London Blue

Chapter 3. Hospital.

Scott walked with a purpose along the wide corridor of the hospital. Dressed in an expensive Savile Row suit, white shirt with a tie of blue and red stripes, He looked fit, the modern image of a surgeon. Successful, sought after, and recognised as a highly skilled doctor. 

This scene was left in and depicts the first meeting between Scott and Emily. Below is another extract.

'Nice isn't he?' said Natasha. Her smile indicated she wouldn't mind further contact. 'His name's Scott Gillons. Rather gorgeous.'

'I bet he's bonking some nurse,' remarked Emily. 'I've already made body contact with him.' She recounted the incident to Nat.

Natasha laughed. 'You don't sound impressed. You need to get back to dating, Emily. Get a relationship. Follow the rules.'

'What rules?'

'Delay two hours before replying to his first text, three dates before you have sex, and no back-to-back dates in the first month. Self-protect, Emily.'

'Yeah, yeah. I'm in no hurry anyway.' In reality, she didn't know what she felt except Nat's rules were pathetic. 'Guys are all the same. They pay attention till they get you into bed. Then they cool off.'

'That's so cynical. And I know you had an awful experience, but it's in the past. You need to move on, Emily.'

'I don't like the way men assume they can get into your knickers by being charming and attentive.'

'You've just been unlucky.' Natasha extended her hand to cover Emily's fist. 'Keep an open mind.'

Something crept up on Emily, an emotion which threatened to break out into tears of anger. She had spent months being angry at Tuan for using her, and angry at how stupid she had been, and angry at her friends who didn't say anything. There followed a period of hating men. Occasionally those feelings surfaced again. She questioned whether she was even capable of recognising ''good'' in a man, or whether she really wanted another ''bad'' in a man. She knew it was illogical to compare such things and wondered if she didn't know anything any more. Outwardly, she kept herself together. 'You know ... that phrase ... what you said. ''Keep an open mind''. It's only just struck me. Tuan used to say it all the time.' She unclasped her fist and turned it over to let her fingers mesh with Natasha's. 'He used to say, ''Keep an open mind girl'', as if that was all he needed to say, like it wasn't rocket science, like it was bleeding obvious. And I believed it, stupid me. Of course it made sense. Why not keep an open mind while my boyfriend goes off and has sex with someone else.'

'He brain washed you!'

'He had this commanding voice. It was my fault. I wanted to believe he was only kidding, fooling around, you know, bragging about having this other girl chat him up. And even when I found out the extent of what he was doing, I still didn't believe it, at first.'

'How did you find out?'

'Jess told me.' The day Jessica called round and said she saw Tuan with another girl ... was etched into Emily's brain. 'I'm glad she told me. Jess and I have a code, chicks before dicks. Don't all close friends have that?'

'You mean good friends stick together, watch out for each other, and if something's happening against the interests of a friend, you tell them?' Natasha reached for her glass of water on the side table.

'Yes. Loyalty with your girlfriends, we stick together.' Emily reflected she wouldn't want it any other way.

Natasha crossed her arms. 'Some would disagree. If I saw something, heard something, or knew something, I wouldn't feel contractually obligated to tell my friend.'

'If I saw my friend's boyfriend is cheating, I think she should know. Maybe her guy is having unprotected sex. She should know. That's the girl code.'

Natasha shook her head. 'If I had a boyfriend, and I knew he loved me, would I want to be told he might have been unfaithful?' Natasha huffed. 'I'd rather not know. Besides, if my man were doing it often, like screwing somebody else, my instinct would tell me. I don't need a friend to tell me.'

Although Emily counted her as a friend, she could see why she never really got close to Nat. There was a detachment from her, a barrier, which stopped Emily at the gate. A frustration crept up on Emily. She zipped her mouth shut to stop her shouting, You're a coward, Natasha. To NOT rat on a guy cheating on me makes you a coward.