Author's Notes: Hey everyone thanks for all the reviews :) Much appreciated, Im glad you guys like how its going, Im having fun writing it. I may take time to update, but I assure you, Im dedicated to completing it. Always feel free to let me know what you think!
Chapter 6
"You're not going anywhere."
Ray stared at her for a minute, trying to figure out why of all the things Neela could have said to her parents to convince them to let her stay at the apartment, she chose to say he was gay.
It hurt. More than he cared to really acknowledge.
The silent staring continued as Neela glanced at her watch, realizing that her time was almost up and Ray wasn't making any motions to talk or let her leave.
"Ray, I need to get going; my parents are probably done with their mini tour of the ER and we have reservations…."
"So, Neela, what was it? The tattoos, the nail polish, the piercings…." Ray asked harshly, the bitterness in his voice increasing with every word.
Before she could respond, he continued, "What was it about me that made you lie to your parents?"
"What?" Neela gaped. "This isn't personal, Ray. It's only because you're a guy; it has nothing to do with how you look!"
"Fine then," he retorted, eyes blazing, "why not tell them we're friends? That I'm not some stranger you met on the street, that - oh I don't know - maybe I'm someone you can trust."
Neela stared at him as the words hit back at her, reminding her of the very reason she had chosen to go with the lie. She didn't trust him. Sure, she trusted him as a roommate, but following the events of the party, she wasn't so sure she could trust him with anything more. And she wasn't ready to try. That reality saddened her more than the anger she had been feeling towards Ray the last couple of days.
"I tried to, Ray, I really did, but my parents are pretty rigid on this." Neela wearily ran her fingers through her hair and took a deep breath. "Look, I know it's a lot of me to ask you to pretend around my folks that you're gay, so I'm not going to push it. If you want to that's great, if not, I'll start looking for a new place."
With this, Neela walked towards the door and waited for Ray to move to the side so she could get out, keeping her gaze to the ground the whole time.
Ray, taken aback by Neela's sudden change of attitude and the brief flash of sadness in her eyes, moved and let her pass.
Opening the door, Neela walked out just in time to hear "Mr. & Mrs. Rasgotra, so nice to meet you, I'm Dr. Archie Morris, Chief Resident of the ER……."
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Ray stood still for a moment, idly wondering what had just happened. How Neela could go from angry, determined...fierce, even, one minute - to resigned and defeated the next.
He was still angry; Neela wasn't being honest with him, and a lot of stuff just didn't add up with the way she'd been acting lately. But the reality was that if he wanted Neela to continue living with him, he would have to swallow some of his pride.
Taking a big breath, he turned towards the door and exited, formulating a plan.
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"Yep, the other residents, interns, med students, and nurses rely on me to steer them in the right direction. It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it…." Morris continued to relay to Neela's parents, all the while seemingly unaware that half the hospital staff standing near admit had stopped what they were doing to listen, barely disguising their looks of disgust and hysteria.
"Can you believe him?" Jane whispered to Neela as she approached admit, watching the performance with mild interest.
"Yes, I can. This is nothing, you should have seen him when Dr. Weaver was showing the hospital board around the ER; I actually went over to the Jumbomart with Abby to buy some popcorn," Neela replied out of the corner of her mouth.
"Well you gotta hand it to him, must take a lot of energy to ham it up on a daily basis the way he does,." Jane retorted, smirking as she headed off to aid with incoming trauma.
Right, Neela thought to herself, deciding on a way to cut Morris off before he got into the 'plans' he had for a better ER.
She made her way towards her parents, intending on reminding them that it was time to go, when a movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention.
Ray had just exited the lounge and was taking a look around the ER. Who can I pick? There's Jerry; he looks kind of busy on the phone. Morris? Nope. Gotta make it look believable. That leaves Pratt. Who, he noted was doing some charting at the opposite end of admit, right in the line of sight of where Neela's parents were standing.
Perfect.
With his target chosen, Ray did a mental run-through of what he could say to Pratt. His gaze settled on Neela as he thought it over, who - he realized - was watching him solemnly. Their eyes locked for a moment; the question clear in hers. Unwilling to let her in on what he was planning on doing, Ray simply looked down and walked steadily towards Pratt.
"Dr. Pratt," Ray called out loudly, walking towards the preoccupied resident.
Praying he could pull this off without getting punched, Ray casually placed an arm around Pratt's shoulder.
"Remember when you wondering about the commotion in Exam 2 the other day?" Ray asked, quickly glancing around to see whether he had the attention of Neela and her parents.
He did.
Pratt barely looked up from what he was writing. "Yeah, so?"
As if suddenly aware of Ray's arm, Pratt glanced at the hand on his shoulder and then back at Ray, giving him a look.
"Well, it involved our Chief Resident, Neela, and Billy "the Head-Butt" Allen," Ray continued, lowering his voice.
"You mean the 13 year old with aggression issues who's in here every other week for getting into fist fights?" Pratt asked, his interest piqued; the kid was a pain in the ass and extremely difficult to treat.
"Yep, that's the one. Only this week he came in with a broken nose and Lewis handed his chart over to Morris to work on," Ray went on bending his head slightly towards Pratt. Without even realizing it, Pratt moved his head closer to Ray's to hear the rest of the story.
Gazing fascinated at the display before her, Neela broke away from what appeared to be Pratt and Ray cuddling, to hear her father ask, "Is your flat-mate seeing that other doctor?"
"Uh…" Neela started off, not entirely sure what Ray was doing.
Just then, Pratt laughed as Ray started making motions with his arms.
"I think so. Maybe we should head out now, you guys ready to go?" Neela asked, slowly nudging them in the direction of the sliding doors.
"Aren't there policies for work place relationships here, Neela?" Her mother asked, unable to stop looking at apparent flirting between the two doctors.
"Not that I know of," Neela responded, smirking as she looked back at her roomie laughing with Pratt; a part of her was dying to know what exactly Ray was saying.
"So me and Malik walk by Exam 2 just in time to witness Billy practically sitting on Morris, beating the crap out of him, screaming "Don't you dare touch my nose!" There's blood flying; Neela isn't sure what to do, so she tries pulling him off, meanwhile Morris is screaming incoherently," Ray continued trying to keep his voice down.
Trying to wipe the tears from his eyes, Pratt breathed in and asked, "Please don't tell me Neela went at him with a bedpan?"
"Nope, Malik and I stepped in just then to separate all three, and restored some semblance of order. We handed Morris over to one of the med students, and Billy was pretty worn out after the tussle, so he came with me and I fixed him up," Ray finished, grinning.
"I remember asking Morris about the bruise on his chin; he muttered something about falling down some stairs. What a liar," Pratt responded, looking smug. "That was a good story, Dr. Barnett. Now how about looking at some patients?"
"Yes sir," Ray replied with a mock salute and another grin, turning towards the board just in time to see Neela and her folks heading towards the exit. Neela turned to look at him once before walking out, the question still in her eyes.
His pointed look and half bow was all the answer she needed. Grinning to herself, Neela walked into the cool air with her parents, intent on enjoying the rest of her evening.