Brain Games

29. Serious

I sit at the back of the cafeteria, picking at my lunch, still too upset and anxious to eat.

While I'm sitting in the cafeteria, Brad's back at his apartment searching for my ring. I insisted on going with him to have another pair of eyes, but he got out of surgery before me and raced home while I went to every lost and found box at the hospital. Again. I also searched my locker and the whole neurosurgery department twice over only to come up short.

"Hey, rock star!" Ashlee says as she plops down next to me, slightly elbowing me in the ribs, making me squirm. She frowns at my lack of enthusiasm. "Why the long face? You and Dr. Allen are practically celebrities around here now!"

I momentarily forgot about Mrs. Adams after losing my ring, the reminder another jab to the chest. "I wouldn't call us celebrities..."

"Why not? You guys removed that huge ass tumor. You should be proud of yourselves," she insists.

I frown. "I guess you haven't heard the news then."

Her thin brows pull together behind her wiry glasses. "What news?"

"She can't walk."

"Oh. Well that was to be expected, wasn't it?"

I blink at her. "Well, yeah, it was a possibility, but the plan was to remove the tumor so she could still be able to walk."

"That may have been your plan and her plan, but I think the ultimate plan was to remove the tumor—which you did—so she can live. Let's be real, if she kept living with that thing she was bound to die in a few months. Hell, she was bound to die on the table with that risky of a tumor, but you guys got it all. In my book, that's a win. Whether she can walk again or not."

I think about it for a moment, and as much as I hate to admit it, I guess she's right. Mrs. Adams is alive and as healthy as she can be now. She may not be able to walk, but she's still able to live, for her husband and two little girls. "I guess you're right."

"Of course I'm right." She smirks smugly around a fork full of salad. "Now, care to tell me why you smell like dude?"

I blanch. "I—huh?"

As if possible, her shit eating grin widens. "Don't play dumb. I want to hear all about your date with Mateo, and don't you dare leave out any juicy details!"

All the words get caught in my throat, and as I try to decipher what to tell her, I look up just in time to see Brad stride into the cafeteria. Our eyes lock and he subtly shakes his head, telling me he didn't find my ring. I watch as he gets in line to grab food, my shoulders slumping.

"Hey," Ashlee cuts in, elbowing me in the ribs once more. "Don't think you're getting out of this. Tell me or else I'll hound you for all eternity."

"I—uh... the date didn't happen," I confess. Ashlee stares at me with utter confusion until I explain. "He stood me up." I go into further detail about it, telling her how he got drunk and missed our reservation.

"What an asshole," Ashlee seethes, stabbing her fork into her salad a little too forcefully. "You looked fucking hot, and I'd be way more pissed if I knew my work went to waste, but since you smell like a guy I know it didn't go to waste at all. Now tell me, whose house did you do the walk of shame from this morning?"

I blanch, cursing myself for not thinking and using Brad's soap and shampoo when we showered together at his place this morning. My eyes briefly dart to him as he checks out at the register. There's no way I can tell her it was him. Has been him.

I shrug meekly. "Just some guy from my building," I say, not totally lying.

"Shut up!" Ashlee's eyes light up, intrigued. "Tell me all the deets!"