We Used To Be Friends

Chapter Eleven

A/N: Thanks for the wonderful reviews! Enjoy!

A few weeks later

Lucy let out a huge sigh that she had been holding in all day as she sat down a bunch of charts on the admit desk. It had been a very busy day in the ER and Lucy's shift had just ended.

Carter, who had been working on a chart next to her, looked over at her. "Long day?"

Lucy diverted her attention from the charts over to Carter and smiled. "The longest! I'm so glad it's over."

He nodded understandingly, and then went back to his chart. Since the fundraiser, they hadn't talked very much. They had gone to dinner a few times and seen a few movies, but something was different. Both of them seemed too embarrassed and awkward because of the kiss they had shared. He was now determined to change that; he wanted to get their friendship back on track again. A few seconds later, he looked over at her again. "Would you like to go grab something to eat?"

She thought about it for a moment. The past few weeks had been weird. She felt awkward around him because of the kiss they shared at the fundraiser. They had spent time together, but it was still rather strange between them. "Sure, sounds good."

"Great." He smiled. "I know this great place…"

"Oh Lucy!" Randi interjected, completely interrupting Carter's sentence. "There's a guy in chairs who is waiting for you. He's been here for about a half hour. I told him you'd see him when you got a chance."

Lucy groaned. "Great. It's probably another patient." She looked over at Carter. "I'll be right back." She walked around the admit desk and started to smile widely when she saw his familiar face. She walked faster and gave him a warm hug. "I can't believe it! What are you doing here?"

Ben pulled away from the hug and smiled at Lucy. "I work for an ad agency in New York now. I just came to Chicago to meet with a client. I called Shelby and she told me I could find you here. I'm leaving tomorrow morning, but I wanted to take you out to dinner tonight. You haven't eaten yet, have you?"

"No. I'd love to go out to dinner with you." Then she remembered that she had just made dinner plans with Carter. "But excuse me for a moment. I have to go take care of one thing before we can leave." She quickly made her way back to Carter.

Carter had been watching Lucy and this new guy carefully. Lucy hadn't told him that she was dating anyone, so he doubted that it was her boyfriend. But Lucy could have a new boyfriend that he didn't know about. Then again, it could be an old boyfriend. He had to admit that he felt a twinge of jealousy as he watched them hug.

"I'm so sorry to do this, but can I take a rain check on dinner?" Lucy asked hesitantly. She hated to do this to Carter, but Ben was only going to be in town for one night.

"Why?" Carter asked, hoping that she'd tell him who the guy was and what her relationship to him was.

She pointed to Ben. "He's an old friend that's only going to be in town for one night. I really hate to…"

"Don't worry about it." Carter smiled even though he was disappointed. "Go have a good time."

"Ok." She paused, thinking about it for a moment. Her face brightened up. "Why don't we go out to breakfast tomorrow before our shifts start? My treat?"

"Sounds good, but you don't have to…" He didn't want her to take him out to breakfast out of guilt.

"But I want to, and I won't take no for an answer." A part of her felt guilty about leaving him behind like this, but her offer wasn't made because of her guilt. The truth was she wanted to spend time with him.

"Ok." He smiled. "Then I guess we'll have breakfast tomorrow. Pick you up at 9?"

"I'll be ready!" She turned to leave. "Goodnight!"

"Goodnight. Have fun." He called after her as she left with the mystery guy. But then he lowered his voice. "But don't have too much fun."

Lucy walked out of the hospital with Ben, still a little sad that she wasn't having dinner with Carter. But they would have breakfast together, so it was ok. "So how have you been?"

"Good." Ben smiled. "My career is going great. I've been working at this ad agency for about a year now and I've already gotten a promotion."

"That's great!" She exclaimed, genuinely happy for him. "But it doesn't surprise me. You've always been great at your job."

"I guess." He nodded, not wanting to brag. "So you're still pursuing your medical dreams?"

"Yep."

"How is that going?"

"Great." She grinned. "It's really hard work, but it's worth it. I love being able to help people."

"You're a naturally helpful person and you're smart. That's why you're going to be a good doctor."

"Thanks." She accepted his compliment and they got into a taxi. She thought that they would go to a Chinese place or maybe go get a pizza. She was surprised when Ben suggested that they go someplace a little nicer. After getting a table and ordering, they started catching up on the past year.

"So, who was that guy you were talking to at the hospital?" Ben asked casually.

"Oh, that was just Carter." Lucy nodded.

"The Carter?" Ben laughed. "You mean I was actually in the same building with the Carter?

Lucy laughed too. "What are you talking about?"

"Well it's just that I didn't know I was in the same building with a living legend! I should have gotten his autograph!" Ben joked. He had heard the whole story of her friendship with Carter and how it had unraveled.

Lucy rolled her eyes.

"So I guess you've finally forgiven him?" He knew that she was mad at Carter for the way he had treated her and Shelby.

"Yes." She nodded. "That's all in the past now."

"I'm not surprised. I always thought that you would eventually forgive him."

"And why is that?" She asked curiously.

"Because you have feelings for him." Ben replied matter-of-factly.

Lucy was surprised at his response and couldn't respond for a moment. "I…I do not." Her statement was supposed to come out strong, but it was a weak protest.

He smiled at her. "Ok Lucy, deny it all you want. But I do know you, and I saw the way you looked at him at the hospital." He paused for a moment, as if considering whether or not to say his next statement. "You never looked at me that way."

Lucy felt bad. "Ben, I…"

"It's ok. Don't worry about it." He interrupted her, knowing that she would want to apologize for calling off their wedding. "I actually have a new girlfriend. She works in the same building as me, but on a different floor. She's an insurance agent named Kimberly."

"As long as you're happy, I'm happy for you."

"Well I am happy." Ben nodded.

"Good." Lucy replied with a smile.

"So, do you think that you and Carter have a shot at being happy together?" Ben asked curiously.

Lucy rolled her eyes again. "You are as bad as Shelby! Did she put you up to this? Because she's been nagging me about Carter day in and day out!"

"Shelby hasn't said anything to me about Carter. I just know what I observed, and I remember the way you used to talk about Carter. Yeah, you were mad at him, but I could tell that there were unresolved feelings there that you were suppressing."

"Unresolved feelings that I'm suppressing? Are you turning into my psychiatrist now?" Lucy joked.

Ben laughed. "No. I just want to see you happy Lucy."

"I am happy." Lucy replied, knowing that it was partially a lie. For the most part, she was happy. She was working on becoming a doctor, she had great friends and family, and she had a job that was rewarding. But she was secretly wishing for more than just a friendship with Carter. After the kiss at the fundraiser, she had entertained thoughts of a real relationship with him, but he didn't seem like he wanted a relationship. He seemed perfectly happy being friends. So she didn't press the issue. Knowing that Ben could tell that she had feelings for Carter based on observing a short conversation between Carter and herself was enough to make her wonder if she was being too obvious about her feelings or if Ben just knew her too well.

"Ok. I believe you." Ben replied, knowing that her statement of happiness was a lie.

"We've been basically tearing apart my life all night. Why don't you tell me more about your life?" Lucy asked, hoping to get the spotlight off of her.

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Carter knocked on Lucy's door for the tenth time. It was 9:10; he was supposed to pick her up at nine. He was there right on time, but she wasn't answering her door. He was about ready to leave when the door flew open.

"I'm so sorry!" Lucy exclaimed.

Carter took a look at her nighttime attire and laughed. She was wearing her hair up in a disheveled ponytail and wore an oversized t-shirt with shorts. But even in that horrible outfit, he still thought she looked beautiful.

She noticed he was laughing at her and shot him an angry glare. "I really am sorry that I'm not ready. I overslept! Ben and I stayed up late talking and…well, I'm sorry. But I can be ready in seven minutes."

"Ok." Carter smiled, coming into the apartment. He watched as Lucy raced around the apartment getting ready for the day. As he watched her, he started to think about what she had said to him earlier. So Ben was the name of this old friend and she had been talking to him all night? Was that all they had done? And why did he care so much? It wasn't like she was his girlfriend or anything. They were just friends. So why did he always have to remind himself that they were just friends?

Lucy stood in front of Carter, checking her watch. "I'm done in six minutes, forty-five seconds. That's a personal best for me." They walked out of Lucy's apartment in silence. When they got to Carter's jeep, she was surprised that he ran ahead to open the door for her. "Thanks."

"No problem." Carter smiled, getting in on the driver's side. The short drive to the diner was also silent. It wasn't until after they had gotten their orders that they really started talking to each other. "So did you have a good time last night?"

"Yeah. It was nice to see Ben again. I haven't seen him for over a year." Lucy replied. "We stayed up pretty late last night talking and catching up. It's a good thing that Shelby was spending the night with Dave because I really would have felt bad if we had kept her up."

He wasn't sure why, but he didn't like Ben. He felt some weird animosity towards him, but pushed that thought aside. "Well I'm glad that you had a good time."

She felt guilty again for just ditching him last night. "So what did you do last night?" She hoped that he had done something fun.

"Just ordered take-out and watched TV. Nothing special."

"Oh."

"So how long have you and Ben been friends?" Carter asked, getting the conversation started again.

Lucy thought about it for a moment, trying to recall how long she had known Ben. "I guess I've known him for almost four years. We met at a college party in my dorm and became friends. Then we dated for awhile and even got engaged."

"You're engaged to him?" Carter asked, not sure if he wanted to hear the answer.

Lucy realized then that she hadn't told him the whole story. "Oh, no! No, we're not engaged anymore. I called off the wedding about a year ago. But we're still good friends."

His heart rate started to return to normal. "So you called off the wedding?"

"Yeah." Lucy replied casually.

"How close did you come to marrying him?"

She laughed nervously. "Actually, I called it off about two weeks before we were planning on getting married. My mom had everything planned. Invitations were sent out, I had a dress, and everything was taken care of."

Carter realized that if the invitations had already been sent out, she had obviously not invited him to her wedding. That realization hurt, but he understood why she hadn't invited him. She was still furious with him over the way he had treated her. "So why did you call it off? Cold feet?"

She shook her head. "No. I love Ben. I really do. He's a great guy."

Carter wasn't sure he wanted to hear this. The thought of Lucy loving another man was making him very sick to his stomach, but he continued to listen anyway.

"I guess I canceled the wedding because I just didn't love him the way a wife should love their husband." She paused for a moment. "Although I think he did love me the way a husband should love a wife. My mom was practically pushing me to marry him because she wanted to see me happy, but marrying him wouldn't have made me happy. So I sat him down for a talk and we agreed not to get married."

He felt his stomach stop turning once he heard her proclaim that she wasn't in love with Ben. "You called it off just like that?" he snapped his fingers.

"Yep, just like that." Lucy replied with a smile. "I only intend on getting married once, unless, God forbid, my husband dies. I'm not going to settle for a guy that I am not madly in love with. The guy I marry has to be absolutely amazing and has to love me as much as I love him because a marriage can't work if the two people aren't in love with each other."

He was amazed by her answer. "You've really thought this through, haven't you?"

"Yeah." She looked at him curiously. "What? You haven't?"

"Nope." He shook his head. "Even though my Gamma wants to me be married by now, I'm not really thinking about marriage. I'm more concerned with finishing med school."

"C'mon! Don't you ever wish that you could come home after a hard day at work and find someone there waiting for you, ready to listen to everything you say and cheer you up when you need it?" Lucy asked.

"Not really," he grinned, "because I have you and I know you're only a phone call away."

She smiled, realizing just how much she had missed him during the twelve years that they weren't friends. She wasn't sure if she could deal with losing his friendship again. That was why she wasn't sure she should try to pursue a relationship with him, even though she really wanted to.

Carter looked at his watch. "Oh, we better get going if we don't want to be late."

"Ok. Let's go then." Lucy replied, grabbing her purse and following him out to the jeep.