Bullets & Bandages

4

"Where'd you go to medical school?"

"Stanford."

"Did you always wanna be a doctor?"

I shook my head. "I still don't really want to be a doctor."

"You don't?"

He seemed genuinely shocked that I didn't want to be a doctor. It was never my passion though. It was what my parents had prepped me for my entire life so I went with it. My father was a leading neurosurgeon in the Bay Area and my mother was a well respected OB-GYN. It was expected of me to follow them especially when my bother went off the rails.

"Nope. My parents are well connected so it was just kind of expected that I would be in the same profession."

"Both of your parents are doctors?"

"Yeah. My dads a neurosurgeon and my mom is an OB-GYN."

We walked down the hall towards an elevator in silence. I never felt awkward around Giovanni. Silence with him was appreciated and soothing especially after the day I was having. I didn't need a ton of chatter and I hoped he picked up on that.

"What would you have picked?" He asked.

"For a career?"

"Yeah."

"I don't know. I never considered anything else."

"You're not passionate about anything?"

I slowly shook my head as I thought about it. I didn't know what I would do if I wasn't a doctor. It was what I spent my entire life prepping for. I didn't know anything else.

"What would you have picked?" I asked in an attempt to push the attention away from me.

"It's better if I don't think about what could have happened."

"Why?"

"Because that's not what happened for me. I don't mind what I do now."

"I don't mind what I do either."

"Good, but you also have the opportunity to do what you're passionate about."

"So do you," I shot back.

He laughed. "I like what I do, Aria."

"But you're not passionate about it."

He shrugged and pushed the glass door open for me. The thing that bothered me about our conversation was that I still didn't know what he did for a living. He could have been telling me he liked to kill people for all I knew. I wondered if he was ever going to tell me or if I would always be left in the dark.

We crossed the parking lot to Giovanni's black car. Even though I was exhausted I loved the cool breeze and warm sun on my skin. I wanted to stay outside forever, but I knew I needed food and an actual bed to sleep in. I could only run on fumes for so long.

"What are we eating?"

"We're going to my parents' house."