Crash Into Me

Chapter One: Alli

The warm breeze softly hits my face as I run along my usual path. This is my favorite place to be--the forever green park next to the hospital. My lungs burn with the familiar feeling of wanting to stop for air, but I resist and push my pace. A little fawn colored chihuahua is pulling its owner along. It looks up at me, tongue flapping and tail wagging. "Hi there little one," I say happily. The lady walking the chihuahua smiles back at me.

My watch chirps as I hit another mile. Six down, four more to go. I glide along the familiar gravel and feel stronger than ever. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exh--Suddenly, without warning, I feel myself falling forward.

Shit. The ground is coming closer and closer to my face and I don't have time to try and catch myself. My knees take the brunt of the fall first, jolting in pain as my hands protect my face from hitting the gravel path, skidding along the tiny rocks. I hit the ground. Hard.

"Hey, are you okay?" a voice says from somewhere to my right in the distance. I'm more focused on checking my hands and knees for cuts or scrapes than seeing who is talking to me. I roll over onto my back, trying to catch the breath the fall knocked out of me as I sit up slowly. My knees and palms are burning, covered in friction burns as blood starts to work its way down my hands and knees.

"Damn it," I say, bringing my hands up for closer inspection.

"You took a pretty nasty fall there," the voice says again, closer this time. 

My brain finally registers that someone is talking to me. Looking up, a man towers over me, shading me from the strong summer sun. He's around my age, maybe late twenties or early thirties and his face looks concerned as he crouches down next to me. I can't help but notice something else--he's smoking hot. 

"Well, this is embarrassing," I laugh, feeling my cheeks blush. His dark brown hair falls messily down his forehead and his green eyes light up at me.

"Do you think you can stand?" he asks, gently grabbing my arms to help me up.

I nod, sure that I can manage to get up, and brace myself to stand. His tan biceps flex as he pulls me up toward him. An unexpected sting jars my knee from a small piece of gravel that's lodged into my right knee. It buckles from the pain and I lose my footing, falling forward into his chest.

"I'm so sorry!" I say, noticing the blood that I just smeared from my palms onto his white Nike shirt.

"It's fine, don't worry about it," he grins, keeping a strong hold on either of my arms. 

"I just ruined a perfectly nice shirt! I can buy you a new one," my cheeks flush even more.

"Honestly, it's no big deal. I get blood on me all the time." I look up at him, a little weirded out and wondering if he's some sort of hot serial killer like Ted Bundy.

Noticing the worry on my face, he quickly adds, "I'm a doctor. I work in the ER at the hospital." I look over his shoulder at the hospital he gestures to in the background. 

I feel relieved and impressed at the same time. "Oh, well that explains that," I tuck a loose hair behind my ear.

"And I never really liked this shirt anyway," he says, looking down at his blood-stained tee.

I'm not really sure what to say, and I think he can tell. "I have a first aid kit in my car. I can get you cleaned up," he grins again, flashing his perfectly straight white teeth. I suddenly feel very self-conscious, remembering how sweaty and messy I am after six miles of running in the Texas summer heat. "Thank you, you're so sweet, but I'm fine, really," I say attempting to walk normally, but limping uncontrollably instead. Pathetic.

"You don't seem fine," he chuckles, smile lines appearing beside his almond shaped eyes.

"Fine, you got me," I say, putting my hands up as I feign defeat.

"May I?" he asks, gesturing to pick me up.

"Oh no, I can walk," I blush.

"I think we already established that you can't," he says jokingly. "I won't drop you, I promise."

"Okay, but I'm disgusting," I reply, looking down at my beat up knees and carefully picking out the stray pieces of gravel.

"I don't think a woman like you could ever be disgusting." Is he flirting with me? I laugh nervously, as he reaches down and scoops me up like I'm weightless. I try not to look at him, but I can't resist. I glance up for a brief second at his face. Before I can get a good look, he peers back down at me. I look away quickly, not wanting him to catch me checking him out. The smell of his sweet cologne envelopes me as I tuck my head a little closer toward him.

"Here we are," he says, carefully placing me down beside his black Mercedes Benz. He opens up the trunk and leans in, coming back up with a bulky red medical bag.

"Here, let's sit down." He leads me over to a soft grassy area by the car. I clumsily plop down, trying not to hurt my freshly cut hands, while he sits cross legged next to me and starts pulling supplies out of his bag.

"I think I've seen you running around here before," he says, looking softly into my eyes, as he tears open an antiseptic wipe.

"Really? Maybe. I do run around here pretty much every day," I look away, shyly. I try to shake off the nerves and play cool.

He picks up my hand and pulls it closer toward him. I can feel my heart starting to beat faster. I turn away for a distraction. An older man in bright neon green, very short, running shorts runs past us at a monumentally slow pace huffing and puffing. 

Just then, two elderly women walk by in turquoise and pink track suits with matching visors. "Isn't that so sweet, Darlene?" the lady in turquoise says, slapping her friends arm to get her attention, "I wish Jimmy would take care of me like that."

"Betty, Ben hasn't done a damn thing for me in ages! Hang on to him, sugar. He's a catch," the other woman, I'm assuming is Darlene, says. "Course it doesn't hurt that he's a looker too!" She winks.

"You can take care of me any time, honey!" Betty says confidently to the doctor.

"I'd be glad to," the doctor winks back at them. The ladies giggle like they're school girls again and continue their speed walking.

"Well aren't you the ladies man?" I say.

"What can I say?" he shrugs his shoulders playfully. Just then, his phone rings from the ground and the name "Jannine" pops up on his screen. My stomach drops as all my dreams are squashed. I knew he was too hot and successful to be single. I glance down at his ring finger and see that it's ringless. He isn't married, but maybe he has a girlfriend?

He finishes wrapping gauze and tape on my palm before answering, signaling that whoever she is, she can wait.

He reaches down for his phone, looking up at me, "Sorry, one sec." He swipes his finger over the phone and answers. "Hey," he says shortly, clearly not happy to hear from whoever she is. My stomach drop is replaced with butterflies at my newfound hopefulness. Maybe he's about to be single?

"I can't talk right now. I'm a little busy," his eyebrows scrunch together in frustration. "Fine. Meet me at seven at The Lounge." The Lounge is some swanky upper-class bar in uptown Dallas. He hangs up the call and looks back up at me. "Sorry about that." The possibilities swarm around my head, but I bat them away.

"No worries," I respond, unsure what to say yet again.

"Well, I think you're all good to go," he forces a smile, still clearly bothered by his brief phone conversation.

"Thank you so much, really." I attempt to stand up slowly. He reaches out his arms to steady me as I get up.

"I don't think I ever got your name." He slowly releases me.

"Oh yeah! I'm Allison" I smile.

A sexy grin makes its way onto his face as he says, "Nice to meet you Allison. I'm Doctor Eli Vasquez." He extends out his hand to shake mine and I feel my knees go weak again.

"Nice to meet you too." Our hands linger for a moment and I don't want to let go.