We Used To Be Friends
Chapter Four
A/N: First off, let me say a big thank you to everyone who has reviewed this story. Leilani- I'm not sure if I want to include the Carter and Lucy stabbing in this story. It's possible that it might happen but, as of right now, the chances of it happening is very slim. Starting in this chapter, the story will be centered more around the hospital and there will be more doctors making an appearance. Hoeft and ashes420- I'm glad that you both are enjoying my story, and I'm sorry that you have gone through a situation similar to this. Ok, enough of me talking! Here's chapter four!
I've tried so hard my dear to show that you're my every dream.
Yet you're afraid each thing I do is just some evil scheme.
A memory from your lonesome past keeps us so far apart.
Why can't I free your doubtful mind and melt your cold, cold heart?
Two days later
"Pass the cereal please." Lucy asked Shelby as they sat at the small table in the kitchen.
Shelby passed her the cereal. "So have you given any thought to finally forgiving Carter?"
"Why are you so set on getting me to forgive him?" Lucy asked, curiously.
"Because you guys were friends for a long time. I don't want to see you guys throw that away." Shelby explained.
"He was the one who threw it away!" Lucy pointed out. "He left us!"
"Yeah, he did." She sighed. "But I forgive him."
"Why? I don't understand. How can you forgive him so easily?" Lucy exclaimed.
Shelby smiled and let out a small chuckle. "Well I forgave you for leaving me when you moved to Indiana, didn't? So I have to forgive Carter too because I don't want to be a hypocrite."
"Those are two totally separate things!" Lucy protested. "I couldn't help it that my mom got a job promotion that made us have to move. Carter chose to abandon us."
She shook her head. "But you still both abandoned me. The details weren't the same, but the underlying concepts were." Shelby sighed. "Look, I was mad at him when he abandoned us and I was mad at you when you left. But I got over it, and you should too."
"How long were you mad at me?" Lucy asked, a little disturbed by this new revelation. "Cause you never told me that you were mad."
"It wasn't for a very long time," Shelby explained, "and I was actually more hurt than mad."
"I'm sorry." Lucy apologized.
"Don't worry about it!" She smiled. "It's in the past, and I believe that things in the past should stay in the past."
"Oh that was very subtle!" Lucy exclaimed. "So that's the reason you want me to forgive Carter?"
"Well, that, and I also have another reason." Shelby grinned.
"What?" Lucy asked.
"You two would make the cutest couple!"
"What are you talking about?"
"Oh come on! Don't play dumb." Shelby exclaimed. "I know that you've had feelings for him for the longest time. That's why you broke off your engagement to Ben."
"No! I broke off my engagement to Ben because neither of us were deeply in love with each other. We were much better off as friends." Lucy explained.
"You say that, but it was really because you were, and still are, in love with Carter. You always have been. That's why you've been so mad at him for leaving."
"No! You're wrong." Lucy protested. She didn't love Carter, but at times she did have some feelings for him. That doesn't mean she's in love with him though.
"Whatever." Shelby smiled, getting up and leaving the kitchen. "But I know you Lucy, and I've seen the way you look at him. Maybe it's not love, but there is something there."
"You are so wrong!" Lucy yelled.
"Whatever you say! Don't forget that we're going to that jazz club tonight!" Shelby yelled from the living room.
Lucy came out from the kitchen with her coffee cup. "I won't. Come by the hospital at eight. I should be ready then."
"Ok. Bye." Shelby replied before leaving to go to work.
Shelby dropped by the ER. She was supposed to come and meet up with Lucy after her shift ended so that they could go out to a new club that Shelby had heard about from a co-worker. When she entered the ER, she saw Carter standing at the admit desk. But she didn't see Lucy anywhere. "Hi." Shelby greeted, approaching Carter.
Carter looked up and saw Shelby standing there. He smiled. "Hey. What brings you here?" Then he got worried. "You aren't sick, are you?"
"No, I'm fine." Shelby laughed. "I came to pick Lucy up, but I thought I'd come over and say hello."
"Well I'm glad that you did." He replied. "So are you and Lucy going to dinner or something?"
"Actually, we're going to a jazz club that I heard about. Have you ever been to Vertigo?" Shelby asked.
"No I haven't." He replied, shaking his head. "But I have heard good things about it. I hope you two have fun."
"Thanks." Shelby replied. "So how are things between you and Lucy right now?"
The smile that had been on his face immediately turned into a look of sadness. "She's still trying to ignore me as much as possible. I don't think she's ever going to forgive me."
"Ah, she's just hurt." Shelby assured him. "She depended on you a lot, and then suddenly you weren't there anymore. I think she's worried that if you two become friends again, you're just gonna do the same thing to her. It's a pretty normal fear, but right now she's letting it control her life. Just give her some time. Pretty soon she'll get tired of listening to me campaign to forgive you, and she'll give in. Cause I think we can both agree that peer pressure is very effective, can't we?"
Carter laughed at the irony. Peer pressure was what got him in this mess, and now Shelby was trying to help him by using peer pressure with Lucy. "Yeah. Peer pressure is definitely a powerful thing."
"Just hang in there. Things will get better." Shelby smiled.
"Thanks for the pep talk." Carter chuckled.
"Anytime!" Shelby laughed.
Lucy came out of the lounge and saw Shelby talking to Carter. They looked like they were having a good time. She plastered on a smile and approached them. Ignoring Carter's presence, she turned to Shelby. "Hey Shelby. You ready to go?"
Shelby turned to face Lucy and noticed that Carter was right. Lucy was ignoring him. "Uh, yeah, sure."
Dave walked up to Lucy. "Lucy, have you discharged the man in exam three?"
"Yeah. I did that about an hour ago." Lucy explained. "Why?"
"He hasn't left yet. He claims that he's not been released yet." Dave told her. "Weaver told me to make sure that you get him to leave or else neither of us can leave tonight."
"Ok." Lucy sighed. "I'll take care of it." She turned to face Shelby. "Sorry. It will only take a minute."
Dave took a closer look at the woman standing next to Lucy. She had flowing brown hair and sparkling brown eyes that reminded him of Audrey Hepburn. "Hey Lucy, aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?"
Lucy looked at Dave, and then at Shelby. "Sorry. Dave Malucci, this is Shelby Thomas."
"It's very nice to meet you, but it's Dr. Dave Malucci." Dave grinned, holding out his hand to Shelby.
Shelby shook his hand and took a closer look at him. He was definitely cute and she couldn't help but want to get to know him better. There was something about him that was...alluring. "Well it's nice to meet you too Dr. Malucci."
"Please, call me Dave." He smiled.
Lucy took a look at Dave and then at Shelby. She smiled as she realized that they were obviously flirting with each other. She knew that look in Shelby's eyes meant that she was interested in a particular guy. Her gaze fell on Carter, who was staring at her intently. He looked like he was about to say something to her. "I'm gonna go discharge the guy in exam three again." She decided to leave before he could talk to her.
"So is your shift over?" Shelby asked Dave when Lucy left.
"Yeah, as soon as Lucy gets the guy in exam three to leave." Dave nodded.
"Well Lucy and I are going to a jazz club tonight." She looked back at Carter and then at Dave. "Why don't you guys join us?"
"I'd love to." Dave replied immediately.
"Great." Shelby smiled. She then turned to Carter. "So what about you? You wanna come with us?"
"Shelby, I don't think that's a good idea given the current situation between Lucy and I." Carter shook his head.
"Oh come on! It will be fun." Shelby assured him.
"Lucy won't think it's fun. She doesn't want to be around me." Carter assured her.
"What'd you do to her?" Dave asked out of curiosity.
"It's a long story." Shelby answered, not wanting to bring it up at this moment. "Come on Carter! She may not want to admit it to anyone, but she does want to be around you. You of all people know how she is. She's too stubborn for her own good. Sometimes we just have to push her a little bit."
He thought about it for a moment. Maybe he would be able to break through a part of the wall that Lucy had built up around herself. "Ok. I'll come. But Lucy's not going to be very happy with you for inviting me."
"She can be as mad as she wants, but this is for her own good." Shelby replied with a smile.
Lucy walked back up to the group. "The exam room is empty. I got him to leave."
"Good." Dave replied. He then followed Carter into the lounge so that they could drop off their things in their lockers before leaving.
"So are you ready to go?" Lucy asked, looking at Shelby.
"No. We have to wait for Dave and Carter." Shelby replied.
"Why?" Lucy asked, hoping that Shelby didn't just invite them to come along. "You invited to come, didn't you?"
Shelby looked down at the ground and then up at Lucy. "Yeah, maybe I did."
"Shelby!" Lucy exclaimed, getting upset. "Ok, I can understand why you'd ask Dave to come. You were shamelessly flirting with him. But why bring Carter along?"
"Because I didn't want to make you feel like a third wheel. I thought it would be better if there were four of us, and he was standing right here. Besides, he's never been to Vertigo. I thought it would be nice to include him..."
"Ugh! I can't believe you sometimes!"
"Well don't be mad. Please?" Shelby asked.
Lucy took a deep breath. She could get through an evening with Carter. It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. "Ok. I give up!"
"Good. Who knows, maybe you'll even have a good time." Shelby smiled.
Lucy laughed sarcastically. "Yeah, maybe."
The four of them arrived at Vertigo and found a booth on the side. Dave made sure that he was sitting at the end of the booth next to Shelby, and Lucy sat on the other side of Shelby. Carter slid into the booth next to Lucy. They had ordered their drinks and were making small talk.
"It's a nice place." Shelby commented, trying to keep the conversation going. Lucy wasn't talking very much, and it seemed that all Carter wanted to do was look at Lucy. That left the burden of keeping up the conversation to her and Dave.
"Yeah, it is nice." Dave agreed. He looked over at Shelby. "I love this song. Would you like to dance with me?"
Shelby smiled. This would be a good opportunity to push Carter and Lucy into talking to each other while she got to dance with Dave. "Uh, sure."
And within ten seconds, Lucy was left alone with Carter. She took one look over at him. Once she saw that he was still looking at her, she looked away and stared into her drink. She didn't know what to say to him. So instead, she focused on watching Shelby and Dave. They looked like they were having a good time and really hitting it off. It was nice to see Shelby looking happy.
"They look good together." Carter said, noticing that Lucy was watching Shelby and Dave.
"I was just thinking that too." Lucy admitted.
They sat there in silence, each taking in the atmosphere of the club. "I know that you weren't happy I came along tonight."
She closed her eyes, not sure what to say to that. There was a part of her that was happy that he came. She liked being around him, even now. That's what scared her. She would deny it to Shelby, but she was starting to have feelings for him that were beyond friendly, and that was confusing her. So it just seemed easier to avoid him.
"I'm sorry if I've ruined your evening by coming along." He apologized. "It wasn't my intention."
"Well, you haven't ruined it." She started to smile and looked over at him. "You've definitely made it more awkward, but you haven't ruined it."
He laughed. "Well that's good to know."
Shelby looked over at Carter and Lucy. She smiled when she saw that they were talking, and not screaming at each other. That was a good sign.
"What's are you looking at?" Dave asked, turning his head.
"Carter and Lucy. I'm trying to get Lucy to forgive Carter."
"For what? What did he do?" Dave asked.
"Like I said, it's a long story." Shelby replied.
"I've got time, and I'd love to hear the whole thing if it means that I can be around you longer." He smiled.
She smiled back. The more time she spent with him, the more she liked this guy. They seemed to have this instant connection, and that was a rare thing for Shelby to find. "Well, I don't want to bore you with all of the details. I'll just give you the abridged version. Carter, Lucy, and I grew up together. We were the best of friends until Carter kind of turned his back on us and joined the popular kids. His new friends made it their life goal to torment Lucy as much as possible during middle school. She moved to Indiana after eighth grade. Lucy was, well is, very mad at Carter for the whole thing because he never tried to stop his friends from coming after her. They hadn't seen each other since before she moved, so it was a shock to both of them when they ended up both being assigned to County General. I keep trying to get her to forgive him, but she's very stubborn."
Dave laughed. "So the three of you were best friends growing up?"
"Yeah, but Lucy and Carter knew each other longer. I moved into their neighborhood from St. Louis." Shelby explained with a laugh. "But yeah, we were the Three Musketeers."
"The Three Musketeers? That's cute." Dave laughed. "You know, they look good together. It's too bad that Lucy won't forgive him. They'd make a good couple."
"I think so too! In fact, I just told Lucy that this morning." Shelby smiled. "I'm glad that you came tonight."
"I am too. Thanks for inviting me." Dave smiled.
"Maybe we could do this another time?" Shelby asked, hoping that he would agree to another date.
He was glad that she wanted another date, because he did too. "How about tomorrow night?"
"Tomorrow sounds great." Shelby smiled.
Carter looked over at Lucy, trying to figure out if he should press his luck. They were getting along pretty well right now, and he didn't know if he wanted to jeopardize that. But he soon realized that he needed to ask her one question. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Uh, yeah, I guess so." She replied, wondering what his question was about. She was actually enjoying the conversation they were having. It wasn't about anything important, but it did remind her of the conversations they'd have in the past. "What do you want to know?"
"Is there a specific reason why you won't forgive me? Cause I really want to move past this and try to rebuild our friendship. But you seem bound and determined to stick your feet in the mud and keep that from happening. Other than the fact that you are extremely stubborn, is there a reason why? That was a long time ago Luce. Why can't we just forget about it and move on?"
"Because your friends made my life miserable and you did absolutely nothing to stop it." She finally admitted.
"What? How did they make your life miserable?" He asked, a little confused.
"They made it their life's mission to screw with me! They would trip me in the hallway every chance they got, they'd spread horrible rumors about me, played practical jokes on me, and they did everything they could to try to prove that they were better than me." She exclaimed. "What's worse is that you did nothing to stop them. For all I know, you could have been the one masterminding the whole operation!"
"I didn't! I'd never do that to you! I never even knew that they were doing those things to you. Yeah, I occasionally heard the rumors that went around about you, but I never knew that they were the ones who started them, and I didn't know about the other stuff either. Luce, you have to believe me! If I knew that they were doing that to you, I would have stuck up for you. I would have made them stop."
"You had to have known that your friends were doing that. I have a very hard time believing that you weren't aware of it."
"But I wasn't! Honestly!" Carter exclaimed, trying to keep his voice down so that he didn't distract everyone else from the music.
Lucy grabbed her purse and slid out of the booth. She didn't want to sit there and re-hash the past. She needed some air.
Carter wasn't going to let her get away from him until she realized that he didn't have anything to do with anything that his friends put her through in middle school. He waited until he got into the parking lot to call out to her. "We aren't done talking."
Lucy turned. She knew that he would follow her outside, even though she wasn't sure that she wanted him to. "Well I'm done talking."
"Ok. Then I'll do the talking. I didn't know about anything that my former friends have done to you. I swear. Please believe me?" He pleaded, adding extra emphasis to the phrase 'former friends'.
"If I say that I'll think about it, can we change the topic please?" Lucy asked, not wanting to talk about this anymore.
He sighed. "Yeah, sure."
"Ok. I'm tired, so I'm going to take a cab home." She replied, walking away from him.
"I'm gonna go home too. Can we share a cab?" He asked hesitantly.
She looked back at him. "Yeah, I guess."
Song Lyrics: "Cold Cold Heart" By: Norah Jones