For the rest of the week, Tamara soon discovered Josh was sticking to their deal. A few crude comments here and there, otherwise he was, well, staying away from her.
Good riddance.
"We're going to the bar tonight for drinks with a group of us," Sasha said as Tamara peeled off her purple scrubs. "You should join us."
"I don't know-"
"Great! I'll see you at seven. Bring Melodie too." Sasha smiled, and waved as she hurried out of the locker room. Tamara sighed. Great. How bad could it be anyway? It was just a few casuals with some colleagues from work, and in all honesty they were all great people, and so easy to get along with.
Apart from the small exception, of course.
When Tamara arrived home, Melodie was already in a skirt and blouse with her hair straightened and make up on. Tamara frowned, and Melodie rolled her eyes.
"Sasha rang, she said you might try ducking out of going out so I got dressed and I've got my pleading look ready just in case you start whining."
"I don't whine."
"You do whine."
"No, I don't."
"Yeah, you do. Oh, Josh is such a looooser, I mean, I can't believe I have to work with him it's soooo annoying!" Melodie's voice hitched up a notch into an annoyingly high pitch volume, and Tamara just groaned and stomped up the stairs, going to get ready.
She didn't whine, really. She ranted, or vented as some liked to call it. There was a major difference, besides, if she had been whining it would have been for a good reason.
"I don't whine," Tamara muttered, pulling out a pair of black skinny jeans and a pair of ankle boots, then a white singlet tee and a cute black leather jacket she'd had for a while over top. She looked at her reflection, and thought she looked nice but not too dressy, then let her hair down, leaving it to curl slightly like it did naturally. Finally, she re-applied some mascara and headed downstairs to where Melodie waited. She kind of needed the bathroom, but considering Melodie could barely wait in line longer then three minutes without becoming agitated, she skipped the bathroom and decided to go at the bar.
The look of despair on her face showed Tamara she didn't agree with anything she'd changed into.
"Jeans? Really? I layed an outfit out for you on your bed!" She exclaimed, and Tamara realised she didn't even see it.
"I must have not seen it, sorry." She shrugged, and Melodie grumbled.
"You just didn't want to wear it. Fine, be like that. Last time I take you shopping."
"It was the skirt and black top, wasn't it?"
"Yep."
"It's like wearing underwear out, it's that short. No way in hell am I going to wear that in front of co-workers!" Tamara replied, and strode out to her car, waiting for the still sulking Melodie to get in.
She got over it as soon as she pulled into a park outside the same bar Tamara had eaten at her first night in town. When they walked in, they were instantly welcomed by a group of the trainees, and Tamara felt the tension of the week in her shoulders dissolve, then disappear.
"Hey! You both look great! I'm Nathan, by the way. You must be Melodie." Nathan held out his hand, a glint in his eye that Tamara had suspicions about, but Melodie could handle him. Once, she drilled the whole high school football team back home about how to properly respect a woman just by standing in front of them in her cheer leading uniform and shouting curses until they actually listened.
She could handle a training doctor.
"I've heard a bit about you," Melodie smiled, her beauty natural and Tamara watched in amusement when Nathan stuttered slightly, seemingly at loss for words.
Yep, she'd be fine.
"A bit?" Nathan turned to look at Tamara with a mock hurt expression on his face. "Tammy! I thought I was more to you then that."
Tamara laughed, waving him off with Melodie. "Go, have fun."
She watched as they disappeared, and pulled up a seat next to Sasha. They chatted for half an hour, on and off, and Tamara realised she really was having an awesome time.
"Uh oh," Sasha said under her breath, and Tamara turned at the same time to see Rose, in a dress that looked like a singlet pulled past her butt, holding Josh's hand loosely while walking towards the bathroom. "Josh is in trouble."
For some reason, Tamara felt anger ignite within her. The strange reaction left her puzzled, and she tried not to dwell on it, when her body suddenly reminded her of something urgent. She almost got up and asked Sasha to kick her.
Tamara needed the bathroom. Really, really badly.
"Oh, crap." She muttered, and Sasha leaned closer, frowning. "What?"
"I really, really need to pee."
Sasha's face erupted in giggles, and she clapped a hand over her mouth. "Talk about perfect timing."
"I'll hold." Tamara nodded determinedly, but after five minutes of jigging in her seat, trying desperatly not to think of waterfalls and sprinklers, her screaming bladder one.
She shot out of her seat and hurried towards the toilets, hoping that Josh and Rose would be finished. It made her slightly sick to her stomach to think Rose was that easy, but that wasn't the only reason. The fact that Josh would...go there, made her lose the little respect she had for him. It was dirty, and gross, and she wondered why she was so surprised.
"-but Josh! No one will care if your a colleague or not, it's just for fun." Tamara froze at the sound of Rose's voice. She had made it inside the small room between the toilets and bar, and she hit around a corner, listening.
"For the last time, I'm not going to have sex with you. Can you get out of my way please?"
"But Josh, it's just this once," Rose whined. Tamara instantly knew she'd rather chop off her own foot then sound like that. It was just so unattractive.
"Whining is unattractive, Rose. No, my answer stays the same." Tamara almost laughed at his choice of words. Too spot on, if you asked her.
"You're such a tease, Munroe." Rose hissed, then stormed out, not even glancing in Tamara's direction. Well, that was a relief. She hadn't even been caught-
"So, you like hanging out outside bathrooms now too?" Josh's voice sounded too smug as she spun and gaped. Damn. She thought she was safe. Taking in his fitted black shirt and jeans, she must ahve looked surprised, because Josh walked closer and leaned against the wall in front of her.
"Like what you see? Told you so." His eyes were intense, focussed on her and she felt the heat of them on her skin.
"No, it's just, no cashmere?" She wonderd aloud, surprised at his casual clothes.
He snorted. "Who wears cashmere? Honestly, Jacobs, get your head fixed."
Tamara fumed, and snapped back at him. "British people maybe?"
"That's awfully stereotypical, love."
"Stop calling me love."
"Sure thing, love."
Tamara groaned, and went to side step around him, but he shot a hand out in front of her, and she collided with it. His forearm rested lightly on her collarbone, and she realised just how close he was.
"What did you hear before?" He asked, and she pretended to think about it.
"Just you turning her down. I must appluad you on your common sense, though. You've got to have so much self restraint." Tamara relpied, sarcasm evident.
"Someone jealous, love?"
"No, sugar dumpling, someone's not." Tamara smiled sweetly up at him, watching his eyes narrow. She pursed her lips, and watched as he followed the movement with his stormy eyes.
"What did you call me?"
"Cherry pie?"
"I'm sure I heard sugar dumpling."
"I think you're hearing things, Munroe. Honestly, get your ears fixed." She mimicked him, knowing it would annoy him how his own insult had back fired.
Josh scoffed, dropping his hand, and it grazed her waist as he did so. "Nice talking to you, love." He left without another word, leaving Tamara kind of confused and, okay, really confused.
Had they fought, or flirted?
Her bladder soon reminded her that loitering in rooms whilst almost peeing her pants wasn't going to earn her any brownie points, so she rushed into the bathroom and did her business.
As she walked back into the bar, Tamara's eyes connected with his, and they held contact for a few seconds before Josh turned away, continuing to talk to someone else.
Then, all hell broke loose.
The last thing Tamara thought of before a chair leg entered her vision was whether she should get another vodka or wine.
Then everything went black.
****
Sorry if this is boring or bad, but I really didn't know what to write in this chapter. Please leave a comment and tell me what you think! :)