Restraint is Useless Here

Chapter Eight

"Wait, he peed on your arm? Like, literal urine?" Val's face was a picture of disgust as she thought better of sipping the mimosa during Anna's nursing school horror stories.

California truly shined on days like that Friday. The girls had chosen patio seating at a cafe in Huntington Beach, offering shade from the hot afternoon sun. Lush grapevines snaked their way up the columns of the pergola and around the wooden slats above, providing an air of dream-like seclusion as white paper lanterns hung from above. Blue and violet hydrangeas decorated the centerpiece. It seemed almost insulting to discuss bodily fluids in such an atmosphere.

"Straight up urinated right on my sleeve," Anna nodded, completely unfazed as she finished off her second mimosa of the afternoon. It had been a grueling week of clinical and she'd been assigned to a cardiac floor for her third semester, the hardest rotation yet. Friday mornings meant she got to sleep in, which pushed their breakfast date back to brunch. Friday also meant she worked that night, so she decided to front-load her day drinking to be sober enough to drive back for her shift. "It's dirty work, but it's so rewarding, Val. Ultimately, I want to get my degree in midwifery and deliver babies. Can you imagine? There is nothing more beautiful than that."

Her friend smiled dreamily, nodding her agreement as she closed her eyes and bobbed her head rhythmically to the piano music filling the air.

"This feels surreal, you know," Val mused, thumbing the crimson lipstick mark off her glass before taking a sip, rendering the action pointless. "Being back in town after touring for so long. Being able to meet up with my long lost friend for brunch on a Friday afternoon and hearing all about how she's going to deliver the next president or Nobel Prize winner. I'm so proud of you, Anna. You've grown from this sweet girl who needed help straightening a ballet tutu to this self-assured, powerhouse of a woman who wants to save lives and birth babies. I admire you and your stability so much."

Val grasped Anna's hands from across the table and squeezed tightly as she smiled, eyes glistening. The sincerity in her friend's words sent an inexplicable twinge through Anna's heart and she couldn't meet Val's eyes in that moment. Having her accomplishments recited as if she had her life together made it all feel counterfeit, but she couldn't tell Val that. The girls had dived deep into nostalgia that afternoon, exchanging memories of their childhoods into early teenage years, giggling over first kisses and crushes, struggles with parents and the strife of parting ways when they needed each other most. The band was exploding into the rock music scene and Anna couldn't imagine raining on Val's parade tight now. Nothing puts a damper on a perfect day like: my boyfriend has anger management problems and choked me to the point of unconsciousness last week and I'm trying to devise a way to end it without getting myself killed. Pass the muffins, please.

"Jack seems so great for you," Val continued, unknowingly twisting the knife. "A doctor and a nurse. You guys are like a prime time TV show scandal-turned-fairy tale. God, and he's gorgeous. I'd watch that show religiously."

"Who is gorgeous? I'll murder him," a gravelly voice threatened from the sidewalk just beyond the bannister.

Anna's throat instinctively tightened at the words, but her shoulders relaxed once she saw Matt's playful, dimpled grin. In that moment, he was her savior and the smile she gave him bordered on psychotic. He effortlessly hopped over the railing and made his way toward them. Val rose to wrap her arms around him and he picked her up by the waist, swinging her around dramatically and planting a sweet kiss on her lips, oblivious to the lipstick that now stained his lips. Anna looked away from their tender moment, trying to curb the envy that threatened to pull down her smile. But she did make a mental note to ask her friend where she purchased such bulletproof lipstick.

"You're gorgeous," Val replied sweetly as he sat backwards in the chair next to them. "And Anna's gorgeous. And Huntington Beach is gorgeous. We're home and I couldn't be happier."