The Sidewalk Incident

6. The Ladoo Incident

As per the rules and laws stipulated by Murphy, the cunt, I am positioned directly opposite Dr. Li during the surgery I gifted him with.

Meera looks down from the gallery, nodding her approval. Apparently it's a sign of growth that I'm learning how to share and play nice.

I've been avoiding James like the literal plague. Other than the strenuous preparations for the triple bypass and heart relocation surgery, which I so desperately handed over to him, our interaction has been at an absolute minimum, usually resulting in excessive levels of awkwardness.

That hasn't, however, stopped me from thinking about The Sidewalk Incident, much to my dismay.

James is casual. Like super casual. He meant it when he said, 'Don't mention it. Like ever.'

I've willingly willed myself not to think about it, but my subconscious has had other ideas, opting to torture me with dreams.

The dreams started off as an exact replay of the event. But, they became incessantly less PG and warped as the week waned on. And by Friday, I woke up, drenched in sweat, after I vividly dreamt of James dipping up from between my legs, licking his lips naughtily, whispering, "You really do taste amazing, by the way."

Totally warped.

"Fuck." I groaned, as I rolled over in bed.

A distraction is what was desperately needed. So I welcomed some downtime when I had my first weekend off, in what felt like ages, and found myself on one of the dating apps my best friend, Grace, downloaded onto my phone before she left on tour, encouraging me to 'get out there otherwise your vag will die of dehydration.'

Grace and I grew up together. And we couldn't be more opposite. Grace was a typical girly girl, all tutus and tiaras, while I was dribbling past boys on the soccer field in said tutu and tiara. But we clicked right from the beginning, when I lived with her and her family for the few weeks leading up to my adoption.

I was the naughty one, constantly getting into trouble at school, sneaking out to meet boys while she was the straight-A student who stayed at home and covered for me. I honestly thought she was more likely to follow her mom's footsteps and become a doctor.

I always viewed her and her brother, Adam, as my would be cousins since our parents have always been the sibling variety of friends. We'd bond at family barbecues and over the holidays when the gang would reminisce about their wild, youthful days.

My favourite memories are of Aunt Ava, Uncle Tony and Sebastian in the kitchen, cooking up a storm while Aunt Gianna was barred from the kitchen and put on decor and music duty, since she's so bad at making anything other than coffee. Uncle Jamie and Olly would be the ones manning the barbecue, watching us kids play and run amok outside.

We were as thick as thieves. Our parents made sure we all went to the same school so we were never short of company and we almost always had someone looking out for us. Alexia, Aunt Gianna's daughter, and Adam were only a few years apart so they were kind of our chaperones or 'big cousins'.

Grace is now the principal dancer at New York City Ballet. Adam followed his dad's footsteps and became a Formula One driver. He races for Ferrari, where their dad finished his racing career, and where Uncle Jamie now serves as an advisor to the team. The entire family left for Italy around the same time Oliver and Sebastian left for the States.

It felt as though I had lost my family.

We still got to see each other over the holidays but the distance made things challenging. Until Grace got accepted at Juilliard! It was music to my ears; my bestie was only a four-hour drive away from Harvard and she became my light in the sand over those stressful med school years and my voice of reason during my turbulent relationship with Jarryd.