Chapter 12:
Abby finally gets a chance to leave her hectic place of employment. It's late at night and Carter's shift ended two hours ago. She had to go home and take care of Max because her neighbor was taking care of him while she was at Carter's the night before. She rides the El home, and only a few people are on it. She walks up to her apartment and opens the door. Max comes up to her wagging his tail, because he hasn't seen her for a while.
Abby takes care of Max, and then goes to the refrigerator to find something to eat. There isn't much food in the place, Abby thinks. I guess leftover pizza will have to do. She takes out the pizza and goes to heat it up. Once it's done she goes over and sits on the couch and flicks on the TV. She keeps thinking of Carter, and what he's up to at the moment. Tonight is gonna be a long night, she thinks because she can't seem to get Carter out of her mind.
Five minutes later, and thoughts totally consumed with Carter, Abby decides to call him. She picks up the phone and dials his number. The phone rings. Once, twice, three times, until Carter picks up. "Hello?" he says in a sleepy voice.
"Hey, it's Abby. Did I wake you? Sorry if I did."
"No, no it's okay. It's good to hear your voice."
Abby smiles. It's cute how Carter says little things like 'It's good to hear your voice,' and it makes me so happy, Abby thinks.
"So why did you call?"
"I kept thinking about you," Abby admits.
Carter laughs a little. Abby wonders why. "Same here," Carter says. "I finally fell asleep after hours of thinking about you, and then you call." Carter smiles.
"Why didn't you call me?" Abby asks.
"I figured you were still at work – and I did call, didn't you check your messages?"
"Nope, how can I check messages when the only thing on my mind is you Dr. Carter?" Abby says jokingly.
"Good answer, Dr. Lockhart."
"I think its time for me to check my messages Dr. Carter."
"Good-night Abby."
"Night Carter," she says and she hangs up the phone.
Abby goes to her answering machine. The first message starts playing. It's from Maggie. "Hey Abby, just wanted to see what you were up to, I haven't seen you in a while. I guess call me back so we can get caught up on things. Love you." Abby writes down on the post-it next to her answering machine to call her mother. The next message starts playing just as she gets done writing. "Uh, hey it's Carter. I guess you're at work still, I'll call back later." "It's Carter again. I guess you're still at work. Just wanted to see what you were up to and stuff. Uh, yeah I guess I'll go now. Bye." "It's me, yet again. You're obviously still at work, can't get away from that place, eh?" Abby can't believe how many times Carter has called, but likes knowing that someone wonders where she is. And yet another message comes. "Um, I just called County and Frank said you left, so I guess just call me back, or I'll see you tomorrow at work or something. Bye, I love you." There is a pause after that and the message ends. That was the final message. I guess Carter was thinking about me a lot, Abby thinks smiling. It's late, so she decides to go to bed.