Induction

“Howdy, neighbor,” a male voice called from next door. Our next-door neighbor, Neal, was waving from his driveway. A miraculous feat considering the amount of grocery bags he was juggling. We parked the bikes and walked over to socialize.

Neal was one of those neighbors who would come over and fix your mailbox when it fell over. I know this from first-hand experience, because my mailbox was a piece of junk and was always listing precariously to one side. Every time Jake commented that it was time to get a new one, it would be magically standing at attention the next time I pulled the car out of the driveway. Neal’s family is what I would call good people.

I exchanged a quick wave with his wife as she grabbed another load of bags from the trunk. Their daughter, Alicia, jogged down to the end of the driveway to join the conversation. Alicia was seventeen, and was hands down the brightest and most respectful teen I’d ever met. Like her dad, she was outgoing, always willing to lend a hand, and I couldn’t think back on a time when her lovely face wasn’t wearing a smile.

“Hey, guys. Whatcha up to?” she asked. Her arms kept swinging back and forth as she stood there; there was that smile again.

I smiled back; it was contagious. “Just coming back from the beach.” I held out my arm to hers and compared tans. Jeez, I needed to get out more. Even after all day outside, my skin still looked like it belonged to a ghost next to her bronzed arm.

Alicia was enamored with Daphne. Her mom, Pat, was allergic to most animals so their home was pet free. If dogs could have big sisters, Alicia would be the equivalent. She was constantly knocking on the door to take her for a walk, play with her, or even give her a bath. That kid loved my dog, but then again how could anyone not love the little spitfire?

The sun got lost behind a puff of dark storm clouds and Neal made me laugh with his imitation of a country bumpkin. “Looks like there’s a storm a-comin’,” he mimicked, pretending to spit a wad of chew on the driveway.

Alicia giggled and rolled her eyes at him. “God, Dad, you are such a dork.”

We said our goodbyes and got the bikes into the garage just as the first drops of rain fell.

* * *

Settling on the over-sized sofa, we snuggled and watched a movie. Of course we bickered over the movie. Jake wanted to watch some slapstick comedy, but I won and we popped in a horror flick. The movie started off bad and went downhill from there. Jake tickled me as he laid down the law. “You no longer get the job of choosing movies. This is horrible.”

“Maybe I knew it would suck.” I laughed mischievously. “So your attention would be on me instead of the idiot box.” Jake let out a laugh and leaned down to kiss me. He brushed my long bangs behind my ear and looked at me, his face mere inches away. I inhaled his musky scent and sighed with pleasure.

“What do you say we end the day with a bang?”

“Oh, that was just bad. I can’t believe you just said that.” He chased me into the bedroom, and out with a bang we went.

Chapter 03 Squishy

I spent most of the next day studying for next week’s pharmacology exam. I decided enough was enough when I started falling asleep around two in the afternoon and decided to spend the rest of my day at the dog park with Daphne. Lord knows why I continued to take her there, considering she had zero interest in any of the other dogs and spent half the time scratching at my legs for me to pick her up. The other half was spent pissing over other yellowed spots on the grass, marking her territory.

Once home, I changed into my freshly-laundered nursing uniform and put my hair up. No matter how many times I washed those uniforms they always came out of the dryer like they were freshly starched. What I wouldn’t give to soften them up. Our instructors insisted on us wearing these thick white uniforms. So not only could I barely move, I looked like a giant marshmallow.

The sun was just setting when I pulled into the emergency room parking lot. Ollie was waiting by the door for me so we could head in to report together. “Dude, I still smell it. I can’t get the eau de shit out of my nostrils,” she said as we walked through the automatic doors. Ollie, Kat, and I had become fast friends after meeting at orientation for the nursing program. All three of us were so different. Ollie was single and definitely the party girl of our little clan. I lived vicariously through her Facebook posts. Ollie also had an intense addiction to Red Bull and zipped around on a permanent caffeine high. Kat was the matronly presence in our little group, doting on us like children and always packing a cooler of snacks for us to pick at during class.

I fell somewhere in the middle.