"Ow!" The door hit my nose before I could even see it coming. Whoever was on the other side, having felt a hindrance, decided to push, but luckily Laura pulled me back before it could really slam me against the wall.
"Watch where you're going!" Laura reprimanded our friend Shane.
The first thing that emerged from behind the pile of boxes was the curly mop he calls hair, then his thick-rimmed glasses, and when he saw us, he frowned. "Oh, hey, girls. What's up?"
While I rubbed the bridge of my injured skin – luckily nothing serious –, Laura rolled her eyes. "You just broke Vivian's nose."
"Oh, shit, what?" Shay put down the boxes, and bent down to check my injury – he's that much taller than me, yeah, even though I'm not a dwarf. He grabbed my face, and studied my nose carefully. Did I mention Shane is a doctor? Well, almost, he's a med student.
"I'm fine." I sighed, especially because I didn't want Chris to worry – I definitely heard his footsteps inside the apartment.
"Up." Shay ordered.
"What?"
He didn't repeat, just pushed my head back on his own, and inspected my nose like a proper doctor. "Shay ..." I grumbled, "I'm fine, the door barely touched me."
"What's going on?" Case in point, Chris came out of the apartment. With the corner of my eye, I could see he was staring quite intensely at me and Shay. If I didn't know any better, I'd think he's jealous. But probably just worried, seeing me injured, if that's even the word I should use, since it was really nothing.
Shane chuckled, still inspecting my nose up and down. "Don't kill me, Chris, but I may or may have not hurt your Vivy. Her nose, at least."
I rolled my eyes when I saw Chris' concerned look. He wasn't angry, just worried – as anyone would be when a quasi-doctor tells you that someone you care about is hurt. "I'm fine."
"You sure?" He wondered when he appeared beside Shane, who'd just finished his interminable examination.
"Yes." I looked at our friend. "Shay, please tell him I'm fine." Chris was already beginning to inspect my nose, as if he'd know better than a professional.
Shane laughed, nodding, as he went back to his boxes. "Yes, she's fine, it's not broken. Just put some ice on it." He grabbed the boxes, then added: "Actually, there should be a bag of frozen beans in the freezer, use that."
He barely had time to say that, Chris immediately grabbed my arm, and dragged me inside the apartment, going straight for the fridge. He took what Shane mentioned, and after having grabbed a cloth, he wrapped it around the bag of beans, then gently put it on my nose. Thanks to the cloth, I didn't feel the cold as much, but it did help with the pain.
I almost lost balance when he pressed the bag of beans harder on my nose, but Chris swiftly wrapped an arm around my waist to avoid me hitting my back against the counter. I guess he remembers my injury of a few years ago all too well: I got into a car accident that damaged my back quite a bit, I can do regular things, but it's better if I don't pick up heavy loads.
After a couple of minutes, Chris removed the bag of beans. "Better?" He asked as he stared at me.
"Yeah." I murmured. Because he watched me intently as I scratched my nose, I rolled my eyes. "I'm fine, Chris."
"You sure?" I would have sworn he'd pulled me closer into his arms, but it could be my fangirl self as usual.
"Yes," I placed a hand on his chest, "it wasn't a big deal."
He smiled, then placed a small kiss on my forehead. Sadly, he let go of me. "Ok, I need to finish with the boxes, you stay here."
"I can help."
"You know you can't."
I rolled my eyes. "I can grab the smaller ones, it won't hurt."
He shook his head. "Sit down." He ordered. "Or, actually, cook something? We haven't eaten yet, and there's the race in an hour."
"The race?"
"Formula 1."
"Ugh. I hate it." I couldn't help myself, which caused Chris to chuckle as he left the kitchen. I went to the fridge, and grabbed a few things. For some reason, even if he's moving out, Shane's fridge is always full. Then again, opposite to Chris, he's a good houseman, well trained and used to taking care of everything by himself. He says it's because he grew up among women – 3 older sisters –, I say it might have to do with the fact that there's always a girl crashing in his bed, if you know what I mean – it's the white coat, he says, women love doctors.
"Well, we have some great gentlemen as friends," Laura claimed as she reached me in the kitchen.
I chuckled while chopping tomatoes. "Shay didn't let you lift anything either, huh?"
She shrugged. "I can't tell whether it's sexism or chivalry. Maybe a bit of both." We both laughed. "Dr. Knight grounded you?"
I shrugged. "You know he took my accident 4 years ago very seriously."
Laura nodded, coming to help me with lunch. "Yeah, he freaked out that night. We all did. And I don't think he's ever forgiven Cole for it."
I sighed. "It wasn't Cole's fault, it was a drunk driver."
"Still, he put you in danger."
I frowned. "Do you think that's why Chris hasn't been talking to him?"
"That, and the fact that you two were coming from a date ..."
I bit my lips. Cole is our friend Beth's brother, he's always been a member of our group, but a few years ago he asked me out. Chris wasn't happy about it, not one bit. He claimed that Cole wasn't the right guy for me – as if anybody ever is, according to him.
The date didn't really go well, it turned out we didn't have much in common, and Cole was taking me home when a drunk driver hit the car. It wasn't a big deal, I only remained in hospital two days, Cole needed a week instead. After that, he left, claiming he needed fresh air or something. Beth says he's happy in Japan, so I guess he really needed a change.
"Brian messaged me, you know." I remembered, since I was thinking about dates.
Laura gulped a bit. "What? When? Why?"
I shrugged as I grabbed another bowl for the Caesar salad. "You know he gets weird around his birthday, he probably felt lonely."
"Did you answer?"
"Of course, not. His whole message was: are you still more tangled than Rapunzel's hair?"
My friend laughed. "What?"
I sighed. "He meant Chris."
"Oh, right." Laura bit on her bottom lip. "Well, he's not wrong there ..."
"Lala, please, don't restart."
She raised her hands in mock surrender. "Just saying." She thought about it for a moment, then added: "You know, there's this guy that works with Nick ... maybe we can go on a double date."
I sent her a wry look. "Do I need to remind you how did the past blind dates you set up for me go?" Charles the egomaniac dentist, Jaime the weirdo, Spencer the football fanatic ... all dates that ended catastrophically, they either bored me to tears or freaked me out.
Laura laughed. "Ok, ok, those were bad choices." She grabbed a spoonful of Nutella from the jar she'd just opened. "But Hank is a really nice guy."
"Hank?" I scoffed. "You really wanna set me up with a Hank?"
"What's wrong with that name?"
"It sounds old."
"Well, he is 38."
I sent her a dirty look. "Lala, do you think I'm that desperate?"
She laughed, putting back the Nutella jar when she heard footsteps from the hallway – Shane hates Nutella, he buys it only for this fellow med student he's been crushing on that won't go out with him because of his player reputation, so we can't eat it. "I mean ..." she lowered her voice, probably because we could hear the guys talking and laughing – they'd been coming and going with boxes, luckily unable to hear us from the living room. "We both know you need something."
"And that something is a 38-year-old bartender?" I scoffed, grabbing plates for lunch.
"Hey, my fiancé is a bartender." Laura reminded me, sounding offended but also amused.
I rolled my eyes. "Nick is also studying to become a lawyer, though."
The grin on her face gave away her feelings. Sometimes I'm envious, the bond they have is really unbreakable, they've been together 5 years now, and despite a couple of misunderstandings along the road, they're the most solid couple I've never known, except maybe for my parents.
We put everything on the table, ready for lunch, just as the guys came in. They both swiped sweat off their foreheads, but I was obviously gaping at only one of them. Not that Shane isn't a sexy sight, but you know, everybody else disappears next to my Chris.
When Laura kicked my ankle under the table, I realized I'd been biting my lips while staring at him, so I looked away and cleared my throat. In my defense, he'd just taken off his sweater to dry his sweat with a towel Shane had provided him. "Will you stop?" She whispered, chuckling. "You look like you wanna eat him alive."
"I mean ..." I bit my lips as some dirty thoughts crossed my mind, which Laura laughed at.
"Man, I didn't think I had so much stuff." Shane complained, coming to sit at the table.
"You're almost done, no? There's not much left here." I commented while serving everyone their light lunch.
"Yeah, but we gotta take a break." He replied, grabbing the remote to turn on the TV. "The race." Both Laura and I whined theatrically, but the guys only laughed. "Come on, girls, cheer up, if it makes you feel any better, some Formula 1 racers are pretty handsome." Shane teased, then pointed at a blondish guy that was getting ready for the race. "Like Nico Rosberg there, he's not too bad."
"Yeah, he's cute." I agreed, grabbing a fork for myself while the others had already started eating. I could feel Chris eyeing me, I bet wondering whether I would really eat or pretend to, because of my diet. I made a Caesar salad on purpose, together with some sandwiches.
"Of course," Laura teased, "He's your type, you love blondes."
I almost spat out the piece of sandwich I'd just put in my mouth. My heart skipped a beat and I kicked her ankle, well aware that both guys had heard her – it's not like she'd tried not to be loud. Predictably, Chris glanced at me, curious and somewhat confused. His green grass eyes lingered on my for a moment, then, he turned back to the TV, commenting: "He's married."
"So what?" Laura asked. "It's not like she wants to bang him." But Chris didn't even listen, he simply went on commenting the race with Shane. Laura gave me a knowing look, probably thinking, like anyone would, that he was jealous, but I know him better than anyone else. It happens all the time, he gets overprotective whenever men are involved.
It's the whole reason why I've only had two relationships, like I said. Yes, I've gone to dates, but not even that many. He gives me a full interrogation every time, or scares the guy away, or simply convinces me not to go. Sometimes I get mad about it, but then he gives me that puppy look of his, and I can't resist.
Nevertheless, maybe Laura is right, I should try and move on. Hence, albeit not at all keen on it, while the guys were focused on the race, I whispered in her ear: "Okay, let's set up this double date."