Nick ran out through the streets off the campus of Llanview University, keeping up a decent pace as he came upon town, slowing to make his way into the store and the refrigerator case, grabbing a bottle of water. Nick cracked open the seal on the bottle, taking a sip. He rounded the corner to produce, bumping hard into someone.
"Sorry man," Nick said.
"Don't worry about it" Eric looked at him. He had not had any opportunity to meet Nick, not recognizing or knowing who he was. He looked at him, smiled softly. "You OK?"
"Yeah," Nick said. "Yeah, I'm fine. You're gonna think I'm crazy but... you look familiar. Have we met?"
Eric shook his head. "I don't think so. I've only been in town a few weeks."
"I must be thinking of someone else," Nick said.
"Eric," he said
"Nick..." Eric looked directly at him. "I hope I'm not jumping to conclusions... or being out of line here, but... maybe I could give you my number..."
"You mean to call you?"
Eric laughed. "Usually the thing you do with the phone number. I mean if you're not... I'm usually pretty good telling if a guy's..."
"Gay?" Nick said, his voice getting softer. "I'm not out..."
"Oh I understand," Eric said "That's fine. I'm being to forward."
"No," Nick said. "Not at all."
"Let me um..." Eric pulled out a piece of paper, wrote down his number. "I'm usually around..."
"Sure," Nick said. "I gotta get going." He smiled. "I'll talk to you later."
>>>>>>
Michael stepped out of the hospital waiting room, placing a patient file down at the nurses' station and checking the time. He sighed, yawning as the elevator doors opened and Shannon stepped off.
Shannon?" Michael saw her. "What are you doing here? Are you OK?"
Shannon shook her head. "No. No, I... Michael I was thinking... thinking about when I was a kid."
"When you 'were' a kid?" Michael laughed.
"Of my dad... Michael," Shannon said. "Of what..."
"Stop," Michael said. "Shannon we swore that we'd never talk about him again."
"I was just... with everything happening Mark... with him being beaten... he almost died. Whoever hurt him, left him to die. He didn't have somebody to ride in and save him. Michael, back then you..."
"Shannon," he said "No more."
"You saved me Michael. I would have died if you hadn't sh..."
"Enough! Shannon!" Michael let his voice lower drastically. "He's dead. We don't have to talk about him anymore. He isn't going to be able to do anything to hurt you anymore. He can't, Shannon. Now we said we wouldn't mention it again. It's over."
"But Michael..."
"Over, Shannon," Michael said. "I disappeared from home and I didn't turn back and it was because of what went down with that son of a pregnant dog. I got a new start. So did you, Shannon. So let's leave it at that, OK? Shannon?"
"Yeah," Shannon said softly. "I'm sorry, Michael. I... I shouldn't have come here. I'm sorry."
Shannon turned suddenly and headed back towards the elevator. The doors opened and she stepped on, remaining silent as the slid shut again and she descended to the lobby.