Flores :: Carlos Sainz

Veinticinco

Eleanor dodged a yawn since it would hurt her jaw. She looked in front of her and deeply breathed in. It was about one in the morning now and she was still at the hospital, waiting to get discharged to go home. She sat on the bed while Carlos sat across the room on a chair.

"Where were you going to?" Carlos then asked, breaking the awkward silence.

"Home," Eleanor replied and looked at him. "I was at Bibi's."

He nodded.

"Never thought it would happen. And I even considered taking a taxi. But I've been in the weirdest and scariest places in the Netherlands, alone, at midnight."

"It's always the unexpected..."

"I just don't understand why me?"

Carlos made eye contact with her and blinked a couple of times. "Don't take it personally, but you look like a person who is easy to attack."

"Oh. Like?"

"You look sweet and... Err... You're beautiful, innocent... You kinda look like you are not strong enough to fight back. And the dress you're wearing, is quite... It can turn men on."

Eleanor raised her eyebrows, straightening her face when it hurt. She sighed, she was wearing a normal dress; it was not too short, not too open, not too sexy. "I hate men for that exact reason," she blurted. "Not that I hate you..." When she said it, she realised what she said.

He pressed his lips into a thin line, he understood what she meant.

"Thanks, though."

"For what?"

"That you picked up your phone," Eleanor weakly smiled. "And for being here."

At first, Carlos wanted to decline the call. He was with his friends. And it didn't make sense why she called at first. But he was glad he did pick up the phone. God knows what would've happened next. "Of course, no need to thank me."

"What were you doing this evening?" Eleanor tried to kill the time.

"Nothing much, walking around a bit," Carlos lied. He knew that when he said that he was with friends, she would feel guilty about it.

"Hmm-hmm." She took a deep breath, ready to say something, but some people entered the room.

"Señorita Schoenmaker." The doctor smiled after pronouncing her name. Well, an attempt on pronouncing her name. "How are you feeling?"

Eleanor awkwardly smiled. "I am lying if I said alright," she mentioned.

"Before I will talk about the results, I have to ask you a few questions, routine questions," the doctor said and looked at the papers in front of him. He started to ask a few questions about her health and history. "We are at the last few questions. Do you have anaemia?"

"No."

"Okay. Are you pregnant?"

Eleanor was shaking her head. "Nope."

The doctor wrote something down. "Alright, you remember your results of last week really well. I assume nothing has changed since that moment."

"I don't think so either."

Carlos was just listening, but then he picked something up. Eleanor had an examination last week? Which results did he mean? The anaemia? The pregnancy? His eyes fell on Eleanor, who was avoiding his eyes. He frowned.

"And the last question. We can ask if señor could leave the room. This is a personal question," the doctor proposed.

Now Eleanor looked in Carlos' direction. "Ehm... I've got nothing to hide," she breathed.