“How long will he be like this?” I asked Dr. Seo, watching as Eli stitched up an old woman’s arm in the ER. For the last 96 hours, I wasn’t even sure if had really eaten anything. He was basically living at the hospital and, from the looks of the hair growing on his chin, he hadn’t thought to bring a razor.
Dr. Seo bit into his apple, leaning against the wall. His pink hair was now back to black and in a half ponytail. “It depends. If you haven’t noticed, Eli doesn’t handle death well. He thinks just because he’s a doctor, he can save everyone if he’s just a little better. When he and I were interns, we lost an older man. He came in with his son after they had been in a car accident. His son appeared more hurt, so Eli focused on him, not realizing the boy's father was bleeding internally. It wasn’t his fault; his son really was hurt. After the man died, Eli barely ate or even left the hospital for a month. He only slept because his mother threatened and swore she would bar him from the hospital. So he made a makeshift bed in the on-call room. No one else dared sleep in it, either.”
“What can I do for him?” He looked like a ghost…worse than he had after Hannah.
“Wait for him to move on again? For as long as I’ve known him, nothing else works. Some big save snaps him out of it, but who knows how long he’s going to be like this. It’s weird when he doesn’t insult me back.” He pouted.
I snickered. “You are a sucker for pain, aren’t you, Ian?”
He winked, then got a page. “I have to go. I’ll see you later. Don’t stress too much about it, all right?”
Easier said than done.
Nodding, I waved, glancing back to Eli, who was on to the next patient, changing his gloves as he rolled over.
He nodded and smiled at the patient, but even then, he still looked dead.
I wanted to grab the sides of his face and scream at him, wake him up. But, did I really have the right to? I thought of Molly and Toby…I wondered if him getting over it would be right.
Turning back, I left him and headed to the mural wall. I was finally done with it and was supposed to reveal it that day, but I felt like there was a dark aura around the hospital. I wanted to wait until everyone was in a better mood.
“Gwen!”
“Stevie?” I said when she came close, dressed in a white and black polka dot dress, pink coat, and sunhat. “Nice outfit.”
“Oh, don’t start with me.” She took my arm, locking it under hers and heading toward the curtain. “I came to see your masterpiece. Are you giving a speech?”
“I hate public speaking.”
“You keep saying that, but you’ve always been good at it,” she replied, taking a seat in front of it. “And what’s wrong with the outfit? Is it the hat?”
I laughed when she took it off and strands of her red hair stood up. Brushing it down for her, I shook my head. “No, you look fine. Eli told me, as a rich person, I can no longer be prejudiced against the rich.”
“I’ve been saying that for years. I guess it just had to come from your sex—”
“Don’t finish that sentence.”
“I was going to say sexy boyfriend.” She ignored me, looking around. “Where is the good doctor, anyway? I haven’t been able to give him my best friend stamp of approval yet.”
“Working. Did you get this dressed up for me?”
“Sadly, no. We are going to the Hamptons tonight. One of these days you really have to go, Gwen. It’s so beautiful living right off the beach.”
“You lived off the lake in Cypress.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yes, that was nice, but I’m telling you, the Hamptons have a sense of romance to them. Have your doctor boyfriend take you.”
“He’s working.”
“So you aren’t taking him to go meet your parents?” She frowned. “I heard about your dad’s heart attack. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“For me to tell you, someone was going to have to tell me.” I was still annoyed about that. “My mom and dad decided not to ‘worry me’ and apparently he is ‘fine now, sweetie.’ They have been driving up the coast. They should be home by Wednesday, and I hoped to fly in on Saturday, but…”
“But?”
I sighed. “What do you do when Nathaniel is dealing with something hard? I mean, he dealt with things on his own before you were in his life, but now that you are with him, you should do something, right? Not just let him work it out?”
She thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. “It depends. When it’s family issues, I just tell him I’m there if he wants to vent, and then try to be around as much as possible, just kind of waiting. When he’s really not in the mood, I make him dinner and get him drunk. Sex usually follows, and after that, I can’t get him to shut up.”
I laughed, shaking my head at her. “Man have you changed, Stevie. Remember when you said you would never kiss a boy?”
“Remember when you said you were going to marry Mario Lopez, then Orlando Bloom?” She elbowed me. “And then who was it you wanted to marry after that… Prince Harry, you really liked Prince Harry.”
“I would have made an amazing princess, thank you. It even sounds nice: Princess Guinevere of Cambridge,” I said, slowly stretching it out for her sake.