As I watched Eliza walking out I kind of felt uncomfortable. Bring on the social awkwardness. No matter how old I am, I will always be this. “Do you want desert” Orion asked. “Um, no thank you” I responded. I looked at the table and most of the food was gone. I really wanted to have desert, but I do not know what or how act with Orion sitting right in front of me. My whole body is tight. I had to tell myself, just treat him as if he was Eliza. Or any other friend that I have. Ok, I don’t have many friends. Honestly, I’d rather be here by myself than to sit across Orion. “Ok, well do you mind sitting with me while I have desert” he stated. My right eyebrow lifted. He noticed it and smiled. “We can catch up more. There wasn’t much of an opportunity to get to know each other back then, but now, why not” he said. I had to take a beat and think about it. Ok, I am 38 years old. My experiences have never given me life long close friends. Not that I’m complaining about it. I’m just cautious. Especially since I have always opened my heart and welcomed friendship, but for some reason, I was always left behind or not included at all. It’s totally true when they say adolescent to young adult experiences never leave the person. And if there is pain included in that experience, that person can never forget. I wish I could have amnesia sometimes. Not remembering would be quite nice. I better never say that out loud or else it might really happen. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. If you want to leave that’s ok too. I’ll pay for the meal” he said. “Actually, I already told Eliza I was going to pay for it” I said. “No, I will pay” he argued. I put a smile on my face, “Eliza and I had already discussed it before hand and she already knows I was paying for tonight” I tried to enforce my place. I really didn’t want to owe him anything moving forward. “No, I will pay” he said. His voice was cold, and his face reflected how he sounded. I was confused. What did I do? “I don’t understand, it’s not a problem. This was what I was going to do anyways. Eliza knows that” I said with a low voice. I wasn’t scared, I just didn’t know why he got mad. “Look, Eliza and I are friends. We don’t normally hang out, but when we do, I never let her pay. Since she already knew that I was coming, she already understood that I would be paying for tonight. So, I know for a fact that she did not still expect you to pay” he said forcefully. Ok, did I just get tingles. This was interesting. I had no idea how to respond. Normally, I would lash out at anyone who spoke to me like that, but I was leashed. Why? “I didn’t know that you and she had previous understanding when hanging out. And it’s rare for anyone else to pay for me” I finally said. “Look, I want to get to know you more. And I want you to get to know me more. And since I invited myself I’ll pay. Plus, this is how I am with Eliza, so why can’t it be extended to you to” he said. I am having a really difficult time with this. I don’t know why. I remember once upon a time I would have agreed straight away, but the person I have become today does not want to owe anyone in the future. “Please let me pay the bill. You won’t owe me anything. Think of it as a welcome back to Fort Lauderdale gift” he said with a smile. I bowed my head a bit and said, “Ok, thank you.” “Now that is settled, do you want desert” he asked. “Thank you but no desert for me” I answer. With that answer, Orion asked for the bill, paid, left a tip and he walked me out to my car. I unlocked my 2010 white Lexus 350. I love this car. It’s a midsize SUV to be exact. He opened the driver’s side door, and I was about to get in, but he stopped me by saying, “about Nate, why don’t you want him to know that you are here.” I sighed as I continued to dump my handbag on the driver’s seat. I thought about it, if Nate ever found out that I was back in the state he would look for me. He is the only one that I know would literally look for me. Even after all these years. “Do you still talk with him” he asked me with a frown on his face when I hadn’t said anything yet. “No, it’s been a long while since he and I have had any communication” I responded. He looked at me and I was afraid that he would ask more questions. “Can we not talk about him” I asked as I leaned my back against the back driver side door. He kept looking at me, his frown still on his face. Orion finally asked in a whisper, “did you use to love him, and do you still love him?” I closed my eyes; this was a difficult question. “And don’t lie about it. I really want to get to know you. Your past can’t be changed. My past can’t be changed. I would like for us to at least keep an open mind with each other. We might end up being just friends, or we might like each other” he continued in his whispered voice. I saw sincerity in his eyes. “Can I not answer that question” I asked him while my eyes were watching my feet toe a pebble on the ground. He was silent for a while. But the silence was drawn out for too long, so I looked up at him. It seemed like he came closer to me. “Alright. Where’s your phone” he asked me. I reached into my bag and pulled out my phone. “Text my phone now, so I have your number. More importantly you have my number, and when you want you can call or text” he stated. I was a bit surprised when he said that my mind couldn’t catch up. “Hop in I’ll close your door” he continued talking and I just followed whatever it was he was saying. I turned around, got in, started the car, then rolled my window down. He leaned into the open window and said “Drive safe” then he leaned further and kissed me on my cheek. I gave him a tight-lipped smile then drove off. It didn’t take me long to get home. I parked in the garage and went into the house. The house was quiet. It’s just me now. I’ll get used to it eventually, though I have to admit that I feel lonely. But I am not going to dwell on it. This feeling is just temporary. At least, I hope. Shaking that thought out of my head, I went to take a shower. When I was finished, I sat on my bed thinking about this point in my life. My job starts tomorrow night, so I’ll stay awake just a little longer to slowly adjust working the graveyard shift. Looking at the time, it’s only 10pm, so I looked for something to watch on one of those streaming networks. No matter how many streaming services or channels I have, there is always nothing good to watch. So, my thoughts drifted to Orion. Orion was 6 feet 1inches tall with a well-muscled body. He wasn’t disgustingly muscled, but just buff enough to be awesomely proportioned to his height. His face features was sharp and chiseled, but friendly. His eyes, oh my goodness, when those eyes looks your way, you are held captivated. The voice that comes out of his mouth is deep and rolls over your body like a tangible touch. He was the whole package. So, basically, I was intimidated. It will never happen between the two of us, I thought. Then, went back to reading another romance novel.
I’m starting to get to know my way around the hospital. Being in a new environment is exciting, but patients are still the same. It’s a good thing that I like what I do. Even though I only draw blood from these patients, it makes me feel that I am helping in some way. A very small way. Every early morning rounds begin, and the phlebotomist splits into two teams. Rounds is when the phlebotomist draw blood from the inpatients at a designative time, since there tends to be a lot of orders the phlebotomist all leave the lab at the same time. All orders are from the attending physicians for each patient. Each team has a leader that everyone in that team reports to. The team leader then keeps everyone focused to make sure all team members are not falling behind with their assigned blood draws. We are then assigned to go to different areas of the hospital to expedite the patients that need to have their blood drawn. My team leader is Nelly. After she gave me my draws, I left her. R
“Bossman, why you here, man” Marcus asked as he spotted me walking into the shop. “Why not? If I don’t come, you guys might get into trouble and burn this place down” I said in a teasing way. “Ha Ha, not even, you really helped all of us out, so we owe you. There is no way we would intentionally let you down” Marcus said leaning against the car he was working on. “I know. How’s it going here” I asked. “Oh, you know, can’t complain. Business is good. Customers keep coming in and we keep doing what we gotta do” Marcus said. These guys know their stuff when it comes to fixing cars. “That’s good. Well, I’ll be in the office” I said and went upstairs. I opened my own service station a few years ago. In addition to gas, I also have mechanics in house to fix cars. The guys I hire are those who are down on their luck and need a helping hand. I didn’t intentionally make my business this way it just became like this. They are a good bunch of guys, rough guys, but still good guys.
Lara Upon waking I took a shower and got ready for work, I decided to text Orion. TEXT: Lara: Good Evening! After sending the text I was wondering what I wanted to eat. The thing is, I never know what I want to eat. Basically, it’s never fun or fulfilling to cook for myself. It feels lonely. So, I just settled on drinking some orange juice, that should be good enough for now. While I was drinking my phone binged with a text message. I looked at it. It read Orion. I swiped the message open. TEXT: Orion: Good Evening. How did you sleep. I replied TEXT: Lara: It was pretty restful. How was your day? He replied TEXT:Orion: No problems at work, just a lot of paper work. TEXT Lara: Sounds boring. Hehe. What are you doing now. TEXT:Orion: haha, it is boring, but worth it. I’m hanging out with a friend. TEXT:Lara: Nice. So, I was wondering, will it be ok if I brought someone to you party?Ok, so after I asked that question, I wanted to take it back. It’s not like I wa
Lara “Girl what’s your address. I’ll come over and get ready at your place” Shantel said over my speaker phone. “Geez, it’s just a backyard party, there’s no need to go over the top” I said. “Hey, I never go out, so I’d like to look my best” Shantel replied. “Seriously” I asked exasperated. “Yes, it’s been a while and I’m single so I’d like to look at least decent. Come on, I live in scrubs, so why not dress up” she replied in a whinny way. I chuckled and said, “alright, alright. I’ll drop a location pin for you. Come over. We’ll get ready together.” “Great” she replied, then we hung. 30 minutes later, I was still just lounging around listening to an audiobook and playing on my phone. Basically, doing a whole bunch of nothing. That’s when I heard a knock on my door. I got up, walked over to the door and opened it. As the door was being open I her Shantel’s voice saying, “I’m here” in a singy songy way. I smiled and said, “come on in,” then I stepped back. As I was
Lara I didn’t expect to see Dr. Chase Cameron here tonight. I was already running late to get here because of some unexpected guess. It’s 10:15pm, I literally just walking into through the door when I saw Dr Cameron. He saw me and came straight up to me to talk. I didn’t want to be rude since he and I do work at the same hospital, so I chose to be polite. Speaking with him was fun and easy. At the moment he didn’t seem to show the arrogance that comes along with being a Medical Doctor. Well, that’s just my opinion of course because obviously, not all doctors are arrogant. My eyes glanced at the wall clock, and it seemed that I was talking to him for a good 30 minutes cause now it’s 10:45pm. I didn’t want to be rude to Dr. Cameron, but I also felt like I was being rude to Orion because I haven’t said hello yet. I started feeling a little uneasy, when I glanced slightly over Dr. Cameron’s shoulder, I saw Orion looking straight at me. He was out in the yard, and I was in t
Orion Lara slammed into my chest. The plate with the cornbread she was holding smashed between us and crumbled to the ground. “Lara are you ok” I asked her. Looking her over from the top of her head to the tip of her feet. She looked a little startled. I looked behind her. “Johanna, why did you do that” I spoke in a cold tone, my eyes piercing through her with anger. “What are you doing? Do you remember you asked me to be here” Johanna said sweetly, but she was fuming on the inside. Crown, not missing a beat started laughing. “I do believe you invited yourself,” Crown said as he walked over to my side. “Lara are you ok” he directed his question to Lara. “I’m fine. My cornbread died though,” she said pitifully. She looked totally dejected. I chuckled on the inside. What is it with that cornbread, I thought. I turned my attention back to Johanna. “You need to leave. Now,” I told her. “I’m not leaving. She should leave,” Johanna said as she pointed her finger towards La
Lara Dropping Shantel off and getting back to Orion’s place didn’t take long. When we walked through the front door, Crown had already cleaned up most of everything. I looked around inside and outside to see if I could help, but it seems like I wasn't needed. “Wow, Crown, good job. It seems like I didn’t need to come back to help clean,” I said while turning in a circle on the balls of my feet, stopping as I faced him. “There wasn’t much too clean. But since you’re back, we can just chill and catch up” he said. “It’s late don’t you need work in a few hours,” I asked. It’s around 2 in the morning, so shouldn’t that mean both of them should be sleeping now. “I took off just in case I got a hangover,” he said with a chuckle. “Come on, sit,” Orion said then sat on the couch. I looked at Orion, walked over and sat next to him, while Crown sat on the loveseat. “So, do you guys do this often,” I asked them. “Do what,” Orion replied. “Have people over like this,” I replied. Orion and Crown lo
Over the past few weeks, things at work were ok. Nothing good. Nothing bad. Working is fun but definitely not highlighted in my life. It’s just a skill that I can do and not a big deal. Orion and I have been getting to know each other too. We would go out on dates, talk on the phone, text each other, or even relax at his place or mine. In my twenties, I would have done the deed with him already. Now, turning 40 in 2 years, I abstain. Not that I don’t want to be with Orion, it’s just that the older I get sex isn’t that great. I’ve fallen asleep one time, another time I got bored because it’s the same thing over and over again, and then there was one I called out a name that was a character of a book I was reading at that time. I had to laugh at myself for that one, definitely no forgetting that experience. That’s quite funny now that I look back. Majority of the time, I had to get myself off after he got off. I swear some guys have no idea. With that thought I had to laugh