Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters here, and I don't own the song either. I really don't own very much...
Chapter six: Cell phones and supermarkets
She closed the door and kept smiling happily to herself. When the hell did this happen? She walked over to her couch and pulled a blanket on top of her. My god, she thought, this is the first time in months that I have felt this happy.
She started to slowly drift off thinking about him. She actually needed him, look at her. She just said to herself that she was happy and it was because of him. He made her feel good about herself and the things she did. He didn't look down on her because she was "just" a nurse, he respected her for it. She remembered that night outside of the bar with Luka all too well. Sometimes she just thought of it unexpectedly and then the tears threatened to come back. He had told her that she wasn't all that special or that pretty. She knew that he probably hadn't really meant it, he just yelled it in the heat of the moment, but she had never showed him how much that had hurt her.
All her life she had felt useless and miserable and after her marriage with Richard all of that had gotten even worse. But Carter... he was so much different than any guy she'd ever been with. Carter can have you!!! His voice echoed in her mind. She would never forget that moment. It was then that she had thought to herself: If only he still wants me... And boy, was she glad he did.
She pushed the blanket away and started towards the bedroom, breathing in the sweet and gentle scent of the roses as she walked past them. She dropped down onto her bed, fluffed her pillow a bit and turned off the lights.
Carter woke up at about 11am the next day. He had needed that sleeping in for a long time now. He couldn't even remember the last time he had had a day off. Yawning and stretching, he climbed out of bed, warily opening his eyes a bit more. He went to the bathroom to take a shower and then the events of the past night came back to him.
Oh my god, he realised with a shock, I agreed to cook for her!
It was a well known fact, she had too much power over him. If she looked at him with that special look she had, damn all other things just melted away. Ok let's see, he had to cook...and there was absolutely no one around to help him...well that's just fantastic, he thought sarcastically.
He got in the shower and turned on the water as he pondered over what he would prepare. Preferably something nice yet easy...well, he was going to have to think about that later. He needed to go grocery shopping anyway. The radio blasted its next song as he shampooed his hair.
She's got a blind smile and a soft touch
A cute little dimple when she laughs too much
They say you fall hard when you meet her
Such is her allure
She's got a quick wit and a fast tongue
But she doesn't seem to know that she's the one
They say she cheats charm when she whispers
She's devilishly pure
You'd see if you knew her, that she doesn't know
Well it's time I told her so
When I see your blushes
From a compliment of mine, it touches
There's something inside, I'm getting rushes
The adrenaline rushes
And I'm fascinated, that you really don't know how to take it
When I look at you that way, you feel naked
And I'm so into you, I'm getting rushes
He drove his car to the nearest supermarket and wandered aimlessly through all of the aisles. He hadn't even decided what he was gonna cook, how the hell was he supposed to know what ingredients to buy?
This is going to be a disaster. He sighed in frustration as he took out his cellphone. He dialed the number and hoped that she would be home.
"Deb, hi, it's John. I hear you're still home, how are you feeling?"
"Hey Carter, I'm doing slightly better. You know how it is with the flu, it goes away after a few days, I'm coming into the ER tomorrow so...Anyway what's up, what do you need?"
"What makes you think I need anything? I can't just call a good friend who's sick to ask her how she is? I'm really offended." he joked.
"Yea right, as you said it: a good friend, which means I know you well enough. So what is it that you need me for?"
"Well...I needed a feminine piece of advice and since I knew you were home..."
She laughed "I know you too well John, ask away."
"I promised Abby I'd cook for her tonight. Well...she forced me really", he laughed. "Problem is I have no idea what to cook or how to even begin cooking it".
"You sound desperate enough but it's sweet that you're cooking for her. I'm so glad you two are finally moving things forward, I was beginning to become frustrated myself. Ok, umm let's think. You wanna impress her with your cooking but you don't wanna overdo it or make something that's too hard for you too cook."
"That's just what I was thinking, see great minds do think alike. So what did you have in mind?"
"Hmmm well that depends, are you hoping on getting lucky tonight? Show her just how much you love her or..." He could hear the smile in her voice.
"HA HA, no I just want to make her a nice dinner and we'll see what happens from there. I seriously don't wanna rush things Deb, you know how Abby can get sometimes and I can't loose her. Not now, after it's finally happening. Nothing has happened so far, so don't go spreading anything in the ER either."
People were actually turning to look at him now. Yea he was one of those annoying people in a supermarket with a cellphone, he smiled sweetly at them.
"She probably knows you love her anyway and the only thing I might be spreading is the flu", she laughed. "You wanna go to Susan if you want word to go around fast."
"Yea or Chuny and Haleh for that matter. But we need to get back on the subject of F-O-O-D, because as we speak it's nearly two o'clock and I'm gonna need time for this. Let's say I mess up a few times before I actually get there, she's coming by my place around 8.30pm."
"Well you have plenty of time, and I think I may have found the perfect dish for you to prepare. You wanna make something light, so...you should cook pasta! It's perfect, easy to make and delicious. You can thank me later"
"Ok that's great, but we actually only just had Italian food last night and we both had tagliatelli so...any other great ideas? Because that would've indeed been perfect if not for last night..."
"Just your luck, now I had found the perfect meal!" She let out an exasperated sigh. "I don't know I'm not a chef, maybe you should check the internet or something and find a site with great meal ideas. Oooh, I have an idea. Why don't you make her something Asian-inspired?"
He frowned "Will that be easy? Because it doesn't sound easy."
"Well now that we landed on Asian food, I'm an expert and I have tonnes of ideas! Let's see, there's Asian barbequed steak, Burmese chicken curry, Asian roll lettuce wrap, egg foo yung..."
"Ok ok", he interruped her. "I can hear that you're getting very excited, and it actually sounds great. Why don't we go with the first one, the barbeque thing? I mean I know it's winter and it might seem strange, but instead of barbequeing it, I can just put it on the grill. Now how do you prepare it?"
"Well putting it on the grill is a wonderful idea, because the steak is marinated in Thai seasonings and you can grill it as desired. The only problem is that it will take you about 3 hours and 35 minutes to prepare it."
"That's all right, as long as you explain how to cook it exactly I'll be fine."
After he had taken a piece of paper and wrote everything down carefully he thanked Chen and started pushing his cart around in search of the needed ingredients. Boy he wished he wouldn't have a too hard time preparing this. Abby owed him big time.
As soon as he got home he started and it was going pretty well. At least in his opinion it looked good. He left it on the fire as he went upstairs to get ready seeing as Abby could be arriving any minute.
(song: Rushes by Darius)