Part 3

Summer became more sweltering as Miami entered the month of August. The past month had been fairly uneventful, which I was extremely thankful for…and so was Avery, Charlie, Marissa, and a lot of other people. I went to work everyday, came home, cooked dinner, and repeated that five times a week. Then on the weekends, Avery and I would venture to the beach to work on our tans and relax. I saw Charlie less and less, but both of us were very busy…well he was a lot busier than I was, but I wasn’t complaining. Because Charlie was so busy, I had more time to meet up with Aiden, who was extremely fun to hang out with. I’d never done so many cool things with someone until I started spending time with Aiden. We went tubing down a river one afternoon a few weeks ago, we went on a hike to a quarry where we jumped off huge rocks into the water, and we went diving in the ocean just a few days ago.

Now, it may seem like I’m dating Aiden because I see him more often than my boyfriend, but believe me, I’m not dating Aiden. I pay for myself whenever we go out, with the exception of one ice cream cone, and we stayed a good three feet away from each other most of the time. I’m not a cheater, I’ve never been a cheater, and I’ll never be a cheater, so what Aiden and I had was strictly platonic. We both knew it and accepted it. We even talked about Charlie sometimes…rarely, but sometimes.

But I can’t help but admit that I have a small crush on him. Crushes are okay though right? People can have small crushes but still be in love with their boyfriend’s, right? I mean Aiden is so good looking and so nice that it would be hard for anyone to not have a small crush on him.

But I kept my crush to myself. No one needed to know about the stupid feelings that I had for Aiden. Especially not Avery…even though I was pretty sure she already had a hunch that I felt something a little bit more for Aiden.

But as I mentioned, it had been almost two months since I had last seen the inside of the ER. Maybe by now the doctors will have forgotten my name…one can only hope. And tonight was a Saturday night, which meant Avery and I were going to go out to a bar and enjoy a few drinks with a few of our other girlfriends. Avery and I had spent the day at the beach, like always, and I got a great tan. It was a little bit past 5:00 and we were leaving at 7:00. We liked to start early on Saturdays.

And then my phone started ringing and my mother was the one on the other line…She would know if I ignored the call since I always picked up. I sighed loudly and turned down the TV before opening my phone and putting it up to my ear.

“Hello, Mom.” I said with an extreme lack of amusement in my voice. Now, the thing with the mother is that every time she calls she asks why I’m not married. I love her to death and she raised me well but I dreaded my conversations with her nowadays. All of her sister’s had grandkids and she desperately wanted one. So she either wanted me to get knocked up or get married and then knocked up. She was sort of obsessed.

“Kathleen, my baby, how are you doing today? It’s sweltering out, I hope that you’ve been keeping cool.” Her voice came through the speaker of my phone.

“I’m good, thanks. And yeah, I went to the beach today. We spent most of the day in the water. It was amazing.” I twisted my hair through my fingers as I talked. “How are you and Dad doing?”

“We’re doing well. Your father is off bowling tonight and I’m going to go out for a few drinks with Molly.” Molly was my mother’s best friend and they went out with each other every Saturday night.

“I hope we don’t run into each other.” I said jokingly. I remembered the one time that my mother and I had run into each other at a bar. I was totally drunk…and so was she. It was a pretty silly night and we have the pictures to prove it.

“Oh, are you going out tonight too?” She asked, I could tell she was eating something because she was chewing in my ear. It totally irked me, but I tried to ignore it.

“Yeah, with some of the girls.”

“No Charlie tonight? Is everything still okay with you two?” Oh and here it goes.

“He’s going out with his friends, I think. And yes, everything is totally fine.” I rolled my eyes as I spoke.

“Have you two spoken any more about the future?” I could totally see her face…it was her I want gossip face.

“No, we agreed to try and focus on the present.” Okay, so it was a bit of a lie, but that’s how the agreement went in my head.

“Kathleen you need to worry about your future. You aren’t that young.”

“Well now you sound just like Charlie.”

“Plenty of people are married by 24.” She said, disregarding my comment.

“I know, mom. I’m just not ready.” I can’t count on all of my fingers and toes how many times I had said that statement to Charlie and my mother.

“Honey, I’m just looking out for you. I want what’s best for you and you know that. You and Charlie have been together for years. Your father and I only dated for five months before we got married. What else are you waiting for?”

“It just doesn’t feel right yet. Marriage is so huge…I can’t make the commitment yet. I’m not sure Charlie is the one.” I mumbled into my cell phone, knowing that was the last thing my mother wanted to hear.

“Oh Kate, when did you get these commitment problems?” She sighed into my ear.

“Everything is going to work out the way it should. Let me worry about my relationship and marriage plans…or lack thereof.” I tried to lighten the conversation.

“You can’t just hope that your future is going to work out, you have to make it work out.” She reminded me, as any mother would.

“I know.” I replied simply.

“At least think about it. Think about taking even the smallest step forward with him…just to see how it goes.” I contemplated her words for a moment and decided that they weren’t complete insanity. I could maybe do what she was asking me to do, where was the harm in taking a baby step forward?

“I’ll think about it, Mom.”

“Good. Well you go get ready for your night out. And be careful!” She still reminded me to be careful every time we talked ever since my five trips to the ER.

“I’ve been very careful lately.”

“I know, but I worry about you. You’ve become somewhat like a walking disaster lately.” I laughed when she said that.

“Only those five times.” I said through my laughs.

“Well have fun.”

“You too, Mom.” I said before I closed my cell phone.

I stretched my arms above my head and pulled myself off of the couch and finally found myself in a standing position. As I walked to my room, I decided that the conversation with my mother could have gone much worse…and in the past it had. I contemplated her words while I searched through my clothing to choose my outfit for the night. We were going to go to a bar/club in downtown Miami so I had to dress nicely. But it was also extremely warm out so I needed something that would keep me as cool as possible.

I decided on a magenta colored tube top and black shorts to be accompanied by stylish black wedges. I put my outfit on my bed and sauntered into my bathroom where I stepped into a nice, cool shower. There I kept thinking about my mother’s words. A small step, a teeny-tiny step, a baby step, a pre-mature baby step. What would be so bad in taking one of those steps? One of those steps is easy to reverse…

I could start spending more nights at Charlie’s place or start cooking him dinner more often. Or I could even sit through a marriage discussion without getting angry. All of those things would be pre-mature baby steps. All of which were completely reversible if they needed to be.

Maybe my mother made complete sense…for once. Maybe.

I stepped out of my long shower and decided to stop thinking about Charlie and my future…I had done that enough for one day. With my towel wrapped tightly around my torso, I stepped back into my room to see Avery sitting on my bed.

“I have no idea what to wear. I assume you’re wearing this. Why do you have all the cute clothes? Can I borrow something?” She rambled.

“My closet is your closet, you know this. And since when do you not have cute clothes…I usually pick my outfits out of your closet.” I reminded her as I sprayed some perfume on and put moisturizer on my face.

“Since today, there is nothing in there, I repeat, nothing.” She said in a dramatic tone before walking to my closet and searching through my mess. “And I have news that you may not like.”

“What’s that?” I asked, already knowing…but I wanted to entertain her.

“I think Max might be coming. And I know this is a girls night but his plans fell through and I don’t want him to be sitting alone on a Saturday night.” This usually happened, but I didn’t really mind. Max was a cool guy and Avery wasn’t too annoying when he was around. He was also pretty loaded so he bought me most of my drinks when we went out…and I was totally cool with that.

“It’s whatever, he’s always welcome.” I shrugged as I grabbed my clothes and stepped into my bathroom to change.

“Thank you, thank you.” I heard her say through the door.

“Once again, it’s whatever.” I told her as I continued to get ready.

I was an extremely low maintenance girl. After my shower it usually took me about 15 minutes to get ready, unless I decided to actually do my hair, and then it took me about 25 minutes to get ready. But today I decided to simply pull my wet hair back into a low ponytail and put a black headband on. I stepped back and looked at myself in the full-length mirror and was mildly impressed with what I saw. I shrugged and then opened the door and began to walk out.

But something stopped me…that something was my big toe that rammed into the door. It took a second for the pain to sink in, but when it did I realized that stubbing my toe didn’t usually hurt so much.

“God DAMN IT!” I screamed in pain as my eyes flew to look at me foot. My toe was sticking out at a weird angle and was already starting to turn purple. I immediately lifted my foot from the ground and began hopping. “Stupid damn door. God damn it, crap! Stupid! Damn it!” I began chanting as I kept hopping.

“What’s wrong, what happened?” Avery yelled as she ran over to me. “Oh Jesus Christ, what in the hell happened?” She said once she saw me.

“Stupid door, stupid me, god damn it. I think I broke it!” I hopped over to the toilet and sat on the seat.

“You broke your toe?” She walked over to me and squatted in front of my toe. “You broke your toe.” She nodded as she spoke. “It is not supposed to be at that angle.”

“No shit Sherlock.” I said through gritted teeth. “Do you think I need to go to the ER or can we fix this on our own? I mean it’s just a toe.” There was no way I wanted to go the ER for the 6th time.

“Can you walk?” She asked as she kept staring at my toe as if it amused her.

“Stop staring at my toe like you want to eat it.”

“Sorry.” She muttered before standing up.

“Help me up.” I said as I stuck out my hand. She grabbed onto it and helped me get into a standing position. Tentatively, I tried to put my injured foot on the ground, but I immediately picked it up when my toe connected with the floor. Definitely can’t walk.

“I think I should take you to the ER.” Avery muttered while looking at something interesting on the wall.

“No, I’m fine.” I insisted as I hobbled on one foot.

“Jesus Kate, you can’t even stand. Come on, let’s go.”

“Ugh, I want to go out tonight!” I complained as I accepted her shoulder to help me walk.

“Well maybe we’ll be lucky and you won’t have to be there for too long.” She said with hopefulness in her voice.

“Please, the ER is never fast by any standards. Stupid Saturday night ruined because I can’t even open a door. I’m just an idiot.” I ranted.

“We’ll go out tonight, no matter what, okay?” She assured me as we clumsily made our way down the stairs of our apartment complex. Thankfully we only lived on the second floor.

“Promise?”

“I promise, no matter how late it is.” She smiled at me and we continued our adventure to the ER.

Five long, horrible hours later I was sitting on a bed reading a magazine about how to stay healthy. Avery was sitting on a chair in the corner of the room; she was reading a magazine on how to decorate your house. We were both waiting, very impatiently, for my doctor to come back with my release forms. If he hurried we’d still have a full night to party…but the doctor seemed to be taking his sweet time.

I didn’t have a cast on my leg, thank god. The doctor had informed me that my break was bad, but not bad enough to warrant a cast. He settled for taping my big toe to the toe next to it for stability. There was also a bit of padding around my big toe, I assume for protection. And I wasn’t even going to have to use crutches…so I could maybe not even tell Charlie about the incident.

I still couldn’t believe that I was in the hospital for the 6th time in such a short period. Was I really that unlucky? Why was this happening to me? I felt like the clumsiest person in the world.

The door opened and my head immediately shot up. Maybe the doctor was finally back with my release forms. But instead, Aiden Kelley walked through the door. My heart began to beat a bit more quickly than it had a few seconds ago…thank god I wasn’t hooked up to any of those heart monitors.

“I heard you were in here again, wanted to see if it was true.” He spoke as he walked in and took a seat on the rolling chair.

“Luck number 6.” I put on a fake smile.

“Broken toe? How’d you manage that one?” He may sound like he was making fun of me, but his voice told me otherwise…it held compassion.

“Door got in my way.” I smirked.

“Damn door.” He laughed and then began examining it.

“You know someone already did that.” I reminded him, but he didn’t stop.

“Just want to make sure they did it right.”

“I’m sorry, Kate, I’m still here and I’d really like to meet your friend.” Avery said from her corner and I immediately turned to her. I forgot that Aiden and Avery hadn’t actually met yet.

“I'm so sorry!” I said as I looked between Avery and Aiden. “ Avery this is Aiden Kelley. He’s the doctor that helped me out with my concussion.”

“Hi.” He said with a cute grin on his face. He stood up and stuck out his hand to Avery. “Avery, it’s nice to meet you. Kate’s told me a lot about you.”

She reached out and met his hand. “Oh and the things I’ve heard about you.” Avery winked and grinned at me as I shook my head and shot her a glare. Aiden simply gave her an odd look before sitting back down and examining my foot again.

“I’m really okay.” I insisted.

“Just let me do what I want to do.”

“Hey, do you have any idea where her doctor went. He left about 30 minutes ago to get the release papers and now he’s gone missing. We’re trying to still get out to the bars tonight.” Avery said as she opened her magazine again.

“You aren’t going out tonight, or at least Kate isn’t.”

“I’m sorry, what?” I scoffed at him.

“You need to keep your toe iced and elevated as often as possible for the next few days. And you shouldn’t be putting extra strain on your toe which would most definitely happen if you went to the bars.” He looked at me directly in my eyes as he spoke.

“One night won’t kill me.” I argued.

“Please just take my advice and take care of yourself.” His voice softened significantly. I contemplated his words for a few moments before sighing and giving in.

“Av, you’re gonna have to go out without me.”

“I’ll stay in too.” She said with a soft smile. She was such a good roommate.

“Don’t let my stupidity ruin your night, go out.”

“I can’t leave you alone in the apartment, that’s just sad.” She countered.

“At least go to Max’s.”

“I’d still be leaving you alone.” She shook her head.

“Why don’t I stop by after my shift ends and I’ll keep Kate company so you can go out.” Aiden stepped into the conversation, recognizing that Avery and I weren’t going to solve anything very quickly.

“Oh no, Aiden you don’t have to do that. I’m a big girl, I can watch a movie or something.” Sometimes it amazed me how nice he was. He was the kind of guy that would go out of his way to make his friends happy. I was so lucky to have him in my life…even though my small crush certainly hadn’t gone away...at all.

“Don’t fight it, I’m already coming. I’ll bring the movie.” I couldn’t help but feel a little guilty each time I got together with Aiden. Even though everything was always very friendly, I felt like I was cheating on Charlie. Not physically, but emotionally.

“Well don’t make it some ridiculous horror movie again.” I said, finally giving in.

“Hey, The Hitcher could have been worse.” He said with a straight face.

“Worst movie ever, Max made me watch it.” Avery said with a disgusted look on her face. Aiden just shook his head and smiled.

“I’m going to go grab your release forms, I’ll be right back.” Aiden announced before leaving the room. Avery immediately turned to me and gave me a look.

“What?” I asked when she kept staring at me.

“You know what this look means.”

“No I don’t.”

“You like him.” She smirked.

“We’re friends.” I shook my head, but secretly I was wondering if that I was that obvious.

“Friends.” She nodded while keeping that annoying smirk on her face. I was never going to hear the end of it now.

“Friends.” I agreed…just friends.