Potions of Love
Chapter 9
Friday, September 23, 2022
Later Friday evening, around 7:15 pm.
On Kate's ride home from Rick's apartment, fatigue begins to set in, to the point that she can only concentrate on getting inside of her apartment and heading straight to bed. It's entirely out of character for her not to wipe down her bike after a ride, but tonight she secures it in her garage and heads straight into her apartment.
As Kate enters her apartment, she deposits her helmet, jacket, and keys on the table by the door. Then it dawns on her that neither she nor Rick noticed an immediate decrease in energy after testing the potion. Kate begins to question if the brew reacts differently in humans?
Without thinking, she takes her cell phone out of her back pocket and immediately searches for Rick's image in her favorites. Finding it, she presses his number as she practically collapses on a nearby chair and waits for him to respond. She can tell by his tone when he answers that he is surprised by her call.
Rick is lying on the couch, almost asleep, when his cell phone rings. He fumbles, nearly knocking over the lamp as he grabs for the offending device. Rick sees Kate's picture on his caller ID and panics.
Since she has never called him before, he fears something may have happened to her on her ride home. Rick answers, trying to keep his voice calm, "Hi, Kate, what's up? Are you okay? Did you have problems getting home?"
"Oh no, Rick, everything is fine," now, she understands that the surprise she heard earlier when he first answered was a genuine sense of concern for her well-being, which instantly touches Kate's heart. Sensing Rick's concern, Kate calmly continues,
"It hit me when I got home that neither of us appeared tired after we tested the potion. When I left, I was feeling practically normal, and I think you were relatively close, at least based on your behavior," Kate says with a touch of humor in her voice.
"But by the time I arrived home and put my Harley in the garage, all I wanted to do was drag myself into my apartment and go directly to bed. Once I got inside, I realized that I experienced none of these feelings when I was at your place, so I wanted to call and check to see how you are feeling?"
"Kate, you're right. I hadn't put two and two together yet. But shortly after you left, I laid down on the couch to think about what had occurred during our testing, and I believe if you hadn't called, I would be asleep by now," he said thoughtfully.
"So, do you think we should assume that the decrease in energy in humans is delayed as the effects of the potion wear off?" asks Kate.
"Kate, you might be onto something. I think we need to record our reactions and their timing along with our respective weights, plus the volume of the potion; I believe I ingested, similarly to how we documented our testing with the mice," responds Rick.
Kate is quiet as she processes Rick's comments, then replies, "I agree, Rick. Monday, we need to get all of our data organized so we can compare our reactions to what we saw with Ollie and Lena and also what you observed with Neddie."
Rick agrees, and there is silence again on their call.
"Well, thanks, Rick. That's all I needed," Kate says awkwardly.
Rick wants to say more to Kate but ends up replying, "Okay, Kate, I am glad you called."
Before she can stop herself, Kate quickly adds, "Rick, I had fun testing the potion with you," then, she quickly disconnects the call before Rick can respond.
Rick is shocked by what Kate just said. He pulls his phone away from his ear, looking at the screen to confirm that Kate had hung up. Then a big smile covers his face ear to ear, and he says to himself,
"I think she likes me!"
Earlier, Josh had stormed back to his apartment to try and cool off after watching the first make-out session between Kate and Rick.
"I need to finalize a plan quickly so that I can get this guy out of Kate's life," he says to himself as he sits at his kitchen table with a drink in his hand.
He continues working on a plan in his mind and determines, "I need to figure out what this potion thing is. Kate and her sidekick have run two tests on it, but there isn't a way I can get my hands on those results, so my only option is to go to the source."
Since it's still early, Josh decides he will go directly to the fortune teller and find out what concoction she had given Rick.
Around 5:30 pm, Josh leaves his apartment, again wondering what Kate and Rick are doing now. Josh pushes those thoughts out of his head as he finalizes the spiel he plans to feed the gypsy to get the information he wants about the concoction Kate has been working on with Rick.
He never doubts that his plan will work, even though as he drives, it dawns on him that he doesn't even know the old lady's name.
"Oh well, no biggie, I'll just turn on the ol' Davidson charm and get everything I need," he tells himself.
Josh arrives at Madame V's around 6:00 pm and boldly swaggers up to her front door, knocking as he pulls himself up to his full height and waits for the gypsy to answer.
Madame V opens her door to a stranger. She stands at the door, barring any further access into her home by this unknown man. She only glares at the man, not saying a word.
Josh senses his plan isn't working as smoothly as he hoped, so he backs off and says with his typical cocky attitude, "Hello, my good pal, Rick Rodgers, told me about you and said you could give me something to help; me with my girlfriend."
Madame V noticed that this stranger never addressed her by her name, "Oh, Mr. Rick told you all about that, huh?" Madame V says as she squints her eyes at this unwelcome guest.
Josh tries to regroup and get the conversation back on track by speaking in a more passive tone, "Yes, Ma'am. Rick spoke very highly of you and said you would be able to help me with my girl."
Madame V is very sure this arrogant SOB is lying to her face, but she wants to get to the bottom of why he has appeared at her door out of the blue. She steps to the side and motions Josh to enter her home.
Josh quietly exhales a sigh of relief, confident that his ploy is working. He enters as instructed, and once inside the door, he pauses and waits for the gypsy to take the lead.
Madame V walks down the short hall with Josh following, and when she gets to the entrance to her Parlor, she stops, turns, and points to the hardback chair at the right end of the table. Josh pauses and tries to take in his surroundings as he enters the dimmed room.
As Josh walks deeper into the room, he observes what he always imagined would be traditional fortune teller decor. Dim orange-colored lighting, drawn drapes, rows of beads over one of the other doorways in the room, and a crystal ball sitting on a set of shelves behind the table.
Josh takes a seat as directed and watches Madame V, trying to determine her next steps.
Madame V continues to stand at the entrance to her Parlor, assessing this stranger. After a couple of minutes, she moves to her chair at the other end of the table, sits down, and sternly says, "You have me at a loss, you know me, but I do not know who you are!"
Josh stammers for a second before responding, "Oh my, where are my manners. My name is Josh Davidson, and I am an intern at the Mayo Clinic where I know Rick," he says, smiling with his typical overconfident attitude.
"Oh, you be a doctor?" asks Madame V in her broken English.
Josh smiles and answers with a somewhat presumptuous tone, "Not yet, but I will soon be a doctor in the Surgical Department at Mayo Clinic or any other hospital that I decided to work at."
Having lived in Rochester for over forty years and dealing with numerous students from Mayo, Madame V knows a surgical slot on staff at Mayo is not a given just because an intern graduates from their medical program, but she lets that thought pass for now. She is more interested in learning what this guy is trying to pull on her.
"Okay, Mr. Josh, what exactly did Mr. Rick tell you?" Madame V asks.
Josh knows his following comments are critical, so he pauses a few moments and tries to bluff his way into the good graces of this woman, "Well, Rick told me he came to you because he was having problems getting a girl from one of his classes even to notice him. He said you were able to give him something that he could secretly use to get this girl to like him."
Madame V sits back in her chair, smiling, now knowing that this stranger is spewing lies to her about Mr. Rick. She is quiet for several minutes as she digests the lie she just heard and tries to think about what to do next.
Rick Rodgers was not one of her favorites. Still, she respects him for returning and apologizing for his earlier comments and telling her that he now believes in her potion after completing some of his tests. He had also given his word that he would not tell anyone else, besides his girl, about her potion.
"Now, how should I deal with this stranger?" she asks herself.
Josh is becoming increasingly uncomfortable as he watches the face of the gypsy woman. Her facial expressions have not changed one bit since she sat down. Josh is beginning to worry that his spiel isn't working, and she doesn't believe him about his supposed relationship with Rick Rodgers. He is about to ask her another question when she says,
"Okay, I believe I can help you, and if Mr. Rick told you to come, I know exactly what you need to help you with your girl," she says with a rather smug look on her face that Josh cannot read.
Madame V continues, "You stay here and do not move from that chair. I will go and get what you need," she firmly states as she stands and moves through the beaded doorway. Before exiting the Parlor, she turns back and sternly repeats, "And I mean, you do not dare to move!"
Josh gulps and replies, "Yes, Ma'am." Again not addressing Madame V by her name.
Madame V turns to go toward the back of her home with a wicked smile on her face, thinking,
"Yes, Mr. Josh, I will get you exactly what you need!"
Madame V goes to her back room and looks through the many bottles of secret potions that sit on her shelves. After reviewing her choices, she finds another tall bottle with a snake ring around the neck, but his snake has green emeralds embedded into its eyes instead of the red gems. Madame V takes the tall bottle along with a small vial off of the shelf and heads back to the Parlor.
"This will teach this foolish man not to lie to me in the future," she says to herself with a very satisfying smile on her face.
Madame V re-enters her Parlor and sees that her undesirable guest has heeded her warning and remained in his chair. She sets the two bottles on the table and assumes her seat at the other end, never breaking eye contact with Josh.
Her glare is working as she watches her visitor begin to squirm in his chair.
"This is going to be fun," she thinks to herself.
"I know this guy is trying to con me, so I will give him a potion that works in the exact reverse from the one I gave to Rick. This potion will turn women off and make them very angry with the man who is trying to use it on them." Madame V says to herself as she begins her conversation with Josh.
"Well, Mr. Josh, I indeed did give Mr. Rick a special potion to help him with a girl he was interested in, and it is my understanding that he is very pleased with the results. Is that what he shared with you when he told you to come and visit me?"
Josh is unprepared for her question and has to stall for a few seconds as he tries to find an answer that she will buy. "Yea, he bragged how fast it worked and how great the results were with the girl. Now she can't keep her hands off of him." As soon as he said the second part of his answer, he wondered if he had gone too far.
"Oh, that is good to hear. It makes me happy when I know I can help a special couple discover their love for one another." Madame V is sure that statement will set this liar on his ear. She watches for Josh's reaction and can quickly tell she has hit a nerve.
She continues, "I will give you a few drops from my bottle, and you will then have a potion like Mr. Rick." Again, she sees an immediate reaction on Josh's face that tells her he is buying her story hook-line-and-sinker!
She continues to give Josh the exact instructions she gave to Rick for the real potion, including the activators of kissing the girl or whispering the word "perfect" in her ear, emphasizing he must do everything exactly as she has described to him.
Madame V also assures Josh that the first man to get this potion to work on a woman will have that woman for life. She silently chuckles to herself as she watches Josh, eating up every word she's saying.
Madame V decides to expand her instructions since she is sure that Rick has used his potion with his special friend. "This potion is even better than what I gave to Mr. Rick. If a woman is susceptible to a potion like Mr. Rick's then receives this new potion, the woman will forget everything she experienced with the other man and only have a love for the new man."
After giving Josh final instructions for 'his potion,' she tells him it's time for him to leave. She stands first and heads toward the exit for the Parlor, with Josh following her.
Madame V again laughs to herself as this unwelcome visitor leaves her home. She returns to her Parlor to retrieve her bottles and sees that the snake ring with the green eyes is missing from the tall bottle.
Madame V is instantly angry and says a particular chant, "wishing nothing but evil to befall Mr. Josh."
Josh returns to his apartment to finalize his plans now that he has a new potion from the old gypsy.
He is even more confident in his goals since she told him, "If the woman has been vulnerable to another potion, his unique form of her special brew will override those feelings, and the woman will only desire to be with him."
So everything he saw that happened earlier today between Kate and Rick will disappear, and she will finally be his!
Josh goes to bed Friday evening thinking, "All of my plans are coming together, and his upcoming Sunday evening with Kate will be a complete success, and Rick will finally be gone from her life!"
When Josh wakes up Saturday morning, his euphoria following his meeting with Madame V continues. He goes into the kitchen, smiling, as he opens the cupboard above the sink and views the bottle of magic that will turn his life around on Sunday evening.
Josh then grabs his cell phone and calls Kate, even before looking at the wall clock and seeing that it's only 7:30 am. He cringes slightly at the time but shrugs off those feelings, thinking Kate will be excited to hear from him after being apart for an entire week.
Kate was still relaxing in bed. She continued to think about her increasingly strong feelings about Rick, especially after their testing with his potion the previous evening.
She recalls some of his emotions and actions during their testing and smiles to herself, thinking, "It was gratifying doing those experiments with Rick!"
As Kate prepares to get out of bed, her cell phone rings. She glances at the clock on her end table by her bed and sees it's only 7:30 am.
"Who would be calling this early," she asks herself.
When Kate picks up her phone, her heart drops when she sees Josh's image on her caller ID. She would like to ignore this call and let it go to voicemail, but she had told him he couldn't call her until the weekend, which he is doing now, so she sighs and answers. "Hello, Josh," is her immediate response.
Josh denotes a solemn tone in Kate's voice, but he charges on with his plan. "Hey Kate, you said to wait until the weekend to call, so here I am, calling," he says in his usual smug tone. Instead of waiting for Kate's response, he pushes ahead with his thoughts, saying,
"It's been a week since we have seen each other, and I am sure you are as excited as I am to get together, so let's have dinner Sunday night. I'll even surprise you and fix one of my amazing dinners here at my place,' he finally pauses, not hearing a response from Kate.
"Kate, are you there? Did you hear me?" he says in a somewhat agitated voice.
"Yes, I am here; I am just waiting for you to finish talking," replied Kate.
"Well, what do you think? Will you come over for dinner Sunday night?" Josh impatiently asks.
Kate lets out the breath she was holding and says, "Yes, I guess I can come over for dinner Sunday evening."
Josh wanted to tell her not to sound so excited, but he decided to hold his tongue since he didn't want to start another fight with her, so he confidently replied, "Awesome, we will have an amazing evening, trust me!"
Kate isn't sure how to respond, so she politely agrees to be at his apartment at 6:30 pm on Sunday, already dreading the evening, even before she disconnects from his call.
Josh rubs his hands together, saying to himself, "Step one done. Kate has no idea how terrific our evening will end."
Josh then checks his watch and sees it's about 8:00 am, so he grabs his grocery list and heads out to buy some special surprises for Kate's Sunday evening dinner. He needs to get his shopping done since he has to report to the clinic at 1:00 for a 6-hour shift since he had Thursday and Friday off.
Kate threw her head back on her pillow and could have sworn her stomach was already churning, just thinking about having to be with Josh Sunday evening.
Kate gets up to begin her day, but her unsettling feelings grow when she thinks about Josh. She heads into the kitchen to fix her morning coffee, then sits at her table, closing her eyes, absorbing the warmth of the early morning sun on her face as it shines through her large window.
"Maybe I should squeeze in another ride this morning before I hit the books and clean my apartment," she says to herself.
"The weather guy did say we have a chance of rain late this afternoon that would run into the evening. Decision made," she tells herself as she decides to have a bagel with cream cheese along with her coffee.
Kate quickly cleans up her kitchen then heads into her bedroom to change clothes before going out for her ride.
Across campus, Rick can't think of much else except last evening and his time with Kate. He knows the potion triggered the emotions and actions that happened.
But he also recalls Madame V's comments that the potion will not work correctly if the two participants do not already feel an attraction for one another.
So Rick is hanging his hat on that statement and feels that the intensity he experienced was real, and he and Kate care for each other. All of this brings him to the conclusion that he is falling in love with her!
Rick knows that Kate had told Josh not to call her until this weekend; thus, Rick's old fears about Kate and her relationship with Josh also surface and cause him to feel a sense of discouragement.
Rick realizes he can't mope around his apartment all weekend and knows he and Kate have already made plans for additional testing on Monday. So, Rick decides he needs to keep himself busy and try not to let his feelings get out of control until he knows what is happening with Kate and Josh.
Rick attempts to plow through his study notes, which doesn't work well. So then he decides to straighten up some of his mess around the apartment and spend some quality time babying Neddie. He's still concerned about his cat's reaction to the potion and keeps a close eye on her when he's home.
A little after 2:00 pm, Tom calls and invites Rick to join the guys for a Saturday night poker game. Rick thinks, why not, and agrees to meet the guys at the Screaming Fox around 7:30 pm.
Kate enjoyed her ride in the morning sun. She had no destination in mind, so she took advantage of her peaceful Saturday morning and rode around Lake George taking in the serene setting and allowing her thoughts to roam.
Her feelings of dread about having to be with Josh Sunday evening were changing to thoughts that this may be the opportunity she has been seeking to help her take action on the next steps she knows she must make with him. She ponders her new thoughts as she heads back into town after a quick stop at Trader Joe's to pick up some of her favorite coffee and chocolate.
Kate gets back to her apartment around 10:30 am and does her usual clean-up routine on her Harley before securing it for the rest of the weekend. Since she has no idea how Sunday night will go, she has decided she will take a cab over to Josh's.
After Kate has changed out of her leather chaps, she heads into the living room, wishing she could call and talk with Rick, but knows that would be a bad idea to do right now, so she decides to get a headstart on her study notes for Monday's lab.
Kate is just getting into her second lab assignment when her phone rings. She checks her caller ID and sees it's Lanie. "Hey, Laines, what's up?"
"Wow, girl, you sound like you are in a good mood; what's going on?" says a surprised Lanie.
"Nothing is going on. Can't a girl feel good and not have to go through the 3rd degree?" Kate says with a bit of bite in her voice.
"Hey, let's take this down a notch, Kate. I was only saying it was nice to hear you sound like you were a little happier than you have been the last couple of times we talked," says Lanie with a bit of snark of her own in her tone.
Kate instantly feels guilty for the careless remark she said to her friend and tries to change her tone by apologizing. "Lanie, I am so sorry. It's been one of those up and down mornings, and I was thinking to myself that I may be ready to make some decisions about Josh, and I was wrapped up in those thoughts when you called. Again, I am so sorry; what are you up to?" asks Kate, hoping to change the subject.
"Well, in that case, I think my timing is right on," replied Lanie.
"I woke up wondering how you were doing since we hadn't talked for several days, and I was going to suggest we have an early dinner of pizza and wine and do some series catching up. I don't think I will even let you agree or disagree. You decant some of that amazing red wine you keep hidden in your upper cupboard, and I'll bring your favorite sausage and basil pizza with double cheese, and be at your place at 5:00 pm." states Lanie with her no-nonsense tone.
Kate knows Lanie's tone and knows it's better not to argue with her when she is in that type of a mood. Also, she does feel guilty about snapping at her friend, so she cheerfully agrees and says, "Sounds great to me, Laines; I'll see you at 5:00 pm."
Both hang up with smiles on their faces and are happy that they have some girlfriend time ahead of them later in the day.
A/N - We will wrap up our Saturday with our characters before Kate has her encounter with Josh on Sunday evening. Stay tuned for Chapter 10.