A Weekend with Dr. Ramsey

Drunk Texts

Charlie slowly turned to face the voice and confirm her suspicions.

Ethan Ramsey.

She was in Ethan Ramsey's apartment, hungover in last night's clothes with absolutely no memory as to how she ended up in his guest bedroom.

If only the first-year med student fangirling over Ramsey's textbook could see where she was now...

"Dr. Ramsey," Charlie swallowed heavily, her skin prickling with embarrassment as she took a few tentative steps towards the kitchen.

Ethan Ramsey had never looked so... human. One week without a job had transformed her hero into an actual human being, and it startled Charlie. His stubble was longer than usual, less carefully groomed that she'd always seen it. His hair was a mess of bedhead, some parts even sticking up, and his sweatpants were rumbled from sleep. Charlie could have spent days in shock over the revelation that the Ethan Ramsey even owned sweatpants, but despite herself, her cheeks flushed as she realized he was only wearing sweatpants. How the hell did a workaholic doctor look like that without a shirt? Terrified she'd start drooling any moment, she averted her gaze to the crossword puzzle in front of him, and a small smile perked at her lips. Of course, he loves crosswords.

"How much do you remember from last night?" Ramsey's question caught Charlie off guard, and fighting through her hazy hangover brain, she struggled to process the question.

"Nothing," she admitted solemnly, "Nothing after tequila shots at the bar, at least."

Under Ethan's watchful eye, Charlie half-expected a pop quiz for her to demonstrate her deductions and piece together how she ended up here, but Ethan wasn't her boss anymore. He was no longer the teacher pushing a student towards success. Now... Ethan didn't know what he was.

A former boss? A knight in shining armor? A creepy former teacher who kept finding himself in compromising situations with an enigmatic intern?

Maybe even a friend?

When he looked at Charlie, it was obvious that she was miserable. Even now, he could smell the hint of tequila on her clothes from a long night of trying to forget her problems, and imagining such a scene caused his heart to squeeze. He could picture her so easily, slumped into a barstool as she desperately tried to forget the decisions she'd made. He'd been there enough to know how she felt... And he suddenly wished he couldn't picture it. Maybe he could have prevented this. He could have been a better mentor. He could have actually told her what to do instead of forcing her to figure it out as she went along.

He could have stayed.

The thought nearly paralyzed Ethan as he suddenly understood the lingering hurt behind her stare. He'd hadn't just left Edenbrook. He left Charlie, too.

"What happened last night?" Charlie hesitated, so embarrassed that she almost didn't want to ask. Charlie had never been one to disappoint. She'd been a stellar student her entire life, always reaching new heights and finding solutions to every problem. Sure, she'd disappointed people along the way, but disappointing Ethan was different. The shame manifested itself deeply, in a way she'd never felt before.

Ethan paused and then reached for the cell phone plugged into a nearby outlet. He handed over her smartphone, and wordlessly, Charlie her text messages to see a brand new text thread.

Oh no... Charlie felt like she might puke as she scrolled through all of the messages she'd sent "Ethan ❤️☠️."

There were so many messages, each more embarrassing than the last. It went through pages of Charlie drunk texting him about how she'd made new friends in the bar and didn't need him coming to her rescue. He asked several times where she was, and somehow, Charlie thought of a new way not to tell him. At one point, she even wrote how he "wasn't even that handsome" unless you're into the "brooding, sexy thing." By the time she reached the bottom, Charlie slumped into a barstool at his kitchen island and avoided eye contact like the plague.