I shook my head. “I started middle school the year after you graduated high school. You probably don’t remember me.”
He looked at me harder, straining to figure out who I was. “It’s not a very big town. We probably crossed paths at some point.”
“Actually, I know we did,” I laughed awkwardly. “My brother played on the lacrosse team with you.”
“Really? What’s his name?”
“Max. He’s a few years older than me, he was a freshman when you were a senior.”
“Oh, yeah, I remember him.” Damon nodded. “What’s he doing now?”
“He’s in Physical Therapy school,” I replied, pushing a strand of hair behind my ear. “My dad was a physician,” I said, trying to steer the conversation back toward the original topic.
“That sounds vaguely familiar,” he said.
Though, I wondered if he was only acting to appease me. I never ran in his circles in our small city. My initial reaction was to feel a little embarrassed that he never noticed me, but then I was truly relieved. I had changed considerably over the years and I didn’t want him to remember the old, geeky girl I used to be.
When I was a kid, my poor mother tried to help me, teaching me how to dress fashionably and style my hair. She even tried to show me a natural way to use makeup, rather than the smears of blue eye shadow I drew on my eyes for special events. While I didn’t listen to her and was often annoyed when she tried to tell me how to groom myself, I realized now that she was doing it out of a place of kindness. Young girls were incredibly mean, and I occasionally suffered the mocking. I was an awkward kid, and no amount of primping would have helped me.
I was a gangly young woman around the time Damon was gearing up to leave our community. I really didn’t grow into my body until I was halfway through high school. My limbs stopped growing at an alarming rate and I gained control over them. I learned to walk without tripping and falling right on my face. I even tried out for sports teams and made a few.
And, eventually, I figured out how to style myself. I swapped too-short jeans for something that showed my new curves a little better, and cut and dyed my hair into an actual style. I began wearing light makeup and took a little more time with my appearance. I still wasn’t spending hours in front of the mirror, but I could apply my foundation and mascara in under five minutes.
My geeky personality went beyond my looks. I had always been a bookworm and spent more time in the library during the summer than the pool. Instead of going to horse camp in the summer with the other girls in my grade, I went to a camp for the gifted and talented and took math and science classes for fun. Instead of playing soccer and softball on weekends, I spent looking at specimen under my microscope. When I asked my mom why she allowed me to be such a little weirdo, she said that she just wanted me to be happy, so she supported whatever it was that I wanted to be. I guess I could appreciate that. At least she had my brother to take to his sports events.
And, over time, I became what I would consider ‘normal’. I still wasn’t popular by any means, but at least I wasn’t one of the weird kids. I wasn’t invited to any of the cool kids’ parties, but I also didn’t get busted for alcohol, ruining my chances to get into a good school. In the end, things worked out for me. I’m just glad I could talk to Damon Rye now, and not have him remember me.
“Have you been back recently?” he asked. “It’s been years since I’ve been back there. My mom sold the house a few years ago, so there’s not really any reason for me to go to Hazelwood. I’ve always liked the town, though.”
“I was back just a few months ago,” I replied. “It’s the same as it ever was. I guess I didn’t realize that your parents moved.”
He gave a terse grin. “Well, my parents split up years ago. My dad bought a place up here and a few other places around the country when they split. My mom got remarried a few years ago and sold the place. She didn’t want to live in the same house that her first marriage failed in. I guess I don’t blame her.”
“No, I don’t either,” I said quickly. I guess that piece of gossip hadn’t reached me. I always had memories of riding my little scooter down the street and marveling at their big house. We lived in the same neighborhood, but we were by no means that rich.
“Do you know if kids still hang out at the parking lot beside the baseball fields?” he asked, a fond memory casting a glow over his face.
I blinked. “I didn’t know that was a thing.”
“Yes, you do.” He chuckled. “That was the go-to spot for all sorts of shenanigans. I had my first beer there. I think that’s also where I made out with a girl for the first time.”
“I wouldn’t know,” I said quietly. “I guess I hung out with a different kind of crowd.”
He looked at my face for another moment, a faint smile on his lips. “I haven’t spoken to anyone from Hazelwood in a while. I was just so eager to get out on my own that I never really stopped to look back. Now that I think about it, I had a really good childhood there.”
“Me too,” I replied, though I was only partially sincere. By no means did I have a bad childhood, but I had a feeling that his was much better than mine.
“I really want to talk about home, but I have a surgery scheduled for later this morning,” he said, checking his watch. He kind of swayed in place, as if he were about to leave, but something was keeping him fixed in place.
“Oh, go ahead,” I said breathlessly. “I didn’t mean to keep you from your patients.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “Can we continue this conversation, though?”
“Sure,” I said, completely caught off guard by his interest in speaking with me. “Tomorrow morning?”
“How about tonight? Can we meet up for a quick drink after you finish here?”
“Really?” I asked.
“Why?” He frowned. “Do you not go out for drinks with the other doctors?”
“I don’t, but I think I can make an exception,” I replied coyly.
“Good. How about eight o’clock at Mercury?”
“Sounds good,” I replied, trying to remain calm and casual. I was completely out of my league, but he didn’t need to know that.
He flashed me a smile then picked up his belongings and left. I remained in the conference room for a few more seconds, completely shocked that our little conversation had gone so well. I was absolutely sure I was going to gush over how much I admired him, only for me to embarrass myself. I mean, I could still totally embarrass myself, but at least he knew my name and wanted to talk to me a little more. Maybe, if I played my cards right, I could use him as a reference in the future when I’m ready to look for my own hospital to work in. Maybe, he would allow me to use him as a mentor as I worked through my residency over the next three years.
I glanced down at my phone. I had minutes before I had to be on the floor doing my rounds. I couldn’t be late, that would be a black mark if ever there was one and I didn’t want to be labeled the late one!
I was so happy to get to have Damon Rye as my teaching doctor here at CUIMC. I hadn’t even thought it was possible to get him, but someone up above was watching over me. I now had an in with Dr. Damon Rye, and I couldn’t do anything to mess it up. My future was on the line. My co-interns would have killed to get some more one-on-one time with youngest surgeon in the state.
I wasn’t sure how I managed to pull it off, but I was thrilled. The geeky girl from Hazelwood wouldn’t have cared much for getting dolled up and having drinks with a big-shot surgeon, but she would have been proud of me for doing whatever I needed to do to follow my dreams. Even then, I one day wanted to make my father proud. While he probably didn’t want to see me with a player like Damon Rye, he was still a respected surgeon, and he could make or break my future if he really wanted to. I just hoped I could give him a good enough impression that he would decide to help me out. With his influence and both our brains we could be a force to be reckoned with.
I pulled on my long
er white coat that designated me a resident doctor and picked up the list of patients I was to see. I was right on time as I knocked on Mrs. Attwood’s door. “Good morning, Mrs. Attwood. How are you feeling this morning?” I gave her a smile.
Chapter 3
Olivia
The second I got back to my suite after my hours at the hospital, I shut the door behind me, and started squealing. I didn’t even mean to do it— it was completely involuntary. I couldn’t remember the last time I had been this excited. It was probably the night the last Harry Potter book was released in stores or when I found out that I was accepted into the residency program at CUIMC. This was something that was going to make a lasting impression on my life— I just didn’t know to what extent it would change me.
My roommate stuck her head out of her bedroom and gave me a quizzical look. “What’s wrong?” Carol asked.
I jumped, not realizing that she was home. “Nothing,” I gasped. “Something really strange happened in my session before rounds this morning. I don’t know how to feel about it yet.”
“Isn’t that the one with Dr. Rye?” she questioned. “Did he do something?”
She seemed very suspicious of the surgeon. I hadn’t told her much about who was the teaching doctor, so I wasn’t sure where all of this was coming from.
“Well, yes. I introduced myself to Dr. Rye after our session with him this morning was over,” I said, feeling my face get warm again. “We’re from the same town, so we started to talk about home. He had to go, but wants to continue our conversation. Carol, Dr. Rye asked me to get a drink with him tonight!”
I was elated, but she didn’t seem convinced. However, she did seem somewhat amused.
“Seriously?” she asked.
“I was pretty surprised, too.” I laughed. “Is it wrong that I’m kind of excited to go? I mean, I’m freaking out, I’m so nervous. But, I think this could be really good for me.”
“How so?” she asked. “Are you going to hook up with him?”
My eyes widened. “I wasn’t planning on it. I was kind of hoping that he’d be able to mentor me and perhaps get me on as a surgeon in the future with CUIMC or one of the other hospitals.”
She let out a dry guffaw. “You’re so naïve. It’s actually kind of cute.”
I frowned. “Yeah?”
“Sit down,” she said, pointing me toward the couch.
I plopped down on the sofa and she sat in the recliner, tucking her feet underneath her thighs.
“What do you really know about Dr. Damon Rye?” she asked.
“A fair amount,” I said. “I’m from the same town. I know that he was a big deal in high school, but I was middle school at the time. He used to have massive parties when his parents were out of town, even though all the kids were older than him, he was really popular and well liked. I remember being able to hear the music from my house.”
“And what else?” she asked.
“Well, he’s making quite a name for himself in the medical field,” I said. “He’s only four years older than us, and he’s made top surgeon at CUIMC and is regarded as the top in the field. I’ve read a few interviews that he’s done for different papers and magazines. He really knows his stuff. He’s a lot smarter than well, everyone, I guess. I mean he did graduate high school at sixteen, and college at nineteen. Med school by twenty-one, and he’s been the leading surgeon on the CUIMC staff for the last three years.”
“Okay, so you know about his personal life way back then, and his professional life today. You’ve got to know more than that. Even I’ve heard about his reputation here.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Like what?”
“You haven’t heard the stories?”
I shrugged. “I guess not.”
Carol sighed and shook her head. “Normally, I don’t really give a crap about these kinds of rumors. But, you’re my friend, and I want you to know what you’re getting yourself into, okay? You’re a big girl who can make her own decisions, but you should have all of the facts first.”
“I thought you said they were rumors.”
She bit her lip. “Same thing. Do you know that he’s been sleeping with some of the other interns?”
“What?” I gasped.
“Yep. I heard that Mikayla Stevens went down on him in the stairwell of the hospital one night. He arrived for a ‘tutoring session’ that was really just a way for her to thank him for allowing her to turn her paper in late.”
I furrowed my brow. “He doesn’t seem to care about how we do on the assignments he gives us, I suppose because if we don’t know it, we’ll fail and drop out, and that’s on us, not him. I take the assignments seriously, but I know that no one else does.”
“I heard that he used to go over to NYU to scope out hot girls. When he was a med student, he would go to frat parties and bring sorority girls back to his apartment.”
“And?”
“And he would have sex with them and never call them again. Sometimes, he had multiple girls with him at once.”
I stifled a giggle. I figured that someone like Damon Rye was a player. I really wasn’t surprised by what she was telling me.
“Am I supposed to be outraged?” I asked. “It’s not like he’s doing anything nefarious. I’m not a complete prude, am I?”
Carol scoffed. “When was the last time you hooked up with a guy?”
I thought for a minute. “I made out with a guy at a party three weeks ago.”
“You just made out?” she asked. “I think I’ve proved my point. What happens when you get to the bar tonight and he tries to get into your pants? You act like you’re just going to talk about medical stuff, but this guy is known for sleeping with co-eds and interns. Surgeons don’t meet their interns alone in bars. He’s trying to fuck you. I just want you to know what you’re getting yourself into. You don’t seem like the type to fuck a player. Remember, you still have to go to sessions with him and listen to him speak for a few more weeks. It’s going to be awkward when he’s ditched you for the next one.”
I hadn’t really thought about that side of the upcoming meeting. The bar he chose was a sultry cocktail spot, far different than the noisy college bars. This place was meant for a more adult, more upscale crowd. We also weren’t meeting to talk in a coffee shop or somewhere with fewer implications. I could see how Carol would be concerned about this.
But, when I thought about getting drinks with Damon, I honestly didn’t care if things panned out. Best case scenario, our relationship would come in handy one day. But, if I only went to drinks and flirted with a hot guy, that would be enough for me. Damon was dead sexy and had a cool confidence that I had never seen before. He didn’t try too hard like all of the college guys I knew. Damon could act as if he owned the city, because one day, he probably would. He had the attitude that he could back up with surgical skill. I was attracted to that.
Back in high school, someone like Damon wouldn’t have given me the time of day. I often fantasized about what it would be like to go on a date with a popular guy. I was always jealous of the Prom Queen types who could land a hot guy. I wanted in on the fun. Finally, it seemed as though I was about to get my chance. I didn’t necessarily plan on sleeping with Damon, but if we ended up kissing at the end of the night, I wouldn’t mind. I tried to focus on getting good career advice from him, but my mind kept wandering into different avenues. I wanted to know what it was like to go on a date with an up and coming surgical wizard.
“Are you going to have sex with him?” Carol asked. “If he invites you back to his place and starts taking your clothes off, will you let him?”
I pursed my lips, trying not to giggle. “Probably not.”
Carol gave me a judgmental look. “You’re not taking me seriously, are you?”
I shrugged. “I’m listening. I just think you’re worrying for nothing. I mean, it’s not like I’m in danger. He’s not a pervert— he’s just a playboy. If I don’t want to hook up with him, I won’t. I can’t belie
ve I even have to think about this. Honestly, it’s absurd to assume that someone like Dr. Damon Rye would want to hook up with me. Honestly, I’m really not concerned about it. We’re just going to have a drink and talk about life back home. That’s it and that’s all.”
“If you say so,” Carol said, getting up from her seat. She walked back toward her room. “But, if things get weird and you want me to rescue you, just call. I’ll be here.”
“I don’t think that’s necessary, but thanks,” I said. “You’re a good friend.”
“I’m trying, anyway,” she said, one corner of her mouth forced into a smirk. “I’ve got to study now. I’ve got a History test tomorrow and I’ve hardly studied.”
“Good luck,” I replied, as I hauled my backpack into my room. I got a few books out and began to work on the cancer document he assigned, but my mind kept wandering.
I went to my closet and started to sift through clothes. Nothing seemed right for this occasion. I timidly knocked on Carol’s door.
“Hey,” I said, peeking into her room. “Can I borrow something to wear tonight?”
She sighed dramatically, but still let me rifle through her wardrobe. When I found something that I thought would work, I gave a quick thank you and scurried out.
I wasn’t sure what Carol’s issue with Damon was. After all, she had never interacted with him. I was the one who grew up down the street from him. I suspected it was jealousy. I was going out with a hot, successful surgeon and she was staying in with a test to study for. We liked to commiserate about our lack of potential suitors and now I finally had one. It made sense to me that she might be a little envious of the fact that I was in a position to score if I wanted to, and she wasn’t.
I did my best to finish the assignments I had in the hour before I had to get ready. In the end though, I decided to give up and just get ready for drinks with Damon. I hopped in the shower and quickly scrubbed down, worried that I wouldn’t have enough time to be perfect. As I washed myself, I tried to imagine what he looked like in the nude. He was an athletic guy, so I assumed he was lean and muscular. I had only ever seen him in dress clothes for the past six years or so.
Forbidden Prescription 6: A Stepbrother Fake Girlfriend Medical Romance (Forbidden Medicine) Page 2