Potions of Love
Chapter 2
September 13, 2022
Tuesday rolls around, finding both Rick and Kate going through their usual routines and getting ready to head to the Campus. Both know their chances of running into each other will be slim since they don't have any classes together.
Both had restless nights as they found their thoughts and even in Rick's case, his dreams, going in directions that they had no business going.
Every time Rick closed his eyes, he saw Kate. No matter what he tried to do, from thinking about one of his pharmacy classes to planning a night out with his friends, his thoughts and visions always turned to Kate. He kept trying to tell himself he didn't stand a chance with her, and she does have a boyfriend.
For Kate, her night was similar. She struggled with her feelings about Josh and where their relationship was going, all the time thinking about Rick and berating herself for letting her feelings about him get out of control.
They were both in sad shape!
Rick made it through his morning classes, hoping his notes would help him clarify the significant points of the lecture from the 'Developing Therapeutic Goals' session since his concentration level was pretty low. As he walks the halls in the Gonda Building, he keeps his eyes focused on everyone who passes, hoping for a glimpse of Kate, even though he knows all of her morning classes are in the Science building across the street.
Once again, he silently yells at himself, saying, "She has a boyfriend, you #%!?*^¥!" He had been bold a couple of times after their shared lecture classes during the previous study block and had invited her to coffee. But she politely declined on both occasions. He gloomily asks himself, "What can I do to get Kate to see me as more than a lab partner and fellow student?"
During the same timeframe, Kate is battling similar feelings. She is in a relationship with Josh, and she has never been one to date more than one guy at a time. But she can't get her thoughts of Rick Rodgers out of her head.
Kate is wondering if allowing thoughts of Rick to slip into her mind are contributing to her current dissatisfaction with Josh? Rick had asked her to coffee a couple of times after joint lecture sessions several weeks ago, but she had dismissed his requests without any afterthought.
Now she is finding herself hoping for windows to open where they may get to know one another better. YIKES!
"What am I doing?" she asks herself.
Rick and his buddies often get together at the 'Screaming Fox" for beers and wings after their classes on Tuesday evenings. He decides he'll go down and hang out with the guys for a while, hoping it will lift his mood.
Rick heads home after his last class and walks into his apartment. Surprisingly, Neddie hadn't done her usual 'trash the garbage all over the kitchen floor' trick. He pets the cat for a few minutes, then puts fresh food and water down for her before he heads to take a quick shower.
He decides to wear a button-down shirt and khakis to the bar instead of his usual Alix sweatshirt and jeans. He is wrestling with a decision about whether he should talk to the guys about his situation with Kate without telling them her name. And he knows if he shows up in his jeans and sweatshirt, the guys will ride him about his wardrobe being a deterrent for any girl. Rick is out the door and headed to the bar with one last look in the mirror.
Thirty minutes later, Rick walks into the Screaming Fox and sees his buddies, Tom, LT, Kevin, and Javi, sitting at a table toward the end of the bar. He takes a deep breath and says to himself, "Here we go."
As he gets closer to the table, Tom sees him and says rather loudly, "Hey Rickie, you made it." The other guys chime in with similar welcomes and move their chairs around to make room for Rick.
"Long time no see," says LT. "Where ya been keeping yourself?"
Rick smiles and says, "Thanks, LT. I've been busy with all of the new classes and labs that started for 3rd-year students." Rick's friends had transferred into Alix and were all in their 2nd year, so they didn't have the different lab assignments like 3rd-year students.
The guys shake their heads and return to the sports debates they were having before Rick walked in. Rick sits down, pours a beer, and joins in the conversation. Since his friends are from out of state, they always have ongoing rivalries between the Vikings and their home teams. Coming from New York, he has several teams he could cheer for, but to their surprise, it turns out he is an Eagles fan. They could never understand how that happened and continue to give him grief every chance they get.
Kevin pipes up as the sports talk dies down and asks, "Rick, besides burying your head in the books, what else have you been up to? You've missed our last 3 Tuesday meetings," which draws a chuckle from the group.
Rick gives a weak smile back at the guys and says, "Well, um, I sorta been trying to get to know a girl that's in one of my classes." A joined chorus of jeers and cheers and "It's about time" comes from around the table, along with slaps on the back from Tom and Javi, who are sitting on either side of him.
"What's she look like? Is she a knockout? What's her name?" The guys keep throwing questions at Rick, which he doesn't want to answer.
Rick sits there for a minute and says, "I'm not going to get into all of that. I'm just trying to figure out how to get her to, um, be more interested in me." The guys are quiet and are just staring at him but not saying a word.
Finally, Tom looks at him and says, "Let me get this straight? There's a chick in your class that you are hot for, but she doesn't know you exist. Does that pretty much sum up what's going on with you?"
Rick gulps and says, "Yea, I guess that sums it up."
Tom again slaps him on the back and says, "Well, pal, you came to the right place." All of the guys join in and are laughing and agree with Tom. Rick looks around the table, thinking he just made a huge mistake.
Tom and the rest of the guys start talking over each other, throwing out what Rick considers inadequate or improper pickup lines like, "Besides being gorgeous, what do you do for a living? You look so familiar to me. Have we dated before? You look like trouble. I can't stop looking at how gorgeous you are. If I kiss you, will I get slapped?"
Rick raises his hands and firmly says, "Stop," and glares at everyone around the table.
Tom picks up on Rick's mood right away and says, "Hey man, we're sorry. The guys are just trying to lighten things up for you."
Rick sits there for a minute before saying anything. Then looking at Tom, he says, "Yea, sure. I think I'll head out."
Tom grabs Rick's arm before he can stand up and says, "Rick, we're sorry. We meant no offense." Tom also looks around the table, and his look tells the guys to cool it.
Rick sits for a minute, then says, "Yea, okay. Let's drop it."
Tom looks at Rick and says, "Give us a chance; maybe we can help? Maybe your problem is, you don't have good skills for hooking up with a girl?"
Rick now glares at Tom and says, "That's not it at all. She's so different from anyone else I've ever dated, and I'm not sure how to get her to see me as someone besides her lab partner. It's hard to explain." Rick drops his head, and then under his breath, he adds, "And she's got a boyfriend."
The guys are all quiet, and Tom finally says, "Well, that does throw a monkey wrench into the picture."
Rick shakes his head and doesn't say anything else. All of the guys are quiet, shrugging their shoulders and looking at Tom to try and get him to take the lead on the conversation. Tom shrugs too but looks at Rick and sees that his buddy has got it bad.
"Okay, Rick. If you meet a girl, what do you do first to get her attention?" asks Tom.
Rick frowns and says, "What do you mean?"
Tom says, "It's easy. What do you say to get a girl's attention?"
Rick stares at Tom and says, "I don't know. We start talking." Rick is now getting very uncomfortable. He never planned for things to go this way.
Tom says, "Okay, let's try this one. You see those two girls at the bar and the one with the pink sweater?" Rick nods. Tom continues, "I think she's just your type. Get up and go over and talk to her."
Rick says, "I don't know her."
Tom laughs and says, "Well, you won't get to know her until you talk to her. Go! Get off your butt and go and talk to her."
Rick shakes his head, no. "That's not how I work."
Tom asks, "Well, tell me how you work, Rick?" He can sense his buddy is getting frustrated, but he thinks Rick has to give it a try. Tom continues, "Come on, man, what do you have to lose? Just go up and ask her if you can buy her a drink."
Rick bows his head and says, "No. I don't feel comfortable talking to her. I don't know her," he repeats.
Tom is also frustrated, but he's not giving up. "Okay, I'll give you $10 bucks to walk up and talk to her. Nothing more."
Rick rolls his eyes, which right away reminds him of Kate, and firmly says, "Tom, no! For the millionth time, that's not me."
Tom says, "Okay, here's $20 bucks. Just go!"
Rick, now exasperated with Tom, says, "No! I'm not going to do it. I don't know her, and she doesn't know me. And I am not comfortable handling things that way."
Tom sighs and again says a little more forcefully, "Well, how are you going to get to know her if you don't talk to her? Here's $50 bucks; walk up and ask her if you can buy her a drink? It's as easy as that. You don't have to do anything else."
Rick looks up at the bar, not knowing what to do. He's not liking how the evening is going at all, but maybe he should give it a try to see if other girls are interested in him?" He looks at Tom and reluctantly says, "Okay, but keep your money."
Releasing a huge sigh, Rick stands up and moves toward the girl in the pink sweater sitting at the bar. There is an open stool next to her, so he sits down, looking straight ahead. The girl in pink briefly turns her head but then goes back to talking with her friend.
Rick looks over toward the table, and the guys are egging him on.
Rick takes another deep breath, turns toward the girl in the pink sweater, and says, "Hi, my name is Rick, and I was wondering if I could buy you a drink?"
The girl in the pink sweater turns on her stool and looks directly at Rick, with a somewhat demeaning sneer, and almost hisses, saying, "And why, would I want you to buy me a drink?" Accentuating every part of her question with a glare.
Rick is caught off guard by her rude response and says, "Um, I don't know, I just want to buy you a drink?"
The girl in the pink sweater laughs smugly then turns to her friend. "Hey, Ash. Did you hear that? This jerk wants to buy me a drink?" Both girls laugh, and Rick wishes he could slide into oblivion.
Before he can get up and leave, the girl in the pink sweater turns around again and says, "Can you tell me why I would want you to buy me a drink? Do we know each other? Have we met before?
Rick wishes he was anywhere else except here. He looks at the girl and quietly says, "No."
Now the girl starts playing with him. "Well, Rick, that's your name, right?" He nods. The girl in the pink sweater continues, "I'm just trying to help you, so this type of situation doesn't happen again where you embarrass yourself like this."
Rick is at a total loss of what to do.
The girl keeps talking and says, "Rick, my name is Serena, and I live in the Cobb Hill area, and I drive a BMW. Where do you live, what do you do, and what type of car do you drive?"
Rick is stunned and stumbling over his thoughts about how he should reply. He shrugs and says, "I'm in the Advanced Pharmacy Program at Mayo. I have an apartment just off Campus and drive a Jeep."
"Well, Rick. What does that tell you about us?" Serena asks.
Rick now is lost. He looks at her and says, "I don't know."
Serena curtly says, "Ok, if you can answer this one question, I'll let you buy me a drink and even go out on a date with you." Rick just stares.
"Rick," Serena says, "Can you tell me who designed my sweater?"
Rick is completely caught off guard by that question and just shakes his head, no.
Serena holds up her fingers and does the cutesy bye-bye wave, then turns her back on Rick and begins talking to her friend.
Rick is humiliated and angry. He gets up and walks out of the bar without saying a word to his friends. His buddies have been watching him during the entire time and can tell this little exercise wasn't going well. But they are stunned that Rick walks out on them.
At the same time that Rick lives through the disaster at the bar with his buddies, Kate has dinner with her friends, Lanie, Tori, and Roz, at Terza's Italian Restaurant in downtown Rochester. As they wrap up their meal, the conversation starts moving toward the men they have been seeing. Of course, they turn to Kate and ask about Josh. After all, he is one of the hottest guys on Campus.
Kate responds with vague answers telling the group that he is working with a new surgeon and doing extra rounds, so they haven't much time together. She hopes those comments will suffice and that the group will move on and drop the subject of her love life.
Lanie can see that Kate isn't telling them the whole story, but she doesn't want to push her in front of the other girls, so she turns and asks, "Tori, so how is it going with that athletic trainer?"
Tori laughs, but the question does the trick, and the group moves on and doesn't quiz Kate again about Josh.
The girls wrap up their meal and decide to call it a night. They are out in front of the restaurant, flagging down cabs; when Lanie gets one, she tells Kate, "Hey, girlfriend, hop in, and I'll drop you at your place on my way home."
Kate looks at the group, does as Lanie asks, and gets into the cab. She is quiet and looking out the window, hoping Lanie doesn't start in on her. She could tell Lanie wasn't buying her earlier answers about Josh, but she doesn't want to get into it with her tonight. When they arrive at Kate's apartment, Kate slides out of the cab and turns to thank Lanie, but Lanie hops out too, telling the cab driver to come back in an hour. Kate's heart drops as she knows it could be a long evening as she heads toward her front door.
The two go into Kate's apartment, hang up their coats, and Kate drops her purse and keys on the table by the door. Then says to Lanie, "Since you've invited yourself in, do you want something to drink?"
"Don't get snarky with me, girlfriend!" says Lanie. "I'm here to get the truth about what is going on with you and your beau. You were way too quiet the entire evening, and I know you weren't giving us the straight 411 on Josh. So get me a bottle of water and park that skinny little butt of yours on the couch and tell me the truth."
Kate knows Lanie well enough that it's no use trying to stall or talk around her. So she heads into the kitchen to get a couple of bottles of water. She would much rather grab a bottle of wine, but she knows she needs to have a level head to deal with Lanie and the bombardment of questions that she knows is coming.
Kate goes back into the living room and hands Lanie a bottle of water, then moves down to the other end of the couch, curls her leg under her, sits down, and waits for the questions to start. Lanie opens her water, takes a sip, then turns to Kate and starts the inquisition.
"Okay, Kate, what is going on between you and Josh? It's very evident to anyone with half a brain that you aren't happy, and I don't like that at all," says Lanie. The last part of her statement comes out with a more gentle tone.
Kate bows her head and starts, "Lanie, it hasn't been great for the last few months. I think I have been ignoring what he has been doing and saying in hopes that things would improve. But it seems the longer it goes, the worse it gets."
Lanie is sorry that she pushed Kate so hard to talk. She is not a fan of Josh and seeing the hurt on her friend's face, and hearing the sadness in her voice, breaks her heart. "Oh, girlfriend, I didn't realize things had gotten so bad between you two," Lanie quietly states.
Kate looks at her friend and replies, "Yea, it has been rough, and I just don't know what to do. No, I take that back. I know what I need or should do; it's just so hard to take that next step. I had high hopes for us, and in the beginning, things were good. But it seems that the further up he progresses in his medical field, the more self-centered he is, and that's just not for me." Kate sighs again, lifts her shoulders, and looks down at her lap, signaling she is done talking.
Lanie takes the hint, stands, and heads toward the front door, with Kate following. After Lanie puts her coat on, she turns and pulls Kate into a tight hug and says, "Kate, no matter what happens, you need to do what is best for you. You have worked too hard to get where you are at, and you don't need to be pulled down by someone like Josh. So please, take care of yourself. I love you, girlfriend, and I'm here if you need me for anything, anything at all."
Kate leans back from her friend's hug and smiles, saying, "Thanks Lanie, I appreciate that, more than you know."
With that, Lanie tells Kate good night and goes out to the waiting cab.
Later Tuesday Evening
Rick is angry with himself for sharing his feelings with his friends and distraught at the outcome of his evening. He doesn't know why he let himself be talked into doing such a stupid thing. He has no interest in any other girl other than Kate, and making any move on someone else, practically makes him sick to his stomach.
He finally calms down enough to head to bed, but once again, his thoughts are drifting toward Kate. As he falls asleep, his thoughts are sweeter than the previous night since he knows he will spend the morning with Kate during their research lab.
Across Campus, Kate is experiencing mixed emotions as she punches her pillow and tries to get comfortable. The evening with her friends wasn't as much fun as usual, but it felt good, to be honest with Lanie about her feelings toward Josh. Kate is unsure what to do next, but she does know something needs to change, and if Josh isn't willing to meet her halfway, she will have to take the next step.
Kate turns over and settles in for the night, wondering how to handle her feelings about Rick? She has to be sure those feelings aren't impacting her attitude toward Josh, but she's unsure how to do that.
Once again, Rick and Kate fall asleep, experiencing mixed emotions but are looking forward to what Wednesday will bring them.