by Lindsay Becs
I put my hand up in his face. “I’m not doing this with you. Let me wrap up things so I can get home and get ready in time.” I push past him, heading back to the nurse’s station to check out of all my open patient accounts.
“I’ll see you in an hour, Leppy,” he says with a wink, walking past me on his way to the elevator.
My head hits the counter with a thud. “Honey, you better take advantage of that. Uh!” Susan says to me.
“I already have,” I tell her as I roll my head to the side to look at her. Her eyes go wide, and then we both start to laugh.
“You must have done something right for him to come down here looking for you.”
“I don’t know what I’m doing,” I say, turning to leave and shaking my head. Her laughter keeps on going, and I hear it all the way in the locker room.
“Alright, before we leave, I need to tell you some things,” Ollie says, pushing through my front door the second I open it.
“Please, come on in. Make yourself at home.” I hold my hand out to where he’s already sitting on my couch.
“Sorry. I’m freaking out a little now that I’m here and about to take you to meet my family.”
“Look, if you don’t want me to go, it’s OK. I’m a little weirded out to meet them when all we’ve done is screw. Your mom will think I’m such a slut and not good enough for her son, I’m sure.”
“That’s what I need to tell you. I kind of lead you to believe something that isn’t entirely true.”
“It’s not your mom’s birthday?”
“No, that’s true,” he says pulling at his hair.
“Oliver! Spit it out!”
“My mom died a couple years ago.”
“Oh shit… I’m so sorry.”
“It’s fine.” He tries to brush it off, but I can see it still hurts. “I don’t know why I can’t stop thinking about you or why I asked you to go with me tonight, but I know that I do want you with me. Does that even make any sense? I don’t know what I’m saying.”
“Then let’s go.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. Come on. You can tell me about your family on the way there.”
“It’s good we have an hour drive,” he mumbles under his breath as we walk to his car to leave.
On the drive to his hometown, he tells me about his sisters and how his best friend married his mom. It’s like a soap opera but real life. Someone should write a book about that. I let him tell me what he wants to share and keep quiet, taking it all in. He seems close to his sisters, and I love that so much. It’s a side of him I wasn’t expecting. By the time we arrive, I feel somewhat prepared to meet everyone. However, it played out much different than I expected…
He walks right in to the house, like he still lives here, holding my hand and guiding me behind him. We end up in the backyard, where there’s a fire burning.
“Ollie!” a little girl yells and jumps into his arms, making him let go of my hand.
“Hey, Pen. How’s my girl today?”
“I’m great now that you’re here. Daddy! Ollie’s here with a girl! Can we eat the cake now?” she screams past us directed to someone who I’m assuming is inside.
“Penelope! What have I told you about screaming like that?” a man says sternly to her from behind me, making me jump.
I hear Ollie chuckle. “He’s not the one you should be afraid of,” he whispers to me with a wink.
“Oh good, asswipe is here. Can we eat now, Trav?” a girl says from a chair outside, not taking her eyes off her phone in her hands.
“Tate, language!” Travis reprimands, shaking his head. “When you put the phone away we can eat. How about that?”
“Sorry,” she grumbles, pocketing her phone with an eyeroll.
“Nice to see everyone putting on a good front for my guest,” Ollie says as he looks at me and mouths “sorry” as he puts Penny down.
“What’s your name?” Penny asks me.
“I’m Bexley. You can call me Bex, though. You must be Penny?” I ask, crouching down to her level.
“Yes. I’m Ollie’s number-one girl, though, so don’t get any ideas, m’kay?”
“Penny! What the hell?” Ollie asks in surprise.
I smile up at him. “It’s OK. She’s right.” I turn my gaze back to Penny then. “I’d never try to take your spot. Ollie and I are just friends.”
“Do you guys do the sexing?” I can’t hold back the laugh that falls out of my mouth.
“Oh my gosh…” Ollie says, obviously embarrassed. “OK! What’s for dinner? I’m starving.”
“I bet you are…” I hear Tatum say, walking past us with a smirk.
Yep. I think I’ll fit in just fine here.
Chapter 5
Ollie
I bring a girl home for the first time and everyone in my family lives up to their full potential of asshole-ness right out the gate! Awesome. I’m fairly certain Bex is going to leave any second and not give me the time of day ever again.
Travis nudges my shoulder when I go inside to help bring out the pizzas. “This the girl?” he asks with a smirk. Asshole…
“Yeah.”
“If she can get past Penny, I think she’ll be fine,” he laughs. “Relax. This is good.”
“Dude. I’m so fucking nervous, and you bunch of turds don’t help.”
“Ollie, keep it real. Don’t try to impress her or change what this is,” he says, opening his arms to motion to all of us in our weird family dynamic. “I’ve been there. It doesn’t work. Just be honest. If she really likes your ugly face, then you have nothing to worry about. Just have fun and go with it.” He shrugs.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Thanks, Dad.” I slap him on the back.
“Asshole,” he grumbles, walking past me.
I take his advice and for the rest of the evening, we eat, joke around, throw insults at each other, and talk about Mom. I don’t try to hide who I am or what I come from.
Halfway through the night, I take Bex’s hand in mine and she snuggles closer to me. It is the most intimate I think I’ve ever been with a woman in my life. Such a simple thing, yet it’s the first time I’ve held a girl’s hand just because I want to. It feels nice.
Of course, when Bex gets closer to me, so does Penny. That girl. She falls asleep with her head in my lap, staking her claim. I kiss Bex on the cheek and scoop Penny up to carry her to bed.
The booger wakes up when I lay her in bed. “Ollie, will you stay with me?”
“Just for a minute. Scoot over.” She slides her little body over, and I squeeze into her small bed next to her. Kissing her on the head, I run my fingers through her wild hair in an attempt to get her to fall back asleep.
“Are you going to leave me, too?”
“What does that mean, Pen? You know I’ll always be here.”
“Mommy left, and now you have a new girl. I don’t want you to leave me, too.”
“Oh, Penny. Mommy got sick and had to go away, not because she wanted to.”
“I know.” She sniffles.
“And just because I brought Bex here doesn’t mean I won’t be around. You can’t get rid of me that easily, twerp.”
“You’ll always be here?”
“Always. Now get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.” I kiss her forehead and leave her room with my heart hurting for my baby sister.
I close the door to her room, and when I turn, I jump out of my skin when I see Bexley standing there. “Shit! You scared me.”
“I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Are you alright?” I ask when I look at her and see she’s about to cry.
She throws herself at me and crashes her mouth to mine in a powerful kiss. My arms go around her waist, pulling her against me further. We kiss for a while, giving and taking what we need from each other.
“Hey.” I stop, trying to slow down. “Seriously. Are you alright?”
She nods her head. “I heard your conversation with Pen
ny. You are the sweetest brother, Ollie.”
I hitch up my shoulders and let them drop. “I kinda like her.”
“And she adores you.”
“Yeah. What are the other two doing? I’m afraid to ask.”
“Tatum was cleaning up and shooed me away. Travis was in the bathroom.”
I bark out a laugh. “Did we scare you yet?”
“No. I’m glad I came here with you. Can I ask you a question?”
“Of course.” I lean back against the wall and pull her hips against mine, not wanting space between us.
“How did your mom die?”
I take a deep breath and look down. “Cancer. She had and beat breast cancer, but then it came back and spread. She chose quality of life over quantity at the end and refused treatments. I was in school at the time, and she made me stay there. Hardest fucking time of my life.”
“I’m so sorry, Ollie.”
“It is what it is.” I run my hand through my hair pulling on it.
“Is that why you brought me here?” I look at her in confusion. “My mom. After I told you I didn’t care if she died. Is that why you brought me here? To try to change my mind?”
“Are you serious right now?” I stand up straighter, needing space from her. “How can you say that? I would never use my family like that.”
“I’m sorry. I just needed to be sure.”
I turn and head for the stairs, leaving her in the hallway. I reach the kitchen, pull out a beer and chug it down in a few gulps before grabbing a second and doing the same. I’m reaching for a third when I hear her behind me.
“Ollie, stop.”
“Why the fuck should I? I took a leap bringing you here. I don’t do this. I told you that. Then you have the audacity to accuse me of using my dead mother on her fucking birthday. I don’t fucking think so.” I stomp out back, walking away from her again, but she follows me outside.
“Fuck you, Ollie! Is it so hard to believe that I’d think that? After this afternoon and you trying to talk me into something that’s none of your business? Fuck you. I’ll call a cab to take me home.”
I turn around and see her leaving. I let out a growl. “Bex! Wait!” I run to catch her before she goes inside.
“What?” she snaps, stopping to turn around, and I think she could have killed me with the look she threw my way.
I take a deep breath. “There isn’t much in life I take seriously, but my patients’ best interests are at the top of the list. I’m sorry if I overstepped earlier. Normally I wouldn’t, but I felt like I knew you enough that I had to try. I was wrong, though. I’m sorry. I’ll keep my time with your mom professional and not bring you into it unless you’re there. Fair enough?”
She nods and I continue. “My family. No one hurts them. Not even me. They are completely separate from my work. I don’t tell anyone about my mom that doesn’t already know. The fact that I opened up to you and then you accused me of using her to get to you is bullshit. You do that again, and it’s the last time we have words of any kind. That woman was my life. I miss her every damn day, and the fact that I couldn’t help her or save her and I wasn’t there will be the biggest regret of my life. Don’t ever throw that in my face again. Do you understand me?”
She stands still in front of me, wide-eyed, and nods again. “Yes,” she whispers.
I take another deep breath. “Do you really want to go? If so, I’ll call a cab for you. I’m staying, though, because I told Penny I’d be here in the morning.”
“I think it might be for the best.”
I steel my jaw and walk past her to get my phone and call the cab. This night turned to shit.
This is exactly why I don’t do relationships and don’t bring girls around.
Lesson learned.
After putting Bex in a taxi, I go back inside, ignoring all the judging looks from Travis and Tatum.
Happy Birthday, Mom.
I wake up with the mother of all hangovers due to my self-loathing last night. Groaning, I make my way down for some coffee.
“Morning, princess,” Travis says, making scrambled eggs at the stove. “Want to talk about it?”
“Nope.” I pour a cup of coffee and sit at the table.
“You fucked up,” he grumbles out to me as he pours eggs onto plates.
“What did I do? She’s the one who accused me of using Mom to get her to change her mind about her own mom. Fuck that.”
“Ollie, think about it. To her, it probably did look that way.”
“How can you say that, Trav? It’s messed up.”
“Penny! Breakfast!” he yells with a smirk, as he knows he’s hurting my head. Fucker.
“Where’s Bex at?” Penny asks, running into the kitchen with bare feet, her hair wild and wearing her Superman pajamas.
“She left last night.”
“Was it because of me?”
“No, Pen, of course not.”
“Sorry I was mean to her. I was going to pologize to her this morning.”
I smile at her. “I’m sure she knew you were sorry.”
“OK.” She digs into her eggs then, everything else forgotten. I wish life was still that simple and easy.
My head hurts trying to make sense of everything. I get what Travis is saying, but it’s still ridiculous that Bex would think that. Do I give off that much of a douche vibe to people? I grew up being the jock, the class clown, the player, the one everyone could count on, but never the one who used others. That insinuation fucking hurt.
As much as I’d love to actually give this dating thing a try with one chick, I don’t know if Bex and I are a good match. She’s gorgeous and hilarious and can give me a run for my money calling me on my shit, but I guess that’s not enough. I’m just not cut out for this side of girls and relationships.
Chapter 6
Bexley
I cried.
I cried the entire way home from Ollie’s house. Or I suppose, following the clusterfuck that happened after I opened my big fat mouth ruining everything, like usual, I should go back to calling him Dr. Duncan. Why do I do this to myself? Every time someone good comes into my life, I think the worst and ruin it. Oh, that’s right, it’s consequence number 5,783 of being a product of Marla.
I guess it’s a good thing I don’t care about her now; therefore I won’t have a reason to go to the sixth floor of the hospital. Which is three floors above where I work. At the same hospital as the man I can’t stop thinking about. Uuuuugh! I bang my head on my shower wall thinking about everything again before I go into work for the day. I’m not expecting him to come looking for me, and I know I won’t go looking for him. We never did exchange numbers, so that shouldn’t be an issue.
“But I want him!” I whine/cry to myself in the shower. Life… You. Are. Cruel.
I put on my big girl panties, or my boy short undies with little donuts on them, and walk into Highrise like it’s any other day. I’ll do my job, regardless of how crappy the last few days have been as I’ve wallowed. Or how horribly I’m treated by Dr. Parker. I’ve got this. I’m a champion, motherfucker.
“Morning, Susan!” I sing-song, walking to the nurse’s station, ready to start my shift.
“Morning, honey. That sweet doctor left you a note.” She smiles as she hands me a blue sticky note.
Oh shit. I don’t have this…
Bexley,
Sorry about overreacting.
I’ll leave well enough alone.
Thanks for going with me.
I really did like having you there.
Ollie
You. Have. Got. To. Be. Kidding. Me! Whyyyyyy?
I was ready to move on. I was ready to say goodbye to him forever. Now he leaves me a sweet note! Universe? Stop being a little bitch! It’s not nice.
Tucking the note into my pocket, I smile and tell Susan thanks and attempt to get on with my shift. As the day goes on, I read that stupid note a thousand times because it feels like it’s burning a hole in my pocket. Stupi
d blue Post-it.
Now, the question is do I write a note back? Do I not respond and go on as I had intended? Do I go looking for him? Do I crawl under a rock and die?
I’m in the restroom and pull it out to read again, a smile tugging on my lips. I let out a sigh that sends the note floating into the sink next to me, but when I reach for it, it turns the automatic water faucet on. “Shit!” I yell, grabbing my note like it’s gold running down the drain. I hold it under the hand dryer with a little too much care to be considered normal. Holy hell, I need a life.
Shaking my head, I go about the rest of my day attempting to forget about that stupid blue piece of paper still in my pocket.
I’m walking out of a room after cleaning up a kid’s vomit. Gross. I’m headed back to the restroom to wash my hands with bleach when I feel an arm grab mine, pulling me into a supply closet.
“What the fuck!?” I yell to my assailant.
“Shhhh…It’s me, Bex.” Ollie.
Holy hell. I haven’t seen or talked to him in weeks. Weeks! Not since the sticky note. I hadn’t gone to see him or left him a note in return. Instead, I went home and tossed it into a box and decided I’d move on.
Now, he’s here, pulling me into a closet where we’re so close, our chests are against each other and I can smell the citrus and ginger rolling off of him. I close my eyes and inhale. He smells so good. It’s clean and warm and comforting. I wish I could bathe in it forever.
“You’re smelling me again, Leppy.” I can hear the smile in his voice.
“What are you doing here? What are we doing in here?”
“Did you get my note?”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t reach out. Which is fine. I just…” He trails off, and I love the fact that this sexy doctor, who everyone dreams of hooking up with, is at a loss for words with me. In a closet. Thank you, universe.
“You just what?”