Chapter 14 - "A pleasure to meet you, Dick."
When Clarissa woke up from her trance, she was feeling quite energetic, with a tremendous desire to talk about everything and nothing as if she would not get another chance to do so. The frenzy was bizarre, perhaps somewhat inappropriate, yet she enjoyed it. While under its effects, there was no pain, no ill tidings, no stormy waves to rock her boat. It was great.
Despite the pleasure she was experiencing, reality sunk in faster than expected, the blissful ripples of her altered state of mind fading away. The mother's intuition that something was amiss yet again spoke louder than any dreamy anticipation but this time there was nothing she could do except let the doctors tend to her wound and hope for the best. Having been under the knife only once over three decades ago, she had not yet discovered the general grogginess of a powerful anesthesia but she was about to. As she breathed in the syrupy scent, her eyes rolled backwards and she imagined she was dropping into hypnosis once more. She dreamt of latex catsuits the whole time.
Meanwhile, Angela sat inside a bathroom stall, door closed, shame as visible in her eyes as it was in her pants. Jonah was already on his way back to her place to remedy the situation but, until then, she too was forced to remain still. It wasn't an ideal form of relaxation, yet it had to do. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and then exhaled, projecting her worries away.
"This horrible day will soon be over," she muttered, repeating these seven words seven times in a row as if they were a mantra. When the first sequence was over, she repeated the process, each new breath making her more at ease. Perfect Zen was unattainable in a place dominated by acrid smells so she settled for fifty percent, the midway point between everything that could go wrong and all the beautiful things still waiting in store. "How I recovered some of my balance in a hospital bathroom would make a perfect title for a Psychology article," she laughed.
As for Nicholas, he wasn't laughing, though he wasn't sad either. He remained in a pensive state, thinking about her and all the things he could have and should have said to get her attention, despite the awkward situation. A sensitive soul through and through - which was part of the reason he had chosen his line of work - his adventures with the opposite gender were few because his charms rarely hit the mark. Hitting on a woman while she was tending to her injured mother qualified as both dumb and inappropriate and yet he couldn't help himself. She was the mystery he desperately wanted to unravel yet another one was about to enter his life.
"She's really something, isn't it?" Gail inquired, appearing next to him as if she were a ghost.
"Excuse me?" He looked her way, eyes flinching involuntarily when he noticed her battered up face.
"I'm talking about Angela. I noticed the way you were looking at her now. Men do that all the time, no reason to be flustered," she teased.
"You know Angela?" Nick smiled, eyes twinkling again.
"If I know her?" She chuckled, left hand rubbing his manly shoulder. He was cute. Not as cute as Jonah, Trent, or half a dozen other guys she had enchanted over the years but cute nonetheless. "I'd say yes considering we're practically BFFs and all."
"Really?"
"Yep, and I bet now you want to know more, right?"
"As a matter of fact..."
"I knew it!" She gave him the most genuine fake smile of her life. "I'm Gail."
"Nick," he shook her hand, surprised at how strong it was despite her petite stature.
"A pleasure to meet you, Dick," she eyed him from top to bottom, emphasizing the D so he wouldn't believe it was unintentional. Nicholas let go of her hand and blushed a little. Being on the receiving end of an unexpected flirt was both good and weird.
"It's Nick," he mumbled, wondering why he had done that instead of smiling back.
"You don't look like a Nick."
"I hope you're not saying I look like a dick then."
"Oh no," she circled him, "but it's fun to tease, don't you agree?"
"Yes, it is," he concurred though he couldn't take his eyes off her wounds. They direly needed tending, but she didn't seem worried about it at all.
She pointed at her face, mimicking the fake smile from before with equal success. "You're wondering how this happened, right?"
"It is looking rather nasty..."
"It looks worse than it is. Would you believe it if I told you I ran into a door?"
"That must have been one vicious door then," he tried to laugh.
"It was but you should have seen what I did to it in retaliation."
"You need to..."
"... have things checked out, I know, but I'm not considered an urgent case so I'm playing the waiting game. Unless you want to help a girl out like a good bo... I mean, paramedic."
"Why me, Gail?"
"Because of Angela, obviously. It's easy to tell you're interested in her and, like I said, we're practically best friends so if you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. I have a feeling she rejected you just now. I can help you make sure she doesn't do it again. Interested?"
"And if I am?"
"Then you and I can become best friends, too. Wouldn't that be great?"
Nick didn't know what to think of this strange woman happily playing with his emotions and stood in awe, contemplating his options. His natural instincts were telling him to help her out even without the prospect of gaining further insight on his newest crush, yet everything about the way Gail talked and moved felt... off. Being too friendly from the get-go is often a warning sign, and he had ignored those on multiple occasions in the past with devastating consequences for his heart and mind. Perhaps it would be wise to avoid any sudden familiarity that could lead down that path again.
"You seem like a nice person and all but I'm exhausted. I know many people in the hospital though. I'm sure I can convince one to look into that," he mumbled.
Gail resented his attempt to escape, insinuating herself against him even further. Her breasts brushed against his chest, hair tickling his chin. He reacted as expected, surprise intertwined with unwanted yet undeniable arousal. An old 80s movie had a character known as Nick, the Dick. From what she could tell, he would have been perfect for the role if he were born back then. "No buts, please. I promise I'll make you worth your while, Nick," she insisted.