Triton [hs au | completed]

13) Come See About Me

||Arden||

"Arden, your next patient is waiting in room 12" a voice from the intercom informs me.

I down the rest of my coffee and grab my lab coat on the way to the elevator. I look through Devon's file while I wait to reach my floor. He told me he was going to be bringing in his dog today.

"Hi!" I greet him as I walk into the exam room. He walks over and gives me a hug. "This must be Rufus." I lean down to pet his red and white English Bulldog.

"How have you been?"

"Alright, I guess. Just working a lot." I answer as I lift Rufus on to the exam table and start looking into his ears. "Ears look good." I announce before moving on to his eyes.

"When do I get to meet this Harry guy?" he asks.

I know he's just trying to be nice, but I don't really want to talk about Harry. I haven't heard from in three days. I've come to realize that this is his pattern: showing up without notice, letting me see just a little bit more of him, and disappearing for days at a time. The proverbial two steps forward, three steps back.

"I don't know. He's really busy with work. Plus he lives in Atlantic City, so there's a commute." I massage Rufus' sides looking for lumps and hope Devon will just drop this.

"Oh. Is he thinking about moving up here?"

"No." I answer bluntly.

"Do you know what you're doing for the holidays?" he asks, moving on from Harry. "I mean, I know Thanksgiving is still over a month away, but I didn't think you had any family here"

"I'll probably go to my dad's. That's what I always do." I pause to read the thermometer and record Rufus' temperature. "What are you doing?"

"Going to my parent's as well. They have a huge dinner every year and invite all of my dad's employees and their families." he answers. "I was just going to say that if you decide not to go to your dad's you're more than welcome to tag along with me."

"Thanks. I'll think about it." I excuse myself after a technician arrives to take a blood sample and retreat to my office. I have another hour before I'm off for the day and I just don't feel like being around people.

I unlock my phone and respond to a text from my sorority sister. We had lunch yesterday and she wants to hang out again. I felt like our lunch yesterday was boring at best; we've changed a lot since graduation and both have different things going on, but I guess it can't hurt.

I close my texting app and stare at the background on my phone; the picture I took of Harry and I at the flea market. Will he stay true to his pattern and show up in another day or two? Or is he gone for good this time? And how long am I willing to deal with him coming and going like this? I'm pulled from my thoughts by a knock on the door.

"Come in." I call out as I shut my phone screen off and toss it in my drawer.

"Hey." Mariah greets me. She's holding a small white box. "I brought you a treat, since you've been so mopey lately." she sets the box on my desk.

"I haven't been mopey."

"You have been SO mopey. I have a theory about why, but I'm going to keep my mouth closed until you decide to talk about it." she opens the box revealing two rows of colorful macaroons.

"Oooh! Thank you!" I grab a pink one and take a bite; the taste of strawberry feels my mouth.

"Are you coming to my party tomorrow?" Mariah questions. She was beyond thrilled that she had become a member of Delta Phi Epsilon just in time to host her birthday party at their penthouse.

"I don't know." I answer.

"You need a party right now. Come and get drunk, maybe hook up and you can crash in my room. Whatever shit you've got going on can be ignored for one night."

"It's been a while since I went to a sorority party. I feel like I'm too old to still be doing that." Mariah rolls her eyes at me.

"Would you stop? You're not that much older than me. Plus, think of all the freshman, frat boy hearts you're going to break."

"Oooookay. I guess I'll make an appearance." I finally relent.

"Yay!!" Mariah exclaims. She leans across my desk to hug me. "It's tomorrow night at eight. I'll text you the address. You can come over earlier if you want to get ready there."

"Okay, sounds good." I answer before grabbing the last macaroon.

"My break's over. I'll see you tomorrow night?" I nod, my mouth is still full. "Okay. You better not flake out on me." she calls out before heading down the hall. She's right, I need something else to do than to sit at home and hope he'll show up on my doorstep. Maybe reliving my sorority days will help.

I wonder what Harry is doing right now? Is he at work? Is he getting enough sleep? The last few times I've seen him, he's looked absolutely exhausted. He passed out the other day in a matter of minutes. He looked pretty cute passed out on my bed with lips slightly parted and his long, curly hair strewn about. I kept catching him grinning in his sleep as tiptoed around the apartment folding laundry and cooking, trying not to wake him.

Okay. No more thinking about Harry.

I clear the thoughts from my head as I pull a file from the very back of my drawer. I open it and lay out our pharmaceutical inventory logs. There are ten bottles of Ketamine that I can't account for. Joshua conveniently had to go back home to Ohio for a family emergency right after Harry told me. Which makes me wonder if he ran because he knew he's be caught.

I haven't mentioned my findings to anyone yet. I'm waiting for Joshua to get back so I can keep an eye on him and maybe confront him. If it keeps disappearing at this rate, the DEA is going to be knocking on our doors.

Ketamine is controlled substance and we are required to turn in our pharmaceutical inventory logs quarterly. While Joshua gets on my nerves, I'm really surprised that he would be stealing drugs. Especially from here. He knows we keep records on everything coming in and going out. I wonder if he's selling it or using it.

I look up and realize it's the end of my shift. I gather the logs and replace them back in the drawer and lock it. I need to hustle if I'm going to catch the subway home. And I guess I need to stop somewhere on the way and pick up a new dress for this party I've been wrangled into.

I'll worry about this when Joshua gets back.

A.N. Short update, but I'm already working on the next chapter and it will hopefully be up later today! :)