CARA

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” I said, feeling really awkward.

“Do you have a boyfriend?”

“None that I can think of,” I said since I was not really sure if Bridgette had one.

“Then can I ask another question?”

“What’s that?”

“Can I invite you for a cup of coffee across the street? I’ll pay, don’t worry.”

I felt bad for the kid. He was nice and handsome but he was wasting his attention on the wrong person. I had to find a way to make up divert that attention. “Sure. Just let me get these inside,” I said, indicating the flowers.

“I’ll be waiting,” he answered and jumped aside to let me in.

I carried Bridgette’s phone and the keys with me when I went out where Todd was waiting patiently.

“How is school?” I asked him as we entered the coffee shop.

“It’s boring. I want it to be over soon.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to start working so I can take you out on a proper date.”

“Todd,” I said as we lined up to order. “You know you can always find someone much younger, right?”

He scoffed. “I don’t like girls my age.”

“Why?”

“All they think about boys.”

“Don’t you like that? I’m sure someone with your looks can find great women in school.”

“I want women with depth,” he said, looking in my eyes.

I sighed. We waited for our turn and made our orders. I let Todd pay for our coffee and I led the way to the most crowded part of the shop.

“How about that girl?” I asked before I sipped a cup of coffee.

He looked at the direction of my gaze. “That? It’s the kind of girl who loves books more than anything. I don’t want to compete with a book.”

“She’s actually pretty,” I said, looking at the girl. She had wavy and messy black hair that went down to her shoulders. She was also wearing a big and bulky pair of eyeglasses and her nose was almost touching the page of the book she was reading which. To Kill a Mockingbird, great choice. “You just have to look deeper.”

“She’s weird. I bumped into her once in the bookstore. She did not even say sorry. She acted like it didn’t happen.”

“You want someone different, right? Why not her?”

He shrugged. “I want older women. They are more emotionally stable.”

You don’t know that, young man, I almost wanted to blurt out.

“You should at least try to know her. Oh, look, she looked this way.” I said when the girl looked over her book and then back.

Todd didn’t care. His eyes were focused on me.

“You know what? We I should go ask her name.”

“What?”

“I find her interesting and plus, she has a good taste in books.” I stood up and made my way to the girl.

BRIDGETTE

When I reached Cara’s apartment, her father was just leaving. He smiled when he saw me. And then, I had to return his hug.

“I thought you were not home again,” he said. “What’s your shift?”

“It’s my day off…dad,” I said, walking to the door. I took out the keys from my bag, struggling with the bags. Cara’s dad helped me with them as I opened the door.

“You went shopping. That’s good,” he commented, putting the bags on the couch. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m feeling great, dad,” I said because that was what the man wanted to hear. He didn’t want to hear my sentiments about the frailty of his daughter.

He looked at me warmly before he turned and walked to the kitchen. “I’ll cook something for you.”

“You don’t have--”

“I want to do this,” he stopped my words.

I sighed, saying, “Okay.”

“You love my pasta, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” I answered without thinking as I pulled the chair from under the table. I watched Mr. Leonard move around the kitchen. I had never seen my own father inside the kitchen doing what he was doing. Mostly it was only to get coffee or getting something out of the fridge. My mother had always been the one who took over the kitchen. She never even asked me for help.

I didn’t realize I was sitting there all along watching Cara’s dad cook pasta. It smelled nice and my mouth began to water. I knew I just had a heavy meal with Cara but the aroma of the sauce just got to me.

When he served me with a plate, I thanked him.

“Bon appetite,” he beamed. I smiled at him standing there with a white towel over one shoulder.

I was too busy eating that I did not realize Cara’s phone was ringing. It was Danica.

“Hey,” I answered after I swallowed down the last of my pasta.

Mr. Leonard took my plate and carried them to the sink.

“Hey! I know it’s your day off today but something came up. Amy called in sick. She said she can’t make the night shift tonight. Daisy asked if you can relieve her tonight.”

I remembered Daisy to be the nurse supervisor. “Why me?”

“You’re the only one available tonight. Everybody else will have their shifts tomorrow morning or tonight.”

Mr. Leonard was looking at me with a smile. “Yeah, sure,” I answered.

“Great! See you tomorrow morning then!”

I replaced the phone back on the table.

“They called you in, didn’t they?”

“Yeah. Why does the hospital have low man power?” I complained.

“Honey, you always say the same thing but you’re still working as a nurse.”

“Yeah, whatever. Look, dad, I have to get some rest before my shift.”

“I’ll be fine out here. I’ll watch TV.”

“Okay,” I said and walked towards the room. I stopped on my tracks and turned back to him. I did what I would have never done with my father and kissed him. “Thanks for the pasta.”

“Go get some rest,” he said patting my cheek.

CARA

I learned her name was Bernadette and that she was actually attending the same school as Todd.

At first, she was hesitant when I asked to sit next to her.

“Why are you sitting here with me?” she asked, not closing her book. She must be expecting me to leave anytime soon.

I looked over my shoulder to see Todd looking at me. His face showed he didn’t like what I was doing.

“I just want to find a friend for my friend over there,” I said, pointing with my thumb over my shoulder.

“You mean Todd Lorre?”

“You know him?”

“We go to the same school. But he’s not a friend.”

“I can see that. And I see you have a great book right there,” I nodded at her hands.

“Just started reading,” she answered.

“So, Bernadette, would you mind if Todd and I join you?”

“He wouldn’t want to sit around the same table with me. He’s popular in school. I’m not. People will know and he wouldn’t like that.”

“You don’t know Todd,” I said.

She was silent for a moment, looking at Todd, before she nodded. “If he wants to.”

“Great!”

I went over back to Todd and asked him to join us. We took with us our cups. “Do you know she also attends the same school as you?” I asked him.

Todd looked at Bernadette. “You do?”

She just nodded, closing her book. She must have realized her company would be staying long.

“I’m Todd,” he said with a nod.

“Bernadette.”

“You know, Bernadette, you remind me so much of myself when I was in high school,” I uttered.

“I can’t imagine you wearing glasses and reading books,” said Todd before he looked at Bernadette  adding, “No offense.”

“None taken.”

“Well, you don’t know a lot about me. I was the school nerd as well. And I never thought someone would like me.”

“Don’t tell me, I already know,” Bernadette commented.

“But then, something happened and things started to turn out right.”

“What?” both of them asked.

“I met a good friend--someone who was really popular in school. She became my best friend.”

“Well, I can’t think of someone like that wanting to be my friend,” Bernadette said. She looked at Todd and added, “No offense.”

“None taken,” he smiled at her. “Not every popular person you know at school thinks the way you guys think they do. Sometimes we just don’t notice.”

“So, what happened to this friend? How did things turn out right for you?” Bernadette asked me.

“Well, she turned out to be my own fairy godmother. She transformed me.”

“Like a makeover,” said Bernadette dryly.

“Yeah. And then things changed.”

“What?”

My smile wavered. “A guy came into the picture.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing. What’s wrong was both me and my friend liked him.”

“And?”

Before I could answer, my phone rang.

“Hold on one second,” I said, standing up. “I have to get this.”

I left Bernadette and Todd alone and went outside.

“What is it?” I asked.

“I have a shift tonight,” Bridgette whispered.

“What? Why are you whispering?”

“Your dad’s outside watching TV.”

“Okay, calm down. We’ll do the same thing we did the last time.”

“Don’t you dare sleep on me later.”

“No, I won’t. I’ll get some sleep before you go to work.”

“You better!”

Before I could ask why her shift changed, she hung up. I went back inside and found Todd and Bernadette talking.

“Hey, I have to go. A friend asked for help and I have to go. Todd, thanks for the coffee.”

“It’s nothing,” he blushed. Bernadette saw it too and she rolled her eyes.

“Nice to meet you, Bernadette. See you some other time.”

“Yeah,” she answered and then I left. I didn’t want Todd to have the courage to ask if he could go with me.

I made my way up to Bridgette’s apartment and when I turned the corner, I almost wished I stayed with Todd and Bernadette.

Lorraine was standing outside the door and she saw me.

Perfect. Everybody kept showing up.

“You look great,” Bridgette’s sister looked at me from head to toe. She was sitting cross-legged on the couch.

“Yeah. Do you want anything? Coffee?”

“I thought you only have it once a day?”

“I offered it to you. And I haven’t had one yet.”

She looked at me with curiosity. “I’ll have one, thanks.”

I nodded and went to the kitchen. She followed. “You seem different, you know that?”

“No. Do you want it black?”

“Yes. You don’t act yourself.”

“Well, I had an epiphany after the accident.”

Lorraine laughed so hard. “You? An epiphany? Come on, Bridgette.”

I was laughing with her. Her laugh was sort of contagious. “Really.”

“And what is that?”

“That I should learn to live with the present and forget the past.”

“Uh-huh, right.”

“Believe it or not, it’s true.”

“Whatever you say, sister. Hey, I have this big favor to ask,” she said it so carefully as if she was waiting for a negative answer.

“What?”

“Can I stay here tomorrow? Mom and dad are coming home and I don’t want them visiting me in my apartment. And since they don’t come here, I decided this will be the best hiding place.”

I wanted to ask her why their parents didn’t come here, but I stopped myself. I should know the answer so I pretended I did. “Sure.” If Lorraine was my sister, I wouldn’t want her to feel bad if I said yes.

But based on her reaction, she was surprised her sister said yes. “You know what? You should get more epiphany.”

I only laughed and waited for our coffee.

BRIDGETTE

By the time I reached the hospital, I was already in the phone with Cara. She told me about Lorraine’s stay.

“Why did you say yes? What if she finds out?”

“It’s only going to be for a day, Bridgette. And she’s your sister. I couldn’t just say no.”

“Well, I would if it was me.”

“Really?”

“Yeah!”

“And I wondered why she seemed surprised.”

“Whatever. Just be careful around her. She’s very perceptive.”

“Okay.”

“Stay on the line. Never go to sleep. Understand?”

“Yes, of course.”

I walked to the unit and I started counting the minutes. I wanted to get out of there as fast as I could. Hospitals never gave me comfort. And the thought of spending another long night taking care of patients like Mrs. Bloom was horrible. But then, I might just have another interesting encounter with the handsome doctor.

Or maybe, I would spend a good night with another hot doctor like the one who was standing by the nurse’s station. His blond hair was a mess, but he still looked hot. He stared at me with his deep-seated eyes which I immediately wanted to know the color of. And he was a big change from Dr. Newman. He was actually smiling at me.

“Good evening, Cara. Good to see you’re still alive.”

“And kicking,” I answered with a smile.

“That’s Dr. Billy Cooper. We all call him Bill.”

“I heard you gave Dr. Newman a taste of his own medicine. Good for you.” He playfully patted my arm.

OMG, this guy likes me…or Cara!

***Updated because I'm feeling happy! LOL