The Turning (33 page)

I zapped another mug and walked into my room to put away some more books in my bookshelf the way I wanted them. I walked back and zapped some more blood, shocked she was still sleeping. So I chugged that one, and got another one. I kept zapping and chugging blood, just waiting and watching her to see if there was any change of movement. Good thing I only said ten minutes, any longer than that and I was pretty sure her neck would hurt.

At ten minutes she lifted her head, and looked at me. “What happened? Was I sleeping?”

“Yep.”

“Oh, guess I was still tired. I think I’m going to wear that red dress tonight I wore in Miami. Can I borrow some shoes?”

“Sure, you’re more than welcome to anything I own. By the way, it worked. I put the whammy on you. Do you remember us talking about me trying?”

“Yes, and then I woke up.
Oh shit
! You put the whammy on me! What did you tell me to do? Do your laundry for the next few months?” she quizzed, biting back a smile.

“No, I told you that you would want to wear the red dress tonight that you wore in Miami and ask to borrow shoes.” We sat there for a few minutes just laughing our asses off. There was no logical explanation for what just happened, but it worked!

“Holy shit, I can’t believe you were able to do that to me,” she marveled after we calmed back down.

“I thought you were messing with me at first. I wanted to poke you. It really worked? You weren’t playing me?” I asked, waiting to see if I got a wave from her.

“No, I wasn’t playing, I promise,” she swore and she wasn’t lying.

“Wow, I wish I had thought of the laundry thing. I’m going to have to try it on you a few times a week in different situations. This was controlled, just you and me, no pressure.”

“Okay, we’ll try it a few times a week but next time let’s try it out some place more comfy than the kitchen chair,” she groaned, rubbing her neck. I nodded, having thought the same thing myself. I felt bad having her do it when it meant taking a nap in those chairs.

It was already after noon, and the cocktail mixer started at five with dinner at six, at least it was just in one of the hospital’s party rooms.

“I’m going to hop in the shower. Do you mind doing my hair for this thing, and I’ll do yours?

“Sure, I’m going to shower in a little bit too.” We took our showers, waited for our hair to dry, hung out, and painted our toes and other
normal
things girls do to primp themselves.

It was nice, very relaxing girl time. It had been a while since Nicole and I had the chance to hang out like this. We really didn’t even need to talk much, mostly her helping me figure out what to wear. She fought against the urge to use my shoes, like I had suggested when I mesmerized her. I grabbed my purse while Nicole headed to the door. She locked up behind us at about a quarter to five and we walked over to the hospital.

She had talked me into wearing a sexy little black number that had very thin straps and a plunging neckline. It had a good portion of the back missing and covered with just a very thin, sparkly sheer layer. It had more of a fitted skirt with a small slit. The length wasn’t much above my knees so I didn’t put on any hose and wore strappy high-heeled sandals.

I felt stupid and like I couldn’t pull this off. But Nicole wasn’t lying when she said that I looked hot enough for her to even want. She’s my best friend after all… She wouldn’t let me go and do anything stupid or let me look like a tramp.

* * * *

We walked in the designated room and looked around. We weren’t one of the first to arrive, but we certainly weren’t the last ones either. The guys were in suits but most of the other girls looked like they went to a grandma shop and bought some of the ugliest dresses in the world. No offense to grandmas, they were dressing their age, but these girls dressed like they were in their seventies or eighties and they were around my age.

Nicole and I got some looks to say the least and we walked up to the bar and got a drink. She went to go say hi to her resident and I went to do the same and check in, so they knew we’d come.

I waited until the person he was talking to left the conversation. “Dr. Malinowski, how are you tonight?” I greeted, walking up to him.

“Call me, Mike, Kelly,” he said in a deeper tone than I remembered his voice being, shaking my hand. He was staring at me funny too. Did I look so different than yesterday? “When we’re not at the hospital or no one’s around, it’s fine to call me Mike.”

“Okay, Mike, are you having a good time?” I asked, trying to ignore the way he was looking at me.

“Yes, are you?”

“Just got here. So far I’ve grabbed a drink and said hi to you. So yes, so far so good.”
That’s a lot of
so’s
, twit.”

“
So
what specialty are going in to? What are you leaning towards?” He gave me a smirk that he caught onto my nerves but his eyes were kind and I knew it was all in good fun.

“Little early to tell. I always thought I would do well in oncology, but I’m keeping an open mind. I want to see what each is like before I start thinking of focusing on one specialty or another,” I told him. “Do you have one yet?”

“I’m leaning towards general, or maybe orthopedic, but it’s smart of you to come in with both eyes open. They say a specialty will find you, not the other way around. I was talking with your man Mr. Grady a little bit ago.” He threw that in slyly to see my reaction.

“My ex-man and I didn’t realize he was here. I wasn’t really paying attention since the only person I looked for was you. I wanted to make sure to say hi to you before too many people got here or we all got too tanked.” The only way I’d get tanked was on accident. A few drinks and I wasn’t as nervous, but where the line was between at ease and easily drunk soon wasn’t always clear. I had a feeling no one would be
planning
on getting drunk, but shit happens.

“Is that an invitation?” he asked, tilting his head at me, his eyes sparkling suddenly. Or was that just the coloring. He did have really nice eyes.

I shook my head, focusing on the question. “Invitation? For what?”

“To get tanked?”

“You’re a grown man,” I taunted, not being able to help eyeing him up. He was very nice to look at. “You can do as you please. But no, it’s not my party, so I have no right to invite you to do anything.” That was a pretty lame attempt to either get a rise out of me or whatever else he was trying accomplish.

“As I
please
? Wow, you are polite, aren’t you?”

“I might have been raised in Chicago, but I was taught manners and respect for my boss,” I assured him, trying to slip the boss thing in, wondering how many drinks he’d already had. “Well I just wanted to say hi, and check in with you. I better go make the rounds.” He grabbed my arm just as I was about to turn away.

“Let me introduce you then. Being your resident, if you look good, I look good,” he said, looking me up and down. “So you got your good first impression shoes on?” I nodded and he introduced me around for a while, until someone else he saw needed to talk to him.

“I’m, Kelly Murphy,” I greeted, holding out my hand to the head of neurology. Mike had told me that before he walked away to say hi to another doctor.

“Nice to meet you, Kelly. I’m Dr. Sam Meyers,” he said, shaking my hand.

“Dr. Malinowski told me you were the head of neurology, Dr. Meyers. Is that correct?”

“Sam, please, we’re not in the hospital right now,” he responded. “Yes, I am the head of neurology. I’m an attending. How do you like the hospital so far?”

“Well from the few hours I’ve spent here, everything seems clean, well taken care of, and the people friendly.” I was honest with my answer, giving him the once over without being obvious. Why was it that lots of male doctors were so hot, and most of the female ones weren’t?

“That’s good to know. Glad you are being treated well so far. It gets very competitive. I’ve read your application and you have some wonderful recommendations. You should do very well here. If you need anything, you let me know.” Sam reached out and put his hand on my arm. I think he’d already had
well
more than a few drinks.

“I appreciate that very much, Sam.” I didn’t know specifically which attendings got to see our applications and whatnot, but it did make sense. “I also appreciate your confidence in me. I’d love to learn all you have to teach me. I have always found neurology very interesting.”

“You’re welcome, Kelly. I’ll make sure to keep my eye on you, and I don’t know how you normally look,” he flirted, staring intently, “but you look sensational tonight.”

As he was trying to be subtle and not look at me like a steak, I noticed no wedding ring. Damn! I was going to be in trouble working here. He also smelled so fantastic, so alluring.

Okay, vampire girl, get it together!
I wonder if being a vampire would make my libido speed up like everything else?

“Well, thank you, that’s very nice of you to say. I didn’t realize I was overdressed.”

“Kelly, I’m pretty sure people would be staring no matter what you were wearing, and this is a mixer. You are dressed perfectly. I think the other ladies might be underdressed.”

I let out a little laugh that I hoped didn’t sound as nervous as I felt. “Thanks, that’s a very nice of you to say. I doubt you will say the same when you see me in plain old scrubs.”

“I have a feeling you would look good in just about anything,” Sam practically purred.

“I’m not sure about that. It was very nice to meet you, Sam.” I tried to be casual but I was thinking it was time to leave. I started to walk away, and then I saw Brian and headed in another direction. Of course, a second or two later Brian was in front of me.

“Hello, Kelly. I hear from Dr. Malinowski that I’m your ex-boyfriend,” Brian seethed, and I could feel the annoyance coming from him… And hurt. Damn our bond!

“Well yes, Brian, you are. We’re not going to do this here,” I hissed with my widest smile so no one knew I was unhappy. “I work with these people, Brian, and we’ve got nothing more to say.”

“One little thing, one little problem, and I am your ex already—”

“See that’s one of the main
problems
. You don’t see how bad what you did really was, you think it’s just some little thing,” I interrupted. “Have a wonderful evening, Mr. Grady.” I walked away, knowing we had some people looking at us. I went over by Nicole, looking for support but I bumped into Dr. Budding. “Good evening, sir. This is a very nice event you have here.”

“Well, thank you, Kelly, I’m glad you are enjoying yourself,” Dr. Budding replied with a gentle smile. I could see why he was the boss. He oozed experience and authority without that
hard ass
vibe. “Mr. Grady ended up showing up. I’m sure that makes you happy.”

I rubbed my hands over my arms and didn’t meet his eyes. “It actually doesn’t. We ended things. I don’t like people keeping things from me, and I really don’t need anything to confuse my work or get in the way of my success.”

“Good for you, Kelly, you have a good head on your shoulders. Enjoy yourself tonight,” he approved with a nod and then walked away.

That was awkward. Great, the first thing the chief brought up was Brian. I ended up walking straight to the bar and ordering a double. Once I drank that, I ordered another then turned away from the bar when I got that next one and immediately met Brian’s eyes. He was watching me. I diverted from his eyes and found Nicole. Her eyes drifted between me and Brian.

She started walking towards me as she saw I was on my way to her. When I reached her, I chugged the rest of my drink. Handing hers to me, I chugged it too and tried to stay in control. I had mastered pretending to breathe so I never looked suspicious. And tonight I was glad for that because I was having trouble staying in control and acting human.

“Let’s go visit the ladies room, Kelly,” Nicole suggested, grabbing my arm, trying to make me move. She forgot how strong I was now, and I was in shock. I wasn’t doing it intentionally, but finally I found my feet and followed her. Once we were in the bathroom, she leaned in and whispered very softly in my ear, “When you said you don’t go to the bathroom anymore, you meant peeing too, right?”

I almost laughed. Everything that was going on and that’s what she asked. I shook my head, but went into a stall next to her anyway.

When we were done and washing our hands, no one was around so I spoke at normal level. “You don’t have to ever worry about me hearing you. I can hear you when you speak at levels you can’t even hear. Just so you know in the future. I don’t know why I felt the need to tell you that, though. Doesn’t really matter right now,” I mumbled, shaking my own head.

“Because you knew it would be something I’d be interested in, so I never have to worry about other people hearing us if I have to tell you something on the side. Are you okay?” she asked me, and her face fell into a frown when I shook my head no. “Do you want to go home?”

“No, but thanks. I don’t want him to ruin this for me. We need to mingle, so we’re going to mingle. You ready to go eat?”

“Yes, I’ll try and sneak some of your food off your plate onto mine. I know you can’t really eat,” she offered and I leaned in and gave her a big hug and a kiss. I really don’t know why I was ever worried about telling her.

“I don’t deserve you, Nic. I really don’t,” I whispered, smiling. Even if it was a fake smile I knew it would help me and Nicole get through the night. Mike had saved me a spot at his table and thankfully there was room for Nicole as well. “Do you want to sit by your resident?”

“No, it’s okay, there’s no room at her table.” Nicole shrugged. She was always such a sweetie. There was one open chair left at the eight person table, and as my bad luck would have, Brian sat down after we did. “Oh shit,” Nicole hissed under her breath, and of course, I could hear her, and I nodded, agreeing with her.

This was
bad
. He had already shown that he couldn’t behave himself and thought what he was doing was no big deal. I poked at my food, hoping that when I looked back up he wouldn’t be there. No such luck though.