Emily had regretted flirting with Dr Patnum all day. He was probably the last person on earth, she would ever be interested in; and yet she couldn't seem to get rid of him now. Since the morning's flirt session in which she had failed to make Will jealous, hence proving her social experiment invalid; Dr Patnum had taken a fancy to her and followed her around like an irritating rash. There wasn't a moment throughout the day where she had some peace. At lunch he was there, on top of the roof while she sat with Tyra and Micah. He was there winking her at as she presented at rounds, which only made Dr Bandari hate her more. He even walked in to "call" on Joyce Barnes, Micah's mom when he had heard that Emily was spending her free time down there. Joyce had said that she had never seen him before and his "sudden interest in her was brought on by the pretty girl she was with". Emily decided not to tell Joyce that she had flirted with him to make Will jealous. As Micah had said at lunch, Dr Patnum was trouble and Emily had to be extra careful.

All this information would have come in hand BEFORE you tested your theory!

Why on earth had she taken Tyra's advice to flirt with him?

The worst part of it was that Will hadn't even seemed that jealous and now she was stuck with the hospital's NUMBER ONE man slut.

"Hey you." Dr Patnum said leaning against the lockers in the changing room.

Emily faked a smile. "What's up?" she said trying her best to sound casually friendly, nothing more.

God Emily, don't be too friendly.

You are going to give him the wrong idea.

"So I was thinking we could, you know, get that drink together."

"I can't tonight." Emily said wrapping her scarf around her neck.

"I meant what I said before, about liking the chase, Dr Owens." He said shifting closer towards her. "You will get caught…like all the others that have fallen before you, they never can resist my charms."

. . .Emily! She thought slowly, trying her best to not even roll her eyes at his statement.

If there was no thing that Emily hated more in than anything else in the world; it was cocky guys.

Well, cocky guys and then Cassandra…

Dr Bandari at times too…

"Hey Pitts!" Cassandra said walking into the changing room, hand in hand with Will.

Usually hearing her voice would make Emily's face cringe and wish she was anywhere else in the world; but this one time, Emily was thankful to have someone else around.

"Emily, a bunch of us are going out to Ricky's for drinks tonight; you in?" Will asked.

"Count us in." Dr Patnum said answering before Emily could say anything.

"Pitts, I see you have an admirer!" Cassandra said, pretending to sound sweet and opening her locker to pull out her bag.

"Is she coming?" Tyra asked walking into the changing rooms, closely followed by Micah and some other interns.

"I don't know, I asked her." Will said shrugging his shoulders at Tyra. "She has to come; she barely comes out with us anymore."

That was so, not true. Emily thought, as she rolled her eyes.

I went out on a blind date last night…during the middle of the week!

Had he forgotten about that?

"Come on, Emily!" Tyra exclaimed, walking up to her best friend and taking her hands. "Hot Molly is coming…it's kind of our first date." She said smugly. "I could really use a wing woman."

"Tyra, I can't tonight." Emily said apologizing to her friend.

"Why Owens? Is the Cable guy coming over again?" Will asked sarcastically, causing Cassandra to laugh heartedly.

"No, but I have this thing that I need to do. I keep putting it off, but I need to do it…its kinda driving me crazy."

"Pitts, you're rambling again. Look, if you're thing is getting laid," Cassandra whispered in her ear, "then you don't need to look much further than him." She said gesturing to Dr Patnum who was still leaning against the lockers checking Emily out.

"God no!" Emily snapped defensively. "I have this…book case that I need to put together."

"A books case?!" Tyra asked folding her arms over her chest. "You're blowing me off for a book case?"

"Tyra, my parents sent me down some of my books and I have all these boxes everywhere in my apartment… I really need to put some order into my place."

"Is there really a book case, Owens?" Will asked not entirely believing her.

"Yes…there is." Emily said hotly, feeling her cheeks burn. "I was telling Micah about it before."

Micah bit down onto his lip hard, did his best to contain his laugh and nodded at Will.

"You know, I could help you with that…" Dr Patnum said re-joining the conversation.

NO!

God, HOW do you get rid of this guy?!

"Actually, I'm doing it." Micah said cutting in, before Emily could think of an excuse.

"You are?" Cassandra said raising a perfectly arched eyebrow at Micah. "I thought you were coming for drinks with us?"

"I was, uh, but I forgot that I promised to help Emily with the book case, so now I can't." Micah said smiling at a relieved Emily.

"Lame." Cassandra said rolling her eyes. "Whatever, have fun tonight doing work, while the rest of us get drunk and blow off some steam."

"We should get going." Will said.

"Looks like we will have to get a drink another time, Dr Owens." Dr Patnum said as he followed the rest of the interns out of the changing rooms.

Emily cringed, hoping that he wouldn't see her scrunched up face.

"What's with the face?" Micah asked when they were alone in the change rooms.

"Nothing." She said lying quickly.

"You have to be careful of that one Emily; his reputation precedes him."

"Trust me; you don't have to warn me. I'm not interested at all." Emily said flinging her bag over her shoulder and slamming her locker shut. "You didn't have to skip drinks tonight."

"Are you kidding me? I love putting furniture together! I'm a Doctor, Emily! You should know the thrill you get when you can fix something up." He said excitedly.

"I hate putting furniture together! I'm the most uncoordinated person on this earth! I'm really bad at… almost everything." She said laughing nervously.

"You're not bad at being a Doctor!" Micah exclaimed quickly, shaking his head in disagreement.

"That's because being a Doctor is the only thing I know; it's the thing I'm most confident in."

"Well after tonight, you will also be a pro in assembling book cases…so don't worry." Micah said winking at her. "Should we get going?"

"Micah, I really don't want you to have to skip drinks tonight…especially since your friend is back in town."

"Who, AJ? Don't worry about him! He is coming back here as a resident and besides; he used to live with me when we were interns, so he is crashing at mine for a bit. Listen, I just have to say a quick goodnight to my mom, but I'll see you at yours in about thirty? I'll pick up some dinner for us, too. I'm thinking Thai? What do you think?" he asked as he started to back out of the changing rooms.

"Micah, I can pick something up for us if you want." Emily asked heading out of the change rooms and into the foyer.

"No, I know the perfect place, so you just go home and relax and I'll see you soon." He said smiling at her before he headed towards an opened lift.

xx