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“No, I don’t think so, but thank you,” I reply as Nick answers his cell and steps out of the room.
“Good. We’ll get the discharge process started then. Someone will be in to go over the rest of the instructions with you as soon as possible,” the physician says before heading off to see his next patient.
“He seems really nice. Do you work with him often?” I ask Allie, who’s just finished her documentation on the computer.
“Not as often as I’d like. He’s an absolute gem, though, and in my opinion, one of the best physicians in the joint,” Allie states, lowering her voice. “So much better than some of those hotshots who just got out of school.”
“Probably because he’s not hitting on you or asking you out every chance he gets like the others,” I remark, sliding into my pants as we talk.
She squints her eyes at me, but then shrugs. “Perhaps.”
“You do know it’s perfectly normal for a guy who likes a girl to hit on her a little? I mean, how else are they going to get your attention? Better than the female monkey’s way of flirting. She throws rocks at the males she’s interested in,” I mention, turning to ditch the ugly hospital garb and put my bra and shirt back on before turning to face her.
She cracks a smile at that. “Hmm. Well, before I get any more of a lesson in animal mating rituals, why don’t I finish a couple things in the nurse’s station? I’ll let the others know I’m leaving after that. Do you mind if we stop for takeout on the way home? I haven’t eaten since before I started my shift, and I’m absolutely famished.”
“Of course not. Didn’t you bring something with you?”
She shrugs. “It’s dragon noodle day. I was planning to eat at the cafeteria, but all hell broke loose and none of us got off the floor,” Allie responds, rubbing her belly before heading out the door to finish whatever tasks she needs to complete.
I’ve barely finished brushing my hair and touching up my lipstick when there’s a light rap on the door.
“Come in,” I answer, placing the discarded gown on the bed and slipping into my shoes.
Nick walks into the ER exam room. “Hey, how’d I do with Allie? I swear my eyes never even glanced at her when she and the doc came in! Not even one brief look,” he states.
I can’t help grinning at his humor. “Gave her the old cold shoulder, huh?”
Nick shrugs, still smiling. “I met her on the way back in. She won’t be too long. I’ll follow you ladies home.”
“That’s certainly not necessary. I appreciate that you were there when I went off the road, but Allie drove her car, so it won’t take us long to get home. I’m sure you have a million other things to do besides take care of me, like maybe sleep, perhaps, for one.”
“Sleep? What’s that?” Nick retorts, laughing. “Seriously, though. I’ll follow you both. I’m not going to get any of that sleep you talk about until I let Sheldon know that you’re safely at home,” he states, his bright blue eyes shining with mischief.
My cheeks heat at the mention of Sheldon and the thought that he may be worried about me. “Have you heard from him since, well, since he texted me last?” I ask.
“Constantly! He’s a damn pain in my ass tonight, but you didn’t hear that from me,” Nick replies, guiding me out of the hospital room as Allie saunters down the hall and joins us.
Allieand I are both in our pajamas after being followed home by Nick and given the third degree about keeping our doors locked before he told us goodnight. We’ve just started to make a dent in the mound of Pad Thai we’ve dished onto our plates. It may not be the dragon noodles she was hankering for earlier, but it’s a close second in Allie’s opinion, and her plate is piled high as if to convey that point. My cell dings with a message as she digs in with zeal.
Sheldon: Nick tells me you’re home. Lock the doors. Sleep well.
I read and then reread his message, contemplating a response. Sheldon’s message seems so abrupt and curt, but he reached out to me in the middle of whatever’s going on in his life, and there’s that. I twirl noodles around my fork, and Allie laughs out loud.
“You don’t eat it like spaghetti.” Laughing, she hands me a set of chopsticks, which in my twenty-three years I have yet to master. “Who’s the text from? The mystery man? You still haven’t given me all the details. I didn’t want to ask you while Mr. Security Agent was lurking in the corner, but now you seriously need to spill!” Allie demands, gathering her long dark hair to one side of her shoulder before she shovels more noodles into her mouth.
“There’s really nothing to tell.”
Allie narrows her eyes and shakes a half full chopstick of noodles at me, chewing those hastily before swallowing. “Oh no you don’t! It’s the best friend’s right to hear every last bit of juicy gossip. I’m enforcing that right!” she retorts, taking a sip from the purple and gray water bottle that says, “Take Charge,” and is never far from her reach.
As a long-distance runner, Allie not only takes charge on the track, but in her job as well. In the ER, people’s lives depend on her every quick action, but she seems to apply that intensity to every aspect of her life. There is no way I’m getting out of giving her some juicy little tidbit.
I take a bite of noodles and observe my friend. Allie’s eyes are still narrowed at me, but her lips are curved in a smile. My closest friend since the age of fifteen is no stranger to my stall tactics, but she doesn’t know everything. Some things are just better left unexpressed, and too personal and painful to share. Allie patiently waits, making a show of tapping her well-trimmed nails on the coffee table, while I chew as slow as possible, trying to rewind the chaos of the day. Nothing I say is going to make me sound like less of an idiot for reading too much into Sheldon protecting me. I swallow as Allie glances at her fitness watch. Time is up, and I know it.
“Fine! It’s from him. Sheldon just wanted to let me know that he knew I was at home safe and told me to lock the doors. It’s his job, Allie. A security guard is bound to be concerned about safety. There’s nothing to Sheldon’s text; he’s just doing what he always does: protect.”
She narrows her eyes at me. “Which is exactly why he decides you need to fix Katarina Prestian’s hair instead of millions of other people in the world, and then has his friend hang out and protect you all night? Yeah, sounds like his job to me.”
“Whoa, nothing’s really going on. Just a little interest on my part, that’s all. And his friend’s name is Nick, and by the way, you were totally rude to him tonight, but we’ll get to that in a few minutes. Sheldon had Nick drop my car back off to me this afternoon instead of doing it himself. Fairly sure it was a convenient brush off until Nick got caught up in my accident.”
