Hidden Desires

by Laurie Ames

  “So they never slowed down or stopped at all?” she asked, again, as if seeking further confirmation.

  Allison shook her head, again.

  “Never once. In fact, it sped up even faster after it hit her,” Allison stated, assuredly.

  The police officer seemed a bit perturbed at her statement, but nevertheless thanked her, and left a card. “Please call me asp if you recall or find out anything else. I’ll also be questioning Juanita herself, once she’s awake and in stable condition.”

  Allison remained in the ER waiting room, hoping to hear from the doctor before leaving the hospital. Even though she didn’t’ know this woman, she had felt a remarkable connection with her and wanted to make sure everything was okay. She was beginning to nod off when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She looked up to see Dr. Benson standing beside her.

  “Nurse Manning?” he addressed her in a soft voice. “Ms. Juanita is going to need surgery, but she’s going to be okay. You should go home and get some rest.” He was smiling down at her with kindness and concern in his eyes.

  Allison was so relieved to hear his kind words. “Oh my goodness, I saw the whole accident and it was just so traumatic. I’m glad to hear all is okay.” She finally felt comfortable enough to go home.

  ***

  The next morning, Allison woke up to her alarm clock in a daze. She hadn’t gotten home until nearly 2:30 the night before, and she had another 12-hour shift to work at the hospital. As she showered and dressed for work, she couldn’t help thinking about Juanita. Even though they had never met before last night, she knew she had felt an instant connection with her. She decided to go check on her before her shift started.

  She put on one of her favorite scrubs and pulled her thick, shiny blonde hair back into a tight ponytail. She added an extra coat of lip gloss to her pouty lips and put on some dark eyeliner and mascara to accent her sea green eyes. She checked her appearance in the bedroom mirror and headed out to her car.

  Allison walked up to the reception desk and greeted Lisa, the daytime front desk receptionist.

  “Morning, Lisa,” Allison said, flashing her a warm smile.

  “Morning, Alli. Are you starting early today?” Lisa asked, curiously.

  “No, actually, I wanted to check on that hit and run victim from last night, Juanita Crawford,” Allison replied.

  Lisa clicked on her computer screen and typed in the name. “She’s been moved to room 423,” Lisa informed her.

  “Thanks, Lis,” Allison flashed another smile at Lisa before heading toward the elevators.

  Allison knocked on the door of room 423 and waited to hear an answer.

  “Come in,” a pleasant female voice said from behind the closed door.

  Allison opened the door and entered the small hospital room. Her eyes lit up when she saw Juanita sitting in her hospital bed, finishing the last bite of a meal. She had a bandage wrapped around her head and her left arm was in a cast. She had a cast around the bottom of her right leg and there were a few scratches and bruises on her face, but other than that, she looked much better than the night before, lying motionless in the middle of the street.

  “Wow, you look much better!” Allison exclaimed as she closed the hospital room door and walked toward the bed to get a closer look. Juanita smiled when she saw it was Allison, flashing a lovely set of pearly white teeth.

  As Allison stepped closer, she was surprised to see so much visible beauty behind Juanita’s facial injuries. She had a creamy caramel-colored complexion and the most beautiful pair of hazel and honey eyes that Allison had ever seen. Her long, tousled dark hair flowed loosely around her face, and was neatly parted in the middle. She was a beautiful young black woman, indeed, and Allison was smitten with her immediately.

  “Thank you, Allison,” Juanita replied. Allison was surprised that she remembered her name. She wasn’t quite sure how conscious Juanita had been the night before, and she was flattered that this lovely woman had remembered her at all. Allison wrapped an arm around her shoulders and softly pulled her close, gently rubbing her arm. Juanita sunk into the warmth of her side, appreciative of the simple gesture. Her touch somehow made the room warmer, her future within its walls seemed less bleak.

  “How are you feeling?” Allison asked, taking a seat in the chair next to the bed.

  Juanita looked over at her with a weary looking, yet happy smile on her sweet brown face. Allison couldn’t help but notice how smooth her skin looked, even with the bruises and scratches. She tried hard not to stare too intensively, but the thought of caressing Juanita’s lovely face was racing through her mind.

  “I’m pretty sore and a little tired, but I’m doing pretty well, nonetheless,” Juanita replied, and then reached over with her free arm, taking Allison’s hand into her own. “Thanks to you.” She looked deep into Allison’s emerald-green eyes as she spoke.

  Just then, there was a knock on the hospital room door, and when it opened, Allison heard the voice of a woman as she entered.

  “Hello-o,” she crooned in a singsong tone of voice. “Oh, Nita, honey, how are you?” A tall, lithe woman with fiery red hair entered the room and quickly headed over to Juanita’s bed. Juanita looked very surprised to see her, but Allison could tell she clearly recognized her. Allison quickly pulled her hand away from Juanita, as if intimidated by the presence of the strange, redheaded woman.

  The woman went over to Juanita’s right side and embraced her in what looked like an emotional half-hug. Juanita didn’t smile, nor did she return the woman’s embrace; in fact, she looked a little bit distressed with the woman’s behaviour.

  “Elaine?” Juanita looked at the woman and then glanced over at Allison. “Wh-what are you doing here?”

  The woman pulled back and looked at Juanita’s bandaged face.

  “I’ve been so worried! I came as soon as I heard!”

  “How did you know I was here?” Juanita asked, her voice full of concern.

  “Why, your mother called me, honey,” the woman replied. She leaned down and kissed Juanita softly, affectionately on the mouth.

  Allison looked away quickly and stood up to leave.

  “I’m gonna…go, now,” Allison said politely.

  “No, you don’t have to go,” Juanita told her.

  “No, really, I’m—I’m just really glad you’re okay,” she said, looking into Juanita’s beautiful eyes and forcing a smile as she spoke. “I have to go start my shift, anyway.”

  She nodded at Juanita, and then glanced over at Elaine before turning to leave the hospital room.

  Chapter 3: Visiting Juanita

  ______________________

  Allison still had half an hour before the start of her shift but had felt out of place when “Elaine” suddenly showed up. Juanita and herself were “having a moment” before that cagey woman arrived out of the blue and ruined it.

  Who was this Elaine character? At least now, though, it was evident to Allison that Juanita was either lesbian or bisexual. That much, Allison knew for sure. She could tell by the way that Elaine had interacted with her—the emotional embrace, the amorous kiss on the lips. Was Elaine her girlfriend? An ex-girlfriend? The show of affection was a bit too personal for her to have simply been a family member or platonic friend. Allison didn’t know why, but it bothered her. She knew she had a crush on Juanita, but she was no longer sure whether she should act on it. It was obvious that Juanita and Elaine had a relationship if Juanita’s mother had called Elaine about the accident.

  All throughout her shift, Allison found it difficult to concentrate. She wanted to go back and see Juanita again, but didn’t want another encounter with that Elaine character. Being that she was an emergency room nurse, there was no way she could be scheduled to work on the fourth floor, the floor where Juanita was recovering. But she knew she had to see Juanita again. She hadn’t felt a strong connection like that with anyone since Sara.

  During her lunchbreak, Allison called up to Juanita’s room. She smiled
when Juanita answered in a sweet voice.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi, Juanita. It’s Allison. I was just calling to check in on you and see if you, uh…needed anything. Are they taking good care of you up there?”

  “Allison, hi!” Juanita sounded happy to hear from her. “You left so abruptly earlier. I was really happy to see you again. I never got the chance to thank you properly.”

  “Um, yeah. Sorry—I…uh, it got a little crowded in there and I…uh, didn’t want to impose…”

  “Hey listen, they’re about to take me downstairs for some kind of test. But it would be great if you could come visit me again tomorrow,” Juanita said.

  “Oh? Well, I’m actually off tomorrow, so…”

  “Great! I’ll see you then.”

  ***

  Allison woke up Wednesday morning feeling excited. She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Juanita since the night of the accident. But something wasn’t sitting right with her. She truly believed that whomever had hit her with that car had done so on purpose. She wondered if Juanita felt the same way.

  This time, when she approached Juanita’s hospital room door, it was open. She walked in slowly, peeking around and listening to see if she heard Elaine’s voice.

  “Knock, knock,” Allison said cheerily, as she entered the small room.

  “Allison!” Juanita’s voice greeted her from over near the bed.

  “Hey!” Allison said, excitedly. She was both pleased and relieved to see that Juanita was alone. She was also surprised to see that she was sitting up on her own, and instead of the hospital gown, she was wearing a shiny pink robe. Her bandage was gone and had been replaced by a small butterfly adhesive. Even her scratches and bruises seemed less noticeable than the day before. Juanita looked as if she was glowing.

  “I’m glad you came,” Juanita said with a warm smile. She held out her arms, inviting Allison in for a hug.

  Allison approached her cautiously, not wanting to hug her too hard, but was glad for the opportunity to tenderly embrace the pretty hazel-eyed beauty. She held Juanita’s slender body gently, and intimately inhaled the sweet aroma of her coconut-scented hair and her fruity-smelling perfume spray.

  “Wow! You look great!” Allison commented as she stood back to admire Juanita’s appearance.

  “Thanks, so do you, by the way,” Juanita replied, sitting down on the edge of the hospital bed. “You did your hair differently. It looks really nice down around your face like that.”

  Allison looked down at the floor, shyly, feeling her cheeks becoming warm. “Thanks,” she said softly, smiling bashfully. She wondered what it was about this woman that made her feel like a young schoolgirl with a huge crush.

  “Sooo, I’ve got some good news! They’re letting me go home in a couple days,” Juanita stated happily.

  “Oh, really? That—is wonderful!” Allison replied, though deep down, she was feeling somewhat disappointed. She and Juanita hadn’t even so much as exchanged numbers or anything, so Allison wouldn’t know how to find her after she was discharged.

  “Yes, I’m so relieved,” Juanita said merrily.

  “Are you feeling well enough to go home? I mean, do you—will you be okay at home? Do you have someone to help you?” Allison asked, tripping over her words as she spoke. She wondered if Juanita lived alone but was too nervous to ask.

  “Yeah, I’ll be fine. My mom is going to stay with me until I’m fully recovered,” Juanita replied.

  “Oh ok, that’s good,” Allison said meekly.

  “Anyway, I never got the chance to thank you properly for saving my life,” Juanita told her.

  “Oh, no! I was just doing my job,” Allison said, looking down at the floor again.

  “Yeah right, just doing your job? So, you stay with every injured person you see and ride with them to the hospital in the back of the ambulance?” Juanita was smirking playfully at Allison, who was finding it hard to look her in the face.

  “I—I don’t know what to say,” Allison replied, glancing up at Juanita’s piercing eyes.

  “Just say you’ll let me thank you properly by taking you out to dinner as soon as I’m able to get around,” Juanita said, reaching out for Allison’s hand. She was holding something small and trying to give it to Allison.

  “Oh, no—you don’t have to do th—“

  “I want to,” Juanita replied, interrupting her before she could complete her statement. She placed a small card into Allison’s hand as she looked her in the eyes and held her gaze firmly. Allison felt like she could melt right where she stood. Juanita’s lips looked so soft, plump, and perfect that Allison felt an urge to just lean in and kiss her right there.

  Just then, a woman’s voice interrupted their moment.

  “Hello-o!” A thin, pretty, brown-skinned, middle-aged woman entered the room with a huge smile on her face. She looked like an older version of Juanita. Allison knew right away that she had to be Juanita’s mother.

  “Hey, mom!” Juanita looked up and smiled at her mother as she approached the bed.

  “How’s my baby girl?” the woman asked as she planted a kiss on Juanita’s cheek.

  “I’m fine, ma,” Juanita replied. She nodded toward Allison. “Mom, this is Allison, the wonderful woman who saved my life.” Allison looked down at her hands, feeling bashful again. She waved at the woman and forced a nervous smile.

  “Oh my! It was you!” The woman hurried over and grabbed Allison, wrapping her arms around her in a big emotional hug. “Thank you so much for saving my baby girl! Bless your pretty little heart!” Allison hugged her back, feeling speechless.

  “It’s very nice to meet you, Ms..?” Allison asked, respectfully.

  “Oh, call me Janet,” Juanita’s mother insisted.

  “Well, it’s very nice to meet you, Ms. Janet,” Allison replied. She looked over at Juanita, who looked as if she was feeling a little bit uneasy. “I, uh…was actually just about to leave, though. I just wanted to check in on Juanita, to make sure she was okay.”

  “Oh, how sweet of you, young lady,” Janet replied with a smile.

  “So, I’ll see you both later, then,” Allison said timidly, turning to head out of the door.

  Juanita waved at her as she left and flashed her a bright, vivid smile.

  Once out in the hallway, Allison looked down at the small card that Juanita had slipped into her hand. It read:

  Juanita Crawford

  Owner/Manager: Crawford’s Clothing Emporium

  “The Premier Choice in Upscale Attire”

  JCrawford@crawfordsclothing.net

  Store: (505) 555-6343

  She turned the card over and saw that Juanita had written her cell phone number on the back of it. Allison grinned smugly as she stuck the card into her pocket.

  Chapter 4: Home from the Hospital

  _____________________________

  A few days later, Allison was listening to some of her favorite music while folding laundry, when her cell phone rang. She recognized the number from the hospital. She was hoping that they weren’t calling her in to cover a shift. She sighed hopefully as she answered.

  “Hello?” she said solemnly.

  “Hello, Allison, it’s Sherry from the Fourth Wing.”

  “Hi Sherry, what’s up? Did someone call off?” Allison inquired.

  “No, actually, um…there’s a patient here who wants to speak with you. I wasn’t at liberty to give out your number, but I told her I’d call you myself so that she could speak to you.”

  Allison’s eyes lit up. She knew that it could only be one person.

  “No problem. Thanks, Sherry. Go ahead and put her on,” Allison said vibrantly.

  “Hello, Allison?” It was Juanita’s voice and she sounded concerned.

  “Hey, Juanita! What’s up? Is everything okay?” Allison asked inquisitively.

  “Yes, everything’s fine. Listen, I really hate to ask this because you’ve already done so much, but…uh…My mom got called in
to mandatory work overtime today and she can’t pick me up. I was just wondering if it wouldn’t be too much trouble…if you could…”

  “No, no, it’s no problem at all,” Allison replied enthusiastically, cutting her off in mid-sentence. “I’ll be right there.”

  “Oh, thank you, Allison. Thank you so much!” Juanita replied thankfully.

  ***

  Juanita was patiently waiting at the hospital exit in a wheelchair when Allison arrived. She still had casts on her right leg and lower left arm, but her face was now bandage-free. She looked radiant as she smiled at Allison, and Allison happily smiled back at her. One of the nurse’s aides was standing behind her and she waved when she saw Allison.