Just Between Friends (Prequel to the Forbidden Series)

7

Edmonton Alberta, September 2, eight years later...

“Hello,” Mike whispered clearing his throat. His tongue felt thick, and he could still taste the rum from the night before. His head was throbbing, and he did not open his eyes. The night before was nothing more than a jumble of fragmented images. The faint voice signalled him that something was amiss. Forcing his eyes open he realized he had the cell phone upside down. Correcting his hold Mike repeated himself.

“Are you still sleeping?” David Thompson’s voice came over the line. They had been roommates since they moved to Alberta last month from Ontario. “You were supposed to be at work thirty minutes ago. The boss is ranting. I knew I should have woke your ass up before I left. You better get here fast, I can’t keep telling him you’re in traffic much longer.”

Mike rolled over and picked up his bedside clock. He forced his eyes to focus. Six-o’clock AM. He swore, he was late again. “Ok, I’ll be there in twenty minutes.” He hung up and threw back the covers. Pushing himself up, he raked his hands through his dark collar length hair. Heaving himself off the bed, Mike stumbled over his pants and fell against the wall. Swearing again he picked up his work pants and slipped them on. He turned his gaze to the woman in his bed who now sat up to see what had happened. Startled Mike backed against the wall, who the hell was this? He must have been very drunk last night. He dressed with haste and collected his tools from the closet.

“Where are you going?” The lady in his bed asked between yawns.

“Work, look I don’t know who you are, and I’m sure you’re a great person,” He began not believing a word that came from his mouth, “but could you please not be here when I get home.” Mike opened the bedroom door and entered the hall ignoring the woman’s hostile comments. It was not the first time he had woken up beside someone he did not know. He was immune to the ranting of discarded women. He didn’t feel bad the women he ended up with were far from good and decent. If they were willing to go to bed with a stranger, they didn’t respect themselves and in turn, didn’t warrant his respect.

In seconds Mike was down the stairs and out the back door of the apartment building and into the parking lot. His car was parked crooked in the stall, and the doors were unlocked. He wondered how on earth he could have gotten home. If he was parking this poorly, he was most likely not driving much better. He climbed down into his black Pontiac Sunfire. His long legs felt cramped; he pushed the seat back. He was over six foot four, and he could hardly fit in the driver’s seat. Who was driving? Had the women in his bed convince him to let her drive? He must have been very… very drunk. Nobody drove his car… ever. Maybe he had passed out? No, she would have never gotten him in the apartment.

Mike backed out into the alley and shifted gears. The car sped down the alley and out onto the residential road. It was still dark, and the streetlights were few. He was already contemplating the fastest route to the worksite. He would go north on a hundred-tenth avenue and turn off at the fifty-eight-street intersection. With that settled he decided to put on some music. Opening the glove compartment, he reached in and searched for his CD case.

Where was it?

Frustrated Mike glanced down to see what he was reaching for. Finding the case, he turned his eyes up just in time to see a stray dog run out in front of him. Mike jerked the steering wheel hard to avoid killing the dog, and the car swerved to the right. Slamming his foot down on the brake pedal, Mike reached for the emergency brake. The tires squealed, and the car spun out of his control, jumped the curb, and ran head-on into a tall spruce tree. The sudden impact sent Mike wielding forward and slamming hard against the steering wheel. His head rested against the wheel. He should have taken the time to put on the seatbelt, he thought, placing his hands to his forehead. He could feel the blood, but strangely there was not that much pain, but he did feel woozy.

***

Chase had been on her way to work and came across road construction. She was running late for the early shift at the hospital. Deciding to take a detour she turned down a dimly lit residential road. Slowing to study the adjacent roads she tried to determine which way would be best to take. Making her choice, she turned left hoping it would take her out to a hounded-tenth avenue. Instead of a quick route to work, she came across something disturbing. Stopping her car, short Chase shifted in to park and raced from her car.

A black Pontiac had hit a tree the whole front end was caved in, and the driver was still inside. Her pulse racing, Chase pushed open her driver side door, and without stopping to close it, ran to the damaged car. Reaching into the pocket of her scrubs, she retrieved a pair of gloves she always carried in the pocket of her uniform. Being a nurse, she knew the risks of handling blood, and by her primary survey of the accident, there would be blood.

She took the driver side handle of the mangled vehicle. It took a lot of her strength to open the jammed door. Once her goal was achieved, she bent over and leaned into the car. “I’m a nurse I can help you.” She spooks so she would not frighten the driver. He was disoriented. There was blood on his hands and the steering wheel. His head was cut open above his left eye. She needed her cell phone; she needed to call an ambulance. She reached into her pocket and took out her cell phone. Quickly dialling she propped the cell phone between her ear and shoulder to free her hands so she may examine the driver’s condition.

When the operator came on to the line, Chase informed her of their location and the current condition of the casualty. Once that was done she turned the phone off and put it back in her pocket. Taking his head between her gloved hands, she turned his face to her and forced his eyelids to stay open, looking for signs of a concussion. Catching sight of the beautiful red-haired women inches from his face the half-conscious man stared at her as if waking from a dream. Her voice was gentle but firm. She held her hand in front of his face. Her fingers spread and obstructing his view. “Can you tell me how many fingers you see?” She asked.

He reached up and folded his long fingers around hers pulling her hand down and out of his line of sight. He just stared at her and Chase couldn’t help but think he looked very familiar. “Chase?” He asked his voice shaky with pain. He winced when she touched the cut on his head.

Startled she stared at the man she was treating. How was it possible that he knew her name? Pushing the bloodied, matted, dark hair from his face, she took a closer look at the driver. His tanned skin and chiselled features were very familiar, but it was his eyes that fueled her memories. It was not possible, she told herself, when he repeated her name she realized it was him. “Mike?”

He smiled weakly, pleased to see she remembered him. He closed his eyes tight, as the pounding pain in his brain got stronger. Chase suddenly felt an overwhelming need to pull him from the crash and make sure he was ok, but he had hit his head, and she dared not move him until the paramedics arrived. It was not long before she heard the sirens and the flashing lights woke up the neighbourhood. She forced herself to step aside while the rescue workers pulled Mike from the car and laid him out on a stretcher. As she watched the men lifted the stretcher into the ambulance, Chase asked which hospital they were taking him to. She knew the parametric and his partner, they came in and out of the E.R many times a night, and they were at the end of their shift.

Once they informed her, they were going to the Mount Royal Hospital Chase got back in her car and drove off. She would meet them there. She worked at that very hospital, and if she could beat the traffic, she could still get there in time to see what happened to Mike. Once she punched in, she would go to the nurses’ desk and request his file.

It was nearly forty-five minutes before she started her rounds on the trauma ward and once she had his file, she was pleased to see Mike was in her section of care. Chase first went through the beds and made sure the most immediate concerns were addressed with more critical patients. Finally, she slipped behind the closed certain around Mike’s bed. He was asleep, so she examined the cut on his head.

He was different now, he was taller, and he had filled out. Instead of that thin boy, she knew he was now broad and muscled. It was a body that came from years of physical labour. The sinfully sexy man had replaced the attractive boy she had known before her. She had always known he would grow into an attractive man, but she had never guessed he would look this good.

Reading the chart, she noted that the doctor was due to come around and see him and, in the meantime, she was to make sure the area was cleaned and stitched. A standing order for Tylenol was jotted down.

She felt his warm hand reach up and touch her wrist drawing her attention to the man in the bed. His eyes were open now, and Mike stared up at her. He was cleaned up nicely so that the stitches could be done. There were only four stitches needed to close the wound and Chase thought him lucky. “How do you feel?” She asked, trying to sound professional.

“I got a bit of a headache.” He smiled up at her his tone pleasant. Mike looked at Chase like it had not been eight years since they last saw each other, and that he had not just packed up and moved without telling her. Chase resisted the urge to slap him. She choked back the resentment and moved forth with her duties. She had pushed the memory of him to the back of her subconscious years ago. She had spent two years crying over Mike and the following six years trying to forget him.

***

Mike sensed her hostility, and he withdrew his hand. It was understandable, he supposed, after so many years they were no more than acquaintances now. He had promised Chase all those years ago that their intimacy would change nothing, but it had. He was a stupid kid then and had been unable to deal with the confusing feelings he had for her, he packed his things and moved back to Ontario to live with his parents again.

He had thought at the time that being on the other side of the country would make him forget her, but it had not. It had the opposite effect altogether. He had become obsessed with her memory. She had haunted him relentlessly, until he had turned to other means to forget her, in the end, his depression had led him back to drugs. It had nearly destroyed his life until his friends held an intervention and talked him back into rehab. He’d been clean now three years. That one night in her arms had almost destroyed his life.

“Would you like something for the pain?” Chase asked trying to mask the wave of mixed emotions surging through her at the sight of him.

“No thank you.” He sat up, a sudden throbbing brought on by the change in elevation caused him to rethink his previous answer. “Then again, yes.” He groaned.

Chase left and returned in a few minutes with two small white pills, and a paper cup of water. Without protest he swallowed the pills and drank the water she offered, noticing that besides professional necessity she refused to look at him.

Her red hair was tied back in a tight ponytail, and the navy-blue scrubs she wore hid her figure. She was older now, but besides that fact, she looked very much the same as she did the last time he saw her. Her green eyes darted across the chart she was writing on. He thought fondly of how those eyes looked staring up from under him. Shaking the image from his mind, he turned away from her. “When can I leave?”

“After the doctor sees you it should be soon. In the meantime, there are some police here to question you on the accident, just routine, if you feel up to it, I’ll send them in.”

“Sure, but I’m going to need a phone so that I can call my boss.” He said noticing he didn’t have his cell phone it must still be in his mangled car.

“When the officers are done you can use the phone at the nurses’ desk.” She said exiting the small space. It was almost two hours before the doctor made his rounds and reached Mike. He had the time to answer all of the officer’s questions, make the necessary calls to his boss, grandmother, and David to inform them of the situation and reassure them all that he would be fine. He spent the remainder of the time laying in his hospital bed counting the tiles on the ceiling and listening to the moans and cries of the other patients. Often, he heard Chase’s voice around, but she never came back into his designated space. Once the doctor was done with his examination, he gave Mike his much-desired discharge.

Walking past the many occupied beds, his head still throbbing, Mike spotted Chase at the nurse’s desk. She was getting her wallet out of her jacket that hung in the employee closet behind the desk. She reached into the old leather jacket and pulled out a black wallet then stuffed it into her scrubs. Mike grinned to himself… his old leather jacket, he realized. He had given it to her to wear one night when they were out and had never gotten it back from her before he left for home. He smiled surprised she still had it. More importantly, she still wore it. She was talking to a plump young woman who was positioned behind the computer. A fellow nurse he guessed from her patterned uniform.

Chase must be going on break, he thought, go over and ask to join her. Nervous he kept walking even though he wanted to stop. She was so close after eight years, and he was going to walk away. He did not understand why he didn’t simply go over and ask that she talk to him. He could have any women he wanted and often did, but for some reason, he was afraid when it came to Chase. Frustrated at the nervous, awkward teenage feelings, she invoked in him Mike stopped short and went back to the desk. Chase was still talking but as he approached the plump lady began to shuffle paperwork and watch him approach, casting a knowing glance up at Chase.

Mike reached over the desk as Chase turned to see what her co-worker was grinning about. His hand took hers, and he leaned over the tall desk to be closer. “Let me buy you lunch.” He demanded.

Chase pulled her hand away, her eyes flashing with anger that she was trying to hide. “I’m sorry I don’t go on dates with patients.” She protested.

Her co-worked stamped the word discharged across his chart and smiled at them. Even Mike picked up on her encouraging cue and smiled appreciatively at the nurse beside them. “As you can see, I am no longer a patient and with all luck won’t be again. Please let me buy you lunch.”

Chase glared down at her friend who silently encouraged him. “You’re right, you’re not, which means I can now do this.” She said stepping around the desk and slapping him hard across the face. A collective gasp came from her co-workers, and then she slapped him again. “Not one word, you inconsiderate jerk!”

Mike shook his head his cheek and jaw stung from the hit he just took. He rubbed his jaw with his fingers and looked back at the infuriated little woman in front of him. Her eyes glared up at him with mixed emotion. “Ok, I deserved that.”

“Damn right you did.”

“Now will you please let me feed you, it’s the least I can do for your help this morning.” Mike smiled. It was that same smile he had always used when he wanted to convince her to do something when they were younger.

Chase sighed in defeat. She never could say no to him when he looked at her that way; not then and not now. Reaching back into the closet, she pulled out her jacket and put it on. “Fine but only for an hour and then I want you to go away.”

“One hour and then if you don’t want to see me again I’ll vanish from your life again, you have my word.” He promised. She stood a foot away from him, and he laughed, uncomfortable thanks to the feelings she stirred in him.

“What?”

“I just forgot how much shorter than me you were.” He teased.

Chase shot him a wickedly playful smirk. “I can still kick your ass.” She warned. It was good to see her smile at him; it had been far too long.

Placing his hand on Chase’s back, Mike guided her through the halls and out into the parking lot but stopped when she jerked away from him. She was still conflicted. Stopping just outside the building he remembered he no longer had a car. He scanned the surrounding building. Nothing but businesses and a crappy little breakfast joint. He didn’t much care for their food, but there wasn’t much of a selection to be picky.

***

They crossed the street and entered the restaurant. It was the lunch rush, but they only had to wait a moment before they were seated. Mike ordered a coffee, and Chase asked the waitress for a salad. She had to ask more than once to get the girl’s attention, she had been fixated on Mike, and when he asked her if she could be quick with the coffee, the young girl was giddy. Chase shook her head; he still had the same effect on women only now it seemed worse than it had been in high school.

“I see you still have my jacket,” Mike observed trying to strike up a non-threatening conversation.

“Is that why you came all the way back across the country, to collect a jacket?” She mocked drawing his dark brows together in skepticism.

“No. You can keep it. I came back to help my grandmother. She is going into a nursing home, and she is feeling a little lonely and betrayed.” He informed her taking offence to the harsh tone in her voice.

“A feeling I share.” She snapped

“What’s that supposed to mean?” As if he did not already know.

Chase wanted to jump over the table and slap him again. Restraining her violent urges, she slouched back in her seat. “What do you think? You were my best friend Mike, then you sleep with me, and suddenly you can’t get far enough away from me. That you just up and run off to the other side of the country to avoid me. No good-bye, no phone call, no note. I don’t hear from you for almost a year than out of the blue you decide to call me from Ontario, and not once were you ever sober. Then the calls just stopped altogether.”

“I can explain Chase if you will hear me out. I was stupid…”

“I agree.” She snipped

“… and I didn’t know how to deal with the change between us.” He continued ignoring her interruption. “I know we had agreed nothing would change but it did, and I didn’t know how to deal with it.”

“So, you took off?”

“Yeah, I left. I didn’t want to watch you with other guys.” He confessed. Mike had years to sort out the feelings and reasons for his actions, and that was the best he had come up with. She lifted one brow and cynically stared at him. “I said I could explain, I didn’t say it would be a good reason, but it’s the truth. I was stupid and if I could go back and change it, I would.” Chase said nothing but her expression told him he was making progress. “You were my best friend too. Now that our paths have crossed again I would very much like to get to know you again.”

Chase thought for a moment and knew that she too did not want him to disappear from her life again. She had missed him, and now they had a second chance to rekindle their friendship. When he stretched his strong arm across the table and touched her, she knew she was lost to his will.

“Forgive me?”

She didn’t want to, but something about that look in his eyes compelled her to say “Yeah, I suppose.”

They talked for a while, reminiscing about the past and the crazy things they used to do together. Sneaking out, parties, drinking, all the stupid things teenagers did. They avoided talking about the one night that stood out in both their minds, too uncomfortable for either one to mention.

After their meal, Chase pulled on her jacket and excused herself her lunch break was over, and she needed to get back to work. “Meet me tonight?” Mike asked taking hold of her arm as she passed him. “Some friends and I are going to the Inferno, and I would like to see you there. Will you come?”

Chase was quiet for a moment seriously thinking about rejecting him, but in the end, she did want to see him again. She wasn’t exactly sure why but it compelled her answer. “I’ll see you at nine-thirty.” She said and walked away.