“Hey, you!” she called when he walked in, patting the empty chair beside her. Grinning, he quickly signed in and then took a seat.
“Hey,” he said.
“How are you doing?” Claire asked, her blue eyes expressing concern. “I heard you had pneumonia.”
“Where did you hear that? I thought patient information was confidential,” Nick teased.
Claire blushed. “Oh, I got connections,” she replied with a sheepish smile. “But seriously, how are you doing? Pneumonia... that’s pretty bad...”
“Yeah,” said Nick. “But I’m over it now. Feeling much better.”
“That’s good.”
“Yeah.” There was a pause, and then Nick asked, changing the subject, “So, what have you been up to? Oh, and sorry my mom kicked you out that one day.”
Claire laughed. “Love how your mind just jumps from one thing to the other. And that’s okay.... But anyway, I haven’t been doing much, just working, hanging out, you know.” She shrugged.
“Where do you work?” he wondered.
“Why, you wanna drop by and pay me a visit sometime?” she asked, smiling suggestively.
He laughed. “I dunno... maybe... where do you work?”
“The office of Dr. Barry Somers, D.D.S.”
Nick cocked his head in surprise. “You work for a dentist?”
“Yup. I’m a dental hygienist,” she replied.
“Oh... wait, you mean you stick your hands in people’s nasty mouths all day?” he asked in disbelief. Why anyone would want to do that was beyond him. He thought it sounded totally gross.
“Something like that,” she laughed. “My dad’s a dentist, so the dental thing kind of runs in the family, I guess you could say.”
“Oh... I see.”
They were submersed in silence once again. Giggling nervously, Claire held up the copy of People she had been reading before he had come in. “Magazine?”
“As long as it ain’t The National Enquirer,” Nick replied dryly, setting the tattered magazine on his lap.
Claire grimaced. “I was wondering about that... I take it that wasn’t your doing?”
“No,” Nick snorted, his eyes darkening. Smiling sarcastically, he elaborated, “My mother. She’s trying to live out her lifelong dream of being famous through me, trying to earn the sympathy of all the Enquirer readers... ‘oh, poor Jane Carter, having to deal with her famous son’s sickness. She’s such a strong woman.’ Ha, yeah right. I should invite those people back out so they can interview me. You think that would make a good story? ‘The Cold, Black Heart and Evil Soul of Jane Carter: Secrets Only A Son Knows’.”
Claire only smiled awkwardly and did not reply.
“Sorry,” Nick said with a sheepish grin. “Didn’t mean to dump my family problems on you. Anyway, it’s taken care of now – I’ve kicked her out of my life. Now I just need to kick her out of my thoughts too.”
And at that very moment, in walked just the distraction Nick needed, in the form of his azure-eyed, wavy-haired, five foot seven inch best friend, Brian Littrell. He had talked Nick into letting him tag along for his doctor’s appointment that day and then insisted on dropping Nick off at the front of the hospital and parking his rented jeep himself. Although Nick had told him how to get to the oncology clinic, he had begun to think Brian would never make it there. Maybe he had been abducted by aliens or something... or, of course, simply getting lost was always possibility as well.
“Jeez, Carter, you didn’t tell me it was like a maze getting up to this place,” Brian said as he strode into the waiting room, looking around as he sank into a chair on the other side of Nick.
“Did you have some trouble finding the place?” Nick laughed. “Gee, I’m sorry, Bri, but I’ve always managed to find it okay. Guess you’re just not good with directions.”
Brian rolled his eyes. “Oh yeah, Mr. “Is Norway in Sweden?” Like you’re so good with directions yourself.”
Leaning forward in her seat, Claire watched the two friends exchange their playful banter, her eyes alight with amusement. “Brian, right?” she asked finally, when it became clear that Nick had forgotten all about introductions.
“Oh!” Nick exclaimed, embarrassed. “Sorry – yeah, this is Brian Littrell. Bri, this is Claire Ryan.”
“Nice to meet you,” Brian said cordially, shaking Claire’s hand.
“You too,” she replied with a smile.
The door on the other side of the waiting room popped open, and a gray-haired nurse stuck her head in. “Claire? You can come on back now.”
“Well, nice meeting you, Brian. See ya, Nick,” Claire said as she stood up, slinging her purse over her shoulder.
“Later, Claire,” Nick replied as Claire followed the nurse out of the waiting room, the door falling closed behind them.
“So,” Brian said, looking at Nick with elevated eyebrows. “I didn’t know there were girls your age around here. No wonder you didn’t want me to come along – didn’t wanna share. So... Claire, huh?”
Wrinkling his nose, Nick slugged Brian playfully in the shoulder, rolling his eyes. “Yeah, Rok, like I’d come here and bone some chick with leukemia.” He shook his head.
“Probably healthier than gettin’ it on with that stripper girlfriend of yours. Lord knows what STD’s she might’ve been carrying,” Brian smirked.
“Now you sound like AJ. And for your information, it looks like Leah’s doing pretty good. Last time I saw her, she was with some rich little prick,” he remarked, inwardly seething at the memory.
“You keeping tabs on her now?” Brian laughed. “And, excuse me, ‘rich little prick’? How is that different than you?”
“Uh, excuse me?” Nick sniffed, feigning offense. “I am not a prick, and I sure as hell am not little, as we all know.”
Brian smiled uncomfortably. “Well, you’re littler now than you used to be... if you don’t watch out, you’re gonna have scrawny little chicken arms again,” he said, playfully squeezing Nick’s upper arm, which had noticeably less muscle tone than it had months earlier. The comment had only been made jokingly, but it stung because Nick knew it was true. First he was fat; now he was much thinner, but a lot less muscular too. He wasn’t sure which was worse. He really needed to get off his ass and work out some more. Screw the weakness and nausea – he could tough it out.
“Hey, you okay? I was only playing,” Brian said in concern.
Nick pasted on a smirk and quickly retaliated with, “Sorry, dude, just thinking about how I better start lifting again cause I sure as hell don’t want looking like you – talk about scrawny little chicken arms!”
“Hey!” Grinning, Brian pushed up the sleeve of his t-shirt and flexed his bicep. “Yeah, who’s talking now? Look at that, would you? Hoisting a baby around’ll do that too you.”
Nick smiled. “Maybe I should come up to Atlanta then, let little Bayleemeister give me a workout.”
“You should,” Brian said seriously. “I’m headed home on Monday – come home with me, why don’t you?”
“Nah... maybe some other time, but not this week. I got a million things to do. I really need to call Brent and the fellas... I haven’t hung out with them in awhile.”
“Oh.” Brian nodded, understandingly. “Okay. Well, another time then.”
“Right.”
Another nurse came into the waiting room then, this one young and brunette. “Mr. Carter?” she called.
Nick slowly stood up and crossed the room to her, a gnawing feeling of dread in his stomach. Brian followed.
“Oh, you brought a friend with you,” commented the nurse, eyeing Brian with interest.
Nick smirked. “Yup.”
Brian held out his hand. “I’m Brian,” he introduced himself.
“I know,” smiled the nurse. “My name’s Kathryn... most people call me Kat though,” she added, shaking his hand, her brown eyes never leaving his blue ones. Nick had to struggle to keep from cracking up; it was obvious that this girl was a Brian fan.
“Nick, I’m going to take you to the room at the end of the hall, straight on back,” Kathryn said, her professional manner returning. Nick nodded, and he and Brian followed the petite nurse down the hall.
Kat, he thought... “Meeeow,” he uttered, doing his best cat noise. The nurse spun around with flashing eyes, and Nick immediately looked at Brian, doing his best to act surprised. Brian looked over at him, just as shocked, and then looked back at Kat to see her eyes fixed on him. She was struggling to look offended, but Nick could see a smile tugging on the corners of her mouth. Brian’s face turned beet red as he realized Kat thought he had done it. He opened his mouth, but she turned back around before he could say anything.
“Ow,” Nick hissed as Brian elbowed him in the ribs, hard. He looked over at his friend, smirking, trying not to giggle. As they walked on, he considered reaching out and grabbing the nurse’s ass, then blaming it on Brian again, but he didn’t for fear of being slapped... because somehow he doubted she would slap Brian.
“Right in here.” Kat held the door to the exam room open and ushered Nick in. She placed a folded hospital gown in his hands and said, “Strip and change into this. I’ll be back in a few minutes to get your vitals.”
“You want me to wait out here, Nick?” Brian asked.
“Nah, ‘s okay, you can stay. Not like you haven’t seen me in my boxers before,” Nick replied, stressing the word boxers and watching as the nurse’s cheeks grew pink.
Haha, that was fun.
***
