Chapter Seven
A few hours later, Neela's cell phone was vibrating against the coffee table. She groaned and rolled over. It was only three thirty in the morning. Her alarm wasn't set to wake her up for another half hour, even though Abby's apartment was closer to the hospital than hers. Neela grabbed her phone and looked at the screen, squinting her eyes to read it. She frowned when she saw it was the hospital calling. She wasn't late and hadn't heard her pager go off. Why would they be calling her now? She flipped her phone open and put it up to her ear, dropping her head back into the pillow.
"Hello?"
"Hey Neela." It was Ray.
"Ray? What are you doing calling me this early?" Neela covered her mouth with her free hand and yawned.
"Well, I figured you'd need a wakeup call after your girls night." He told her. "And I missed you."
Neela could feel herself blushing. "Thanks."
"Hey, I have to run. There's a trauma coming in, but can you meet me for coffee before your shift?"
"Yeah." Neela yawned again. "I'll see you then."
"Go back to sleep, honey." Ray laughed.
"Mmhmm."
And with that, Ray hung up the phone. Neela let her arm fall from where it rested so that it dangled off the couch and dropped her phone on the floor. Within seconds, she was asleep again.
Trudging through the snow, Neela finally made it to the entrance of the emergency room. Stomping her feet and wiping snow out of her hair, she headed towards the admit desk, where she saw Ray sitting with Sam, Chuny and Jerry.
"Hi." She greeted him with a smile.
"Hi." Ray replied, leaning over the desk to kiss her gently, not caring that the other three were watching happily. Noticing that her nose was still red, he smiled. "Cold?"
"Little bit. It's snowing again."
"Um, Neela? It's Chicago. That happens quite often." Ray teased, walking around the counter.
"Shut up." Neela pouted.
"C'mon. Let's go get that coffee." Ray said, taking her hand as they headed towards the doctor's lounge.
"They're so cute." Sam smiled.
"It's about time they finally figured it out." Chuny agreed.
"I know, but have you ever seen Neela happier? She's practically glowing." Sam said.
"Aww, young lovers." Jerry laughed.
In the lounge, Ray was pulling his coat out of his opened locker. "Are you finished at two today?"
"Yeah, I got the easy shift again."
"It's been dead for the last two hours." Ray said, leading her out of the lounge toward the entrance. "How was Abby's?"
"Good. We watched 'The Break Up'. Well, some of it. Abby and Sam fell asleep not long into it." Neela told him.
"I guess it wasn't too good of a movie then?"
"Sort of. It had its' ups and downs."
"Well, I bought 'The Descent' a couple days ago. I know how much you hate scary movies, but I thought I'd offer since we'd already be at home and everything so you wouldn't have to go outside in the dark afterwards." Ray rambled.
"Ray, you're rambling." Neela smiled.
"Sorry. I can watch it another night, it doesn't matter."
"I'd love to watch it with you." She stood up on her tiptoes and put her arms around his neck.
"Are you sure? Cause you don't have to -." Ray was cut off when Neela planted her lips on his. He was surprised. Neela wasn't one for public displays of affection and they weren't even two feet into the ambulance bay.
"Morning Ray." Luka walked by, shaking his head. "Ray and his groupies. I don't know how he does it. Wait a second…" Luka did a double take when he recognized the girl making out with Ray. "Neela?"
Neela broke the kiss and looked down, not turning around. "Morning, Dr. Kovac."
"Well, I'll be damned." Luka laughed. "Sorry, continue. I'll leave you two alone." He shook his head, walking into the ER. "Was I the only one out of the loop?!" He exclaimed.
Upon hearing Luka ask that, Ray and Neela burst out laughing.
"Well, that's a way to start the day." Ray stated.
Ray smiled. "Well, that's a way to start the day."
Neela just blushed. "So, how about that coffee?"
"C'mon. I'm sure Luka isn't expecting you for a little while longer." Ray slung his arm around her shoulder and then headed across the street to Ike's.