her mind the way he did. He wanted to know every microscopic detail that was Hermione Granger. She was an enigma.
Most girls he met and talked to were vapid, shallow and materialistic. They only wanted what he could give them in bed and otherwise. But not her. She probed the deepest recesses of his brain, yearning for the tales of his exploits, and other small details of his everyday life. From his love of nature and animals; cats in particular she noted, to the various truck stops where he parked his trailer each night. She wanted only him.
They spent hours on the phone each night, discussing everything and discussing nothing, often having long pauses in between when they only listened to the heavy breathing of the other. They often watched episodes of Big Bang Theory together, she in her bed and he in his, discussing the episode and their mutual disdain for the character Sheldon Cooper.
Bookworm79: Did I lose you? I'm sorry if it's boring. I shouldn't have asked.
DragonTamer: You are just fine pretty lady. It doesn't bore me, I was just thinking about how it does sound similar to us, with small differences in the minor details.
Bookworm79: Glad to know I don't bore you. How long before you're parked?
DragonTamer: I've got another three hours to go before I can stop.
Bookworm79: Message me then, I'm sure I'll be awake. Wouldn't want you to drive your truck off the road. I'd miss you too much.
She would miss him? That caused a small smile to tweak the left corner of his mouth.
DragonTamer: Talk to you then Beautiful.