She tossed her jacket in her cubby and spun around to face me. “Did you know his dick is pierced?”
I groaned and sank into my chair, covering my face with my hands. “Like that. That’s too much.”
Darla let out a hearty laugh. “Oh, my dear Kacie, that’s only the beginning.”
I spent the last hour of my shift following Maureen from room to room, performing all the procedures she’d allow, no matter how big or small. When I wasn’t with Maureen, I was dodging Darla and her wicked stories.
Four o’clock rolled around and I was done. Darla was sitting at the desk, updating a chart and munching on some Cheetos.
“So, still no details, but are you gonna see him again?” I asked carefully.
“Not sure.” She spun the chair to face me, licking her orange fingers. “He wants to, but he might be a little too spunky for me. I like a good lay every once in awhile, but he was tossing me around the room and doing me on every piece of furniture he could find.”
I closed my eyes and shook my head, trying to dump out the mental pictures I was having.
She stood up and rolled her shoulders, stretching her back out. “I think I pulled a muscle and I’ve been sleeping for two days straight.”
“Okay. On that note, I’m out of here.” I tossed my hoodie on and grabbed my lunch bag. “See you tomorrow?”
“I’ll be getting off just about the time you come in. What are you up to tonight?”
“One of my best friends has been home from Italy for a week, but I’ve been so busy with Brody and everything else, I haven’t even seen her yet; I’m having dinner with her and my other girlfriend.”
“Sounds like fun. Have a cocktail for me.” She waved.
I said good-bye to a few other nurses I’d become friendly with and was almost to the door when I heard my name being called. I spun around and saw Zach jogging toward me. “Hey.” He grinned when he caught up with me.
“Hi.”
“I’ve been meaning to give you something.” He dug around in his coat pocket and handed me a piece of paper.
“What’s this?” I asked, unfolding it.
“My cell number.”
“Oh.” My head snapped up. “Why do I need this?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “Just in case… the girls, you…whatever. I don’t know.”
“Okay. Well, I’m late for dinner. I’ll talk to you later.” I smiled and rushed out into the parking lot.
Traffic sucked. By the time I got to the restaurant, Alexa and Lauren were already sitting down.
“Sorry I’m late,” I said, sliding around the table to hug Lauren. “You look fantastic! I’m so excited to see you.”
“Me too!” Lauren squeezed me tight. I didn’t realize how much I’d really missed her until she was right in front of me.
“What’s up, asshole?” I winked at Alexa as I sat down.
“You tell him yet?” she responded in a snotty tone.
“Oh my God, could we please sit and have dinner and then we’ll talk about all that?” I glared at her.
She pursed her lips together and turned toward Lauren. “That means no.”
Lauren gasped and her mouth fell open. “You still haven’t told him?”
I dropped my head in my hands and shook it back and forth. “I know, I know. I tried. I really did, but then we got interrupted by the girls and he made them a fort and I didn’t want to ruin the mood.”
“What are you waiting for?” Lauren asked.
Alexa scoffed, “The girls to graduate high school.”
“Stop it.” I narrowed my eyes at her. “I’m going to tell him. I feel absolutely awful about it, but he’s had so much going on lately, I don’t want to stress him out any more.”
The waitress brought over spinach-avocado dip, which they must have ordered before I got there. Lauren smiled as she walked away and popped a chip in her mouth. “What’s going on with him?”
I finally took my hoodie off and put it on the back of my chair. “Well, his contract is up this season, so the pressure is on to play well. Obviously if he knew this was going on, it would mess with his head. Also, his mom just had her scans and they haven’t gotten the results yet. He hasn’t said it out loud, but I know he’s freaked out about it.”
“That’s understandable.” She took another bite and reached over, smacking Alexa’s arm. “Cut her some slack, Lex.”
“I understand that he’s got a lot going on. I even think it’s slightly adorable that Kacie loves him so much, she doesn’t want to make it worse.” She sighed. “I’m just worried. I don’t see this ending well.”
“It’ll be fine.” Lauren waved Alexa off. “These two are so crazy in love with each other, Brody will totally understand why she waited. And then they’ll ride off into the sunset on a Zamboni.”
“Yeah, well hopefully Kacie is on that Zamboni with Brody instead of sitting in the penalty box, crying.”
My stomach hurt and Alexa’s jokes about Brody leaving me were not helping. I wasn’t lying when I said I felt awful about not telling him. I felt beyond awful, but I really didn’t want to stress him out.