Page 60 of Pyg

“Apart from the headache, how are you feeling?” Alice took her usual seat.

George touched his fingers to the stitched gash above his eye. “Everything is still fuzzy… and I feel so tired all the time, even though I’ve never slept so well.”

“That’ll be the sedatives. Ash — I mean, Doctor Khurana, said you’ve been getting really agitated, so they’ve been trying to help you with that. Do you know what happened?”

George frowned and breathed heavily through his nose. “I can’t really remember. I’m just grateful you stopped to help a stranger. Only a particular type of person does that.”

Alice smiled. “I’d like to hope someone would do the same for me.”

“And you’ve kept coming by. I haven’t always been fully conscious, but I knew when you’d been here. Although, if we’re honest, I don’t think it’s been entirely for my benefit.” George raised an eyebrow and the corners of his chapped lips lifted.

“I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.” Alice felt her cheeks flush, but she couldn’t suppress her smile.

“A certain doctor?”

Alice rolled her eyes.

“Before my recent retirement, I was a science teacher, which means I know chemistry when I see it.”

“Bloody hell. You’ve been far more conscious than you’ve been letting on. I only met her on Friday. We’re just friends.” Alice laughed and reached for a grape.

“You only met me on Friday, too, but here we are. Me in my pyjamas and you eating my grapes.”

“Tasty grapes.” Alice plucked another and popped it between her teeth as she relaxed into the chair.

“So?”

“So, what?”

“Doctor K.?” George said with an incredulous nod.

“You don’t quit, do you? We’re friends, I told you. Plus, I’ve literally just ended something long-term, and I think I should take a little time to?—”

“Ah yes, would this ‘something long-term’ happen to be ‘fucking Fran’?”

Alice’s stomach lurched. “How do you know about Fran?”

George chuckled. “You were muttering away to yourself the whole car journey here.”

“Oh, so you were awake then?”

“Barely, but enough to hear you twittering on.”

“Let’s say you caught me at a bad moment.”

George placed a hand on his chest. “Bend when you can, snap when you have to.”

“Did you get that from a fortune cookie?”

“No, Taylor Swift.”

Alice giggled. “I wouldn’t have had you down as a Swiftie, George.”

Amusement shone through his tired eyes. “She’s quite the modern-day philosopher.”

“George, you’re awake!” Ash’s surprised voice came from the doorway.

“Speak of the devil,” he said.

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