Part 10, Choices and Regrets.
5 days later,
"Butt stuff's okay though right?" she asked.
Jon looked at his patient and managed to keep his face from responding too severely, other than a tightening of his lips.
"...What?" he finally responded.
"Like, I wouldn't have got gonorrhea if I had just done anal like he wanted to, right?" she clarified, with genuine confidence.
"N... no, you can get an STI from any type of sex that doesn't involve a condom, even oral sex," Jon explained.
"Fuck! Really? But my last boyfriend said th..." she trailed off as she looked at Jon's face and then sighed. "I guess you'd know. Sorry. You probably think I'm stupid..."
Jon gave a small reassuring smile, "It's alright. Don't worry about it. I get those kinds of misconceptions a lot actually. It's hard to say if that guy was lying or honestly believed it himself." He reached for a pamphlet, "Here, this is a good website you can go to that's got reliable information."
"Thanks," she said with an appreciative smirk.
"So, you said you thought the patch sounded good, as far as birth control?" Jon asked.
"Oh, um, yeah but I mean if I just use condoms all the time now..."
"Well, like I explained, condoms are good for STI prevention, but they're not as good for birth control, even with 'perfect' use. You'd be better off with both." he said, trying not to be too pushy, but hoping she made the right choice.
"Right. Okay yeah. I THINK it'll be covered."
"Just call me back if it's not, and we can switch to something else."
"K. Awesome. Thanks again for all the info. Man, it must be nice just knowing all this stuff. You'd just like, always know what to do, er, what not to do and never have any problems like this."
Jon cleared his throat uncomfortably, "Um, yeah. Anyway, take care."
"Bye," she said cheerfully as she left.
Jon finished his note quickly and then took out his cellphone which had been buzzing earlier in the encounter.
He saw the number and called it back right away.
"Hey, it's Jon Davidson here, I just missed a call from you guys? ...Yep I'll hold."
He nervously tapped his pen on his knee and took a deep breath as he waited.
"Hi, is this Jonathon?" a woman's voice finally answered.
"Yeah, hi."
"It's Kelly here, I'm one of the nurses at the Woodvale Clinic, you were in a couple days ago and got some tests done?"
"Yep," Jon said, feeling the suspense in every part of his body.
"K, well I'm just calling to let you know all the STI tests came back negative. Did you have any questions?"
Jon closed his eyes and gave a silent cheer in his mind. "No, that's great, thank you so much for the call," he said.
"No worries, have a great day."
"You too."
He hung up and sank back in his chair, finally relaxing and feeling like a weight had been lifted. He had been paranoid, thinking back to the drug-fueled orgy that he still couldn't believe he had taken part in.
Before he could think about it further his assistant came in.
"Hey Jon," Roberta said, poking her head in the doorway.
"Hey Roberta, 2 patients left?" Jon said turning back to the computer
"Actually you're in luck, James just left, had to be somewhere quick," Roberta said casually.
Jon frowned, "Oh, I'm only a few minutes behind, am I not?"
Roberta chuckled, "Yeah, don't worry, you're runnin' a tight enough ship, it sounded like some kind of minor emergency. Family thing. He apologized and said he'd rebook."
"Ah. K. Thanks."
"It's convenient for me actually, I gotta run quick after your done. Unless there's anything else you need?"
"Nope, thanks a lot Roberta, as always," he said, still genuinely happy he had a reliable no-nonsense assistant like her.
"Beth came by a few minutes ago wondering when you'd be done, so maybe don't bolt away too quick yourself though," she added.
"Oh, um... yeah okay," he replied, feeling like he wanted to do exactly that.
She read his face, "Jon... It's none of my business and I don't WANT to know what the problem is, but you're a big enough boy to know that very few problems get solved by NOT talking."
He gave a resigned smirk and finally met her eyes again, "Yeah... I know. You can tell her when I'm done."
She gave him an amused look and shook her head, "Oh, to be young again... See ya Monday," she muttered, and walked away.
Jon found his face feeling flushed as he finished the note, considering the drama in his life and thinking, contrary to her comment, that he was far too old for this shit.
They HAD been talking though. The fresh memory of the last time he and Beth saw each other 2 days ago played out in his mind...
...
"
I fucked up okay? And I'm SORRY! I don't know why the details matter so much to you, lets just forgive each other, and at least TRY to move on,
" Beth pleaded through her tears.
"
I AM trying to... to get to the point where maybe we can move on, but it matters WHAT we're sorry for,
" Jon persisted angrily.
"
For... not communicating, like I said, for-
"
"
No you communicated loud and fucking clear, you told me to go home,
"
"
Okay FINE, I wanted to fuck him with or without you are you happy?! Just like YOU wanted to fuck Vienna with or without me, you admitted yourself you kissed her and dropped E, so don't talk to me like I'm some irresponsible child that you're scolding,
"
"
Beth that's NOT what I was implying give me a break, look...
" Jon took a deep breath, "
First of all that does mean something that you admitted that, and yes I fucked up too, I've said I did. Honestly I'm even more pissed at myself than you at this point. But... is what we did at the party, what we did with all of them, is that the kind of thing you WANT?
"
"
...No,
" Beth croaked doubtfully looking away.
"
Jesus Christ, thanks, that was SO reassuring,
" Jon said sarcastically, and shook his head to turn away running his hand through his hair. "
Have you done that type of thing before?
"
She hesitated, and gulped, "
Once yeah. ...oh don't look at me that it's something lots of people do. Lots of MATURE people who love each other and trust each other,
"
"
Oh FUCK OFF, that's not what that was, there was NO trust in anything that w-
"
"
I KNOW. I know what we did wasn't that. I mean in general.
