Summer Swing

by Delia Delaney

  Again he was trying to pull a little reverse psychology number on me, thinking I wouldn’t do it. But I said, “Fine, I will. Do you want to come with me?”

  “I sure do. I wouldn’t miss it.”

  I had to pause for a few seconds. Man, he’s a tough one, I thought. But I relented and said, “Okay, come on.”

  I led him back into the ER, fully expecting him to change his mind and tell me he was just kidding, but he didn’t say a word as I awkwardly stepped up to the receptionist’s desk. I looked at Gage one last time and he still didn’t say anything, so when lovely Linda inquired what I needed, I said, “Uh, I have a question for Dr. Farrell if he’s not busy.”

  She eyed me suspiciously and then nodded her head. “Sure, just let me check.”

  While she went to the back, Gage said, “I’m gonna sit down for a minute. I feel kind of tired.”

  I watched him sink into a chair, and I was going to tell him he was full of crap, but Dr. Farrell suddenly appeared, looking at me with a surprised smile. I don’t even think he saw Gage, and I instantly felt like a fool.

  “Hello, it’s Ellie, right?” he asked.

  “Um, yes. Uh…”

  “Did you have a question for me? Or was there a personal reason you wanted to see me,” he added. His smugness was a little much, and I was instantly put off.

  “And what personal reason would that be?” I asked, feigning somewhat of a blank stare.

  He paused for a few seconds and then softly cleared his throat. “What can I do for you?”

  I had no idea what I was supposed to say. It seemed a little arrogant of me to be approaching this doctor to settle a silly disagreement. I really didn’t care, so I wasn’t sure what I was trying to accomplish.

  “Uh, never mind,” I finally said.

  I realized how completely humiliated I looked when Dr. Farrell smiled at me again. It wasn’t a kind, friendly, professional smile; it was an “I know why you’re really here” kind of smile. He assumed that I was interested in him.

  I was about to leave when he softly put a hand on my wrist and said, “Wait.”

  When I turned around he slightly leaned down to gaze in my eyes, a tactic I’m sure got him in a lot of doors.

  “I get off of work in about an hour,” he told me quietly. “Maybe we could meet for a drink.”

  “Hmm, probably not,” I replied right away.

  He seemed caught off guard when he said, “Oh?” He paused for a few seconds and then asked, “If drinks don’t interest you, then maybe something else?”

  I had to smile, but at the same time I knew that Gage hadn’t been pulling my leg. Just the arrogance of this guy was seeping all over the place.

  “Well for one, I’m not even twenty-one,” I replied.

  Again he was surprised, but with a smirk he quietly asked, “You are over eighteen though, right?”

  I raised my eyebrows at him. “Wow, I think that’s the first time I’ve ever been asked that. Which brings me to my other point… I’m not interested.”

  “Oh. Is that why you didn’t come back in here to talk to me?”

  “Um…actually I was going to ask you about getting a doctor’s clearance for Gage. You know, in case his coach wants one or something. Might as well just get it now.”

  Dr. Farrell studied me for a few seconds and then slowly nodded his head. “Sure.” He pulled out a notepad from his pocket and quickly jotted something down. He handed it to me with a smile and said, “That should be all you need.”

  I glanced at what he’d written: Okay to play, and then saw a phone number below it.

  “So his coach can call you if he has any questions?” I asked.

  “No, but you can,” he smiled. “Have a pleasant night, Ellie,” he added, and then he left me standing there.

  I kind of groaned to myself, feeling disappointed that I’d wasted another ten minutes of my night in the emergency room. But there was no way to get that time back, so I decided I needed to get Gage to Wyatt’s house and go from there.

  I kind of chuckled as I approached him because he was sound asleep in the chair he was sitting in. I sat next to him and studied his face while I could without him knowing. After a couple of minutes I gently nudged him. He didn’t even move, so I nudged him again.

  “Gage,” I said, that time squeezing his leg.

  “Hm?” He opened his eyes and looked around for a few seconds.

  “Do you want to go home? I mean back to Wyatt’s. I think you should go to bed.”

  “I don’t want to go to bed,” he replied, sitting up straighter to stretch. “Let’s get out of here, though.”

  “Are you okay to walk?” I asked as he stood. He seemed to do it cautiously.

  “Sure, I’m fine. Unless you’re planning to carry me,” he smiled. “I could deal with that.”

  When we were finally back at Wyatt’s house, I made Gage rest on the couch while I cleaned up the broken mirror. It was kind of cute how he was so worried for me to be careful. But then again, why would he want to spend another two hours in the emergency room?

  Gage hadn’t let me stop for the prescription Dr. Farrell had written for him—he said he didn’t want it—so we grabbed Chinese food instead and planned on just watching movies at the house.

  “I’m sorry for the way things turned out,” he later apologized. We’d eaten dinner and watched a movie, and now we were eating ice cream and were about to watch a second movie.

  “What’s wrong with the way things turned out?” I asked him. “It’s actually nice to just be able to talk to you in person for once. It doesn’t matter where we are. Just not the ER again,” I added quickly.

  He laughed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. But I can’t help but feel that you’re really grossed out by this.” He held up his arm that was bandaged to cover the stitches.

  “Um, well no, I don’t really want to look at it or anything, but at least it’s not a wide open gash anymore.”

  “So that’s not why you won’t sit closer to me?”

  I paused where I was, putting the second DVD into the player. “Uh, no, that’s not why,” I kind of smiled. Yes I was embarrassed, but I didn’t know what else to say. Mostly we’d just sat on the couch kind of facing each other so we could talk during the movie.

  “Okay, I just wanted to make sure it didn’t bother you or anything.”

  I busied myself with starting the movie until I could think of a response. Was that his invitation to be closer to him? I was never one to make the first move, but maybe I had at the hospital, when I’d held his hand. If that was the case, then why didn’t he move closer to me on the couch?

  I hated this part of dating, but I concluded that I really did like Gage, so why should I hold back how I feel about him?

  “Well your injury doesn’t bother me as long as I don’t think about it,” I finally told him.

  Then was the awkward part, when I returned to the couch to sit down. I decided to just do it I guess, and I sat down right next to him. I turned toward him slightly and he put his good arm on the couch behind me. “Is it starting to hurt?” I asked, taking his left arm by the wrist. I knew I only asked to detract from how nervous I was, because being so close to him made my heart pound even harder.

  “I thought you didn’t want to think about it.”

  “Uh, no, I don’t,” I kind of mumbled, unable to look right at him.

  I was basically staring down at his leg because I was too spineless to look into his eyes. I hated feeling so shy, but there was no way I could sit so close to him for an entire movie and actually focus on something other than kissing him. I knew Gage was trying to be respectful, but I wished that he would just kiss me.

  You dummy, how can he if you won’t even look at him? I told myself.

  I had two choices. I could settle next to him and watch a movie I wouldn’t even be able to focus on, or I could just turn my head to look at him. Not that hard, right? I wanted to kiss him, so it was the obvious choice to fin
ally look at him. When our eyes locked it was kind of all it took, and with another partial smile, he took his hand and softly ran it through my hair and along my neck.

  “I’m not going to ruin anything here, am I?” he softly asked.

  “Only if you’re still medicated.”

  He smiled bigger. “No, that wore off over an hour ago. My entire arm hurts like hell.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay. I can make life-altering decisions right now.”

  “That’s all I needed to know.”

  He slightly nodded, and then leaned forward to kiss me. It was kind of like all the flirting and talking on the phone had finally come together to establish something real, something tangible. I liked how he kissed me, and I scooted even closer to enjoy it more.

  Chapter Four

  “This doesn’t feel complete, Ellie,” Doug told me, appearing at my cubicle. He was holding papers in his hand so I took them from him.

  “How did you get this? This isn’t even what I’m working on for this week.”

  “It was on your desk so I thought it’s what you had for me. I asked for it yesterday and got tired of waiting.”

  “I gave you the new review yesterday, remember? It was on health spas.”

  He thought for a second. “Oh, yeah, I do remember reading that. So what’s that one?” he asked, pointing to the papers that I’d just slid into a folder.

  “That’s one I’m working on for next month, when July hits.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “Oh, yeah? You start them that early?”

  “Yes, that way I can make sure I’ve got all my bases covered. And if there’s any type of follow up I need to do, I still have the time.”

  He slowly nodded his head. “Hm,” was all he said.

  He left without saying anything further, and I let out a breath of air. The new producer at the station was sometimes a little abrupt, and after two months, I was still trying to get used to him.

  A minute later he returned. “Ellie, how would you feel about doing the reviews on air, starting next week? The morning show is having a great response from listeners about your written reviews on the website, and we’d like to try adding you as a voice. Just to see how it goes at first,” he added. What he meant to say was, “If you suck at it, you’re fired.”

  “Well I would really love that,” I replied. “What are we looking at? Still weekly?”

  “Mm, not sure yet. I guess it depends on how we go about this. You’re out of school so you can change your hours to weekday mornings, right?”

  “Yes, I can do that.”

  “Okay,” he said, glancing at his watch, “I’m meeting with Ken in ten minutes. Will you join us?”

  “Yep, I’ll be there.”

  “My office,” he said over his shoulder as he left.

  I sat for a moment, elation beginning to brew. On air! I was so excited. I enjoyed doing what I already did, but I was looking forward to something more. I knew it was only going to be a two-minute blip, but I didn’t care. It was a start.

  I headed over to Gage’s house after work (I stopped calling it “Wyatt’s house” because it sounded weird when I only went there to see Gage). It was sort of my habit to go there after work because by the time I returned home to Lake Oswego to change and then return back to Portland, it took me an extra hour. I started just bringing extra clothes with me to change into after work.

  We had plans to go out with Dawn and Wyatt for dinner. They were at the house when I arrived, making out on the couch.

  “Gage is in his room,” Wyatt barely said through my sister’s face.

  I made my way down the hall and stood in the doorway to his bedroom. He was sitting on the bed in just a pair of shorts watching the television. When I took a closer look, I could tell it was of someone’s batting practice.

  “Hey, there,” I greeted.

  He turned around and smiled at me. “Hey. I didn’t hear you come in.” He stood up and put a shirt on, and then came to give me a kiss. “How was work?”

  “Good,” I grinned. I told him about the new changes coming up and he was excited for me. Then I asked, “How was practice? And how are your new teammates?”

  “Good. We’re kind of starting to get familiar with each other, but I think it’s going to take some time. Maybe half the season, even,” he chuckled. “It’s different trying to mesh with a bunch of new guys in just a week, but I think we’ll do okay. We’ve even got a couple more guys coming up sometime next week from California that are going to be joining us. Another pitcher and another infielder.”

  “And how is your pitching going?”

  “Pretty good. Struck out seven batters today, just on sliders.”

  “I don’t know if that’s good or not,” I admitted with a laugh.

  “Aw man, didn’t your brother teach you anything?” he teased, giving me a playful shove.

  “Yeah, to stay away from pitchers,” I smiled.

  “Is that something you want to do?” he asked knowingly. He pulled me close again and kissed me some more.

  “No, not as long as it’s you,” I said, sliding my arms around his waist. We kissed for a bit longer, and then I asked, “Uh, don’t you need to get ready? Or is that what you’re wearing to dinner?”

  “This is what I’m wearing to dinner. Oh, I guess they didn’t tell you the plan has changed.”

  “No, I guess not. What’s the plan?”

  “Your sister made dinner and we’re eating here. I think a few more people are coming over, too.”

  “Dawn made dinner, huh,” I said cautiously. “That could be trouble.”

  “No, she said it was all taken care of,” he said with a shrug. “Whatever that means.”

  “It means she probably had my mom put something together and Dawn just brought it over.”

  He laughed. “Actually she was in the kitchen preparing it earlier.”

  “Hmm, it must be enchiladas then. I thought that’s what I smelled…”

  “Yep, that’s what it appeared to be. Why, is that the only thing she knows how to make?”

  “Pretty much. And spaghetti. But actually she’s been learning to cook more. One of the many things she does for Wyatt’s benefit. Whether he cares or not,” I added with a shrug.

  “Hmm, what do you mean?”

  He led me to the edge of the bed and we sat down. Gage and I occasionally joked about Dawn and Wyatt (like normally I would have mentioned that they were sucking each others faces off when I arrived), but I usually didn’t bring up any personal opinions about Dawn and my disapproval of Wyatt. It’s not that I didn’t like Wyatt; there were just things about their relationship that bugged me.

  “You don’t think Wyatt cares about Dawn?” Gage asked me. “I hope you don’t think that; he talks about her all the time.”

  “Does he?”

  “Yeah, he does.”

  “Like things about her, or just things that are everyday occurrences like ‘Dawn came over’ or ‘Dawn brought me donuts at work’?”

  “Mm, I don’t know. I guess stuff like that. But I’ve heard him say stuff like how sweet she is or how good her massages are. Must run in the family,” he smiled.

  I returned the smile, but I was concerned for my sister. Wyatt may think she’s sweet for doing things for him all the time, but it was one thing to enjoy what a person does for you, and it was another to enjoy who they were as a person. I guess what it came down to for me was that I didn’t believe Wyatt reciprocated what my sister did for him.

  “You seem really worried,” Gage noticed. “What’s the matter? They’ve been together for a couple of years, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “So what’s got you worried?”

  I sighed. “Gage, I don’t know what I can tell you and what I can’t. It’s my sister’s personal life, and I don’t want anything to get back to her that might upset her.”

  “You mean you’re afraid I’ll say something to Wyatt?”

&nb
sp; I was hesitant to answer, but he knew what it meant.

  “I understand, Ellie. But I won’t say anything to him if you don’t want me to. I can keep it to myself if you just want someone to talk to.”

  That was what I wanted to hear because I really did want someone to talk to about it. My mom and dad knew my concerns for Dawn, but they always told me that it was sweet for me to be concerned for my sister, but Wyatt was Dawn’s true love, and there wasn’t anything I could say or do to change that.

  “Dawn has always been…kind of a hopeless romantic,” I began. “She just looks at Wyatt like he’s the best thing that’s ever happened to her, and it really bothers me.”

  “Because you don’t think Wyatt’s that great of a guy?”

  “Gage, I know he’s your cousin and—”

  “That doesn’t even matter, Ellie. He’s your sister’s boyfriend right now. My personal opinion on the guy can be neutral.”

  He seemed sincere about that, so I nodded. “Okay. It’s just that I think he takes my sister for granted. She does so much for him and I can hardly tell what he even does for her.”

  “Doesn’t Dawn rave about anything he’s said or done?”

  I slowly shrugged. “Yeah, I guess so. But she gets excited about almost anything.”

  “So what she gets excited about just isn’t something that would be thrilling for you? Doesn’t that just mean you two are a little different in that aspect?”

  “Are you saying I expect a lot?”

  “No,” he chuckled. “I’m just saying things affect people differently. Like the difference between you and Dawn is that Dawn is just a happy, giggly, friendly person. Everything with her is on the outside. You’re more reserved. You tend to absorb things first, feel them and kind of put more meaning to them. You’re a little more analytical. You like to understand things better before you just accept them as they appear.”

  “There’s another word for that, but you’re just being polite.”

  He smiled. “I don’t think you’re always distrustful, but you’re pretty cautious when you need to be. You’re just careful when it comes to dealing with other people. I could assume it’s because you’ve been burned before, but I haven’t known you long enough to make that conclusion.”