Author's Note: Again, sorry for the long wait last time! But I really think I'm getting back into this story, and I do plan to finish it :)
Thanks to my loving reviewers:
CloisDestiny
Madison
LegaspiWeaver
ewriter
The next chapter, Twenty-Two, is short. Really short… So maybe I'll put it up later today… hm…
I hope you like this one!
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Chapter Twenty-One: We'll Get Lost in This Dance Floor
Supper was over, my parents had gone home, and I had just finished the dishes. Erica was sitting on the couch going over some charts. I sat down beside her.
She smiled at me and gave me a quick kiss. "I'm cold." She told me.
"It's the end of June! It's like 90 degrees outside!" I laughed.
"Yes, but we've had the a/c set way to high and now I'm cold." She giggled. "Let's take a bath."
I grinned and she took my hand and led me up to the upstairs bathroom. She ran the water and put some kind of fruit smelling bubble bath in the tub.
She stripped herself and then me. She climbed into the warm bath and then helped me in. I sat between her legs, my back to her. She kissed my neck and massaged my shoulders. I moaned with pleasure.
Her… Our bathtub was huge. It would fit at least three people. It was deep too, and had jets on all sides. It was so relaxing sitting in there with Erica.
"Did you really mean all those things you told my dad?" I asked her.
She smiled and kissed the top of my head. "Yeah, I did." She answered quietly.
"I really love you, Erica Hahn."
"I really love you, too, Calliope Torres."
I turned around so that I was on my knees and facing Erica. I took her face in both my hands and kissed her with all the passion I had in me. She pulled me in closer and kissed me harder.
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I woke up the next morning, wrapped up in Erica's arms. I smiled, rolled over and gave her a quick kiss. She opened her eyes and smiled when she saw me.
"How'd you sleep?" She asked groggily.
"Too long!" I yelled, glancing at the clock. I jumped out of bed. "The alarm, we forgot to set it!"
"Shit!" Erica yelled, jumping out of bed after me. "What time is it?"
"Ten."
"I have a surgery at 10:30!"
We quickly threw some clean clothes and rushed out the door.
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"Torres!" I cringed when I heard Bailey's voice pierce through the noisy hospital.
I turned around and saw her standing with her hands on her hips.
"You're late!" She yelled at me.
"I know, I know. I'm so sorry." I told her honestly. "I forgot to set the alarm clock before going to bed last night."
"I don't care why! Hurry up and get finished your rounds. We need you in surgery in an hour." She walked away.
I checked out the board and found it was a very simple broken arm surgery. I sighed and finished up my rounds.
I walked into a patient's room and a nurse was changing her dressing. She had had a heart and lung surgery yesterday and I fixed up her ribs. "Hello Mrs. Slekake, how are you feeling this morning?" I asked her politely.
The nurse moved awkwardly away from me as I moved forward to check her vitals. The nurse just looked at me funny, but didn't leave the room.
"I'm feeling great today, Dr. Torres. When do you think I'll be able to go home?" Mrs. Slekake asked me.
"We need you to stay here a little longer," I gave her a smile. I noticed the nurse beside me rolling her eyes. I wasn't sure what her problem was… but I ignored her. "After a major surgery like that, we need to keep our eyes on you."
I took her hand to change her IV and the nurse beside me coughed a very fake cough. "Excuse me," I asked her. "Is there something wrong?"
"Nope." She answered sarcastically. "Nothing at all."
"Then I think we are good. You could leave now."
"I would rather wait." She said.
"For what?" I asked confused.
"I don't want to leave you alone in the room with a patient. Specifically a female patient." She said bluntly.
"What?" I asked, outraged. "Maybe this conversation should take place in the hall. Please excuse me Mrs. Slekake."
I yanked on the nurse's arm to bring out into the hallway and she screamed. "Don't touch me you dirty, lesbian, whore!"
"Excuse me?!"
"I don't want you to touch me! You are going to hell! I won't want your sins rubbed off on me!" She freaked out. I shut the patient's door.
"What the hell are you talking about?!"
"I know you are with Dr. Hahn! I have seen you two kissing in the halls! You are going to hell for your sins!" She spat at me.
"So I can't be left alone with patients because I'm sleeping with Dr. Hahn?" I asked calmly.
"Who knows what you might do to them! You might molest them, or rape them or something even worse!"
"So because I like women, that means I'm going to molest every woman I see?"
"You might!" She yelled. "You're a dirty lesbian!"
I felt like everyone on that floor was staring at me.
"I think you need to see a therapist or something about all this anger you have." I told her quietly. "And maybe get your facts right before you start yelling at doctors in front of patients."
I walked back into Mrs. Slekake room.
The nurse really got to me. I couldn't stop thinking about the incident all day. I knew all along there were many people who disagreed with my lifestyle, but I didn't think I would get yelled at like this at work! I tried to forget about her, without much success.
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After work I found Erica waiting for me outside the hospital.
"How as your day?" She asked me with a smile.
I told her all about the homophobic nurse.
She pulled me in closer to her and wrapped her arms around me. "Don't listen to them, babe." She whispered. "They don't understand. They are ignorant and think they are better then you just because they like penis. They aren't worth your time, babe. Don't worry about them."
I smiled and gave her a kiss. "Thank you." I told her. "I needed that today."
She gave me another kisses before leading me by the hand to our car.
"Let's go out for supper." She suggested.
So we did. We went to this beautiful restaurant across town with a bar and a dance floor. After we were finished our meal, Erica asked me if I wanted to dance.
"Here?" I asked a bit panicky. "Are you sure? People might… yell things at us or something."
"If you don't want to babe, that's fine. But I would like to dance with my beautiful girlfriend tonight."
Well how can you say no to that? I smiled and took her hand.
She held me close to her as we danced to the slow songs. She kissed me when the song ended. I refused to look at the hateful stares around us. I focussed my gaze directly into Erica's eyes and blocked everything else out. She was all that mattered. We were all that mattered. Everyone else just sort of faded away.
"Erica," I whispered. "I love you."
"I love you, too, baby." She whispered back, pressing her lips to mine.
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