"His girlfriend said someone may have slipped something in his drink"I tell him, crossing and uncrossing my ankles, my hands fiddling in my lap. He writes that down.
"I'm not surprised, that area is full of druggies. Especially that bar"he tells me. It was like he was ashamed that I went to that bar, I didn't pick it for crying out loud. "Was that all?" He asks, looking up at me quickly.
"Like I said, that's all she told me and then I just did my job"
"Off clock work"he reminds me.
"I saved someone alright, and I don't appreciate the attitude. Your taking witness statements of someone who's still alive rather then dead"I snap. He looks up at me, raising his eyebrows. I wasn't about to back down to him, I have several family members fighting in a war, he is not intimidating what so ever.
Before Officer arrogant could say anything his co worker says that he's finished getting the statements "I guess your free to go home now" he says. I try not to roll my eyes as I get up and walk towards my friends. I lean on Amelia, exhausted.
"If you two so help me god ramble about how hot that cop was just remember he was the arrogant cop I was talking about earlier this week"I remind my friends.
"We weren't gonna day anything"Kayle smiles. I hum and the two girls laugh.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I step out of the hospital, my eyes narrow as two cops approach the building "you know I think it's some kind of given sign that we keep meeting like this"one of the officers say, I tilt my head. He pulls off his aviators and I sigh.
"Go in, I'll be in in a second" he tells his co worker and he nods give me a head nod before walking past me.
"What do you want? I just got off my twelve our shift"
"I didn't say anything"he smirks, crossing his arms.
"Then why tell your co worker to leave"I raise an eyebrow. He sighs.
"Look, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for being such an ass" I give him a confused look. "I'm a little bit hard headed when I'm working"
"A little?"
"I'm sorry Alright, I'm not usually like that"
"I don't believe you and if you'll excuse me I'd like to go home and sleep" I tell him.
"Okay but I really am sorry Miss Griffin"I immediately cringe.
"It's Julie"I tell him with a sigh and he smiles, suddenly he sticks out his hand.
"Leo" I reluctantly shake his hand. "See now we're on first name bases"
"Alright I'm going home"
"How about a cup of coffee first"
I stifle a laugh "I want to sleep not stay awake"
"Okay how about you get tea and I get coffee" he suggests. "I can even drive you home myself"
"It's like you know I took an Uber here"
"You just seemed to lazy to drive"
"And how would you know that?" I ask.
"I'm a cop, I'm very observant. So?" He asks.
"Your not gonna take no for an answer are you?" I ask him. He shakes his head "what about your co worker?" I ask him.
"We were just seeing our friend, you know the one that got hurt during the riot last week?" I nod. He was still at the hospital until tomorrow.
"And your not actually working?"
"Hmm you can say that? Can we just get some coffee because like"
"Fine" I sigh, we decided it was easier just to grab some coffee from one of the stores in the hospital cafeteria.
"Your tea, beautiful"
"Hmm no you don't get to do that"
"Do what?" He asks.
"Call me beautiful I look like shit, especially after a twelve hour shift"
"I'm getting off a twenty four so beat that"he smirks.
"Fine you win"I give him a small smile as I look up at him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Why the hell are getting in just as I'm leaving? I thought you'd already be asleep" Amelia says as I drop my bag on the counter and she fills up her water bottle.
"Ran into a friend" I tell her and my best friend stops.
"Just a friend? Or was it Officer hottie?"
"Damn your good"
She fake bows "so how was it?"
"He's not as arrogant as I tell you guys"
"I knew it"She smiles widely. "Tell me everything later but I've gotta get to work"
"Good luck!" I say.
"Have a good nap!" She yells.
And I did have a good nap that afternoon.
~~~~~~~~~~~
My phone ringing continuously has me rolling over in my queen size bed to reach for my phone that was causing the noise.
"Hello?" I ask, not even bothering to answer the call.
"Is that any way to talk to your brother?" A voice I recognize all to much. My eyes widen as I sit up in my bed finally realizing that it's dark outside.
"Isaiah?" In a whisper to scared to actually say his name like it's some sort of sin.
"Hey sis"his gentle voice says, tears immediately start to stream down my cheeks. I hear a knock on the door and I immediately end the call and go running for the front door. Swinging it open there stood my brother, my blood related brother in his uniform and backpack. I squeal and jump into his arms.
"I missed you so much"I say crying into his shoulder. I hadn't seen him for almost a year.
"I missed you too"he says and I knew he was smiling.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Well Cooper wishes he were here but he's at work" Mom says sitting beside Isaiah.
"Oh no it's fine, I'm here for a few months. I'll see him soon" My brother shrugs. Isaiah told us that he heard Archie would be home in a few months, most likely when he'd be deported again.
"Well Jules you must tell me everything"
"You've read my letters, you know everything"I chuckle as I sip on my coffee.
"Yea well it isn't the same huh? You explaining your university graduate in two pages?"
"You explained it in two pages? Are you alright Julie?" Mom jokes.
"It wasn't anything special"
"Oh come on! I wanna hear it and your interview for the hospital"
"Seriously Isaiah? I missed out on a year of your life and had to read through it when I could've lived it. I wanna know"He smiles at me. I sigh.
As we wait on our food I tell him about the graduation and how Chris even surprised me and showed up at my graduation saying that he put in a letter and asked to come back for a week to see me graduate.
I remember telling him that day that he didn't have to step away from work but he told me that I was his daughter and only seen one of his children graduate, especially his daughter.
Suddenly the door to the restaurant swings open and in comes a running man, he looks behind him, I'm amusing making sure no one was behind him, he runs past the restaurant main area and into the kitchen.
Isaiah and I look at each other quickly, clearly confused. The doors swing open again "NYPD!" A voice yells, cops enter the restaurant, Isaiah quickly blocks mom.
"Block the back!" The cop yells to a few others. "Follow me!" He yells. My eyes widen as I see a few cops enter the restaurant, their guns up. suddenly their was commotion in the kitchen and the cops go rushing in.
"Well if this isn't a normal day in New York" I say to my family sitting across me. Isaiah looks at me telling me this isn't the proper time. I slouch back into my chair, you could hear the whispers from the others in the breakfast restaurant.
The kitchen doors swing open and I look back to see the man running through here earlier in hand cuffs but my eyes trail up to the man holding him and shoving him outside.
Of course it was Leo.
He catches my eye and continues to do his job.
One cop tells the crowd that he's sorry for this encounter. The cops leave and suddenly the restaurant goes back to how it was.
"Now that that's over I've got to use the ladies room"I announce. Mom and Isaiah nods, I stand up, I look back to see them having their own conversation before I walk out of the restaurant.
I see the line of police cars still on the side of the road, my eyes scan over to Leo shoving the man in the back of his cop car.
"Leo"I call out. His head snaps up as he slams the door shut. I walk over to him.
"Like I said beautiful, we gotta stop meeting like this" he smirks, crossing his arms. I look down at the tinted window.
"He punched you didn't he?" I say as I look at his jaw.
"Part of the job, don't worry"
"Hughes!" Someone yells "we gotta go"he says annoyed a bit.
"Yea I'm coming" he waves his co worker off "are you working tonight?" He asks me quickly.
"No, I work tomorrow I switched my shift"
"Great I'll text you later" he winks at me before walking to his patrol car. I walk back into the restaurant and sit down.
~~~~~~~~~~~
"Does it hurt?" I ask him looking at his jaw.
"I don't even realize it's there anymore" he shrugs. We were sitting at Red Lobster.
"Seriously? Because it looks like it hurts"I trail off.
"So tell me, who was that at the restaurant sitting across from you and beside who I assume was your mother? Are you cheating on him by having dinner with me? Because let me tell you beautiful. You're better and what I mean is your doing better by being here with me"I blink and he laughs.
"No, he's not my boyfriend. He's my brother. One of three of them actually"I tell him.
"You have three brothers?"he asks.
"Two step"he nods.
"The brother you saw me with is a marine"I say proudly. I was proud, I've always been proud to say that I come from a family off marines or air pilots. It took me a while to say that proudly once Isaiah enlisted, I think it was because of my dad.
"What about your step brothers?"
"One of them is also a marine and the other one is a paramedic" he gives me a weird look "Yea I know, a huge difference but"I shrug.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Well I'll tell you what, I surprisingly had a fun night"I tell Leo as I swing open my door to my apartment, the hallway light was on so I assumed Amelia had just stepped in from her twelve hour shift this morning.
"See I told you I'm not always so hard headed beautiful"He smirks leaning on the door frame. He was much taller then, possibly a little bit taller then Isaiah, but not by much. He clearly towered over my petite body.
"I thought I heard voices" Amelia says coming into the main area, her hair damp. "Hi Leo"she gives him a smile.
"Hey"he smiles back. I turn back to him. I hear Amelia walk back to her room.
"Roommates I'm I right?" I joke.
"Oh trust me, my roommate is much worse compared to Amelia"
"He a cop too?"
"Hmh we were in the academy together. Well I'll let you go, seeing as we both work tomorrow"
"We are doing such adult things" I roll my eyes and he chuckles. I do something very impulsive , I lean over a kiss his cheek.
"Be careful at work tomorrow handsome"I say with a wink.
"How long did it take you to come up with that nickname?" He jokes.
"I'm not even gonna tell you" I laugh.
"Have a good night Julie" he says with a genuine smile.
"You too"I tell him before he pushes off the wall and walks away whistling quietly. I shut the door behind him and lock it. I hang up my coat and walk back to Amelia's room, she was reading. Knocking on her open door she finally looks up at me.
"Wanna make some cookies and cream brownies?" I ask my best friend.
"I thought you'd never ask"she smiles. "So how was breakfast with Isaiah?" She asks.
"Good, it went okay"
"And how was he?" She asks with caution.
"I mean I don't know, he knows how to hide what he's been through" I tell her.
"Any word from Archie? Or Chris?"
"Isaiah said he heard Archie would be coming home in a few months, most likely when he's deported again"
"He's been away for almost a year and he won't be staying for a year?" I shrug.
"It's life" I say as we enter the kitchen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
My back was hurting as I exited out of my current patients room, I walk into the break room to see Amelia studying for our registered nurses exam we're taking before Christmas break. The two of us have a temporary licence to work at the hospital before we took our exam.
"How's the studying going?" I ask her as I sit beside her in the break room.
"Kill me?" She suggests, I laugh.
"How much longer is your break for?"
"Like another twenty minutes" I pull out my laptop wanting to do some studying with her. There was various foods laid out on the other table in the break room, Camille and Erica would always bring in food for us so Amelia and I just brought small snacks.
"Do you know what time it is?"my best friend asks me. Before I could check the time and tell her. Erica walks in, singing and holding a small cake.
"Happy Birthday to you!" The rest of our co workers sing. I nudge Amelia.
Fun fact, it was Amelia's birthday today. The two of us celebrated it earlier today. Amelia was born five minutes before me, I was born the next day at 12:05 am.
"It's eleven fifty eight"I tell her and smile at my best friend.
Erica sets the small cake in front of us the words Happy Birthday Amelia and Julie wrote on it.
"Make a wish!" Dakota squeals. I look at my best friend and she looks at the clock above me.
"Happy Birthday best friend"she wishes me.
"Happy late birthday best friend" I joke. She turns back to the cake and Erica counts to three before we blow out our candles.