18. "say ahh..."
"I hate my life." Well, that's what he'd meant to say. It came out more like "I habit my wife."
"What?" Jeanie, his girlfriend of roughly seven weeks and counting, glanced up... and stared. "What the hell happened to you? And was there a shovel to the face involved?"
He rolled his eyes at her, dumped the bag of sundry prescriptions on his kitchen table, and flopped down hard in one of the chairs. "No. Dentist."
Jeanie blinked, then giggled. "Say that again."
"Dentist?"
"You just said 'dentwist'." She giggled more and completely set down her textbook and focused completely on him. "I assume you mean 'dentist'. I didn't know you had an appointment."
"You're mean." Billy sighed and reached over for one of the two white bags. One was antibiotics for the abscess, the other was painkillers for the emergency root canal. The horrible thing was, he'd only gone in for a cleaning. "I had a cleaning and they found this."
Jeanie laughed again before batting his hands away and opening up the bags. "I know, I know, I'm a horrible bitch. Now stop fussing with those and let me open them. You know how mean the drug companies are to people in pain. No one can ever get the tops off of these when they're totally coherent."
"And that's your professional opinion?"
"Yes, as a future doctor, that is my professional opinion." She glanced at the labels, got out the medication he needed, recapped everything and got up to get him a glass of water. As she handed the glass to him, he groaned and leaned back.
The kiss wasn't one of their top ten, but it was soft and sweet. When it was over, Jeanie ran a fond hand down the side of his face. "Say, ahh, Billy."
He opened his mouth and she dumped two tablets in and patted him on the head as he took a long sip. He wrapped an arm around her middle and hugged her. They hadn't been dating long, but they'd been friends forever. It felt good to come home and have her here after a long day. Billy closed his eyes and leaned into her. Maybe he'd ask soon. Maybe.
"Thanks for being here, Jeanie." And he more than meant it.
"Hey, no problems, boyfriend of mine. You've got the quietest study quarters in town." He could hear the smile in her voice.
He smiled back and gave her another light squeeze before leaning back and looking up at her. "So that's it. You love me for my apartment."
"What, you think it's your sparkling personality?" She raised an eyebrow at him and smirked.
"Sure, abuse the guy who's in pain and who has three finals to study for by the day after tomorrow."
"Honey, if you wanted abuse, I'd detail my true and abiding love for the actors on that military drama. You know. CAG."
Billy snickered and let Jeanie go back to her side of the table. "I can't believe you even watch that. It's terrible."
Jeanie grinned and flipped her neurobiology book back open before sticking her tongue out at him. "Hey, Viper pilots are hot."
"And administration majors?"
"Mmmm." She threw him a sexy look. "Well, you know my preference on that particular score."
"Well, that's good to know." Still laughing, Billy stood up and moved towards the bathroom. He shook his head at his now focused girlfriend and snickered at himself. Mostly, he just liked to give her shit about watching something so inane. But it was something so Jeanie he really didn't mind.
And when you liked someone, you made sacrifices. Especially if they opened your medication for you. Smiling, Billy stepped into the restroom and closed the door.
