Hello, my dears. I hope you enjoy the chapter and please review. I realized as I was writing this that I spelled Dr. Horowitz's name wrong in the first chapter...so sue me. I'm too lazy to edit the last one. And um...yeah...review!
Mark sat his butt down on a cold bench in Tompkins Square Park. February 14, 6:00 PM, Eastern Standard Time. Valentines Day and he was alone. Again. He wrapped his trademark scarf tighter around his neck and breathed into his hands to warm his numb fingers. Only two days after being released from the hospital for alcohol poisoning and he already felt like getting drunk again. Depression bites, he decided. The figure of a woman brushed past him. He couldn't help but notice her white lab coat and bright red hair that was pulled back into a bun.
"Dr. Horowitz!" he called. She turned around. Yup, it was her.
She scrutinized him for a moment and then smiled. "Hi, Mr. Cohen," she said, remembering him. "I didn't recognize you without your hospital gown." He blushed and studied the wad of gum on his shoe. "So, what's up?
"Nothing really." He was growing increasingly nervous for no apparent reason. "Shit, look at the time," he said without looking at his watch. "I need to be going. Nice seeing you!" He turned around and everything went blank.
He woke up on the ground a moment later to the sound of Dr. Horowitz screaming "Asshole!" to some dude.
"What happened?" Mark mumbled.
She quickly knelt beside him. "Don't move your head, Mark."
"What happened?" he repeated.
"A punk asshole skate boarder ran right into you. Oh, no, your head's bleeding." She held her finger in front of his eyes to check how his pupils were dilating. In the mean time, a small crowd assembled around them. "Well, it doesn't look like a concussion," she said. "But you're going to need stitches for your head."
"No hospitals. Please," he begged as she helped him stand.
She sighed. "Okay, I'll take you back to my place. I'll do the stitches myself. Come on." She took off one of her handmade mittens and gave it to him to press against his wound. Her apartment was nearby. Only a block or so away from Mark's place. A nicer building, though, in a nicer part of town. "Can you make it up the stairs?" she asked. "I'm only on the 3rd floor."
"Yeah," he said, trying to act tough.
They came to her flat, C12, and she unlocked 3 locks and led him inside. A teenage girl with braces was sitting on the couch watching TV. "Ew," she said when she saw Mark. "Is that dude like…bleeding?"
"Yeah, Karly," Dr. Horowitz said, "He just needs some stitches. You can go now if you want. How much to I owe you?"
"$6.50," he held out her hand and Dr. Horowitz gave her $7.00.
"Keep the change."
"Thanks. Bye." The girl left.
Dr. Horowitz led him to the cough. "Who was that?" Mark asked as he sat.
"Babysitter."
He looked at her strangely. "You've got a kid?" She was too pretty to be a mom.
"No," she said in a this aint your business sort of way. "A little sister. I'm her guardian. Now hold still." She took a bottle of alcohol and poured some on to some gauze. "This is going to sting," she warned.
"Bring it on. OW! OH MY GOD!"
"Told ya so. Now, I've got red and blue thread. Which color do you want for your sutures?
"Surprise me."
"Blue it is." He tried not to look as she threaded the needle. He winced as it pierced his flesh, but after a few stitches, he barely noticed it. "Done," she chirped after 9 stitches.
"Thanks," he murmured, rubbing the wound gingerly. "Well…" Awkward! He thought. "Um… thanks."
"You said that already. And you're welcome."
"I guess I should be going home." He stood up but wavered a bit.
"What's wrong?" She asked, quickly steadying him. "Are you dizzy?"
"Yeah, a little. Maybe I just stood up too quick."
She shook her head. "Not a good sign after a conk on the head. Is anyone going to be home with you?"
He shrugged. "I think my roommate is spending the night at his girlfriend's. V-day, you know."
She took him by the shoulders and forced back onto the sofa. "Well, I can't let you spend the night alone if you might have a concussion. Even if it's mild."
He rolled his eyes. "Does this mean I have to go back to the hospital? Because I think I'd rather be in a coma at home than be sitting in a hospital for another night."
She sighed lightly. "Tell ya what. Usually I'd be hesitant about letting a near stranger in my house. And I don't know you, but you're kinda scrawny. If you turn out to be a rapist, I can beat the crap out of you. So I guess it's okay if you spend the night. I'll stay up with you."
"What? Oh, no," he protested, "I'm sure I'll be fine."
"Nonsense. Someone needs to stay with you to make sure you don't fall asleep for the nest few hours. Otherwise you might not wake up, okay?"
He shrugged. This was nuts. But he just said, "Okay." They stared at each other for a moment. What were they going to do? Just look at one another all night? "How do you want to pass the time, Dr. Horowitz?" Mark asked her.
"Oh, God, call me Dar," she said.
"Dar?" Weird name.
"It's Darcy…no one calls me that. Call me Dar. And you're Mark, right? Mark…Cohen?" He nodded. "So, how do you want to pass the time, Mark Cohen? We could finish that game of Go Fish."
"We could do that," he agreed. "Or we could have a mind blowing three hour conversation."
"Sounds good," she said with a big smile. "Can I ask you a question?" she didn't wait for him to say yes. "Why are you scared of hospitals?"
"Oh," he said. Was it her business? Too much to tell a woman you don't really know? Probably. "No reason."
She shook her head. "No one doesn't like hospitals for no reason. Either you're scared of blood or you know someone who died in a hospital. And considering you didn't even make a face when blood was dripping down your head this afternoon, I'm guessing it's the latter. So who died?"
"Wow." He leaned back against the sofa. "You sure do get right to the point."
She shrugged. "Well, you said we were going to have a conversation. That usually entails telling someone about your life."
"Well…" he began. He figured if he told her about his life, she wouldn't like him anymore. Did she even like him to begin with? He wondered how his breath was. "Um, my friend. Angel."
Dar looked kind of sad for him. "Girlfriend?"
He laughed. "Uh, no. She…was a he. And she was my friend's girl. Or guy. Angel was a drag."
Without thinking, she said, "When I was in high school, I wanted to be a boy so I could go to my prom dressed in drag just to stick it to the conservative ass holes." Mark really liked her, now. "How did Angel die?"
"Um. AIDS."
Now she really looked sad. She looked away from him, as if she couldn't bear to see his pain. "That….well, that really blows."
"Ha. Well put."
"AIDS scares the shit out of me. Does it scare you?"
"Yeah," he said with utter sincerity. "You know, half my friends have it. I don't, though," he added awkwardly.
He wanted to ask if she did. He didn't know why. But he didn't need to ask, because she told him, "I don't know what I'd do if I got HIV. I'd just…die. Right then and there." Mark told her about April and Roger and Mimi and Collins and Angel. Dar told him about her old roommate from college who died from it. He told her about Maureen dumping him. She told him she had a nasty break up about 2 years ago and hadn't dated anyone since. They talked about chemistry and physics and how much they hated it, goldfish and how they didn't buy into the whole 5 second memory crapola, and how the whole carbonated beverage thing freaked them out. Then they fell asleep.
The next morning, Mark's eyes fluttered open and he came face to face with a little girl staring right at him. She squeezed her little eyes shut, opened her mouth, and screamed. Mark started screaming, too (out of shock…probably…).
"Darceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" The little girl shrieked. "DarcEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
"Shhhhh!" Mark whispered. "Why are you screaming! Come on, shh! "
"DARCEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
Dar rushed into the room a moment later wrapped in a green bath towel, dripping wet from being in the shower. "Annie!" She cried, and scooped the screaming child into her arms. "What's wrong?"
"There's a weirdo in the house!" The girl yelled, pointing at Mark.
Dar sighed and put her down. "He's just a friend of mine, hun, okay?"
"I don't like him." She stuck her tongue out at him. He stuck his out right back at her. Dar laughed.
"Just…go to your room or something, babe."
"But, Dar! I'm bored! Come on!"
Dar rolled her eyes. "Call Keira or something and ask if you can come over."
"UGH!" She turned around and stomped out of the room, her long straight red hair bouncing as she marched.
"Cute kid," he said with sarcasm.
A laugh escaped her. "Oh, yes."
"Well, uh, look, thanks so much for everything."
She smiled sweetly. "Your welcome."
They were silent for a few moments. Mark wanted to stay. He wanted to talk to her forever. But he was scared. "Look, I don't want to cause any more trouble between you and your sister…I think I'm going to go home. Thank you so much."
She nodded, and picked up his coat and handed it to him. "I had a great night, you know." Still wrapped in the bath towel, she kissed him on the cheek.
Then he was gone.
Worry not, dahlings. I shall get to the good stuff soon enough.
Review!
Peace and Rainbows,
Everafter89
