Maya~
Christian and I wake up a few minutes apart from each other. I decided to stay in bed today. It's finally nice enough to have the windows open all night. I wake up to the birds and it's so peaceful.
I could fall asleep to their songs. Neither of us has said anything to each other. Not because something is off but because it's so peaceful right now. Neither of us wants to ruin the peace.
Last night was odd. We kissed. We both thought of some things last night. Things I would've never thought about. I'll admit that we did drink too much last night. We hardly had anything but I'm sure both of us are not used to drinking.
I hold onto his hand as it lay over his chest. He keeps his arm around me. "What's on today's plate?" he asks.
"I need to get groceries and gas today. I think that's it. Oh, I think Bridget was supposed to come over later but I can tell her not to."
"For what?"
"I'm still helping her study for her exam. It's coming up soon."
"Well, I don't mind. If she doesn't care that I'm here, then go ahead."
He sits up, "I'll go with you."
"You want to go grocery shopping with me?"
He shrugs, "Why not?"
"You're going to hobble around behind me?"
"I can use my crutches. They're just in my car."
"What?"
"They're in my car."
"You're telling me that you've had your crutches this whole time. I could've just walked out to your car and grabbed them."
"Yeah."
He looks back at me as I stare at him. "What?"
"I'm thinking of more synonyms to start calling you other than stubborn and stupid."
He laughs, laying down again, this time on top of me, "Take that back."
"Not happening."
He kisses me, "What about now?"
I shrug. "You're going to do that to me?"
"You should expect it."
I move from under him and get out of bed, "Are you actually coming with me? I want to leave soon."
He stands next to me in the bathroom as I get my toothbrush and toothpaste, "I'm going."
"We're stopping for coffee," I tell him.
"Don't have to tell me twice."
My oven timer beeps as I highlight a few things for Bridget, "Christian, your food."
I get up after he doesn't answer. I take his food out of the oven and place it on the stove. "Is he asleep?" I ask Bridget since she can see him.
She turns around, "Yeah."
I take the highlighter I was using and toss it at him as he sleeps in the chair. He jerks but doesn't wake up.
I go over to him, "Christian."
I look back at Bridget to see if she's watching. When I see her reading again, I look back at him. I take the highlighter off his chest before kissing him quickly, "Wake up."
He finally wakes up, "You could do that again."
"Your food is done."
"Thanks."
I walk away from him and back to Bridget. I go into my fridge and grab the bowl of cut strawberries. "Why aren't you using crutches?" Bridget asks.
I look at her as I pass Christian, "Because he refuses them."
"They're uncomfortable," he says.
I sit next to her again and shake my head. "I used them today," he adds.
"For the first ever."
Bridget laughs, "Why start now?"
"He followed me around the grocery store."
"Why would you do that? She takes forever."
"I didn't realize that until we were in there."
"I do not take forever."
"Yes, you do. You're so indecisive. You could stare at two versions of something and it would take a few minutes for you to decide."
I shove a different book in front of her, "Read."
Christian passes us, "Don't you love it when she's wrong?"
"Yes, so much."
Why are they bonding over this? Why are they bonding in general? He turns on the TV. Bridget looks at me, "You two fight like an old married couple," she says quietly.
"Don't tell me that."
"How'd you wake him up anyway?"
"What did you want to go over?" I ask, deflecting her question.
"No, don't do that to me. Tell me."
"I'd rather not tell you right now," I say quietly.
I get up, getting something to drink. I take a Truly out of the box and open it. I stand by the fridge so I'm out of sight. I pucker my lips at her, hoping she'll get the hint.
"What? When did that start?"
"Last night," I say quietly as I sit down.
"Are we okay with it?"
I shrug but nod. "I am so happy to hear that."
I smile, "Okay, seriously, what did you want to go over? You have just over a month."
"I know saying everything doesn't help. It's just so much information. I don't know how I'm going to remember all of it."
"Let's be real, you're not going to. However, you know more than you think you do. And if you don't know it the morning of, then you don't know it. I'd say more than half of it will be stuff you already know because you've seen so much, especially in the ER."
"You've taken it, how was it?"
"They change it every year. When I took it, it was trauma-based. They give you five cases and you have to go through each step. There are about 25 questions for each case. You get three hours for that portion. Then there's the written case where you have to write out everything. I think they gave me 90 minutes. I won't lie and tell you it's not intense because it is. It's all over the place. It's not centered on one thing."
She sighs, "I don't even know what to study anymore."
"How about this, you figure out everything you know and we won't focus on that. The stuff you aren't sure about, I'll write you notecards and study sheets since those seem to help."
"Because they're incredible."
I put the few dishes in the dishwasher after rinsing them. I wipe my counters and table before shutting the lights off.
The water shuts off as I walk into my room. I was hoping he'd be done showering by now. I get changed before he walks out.
When he does, he holds a towel around his waist. Damn. I look away even though I don't want to. I sip on my water, "I'm done in there," he tells me.
I nod, "Okay."
I brush my teeth and pull my hair into a bun. When I'm done in the bathroom, I walk out to him trying to wrap his knee, "Do you want me to do that?"
"Sure. You're better at it than me."
I get on my knees, taking the elastic wrap from him. "How's it feel? I never asked this morning."
"It's just annoying."
He sits back on his hands, watching me as I help him with a simple task. "Good?"
"Yeah, thanks."
"Welcome."
He catches the waistband of my shorts, "Wait a minute."
"What?"
"Next Sunday, we're having a cookout at my apartment. I want you to come."
"Who's we?"
"Me, Ryan, some of the other guys, my brothers, and my mom. Some of the guys are being their families. We rented out the pool deck."
"This isn't an excuse, but I am on call that night."
"That's fine. If you have to leave, that's fine. Just think about it."
"I will."
"How can you be tired?" Bridget asks as I sit in one of the chairs with my eyes closed.
I look at her, "Just because I've had off for the past three days, doesn't mean I can't be tired."
"You should be well-rested."
"I've been sharing my bed with a 6'3 man with a knee injury. Can you imagine how much sleep we get?"
"He's still there?"
"His family is coming in tomorrow so he headed home today."
"You let him drive?"
"I looked away when he grabbed his keys this morning."
She laughs, "Is that still going well?"
"Well, we didn't get sick of each other."
"That's a plus."
"He wants me to go to this cookout on Sunday."
"With who?"
"His family and some of the other players and their families."
"Why wouldn't you go?"
"I'm on call that night."
She shrugs, "You should go anyways. So what if you have to leave?"
"I'm still thinking about it."
I sip on my coffee, "You should go. I think it'd be good for you."
"We'll see."
I walk around the ninth floor, trying to remember how to get to the pool deck. I'm about to call him when I see the big windows and the groups of people.
I push the door open with my free hand since I decided to make a batch of cookies. He told me I didn't need to make anything but I did anyway.
Ryan sees me and steps away from his family, "Hey, how are you? Didn't think you'd come."
"Decided last minute."
"I'm glad. He's somewhere around here. I can put these on the table. Grab a plate and a drink. We're going to get the fire started soon."
"Thanks."
I grab a plate and pick and choose through the dishes. I don't fill it up too much since I ate a bit before coming here.
"Hey, I'm glad you could make it. Didn't think you would," Christian says, coming up to me.
"I had nothing better to do."
"Help yourself. I think Ryan is going to start the fire soon. We've got a game of cornhole and beer pong going too. Let me know if you need anything."
"Thanks."
I find a table in the corner. I only know a handful of people. I'm not going to voluntarily make conversation with people I don't know.
I sip on my Dr. Pepper and eat my food as I watch the groups of people mingle with each other. A lady walks up to the food tables, moving things around, throwing away empty containers, and putting out new food.
She looks like she could be Christian's mom. They look similar. I put my plate in the nearest trash can. I sit at the table again. She walks up to me, "Maybe I'm losing my mind, but I don't know who you are but I've seen you before. Do you know Christian?"
"Yeah, we're friends," I tell her.
"Well, I'm his mom, Alecia."
She holds out her hand, "Maya," I tell her.
Her expression changes, "You're Maya?"
Well, this doesn't sound like it's going to end well. I nod, "Yeah."
She nods slowly before sitting next to me, "I didn't know you two were friends again."
Sounds like she knows about the blow-up. "We, uh- reconnected recently."
"Oh, um- that's good."
She did not seem excited. Now I wish I didn't come. I smile anyways, "Yeah."
She clasps her hands together, "So between us, why did you think it was okay to not tell Christian about the pregnancy? I mean, it would've been his kid. He deserved to know."
I almost spit out my drink. I'm stunned. I'm not sure I'm breathing. "I'm sorry, but you've got it all wrong."
"I do? Because I'm sure I don't."
"I never knew about the pregnancy prior to the miscarriage. I can't tell someone something that I don't know."
My phone starts ringing. "I'm sorry, but this is my work."
I walk away and answer the call, facing away from Alecia and the rest of the cookout. "Hello?"
"Hey, Maya, we're getting three burn patients. From what the EMTs are saying, two of them need surgery."
"What's the ETA?"
"Ten minutes."
"Okay, I've downtown right now so I'll probably be about 15 minutes."
"Okay, no problem. The burn unit is coming down so they'll get to it while we wait for you."
"Okay. Don't be afraid to start triaging if you need to."
"Okay."
I hang up, taking a few breaths before going back over to retrieve my drink. When I turn, Alecia's gone. Thank god I didn't need to explain my life even more. Although, I think I did enough of that.
Did she actually ask me that? Does she actually believe that? I can't believe that.
I find Christian as he was standing near the door, watching over his friends and family, "Hey, I have to head out. I got called in."
"Don't worry about it. I'm glad you got to come. I'll text you."
"Okay."
I walk into the building and find a shorter way to the elevator. I wait for the elevator to come down. "Maya, wait up," I hear Christian say.
"Yeah?"
"You okay?"
"Yeah."
The elevator doors open. I take a step inside so I don't miss my chance, "You sure? You're entire demeanor changed in a span of ten minutes."
"You told your mom and didn't think to tell me?"
He sighs, "She wasn't supposed to say anything."
"Okay, that doesn't make it any better."
He stands with me in the elevator, holding it open, "What did she say? I'll make it better."
"Why does she think I didn't tell you? We've been over this. I knew nothing. You knew before me."
"I'll talk to her, okay? Do you actually have to leave?"
"Yeah, I do. I have three burn patients coming in."
"Okay. Hey, I'm sorry. I'll talk to her."
I nod, "Okay."
He lets me go. I lean against the elevator wall. Man, what the hell was that?
I pull into my driveway and further into the garage. I didn't expect to be at work for that long. I'm glad they let me go home for the night. I'm hoping I don't get called in again.
I flip the lights on in my kitchen. I fill my water bottle and kick my shoes off near the door. I find something to snack on before taking it back to my room.
I hear my TV on. I don't think I left it on before I left but I guess there's a chance. I open my door, my TV is on. I turn the light on and set my things on the nightstand. "I was wondering when you'd get back."
My heart drops as I turn around to see Christian, "Why do you love scaring me in my house?"
He comes from the bathroom so I had no way of seeing him. "I parked out front."
"You're not in the driveway."
"I know. I parked on the road."
I grab a change of clothes, "What are you doing here? You should be with your family and it's late."
He sits on my bed as I keep my bathroom door cracked so I can hear him, "I was hoping you'd get back at a decent time so I was taking a gamble."
I change and toss my clothes onto the counter just in case I get called back. "And as much as this is going to sound like an excuse, my mom didn't understand the whole situation because I didn't tell her everything. I think she assumed most of it."
I kick my door open, leaning against the door frame, "I'm expected to believe that?"
"I'm not lying to you. She shouldn't have said to you. What can I do?"
"I don't know, Christian. I wish you would've told me that your mom knew."
"I didn't think she'd say anything. If I could go back, I would've told you."
I sigh quietly, "Don't worry about it."
"You always say that."
"Well, it's 11:30 and I'm tired. I don't know how you're not. I just want to sleep."
He reaches for me, pulling me closer to him, "Then let's go to bed."