Sincerely, Dr. Cruz

Twenty Three: Worthless Moments

Chapter Twenty Three: Worthless Moments
Neal’s House: East Providence, Rhode Island

Things hadn’t been awkward since Neal and I kissed. It was almost as though we never had. Part of me was relieved that things weren’t awkward between us, but another part of me wanted just that—the awkwardness; the longing of affection. I mean, he had told me he cared about me.

Obviously, we weren’t going to talk about the kiss. It was back to work on Monday, and to be honest, we seemed more comfortable around each other than ever.

“Dr. Cruz, did you look into the case file for Andrew Bachman?”

“Regarding the osteosarcoma?”

“Yes.”

“Yes, it’s on the left side of your desk next to the name plate.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

We never hesitated to give answers to one another anymore, even if they were just work related. It was nice, being able to have these long, drawn out conversations with Neal, knowing that neither of us were going to judge the other. In fact, a week had gone by since Kat’s party and I felt as though everything was alright. No one questioned me and everything seemed fine and dandy.

It was at lunch just a week later that I realized how horrible things actually were.

“How’s Ben doing?” I asked Neal with a smile as I took another bite of my reasonably sized salad.

“He’s doing great. He tells me that he misses you a lot.” Neal said, flashing me another one of his heart melting smiles.

“That’s really sweet! I really miss him too. It seems like I never have anyone to watch Mickey Mouse with.” I said, laughing.

“Yeah, well I wish I could say the same for Ben. It turns out that Cindy is as close to grandma he’s going to get.”

I took in a quiet breath, remembering how Neal’s parents weren’t exactly too fond of Ben after Andrea’s death. I quickly put on a smile though. “That’s really amazing though. It’s nice to always know that there’s someone for you. The world can be a scary place when you don’t have that feeling, you know?”

He did know, he just didn’t show it.

Instead Neal smiled at me before putting his attention back onto his food. I noticed how his light brown hair fell into his eyes and how his jaw moved every time he chewed. I soon felt like a stalker, so I looked down again, not bothering to talk again.

Before, the silences between us used to be a tad awkward. Now, I could easily sit next to him and work for hours on end without as much a sound, being completely content with that. His presence was all it took to keep me grounded at work.

But that was before Kat came into the picture.

The break room slowly started to become noisy as various people filed in and out. Armando stopped by, grabbing food for both him and Jaya. Their relationship has still been going strong, to say the least. It was cute how they were perfectly okay with not being too adamant on establishing themselves as a couple. They didn’t necessarily walk hand in hand or make goo goo eyes at each other, but the amount of love they had towards each other could never be defined by any of that.

Jaya had eventually came back with the empty containers that once had her and Armando’s food.

“Hey Dr. Stark. Hey Reina.”

“Hey Jay.” I said. “How’s everything going with Marge?”

“Great! She’s lovely. I love her so much! How’s everything going between you two?” She asked, winking at me when Neal wasn’t looking.