Disclaimer: Same as always. The initiating the conversation bit at the end was inspired by the Adam Sandler movie "Big Daddy" which is also not mine
Author's Note: Here it is, the final chapter. After typing it up, I'm not sure if I like the way I ended this, but here's to hoping! Let me know what you think.
His spoon was mere inches from his mouth when the phone rang. He reluctantly resubmerged the utensil into his bowl of Lucky Charms and grabbed the phone from its temporary home on the kitchen table. Glancing at the caller ID, he nearly choked. Needless to say, he hadn't been expecting to hear back from her so soon, nor did he expect her to call. E-mail would have sufficed, especially considering he didn't even know where to begin.
Neela waited anxiously on the other end. She was torn. Did she want him to answer, or ignore her? It was the dance they'd done for awhile now. She'd call and he wouldn't pick up. She'd send a letter and he'd send it back unopened. After some time, she'd just come to anticipate this sort of response, but tried to contact him regardless. She considered it at least a form of acknowledgement and it became routine. Neela was good with routine. Why should it be any different now? Why, then, was she still so nervous?
"Neela?"
That's why. There was that chance that he'd pick up. "Ray," she began, hoping to avoid the exchange of inevitably awkward pleasantries, "funny thing happened today. I was checking my e-mails, right? Don't laugh, it wasn't my idea, but a patient set up an account for me on this online dating website. Once word got out at County, everyone started making phony accounts and sent me gag messages pretending to be some creep of a guy. It bothered me at first, but I knew it was all in good fun. I got one today though, and I didn't find it the least bit funny-"
"I see where this is going and you should know-" Ray cut in, laughing. She ignored him, continuing,
"Goddammit Ray, it's not funny! It was fine when the people weren't real, when I could read their profiles and laugh until my sides hurt, glad that R-Chee, the money-loving, rule-hating, self-absorbed womanizer doesn't really live among us. I don't know whether or not to be insulted by the fact that my friends aimed to fool me into even considering these people. Do they really think I'll glance at Abner the junk collector's profile and fall in love? What sane person falls for a guy, albeit a fake guy, whose pick-up line is that saying 'one man's trash is another man's treasure!' Joke or not, it's incredibly insensitive. But then they upped the ante..."
Ray laughed. He had harbored so much anger and resentment toward her after the accident that he'd forgotten what a little spitfire his Roomie could be. She had a tendency to make a mountain out of a mole hill and completely lose her cool. While their motives were pure, he wondered if those at County knew how much this hurt her. He wished he had known before he attempted what he thought would be a nice, yet somewhat detached, gesture. "Neela, before you verbally assault your coworkers any more than you already have," he laughed, "It really was me..."
There was silence on the other end. Neela cursed herself for reacting the way she had. This was going just swimmingly. Ray had actually considered giving their relationship another chance and she wrote it off as a cruel joke. "It was?" she managed meekly. "God, Ray, I'm so sorry! I can't tell you how embarrassing this is..." He just laughed. "To your defense, I wouldn't have believed it either. I'm not exactly the online dating type, am I?"
After spending time catching up, Ray asked, "So, what now?" They weren't exactly right around the corner from each other, and distance wouldn't help in the mending of their friendship and the eventual development of a romantic relationship. He'd like to think that it'd be as easy as the occasional phone call, but, even today, a lot was left unsaid. No mention of their respective accidents. No mention of Gates or Katey. No mention of all of the truly horrible things he said to her at the hospital his last day in Chicago. A year had come and gone. Things had changed since then. Neela's voice brought him back to the present. "I'd like to come see you, that is, if I'm welcome…" she said hesitantly. "I mean, if you'd rather I didn't, I'd understand. I just assumed, perhaps wrongfully, that you'd be open to it, considering you're open to this, to us, talking..." she rambled; a nervous tendency. More laughter ensued. "You're welcome any time, Roomie. It'll be like to good ole days."
The two young doctors hung up the phone with the understanding that the new "good ole days" were a long time coming and that tough times and touchy subjects were still ahead. But while yesterday it seemed like an overwhelming feat, today they were that much closer, that much stronger. Initiating the conversation is half the battle.