Journey (3)

Chapter 4

Author Note: 

That's right, I'm actually posting again! Hope you enjoy reading this chapter! I'm very very busy right now so I probably won't be able to put up the new chapters as often as I have done in the past, for the other two stories in this little series. Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading this!

I stand still in the entrance of the treatment room, not taking another step forward. How is this happening, again? Out of everyone who could have been standing there, it just had to be Connor. 

As he turns around, our eyes meet for a split second, and I almost think that I see a flicker of recognition cross his face. 

I look over at the patient's family, too focused on the current situation to notice that I've entered the room. Only Connor has seen me. 

I back away slowly, so as not to attract the attention of the patient's family. Without even looking back into the room, I leave it as quietly as I entered. 

As I'm about to walk away to ask to get transferred to another patient, I hear Connor's voice, addressing the family of the patient. "Excuse me," he says, quickly. 

"Tessa, Tessa?" I turn around, to see that Connor has emerged from the treatment room. 

"What?" I ask, bluntly. I'm not in the mood for a conversation like this. 

"What are you doing?" he asks, an underlying hint of frustration to his voice. 

"Don't worry, I'm not going to start anything," I say, sighing. "I'm going to ask to get transferred to another patient." 

"Wait, Tessa, wait," Connor tells me. "You don't have to do that." 

"I'm not doing it for you, I'm doing it for me," I explain. "This has nothing to do with what you said to me." 

"I feel like I gave you the wrong impression earlier," he replies. "And that's on me, but-"

"It's fine," I say, cutting in, already feeling this slipping into one of those conversations that I was determined not to have. "I get what you meant." 

"So why are you doing this?" he asks me, still persisting. "I didn't want to make you think that you couldn't be around me." 

"You didn't make me think that," I tell him. "That's not why I walked away, it's nothing to with what you said, so you're good."

"That's not what I care about at the moment," Connor says, sighing. "I don't care about being good, I care about the fact that you don't think you can work with me." 

"It's not as simple as that," I respond. "It really isn't. It's not that I can't work with you, it's that everything is complicated. Don't pretend you can't see it too."

"What do you mean?" he asks. "I don't want there to be some intense rift between us, where we have to avoid each other for the rest of our lives. We work together, Tessa. We're going to run into each other at some point." 

"I know," I say, nodding. "Look, I really didn't want to make this into a huge thing. I didn't even think you'd care." 

"What makes you say that?" he asks. "Tessa, you're my friend, I-"

"Oh, I'm your friend?" I scoff. "When did that change, because the last time I checked, you were dumping boxes in the locker room because you didn't even want to look me in the eye." 

"You don't have to make this so difficult," Connor sighs. "I thought we could at least talk without everything getting so complicated." 

"We can," I say. "You're the one that had to blow all of this up. I just wanted to walk out of there and get transferred. I didn't want to make it into a big thing."