When Luke woke up his first impulse was to shift back and snuggle up against the body he was expecting to lie on the other side of the bed. Instead he found covers pushed aside and cold, exposed sheets.
Slowly focusing he sat upright on the mattress and looked around the room. The window was tilted and the sun was reflecting in the glazed front of the building across the street. He turned his head towards the nightstand to catch a glance at the alarm clock. 09.55 the large green letters read.
After casually putting on some clothes he found here and there he walked into the hall and over to the second bedroom.
''Why did you not wake me up?'' he asked leaning against the doorframe.
Dr. Oliver looked slightly puzzled as the sudden sound pulled him out of his concentration.
''Well I could actually use some alone time going over the files.'' he said immediately turning his head back again.
''I don't like being interrupted when I work.''
Luke stepped closer into the room his hands in his pocket.
''Well I guess there is no time for breakfast anymore.''
Not looking up from his work Dr. Oliver pointed towards a take away bag that was standing on the edge of the desk.
''I picked it up at a coffee shop this morning. The coffee should be cold though by now.''
''Well thanks.'' Luke walked over to pick up the bag and moved to the bed meaning to sit down.''
‚''Actually I could still use some calm.'' Dr. Oliver had turned around on his chair and was looking at him through pinched eyes.
‚''Would you mind leaving me alone for a while .''
''Ok what's going on now?''
Luke shook his head frowning.
''Yesterday you sigh and scream my name now it's back to Mr. Snyder again?''
''Well I could hardly have called you Mr. Snyder last night could I? Now would you mind?'' his voice began to sound impatient as he pointed his head towards the door.
Luke lifted his eyebrows his lips moving but no words coming out. He briefly shook his head and walked outside pulling the door shut behind him.
This guy was really too much for him. The way it looked he was actually going to pretend last night had not happened and Luke could not really figure out what to do with that. Still shaking his head in disbelief he sat down in his own room trying to figure out the situation.
After having his sandwich and coffee he went to have a shower and picked out some decent clothes for the day.
It was only 10.45 and he had no idea how to kill the four hours until the meeting.
______________________________________________________________
As they got out of the rental car, the midday sun was hanging right above them in a cloudless sky and Dr. Oliver cursed himself for having picked out such a warm suit. He slammed the door shut and reached up to loosen his tie.
''Are you alright?'' Luke had walked around the car and was now standing right behind him, a worried look on his face.
''Yeah. Let's go.''
Pushing through the waiting and chatting crowd Luke took a glance around. The conference room was brightly lit by at least a dozen halogen bulbs spread all over the ceiling and seemed to be pretty small for the number of people it was supposed to hold. Another thing that worried him was the fact that he could not see any handles on the windows and thus assumed they were not meant to be opened.
After what felt like almost an hour to Luke he dared to shift on his chair and dropped his gaze to the watch on his left wrist. It was barely half an hour into the hearing and his head was already spinning. There had not even been one single testimony yet but instead somebody was still explaining the case in every detail to the audience an Luke was not even sure that everything he said made sense.
It was perfectly quiet in the room and he could only occasionally hear the sound of a pen scraping over paper.
Carefully he turned his head to the right wanting to catch a glance at Dr. Oliver. His features looked tense and worried and Luke would have liked to encourage him in some way but all he could do was sit there on his side and wait for this to be over.
After another twenty minutes the introduction was done and all eyes in the room turned to Mr. Judd as he gotup. From the corners of his eyes Luke could see Dr. Oliver gulp and exhale nervously. His glance was fixed on the man crossing the room and his features were not giving away any emotion.
At the beginning of his speech the atmosphere in the audience did not change much. There was the same sterile silence in the air and bodies were sitting on their chairs straight and focused. He heard one of the board's doctors interrupt Mr. Judd's testimony to add some kind of medical expertise upon which thirty people began to search through their files causing a monotonous rustling of sheets.
About fifteen minutes into the testimony Luke let his eyes travel across the room. The mood had changed now and a general concern began to spread through the crowd. Once again he looked over to the side but there was still no sign of any emotion displayed on Dr. Oliver's face. When he dropped his gaze Luke noticed that his chest was heaving under unusually deep breaths.
After another twenty minutes and a much welcomed break it was finally Dr. Oliver's turn to testify and Luke followed him with his gaze as he walked to sit down in front of the board. Unnoticed by everybody else in the room he briefly looked over to where Luke was sitting. Luke immediately caught his gaze nodding slightly with the hint of a smile on his lips.