I Will Follow You Into the Dark

CHAPTER 18

Present day.........


Derek was walking down the hallway of the hospital when his phone beeped to inform him that he had a text message. He pulled it out, took a look at the message, and hit the button to indicate that he wanted to ignore it. Sighing and rolling his eyes, he continued down the hallway.

Ten minutes later, his phone beeped again. Another text message. [NOTE: Alternating text messages follow.]

stop ignoring me, derek.

i'm not. i'm busy.

liar.

i have a JOB. patients.

you're ignoring me. i've lost my patience.

punny. lol. i'll call you later.

one hour. or i'm coming over to sgh.

crazy stalker.

maybe. try me. one hour.

gotta go. bye.

one hour. bye.

**********

An hour later, Derek's cell phone rang. Rolling his eyes, he picked up.

"I'm coming over."

"Don't," Derek said trying to sound extremely busy and not to sound worried that she meant it.

"I'm worried about you, Derek," he smiled for just a moment

"Don't be," he said quietly.

"Derek.........."

"I'm fine."

There was a long pause.

"You're giving me your 'I'm fine—stop psychoanalyzing me' voice."

"Yes," he halfway smiled.

"But you're my favorite headcase," Jen said, trying to lighten the mood.

"I'm OK," Derek said, trying to reassure her.

"Let's meet for dinner or lunch or a ferry ride," Jen said enthusiastically.

"I'll call you, OK?" he said hoping to appease her.

"Derek, the brushing off is getting old. We're friends. I miss my friend."

"We don't need to meet. I'm fine."

"I do. I need to see you. If I see you're OK, then I'll stop bothering you about it, that's all."

"I'm fine, Jen. I just don't need a Saturday night because everything's fine."

"What are you doing right now?" Jen asked changing the subject and hoping to shock him into divulging more.

"I..........I'm going to see a VIP patient. This case has been keeping me busy," Derek said as he locked the door to his office and walked toward the stairwell.

"Prospects of a really good surgery?" Jen asked.

"Not sure yet," Derek lied. He kept walking down the stairs until he reached the ground floor. Then he started walking toward the hospital exit.

"Well you sound good.......," Jen said, hoping he'd give her a glimpse of how he was really doing.

"I'm fine," Derek said standing beside his car and waiting for the conversation to end.

"OK. You bought a little more time. But I'm calling you again next week," Jen said. "Don't make me stalk you. Let's just get together."



*************


And so it continued. Jen kept calling Derek and sending him messages, and he continued to avoid her.

Months went by. Jen was busy, and she knew she could have pushed harder to get Derek to talk to her or meet with her. She worried about him, but she also had to respect the distance he was trying to put between them. She knew without him telling her that part of his motivation for the space between them was to help her feel less pain and discomfort.

Derek appreciated Jen calling. He missed her friendship. He really would have loved to have dinner with her. But he couldn't see her. He knew he'd let something slip about what was going on, and he just.......couldn't talk to her about it.

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