Note-I'm trying to get up a chapter per day. I put up 2 yesterday because of the day I skipped. Now it's back to 1 a day. Carla's turn!
I lay in bed, looking at the ceiling. Turk was on the couch, and I didn't want to disturb him. The red lights of the digital clock said 2:01 am. There was a stain of damp on the ceiling. Why hadn't I noticed it before?
Outside, I heard the phone ring.
Who was calling at this hour? I got up, and walked to the door. I leant on the frame as Turk picked up the phone, answered it and handed it to me, mouthing "Dr Cox" as he did so. I went back into the bedroom, and shut the door.
"Hello?"
"Hey there, Carla! It's me, Perry"
"Why are you calling at this time in the morning? Oh god, has anything happened to Bambi?"
"No, Newbie's still stable. It's me I wanted to talk about"
I flopped down onto the bed in relief.
"Can't it wait 'til the morning, Per?"
"No. Five minutes ago, I kissed Newbie"
I shot upright. I suddenly wasn't tired anymore.
"You did what? Where are you?"
"At the nurse's desk. Don't worry, the patron saint of gossip has gone, the only one here is a girl so tired she's actually going going gone as I speak! I'm safe"
"You kissed JD?"
"Yeah, I don't know what just happened either but it su-hure as hell freaked me out!"
"Oh I know what just happened! You, Perry Cox, are in love with Bambi!"
"Carla, I'm sure you remember that the kid you're gloating over is lying in a coma three doors down from me with brain cancer! Not helping!"
"Oh god, I'm so sorry!"
"No worries…but anyway, Carla, what am I gonna do?"
"Well what can you do? You can accept it, pray that he wakes up, and renounce your reputation as a very straight bad-boy doctor. Or you can ignore it like you normally do, pretend you hate him, crush him inside and pretend not to care when really the feeling inside is making you suicidal"
"Hm…I like the second option! I'm good at that!"
"Perry!"
"Ok, ok, geez woman!"
"You still at Sacred Heart?"
"Carla, you know I'm gonna be there all night. I'll check up on him every five minutes"
"Thanks, Per…"
"Oh, and Carla?"
"Yeah?"
"Who's gonna call Dan?"
The crackly sound on the other end of the line meant he'd put the phone down.
I lay back down on the bed. The door opened, and Turk came in and lay down next to me. I lay in his arms as tears trickled down both of our cheeks.
It wasn't much.
But it was enough.