Voices – Page 33
Brian left with the nurse, who did her best to at least put up a pretense that she was simply doing her duty by forcing him to leave the hospital. That she did this by taking his arm in both of hers and pulling him out of the room didn’t seem to bother him much.`
“That should be fun,” John commented.
Jen smiled. “I don’t think he’s ever really… you know.”
“She’ll teach him. If he’s smart, he’ll admit it up front. Then she’ll not only understand when he’s not real good at it, but she’ll be so excited about corrupting him that it won’t even matter.”
Jen’s smile widened to a grin, and she laughed. “I take it you’re an expert.”
“Practice makes perfect.”
Jen nodded. “You want me to buzz a nurse for you and get some painkillers?”
“That’d be awesome.”
Jen did, and in just a few minutes another nurse, this one stout and matronly, had injected a small amount of liquid into his IV tube. Less than a minute later, she was gone, and John sighed in contentment.
“Sweet Demerol,” he said. “Eases the pain.”
“Yes, that’s… why they use it,” Jen said.
“So the pleasant floating sensation is a side effect?”
“Probably, yeah.”
“Mmmm. I’m going to fall asleep in about twenty minutes. You want to talk about anything before then?”
Jen pulled her chair closer to his bed, then sat back down in it. “Gee, I don’t know, John. Today was pretty boring for me. Why don’t you pick?”
“Right. How’ve you been sleeping?”
Jen glanced away. “As well as I do on any night when I’m full of booze.”
“That explains the lack of screaming, but I’m guessing it still means ‘not well,’ right?”
She nodded.
“How’d you do the last night you spent at my place?”
Jen said nothing for a moment, looking out the window, scared and confused and torn between conflicting emotions.
“Jen?” John prompted. She turned back to look at him.
“Best sleep I’ve had in years,” she said.
John seemed about to speak, then paused.
“You’re wondering why I left, then,” Jen said.
“I thought I was the mind-reader.”
“John, I’m so scared of you. I… this whole week, all I’ve been able to think about was you. When I woke up next to you, I wanted to… I don’t know. I don’t know what I wanted, but it involved things that I never, ever thought I could ever do.”
John said nothing. Jen sighed and continued.
“I can’t say ‘I love you’ because we barely even know each other, but… you were inside my head. It wasn’t a long time, but it felt like I knew you completely, then, even though I don’t remember the details anymore. I just know that while you were there, I understood you, and I liked the person that you are a lot. Waking up next to you, God… I can’t do that anymore. I’m going to do something stupid and then I’m really going to go crazy.”
John’s expression was concerned. “I won’t ever ask you to do anything that would hurt you, Jen,” he said.
Jen shook her head and took a deep breath. She looked nervous and agitated. “That’s not the concern. I’m worried about what I might do on my own.”
“Like what?”
Jen stood suddenly and moved next to him. She bent down so that her face was close, looked into his eyes, and said, “Like this.”
She leaned in, put her lips on his, and let herself have the kiss she’d been thinking about since he had first arrived in the subway.
