Page 18 of Stat: Love In Scrubs
“Tomato, tomahto. Same thing, I’m still in the hospital.”
I leaned down and placed a kiss against her wrist.
“I hope you feel better. This wasn’t how I intended for our night to end.”
She smiled up at me. “And how exactly did you see it ending?”
I shrugged. “At least with you being in one piece and wanting to see me for a second date. Shit, all I do is hope for the second one.”
She reached out with her free hand to tip my chin up from looking down at the wrap I was doing on her wrist.
“I would love to do it, again, just maybe next time tell me I didn’t put my shoes on. I think you were trying not to get your ass whooped by a woman.”
I burst into laughter, causing her to join in.
“Yeah, aight.”
We were in the hospital for another twenty minutes so they could discharge her. Then I took her to the convenience store to grab a box of Tylenol until she could fill her prescription in the morning.
It was past midnight by the time we made it back to her place. The medicine had fully kicked in, and I could tell she was exhausted. I helped her to unlock the front door, then carried her upstairs to her bedroom.
Yara’s bedroom matched the warm vibe I got when I first came in. I placed her on her bed, tucking her in. I leaned down and placed a kiss against her temple, then made my way downstairs.
I checked all of her doors to make sure they were locked before heading out of the front door. I said a silent prayer to watch over her. Then thanked God she had one of those electric keypads that locked as long as you clicked the top button.
I waited till I heard the lock engage before hopping back into my truck. I hoped she meant it when she said she would give me a second date because this one was a doozy.
The sun had started to rise and was now filtering light through my curtains. An ache settled in my arm, reminding me of the night before. I shot upright in bed and immediately regretted the fast movement. It was all coming back to me.
The fact that I busted my ass in the bowling alley, then our ER stay, and finally him taking me back home, then tucking me in like I was the most important thing to him. Which had to be a figment of my imagination because I couldn’t hold that level of importance to him.
Especially not to a man who I fucked the first time I met him, then proceeded to be rude to him before finally giving in to a date, then finally going on the date and ruining it. All I had to do was put on those fucking bowling shoes.
To make it all even worse, I was practically out of it with him. Who knows what could have happened with a different man? Iglanced down to notice I still had on the same clothes from the night before. My wrist was wrapped with a box of Tylenol that I was sure I was going to need immediately.
I groaned as I wrestled with the sheets to get out of bed. I went to the bathroom to use it, then struggled to wash my face, and brushed my teeth with one hand. Now that I was semi-fresh, because I definitely needed to hop my ass in the shower. I grabbed my phone from the nightstand to see if I had any missed calls.
One, from my dad, then another from Maria, and finally Darby. My stomach dropped as I looked between the three calls.Not one was from him. I hadn’t had that thought for long before my phone vibrated within my hand with his name big and bright against the screen. My heart seemed to race, and my palms began to moisten as if I hadn’t just dried them before I touched my phone.
I took a deep breath, then released it before answering. “Hello.”
“Good morning, I wanted to call and check in on you. How you feeling?” he asked.
He cleared his throat, letting me know he was just as in foreign territory as I was. The thought alone helped me to relax a bit more. I sat against the edge of my bed and looked down at my wrist.
“I can feel it, that’s for sure. I hope I wasn’t too much trouble to get back home.”
“Nah, of course not. Who knew going bowling would have us up in the damn ER? I probably should have taken your ass to dinner instead.”
I laughed.
“I am so damn embarrassed.”
“Don’t be, shit happens. Have you eaten yet?” he asked.
Wrist hurting and all, but all I wanted to do was be in this man’s presence.
“I haven’t.”
