We Used To Be Friends
Chapter Fifteen
A/N: I apologize for the long delay in updating this story. Real life got in the way and then I was arguing with myself about which direction to take this story. After debating the pros and cons, I've finally committedmyself to this storyline.By the way, this chapter contains some scenes that might not be suitable for everyone. I don't think it's too graphic, but this chapter does include a brief sexual assult scene.
A few months later
Carter slid the dark blue sweater that Lucy had given him for Christmas over his head and looked at the reflection in the mirror. It was New Year's Eve, and he had been lucky enough to have the night off from work. So he was taking his girlfriend out to dinner. A couple of weeks ago he had started going out with the new nurse at County, Abby Lockhart. She was funny, smart, and pretty; she wasn't Lucy, but she was still a lot of fun. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get Lucy out of his mind. He let his mind travel back to a conversation he had with Lucy a few weeks ago.
"So what do you think about the new nurse at County?" Carter asked, passing a beer over to Lucy as he sat down in front of the TV.
Lucy sat her plate of pizza down on the coffee table before reaching for the beer. "Abby? She seems nice."
"Yeah, she does." Carter replied with a nod. He had been trying to figure out if Lucy had any type of romantic feelings for him, but so far he wasn't having any luck. Either she was doing a good job of hiding it from him, or else she didn't care about him like that. Yesterday he had a good idea of how to scope out her feelings. He was going to ask her opinion about whether he should ask Abby out on a date and gauge her reaction. "I think I might ask her out on a date. What do you think?"
Lucy had been taking a drink of her beer and had to keep herself from spitting out the beer when she heard Carter's announcement. Carter going a date with Abby? She didn't want that to happen. For a moment, she thought about telling Carter how she felt about him. Then a thought popped into her head. What if Carter really did like Abby and wanted to date her? If Lucy told him about her feelings, would it even matter? It would probably only make the situation really uncomfortable. So she stayed quiet about her feelings and tried to think of a response to Carter's question. "Well, I don't know. I think that if you want to date her, then you should go for it."
That wasn't the answer or reaction that he was expecting or hoping for. At that moment, he came to the realization that he might as well go ahead and try to date Abby. A relationship with Lucy didn't seem to be in his future. "I think I'll go ahead and ask her out then."
Lucy hadn't given him any real reason to believe that she would be interested in him as anything other than a friend, so he had to move on. Right? As much as he wanted to, he couldn't spend the rest of his life waiting for her to realize that he was in love with her. That's how he justified moving on with Abby. A part of him felt like he was using Abby by going out with her while being in love with Lucy. But he still continued to date her anyway because he had a good time when he was with Abby. He grabbed his wallet and placed it in his bad pocket before going out into the living room. He saw Lucy curled up on the couch with a bowl of popcorn and a blanket thrown on her. "Hey, what are you watching?"
Lucy looked over at him and noticed that he was wearing the sweater that she had given him last week for Christmas. That almost made her smile until she realized that he was wearing it for a date that he had with Abby. "I don't know. There's some kind of movie marathon on the Classic Movie channel."
"So you're just going to spend New Year's Eve curled up on the couch?" He asked. "That doesn't sound like a very good way to spend tonight."
"Well not all of us are lucky enough to have dates tonight." Lucy spat out angrily. As soon as the words came out, she regretted saying them. For the past few weeks, she had been so careful not to reveal her true feelings about Carter dating Abby. The last thing she wanted was for Carter to know how much it was upsetting her to seem him with another woman.
He was surprised by her sudden hostile attitude. "Sorry Luce." He looked at his watch and realized that if he didn't leave now, he would be late. "Look, I need to go. I'll see you later. Happy New Year."
"Yeah, Happy New Year Carter." She replied sullenly after he left. These past few weeks were hard for her. Watching him go out on dates and return in the early morning hours was hard, and on more than one occasion she considered throwing caution to the wind and telling him that she loved him. But she always lost her courage before the words had a chance to escape her mouth. So now she was here, alone on New Year's Eve, and ringing in the New Year watching chick flicks. When the phone rang, Lucy thought about letting the machine get it, but changed her mind on the third ring. "Hello?"
"Hey Lucy! What are you doing?" Shelby asked in a very upbeat tone.
"Watching movies." Lucy replied.
"On New Year's Eve? I don't think so. You're coming to a party with me and Dave." Shelby told her friend. Lately she had been worried about Lucy. She knew that Carter was dating Abby and that Lucy would no doubtably be upset about that.
"I don't feel like going to a party tonight."
"Well too bad. You need to go to this party with us. I insist."
"No thanks Shelby. I know what you're doing, but it's not necessary. I'm fine." Lucy knew that Shelby was worried about her now that Carter was dating Abby.
"Please?" Shelby begged. "I promise you'll have fun!"
"No. I'm already having fun. I'm very happy staying in tonight." Lucy lied.
"No you're not." Shelby called her out on the obvious lie. "Lucy, you know I won't give up until you agree to come. Just say yes now and quit wasting valuable time!"
Lucy sighed. She knew that Shelby was right. Shelby wouldn't stop bugging her about this until she agreed to just go with them. "Ok. Fine. I give up."
Shelby smiled. "Great! We'll be by to pick you up in a half hour."
"Ok." Lucy put down the phone and sighed again. She appreciated that Shelby wanted to help her, but she didn't really want to go to a party tonight. Unfortunately, it didn't look like she had much of a choice. So she turned off the TV and started thinking about what to wear.
Carter smiled when Abby opened her door. "You look great."
Abby smiled, accepting the compliment. "Thanks."
"Are you ready?" He looked at his watch. "Our dinner reservation is in twenty minutes."
"Yeah. Just let me get my coat and purse." She disappeared inside her apartment for a few seconds before coming back out with her coat on and her purse in her left hand. "I'm ready."
He smiled again and led her downstairs to his jeep.
"So where is this party?" Lucy asked as she sat in the backseat of Dave's car.
"It's not too far away. It's being hosted by Kurt, one of the X-Ray technicians at the hospital." Dave replied.
"Oh, ok." Lucy nodded. She hated to admit it, but she felt like a third wheel being around Dave and Shelby. They were just so damn happy, and while she was happy for them, she couldn't help but be a little jealous.
A couple of hours later
"I think I'm going to go home." Lucy told Dave and Shelby.
"What? Why? It's not even Midnight yet." Shelby questioned.
"Look, I appreciate the fact that you two allowed me to be a third wheel tonight, but I'm not really having a very good time." Lucy explained.
"Why don't you wait until after Midnight and then we can drive you home?" Dave offered. "Midnight is only about twenty minutes away."
"That's nice of you guys, but no. I'll be fine. I'll just take the El back home." Lucy replied.
"Are you sure?" Shelby asked, not sure if she should let Lucy go home alone.
"I'm positive. I'll be fine." Lucy smiled.
"Ok." Shelby relented and gave her a hug. "Happy New Year Lucy."
"Yeah, Happy New Year." Dave echoed, also giving her a hug.
"Happy New Year you guys. Bye." She turned to leave the party.
"Be careful!" Shelby yelled after her.
"Ok!" Lucy yelled back. She wasn't sure why Shelby was so worried about her going home alone. She rode on the El and walked home alone all the time when she had the late shift at the hospital.
"Tonight was a lot of fun." Abby smiled as they walked up the steps to her apartment.
"Yeah, it was." Carter agreed. "You aren't upset that we didn't stay for the countdown, are you?" They had left the restaurant before Midnight because the place was getting crowded and too noisy.
"No, I don't mind that at all. So do you want to come inside? We can have our own private New Year's celebration." Abby asked as they stood in the doorway of her apartment. She was hoping that he would say yes.
He thought about it for a moment, knowing that if he went inside, they would end up having sex. He leaned in and kissed her. "Yeah, let's go inside."
Lucy walked down the street, pulling her coat closer to her body in hopes that she wouldn't be so cold. If she had realized that she would be walking home, she would have worn a dress that went down to her ankles instead of the knee-length one she had chosen. At least she was only a block away from her apartment. The streets were empty; she figured that most people were still inside waiting to celebrate the New Year. What was the big deal about the New Year anyway? It's just another day. So what if it signals the beginning of a new year? She chuckled, realizing that her bad mood could probably be attributed to the fact that she just being bitter about not being with Carter. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that she shouldn't put her life on hold just because Carter was with someone else. Why should she be miserable and pining after him? There are plenty of other guys in the world, and she decided that her New Year's resolution this year would be to find another guy. She would make a consorted effort to find someone just as wonderful as Carter. Suddenly she felt someone's gloved hand cover her mouth and drag her into a nearby alley. She had been so deep in thought that she hadn't heard the guy who was following her. The guy kept his hand covering her mouth and pushed her up against the wall.
"If you scream or make any noise at all, I will kill you." He whispered into her ear. "Do you understand?"
Tears were filling Lucy's eyes as she realized what he wanted from her, but she felt powerless to stop him. All she could do was nod her head.
"I'm glad you understand. I'd hate to have to kill a pretty girl like you." He was silent the rest of the time until he was done. "Happy New Year." He told her before leaving her lying in the alley.
"That was a good way to ring in the New Year." Carter replied, laying back against a pillow and trying to catch his breath.
Abby put her head on his chest and scooted over towards him. "I agree. That's the best New Year's celebration I've ever had."
Lucy wasn't sure how long she stayed there in the alley before moving, but she felt like she had stayed in the alley for hours. It couldn't have been hours though because her watch told her that it was 12:45. She slowly stood up, using the wall as a support. Bracing herself against the wall, she slowly made her way out of the alley and walked the one block over to her apartment. She pulled out her keys as she approached her apartment door, fumbling with them and dropping them. Watching them fall, she sank down to the ground, silently willing herself not to cry in the hallway. She didn't want to fall apart, though she knew that it was only a matter of time before she broke down. But she didn't want to do that in the hallway. She picked up the keys and somehow, through her tear-filled eyes, managed to use them to open her apartment. She threw her purse and the keys on the table near the door and immediately locked the door behind her as she entered the apartment. Next, she slowly removed her coat and placed it on the floor. Then she leaned against the door, trying to figure out what to do now. She knew that she should go to the hospital and checked out. She knew all of the procedures that the hospital and the police would go through in a case like this and she knew that it was important to report things like this, but she didn't want to go to the hospital. She just wanted to make it go away. Carter's jeep wasn't outside, so she knew that he wasn't home. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Part of her was hoping that he would be here when she got home. He would be able to help her do the right thing and go to the hospital. But she was also glad that he wasn't here. If he wasn't here right now, she could hide this. She could make it go away by not mentioning it to anyone. She could act as if nothing happened. She could completely wipe this from history and by pretending that it never happened, nothing would change. No one would look at her with pity or treat her like she was damaged goods. She could still be the same Lucy that she was before it happened. Deciding that she wouldn't speak about what happened to anyone, she made her way into her bathroom and turned on the shower water. A voice inside her head was telling her that water would only wash off the evidence and she needed to go to the hospital instead; however, that voice was not the one that Lucy chose to listen to. She took off her high heels, and then she made sure the water wasn't too cold and, still wearing her dress, she got into the shower. After scrubbing her body feverishly, she sat down in the shower with her knees up to her chest and started to sob.