And this chapter is insanely dodgy. I knew what to write but had a hard time getting it all down.
If you're wondering why the description isn't as deep or whatever, it's because I want to add the 'meat' when I go back to revise this.
-Pink
Credit goes to Ofir for giving me a lump of quotes. ^.^
Thank you!
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Chapter Sixteen (Lucas)
A goodbye isn't painful unless you're never going to say hello again. ~Author Unknown
The air was chilly, biting at my cheeks and reddening the tip of my nose. I turned away from the orphanage window and scanned the empty library. They didn’t turn the heat on in this room. Weird. The rows of books were dusted, a room that was barely touched. Silence was my only companion, at least until the clanking heels of the Mrs. Collins entered the room.
“Lucas, your friend is calling you,” she said, pointing out the door.
It’s funny how much age changes your appearance. When I left the orphanage seven years ago, Mrs. Collins was a pretty lady, nice and blonde but strict as a stick. Now, there were wrinkles near her eyes and mouth and her sunshine hair was now faded.
“He’s impatient, isn’t he?” I said, walking towards the door.
“How have you been?” she asked. “How is your family? It’s been such a long time since I last saw you.”
“I’m good,” I answered. “My family…they’re fine.” I knew better though, I didn’t have a family and I was right back to where I had started…
Her hand patted my shoulders. “You look tired. What do you do now?”
“Well,” I said while shoving my hands into the pocket of my jeans. “I’m working on getting my surgeons degree the University of Chicago. I’m in my second year. I’m also taking up hours at the medical center there.”
“Wow. I always knew you’d grow up to be someone amazing.” A smile crawled up on her lips. “Is studying all you do? When you were here, that’s all you did…study, study, study. Take a break once in a while Lucas and enjoy life.”
“Well, that’s kind of difficult in this damn weather, Mrs. Collins,” I said.
“You can address me now as Heather,” she answered with a chuckle. “I feel very weird being called Mrs. Collins by you now.”
Just as I was about to comment, Boe slugged his way into the room. “Dude, we should go now.” His eyes switched to his watch. “Sarah is going to kick my ass if I’m not home by ten. Don’t you know what she’s like when she’s angry? God, she goes Hulk on me.”
I rolled my eyes. “Fine. I’m sorry Mrs. Collins, it’s about time I leave. Thank you for letting me stop by.”
“It’s not a problem.” She waved away at the air. “Everyone has those times where they go back to the place where things started or when their life changed. I hope that you found what it was you were looking for, Lucas.”
I blinked, surprised. Boe pulled my leather jacket and hauled me out of the room. We stepped through the front door, feeling the even more frosty air snap at our sensitive cheeks. “Jesus, it’s freezing out here,” Boe complained, rubbing his shoulders up and down, “I’m never accompanying you anywhere again. You always make me wait in the car.”
I threw him the keys to my black Buick sedan. “You drive, I’m tired.”
“You’re letting me drive your new car? Sweet!” he practically roared. He hurriedly opened the front door and started the engine, a wide grin on his face as he adjusted the seat and mirror. I turned back and watched the snowflakes dance over the orphanage building. It was older now, almost looked abandoned. The number of kids in there had decreased which was a good thing. I pushed out a heavy sigh. The reason I came back here was to bury everything…I spent six years keeping Liliah on the back of my head and I had finally released her. Tomorrow, I would wake up and start off brand new once again.
We reached my apartment in an hour and Boe was in such a hurry that I let him take my car to get home. I threw my jacket and scarf onto the couch and went to the fridge. Pulling out the jug of filtered water, I poured the liquid into a clear cup and swallowed the icy water.
~~~
I called in late the next day at work and took the morning to give myself some needed time alone. Boe called me and told me he’d drop off my car after work. I knew he just wanted to show off a little more. Boe drove a Volkswagen Jetta…and not the new one. I remember the last time I sat in there and got gum stuck on my new pair of jeans. Who spits gum on their car seats? Boe, that’s who.
So I spent the morning cleaning and finishing some last minute studies and even went to the extent of trying to cook myself some breakfast, which I failed at because my sunny side up turned out to be burnt by the sun. I gave up after wasting half a carton of eggs and decided to just eat breakfast at the restaurant across the street. I could memorize every bone in the human body but failed when it came to cooking eggs, I guess there’s a flaw in everyone. After filling my belly with tasteless bland toasts and eggs, I took the public transit down to the medical center and prepared to work for the rest of the afternoon.
Of course, I wasn’t surprised to see that I had a mountain of work piled up and waiting for me the second I entered the door.
“Ah, Dr. Price,” a nurse caught me while I was on my way to schedule a few surgeries. You could never know enough. “There is a patient who has been asking for you for a few days now, I think you should go and meet with her.” She handed me a clipboard with a few documents.
“Thanks.” I continued down the hall while my eyes scanned the important parts of the paperwork. I halted, my hands clenched the clipboard as I read the name on it.
Olivia Anderson.
I tried to rack my brain and that’s when I remembered the surgery. Normally, I never paid attention to a patient’s looks since I was always occupied with their health condition but thinking back now, the woman that I operated on the day before Liliah’s engagement seemed slightly familiar. She was Olivia.
Holy shit.
I looked up and around, trying to think of some sort of solution. If I showed my face to Olivia, there was no doubt she’d run off to tell Liliah and what Liliah had in store for me, well I didn’t want to find out when she was finally out of my picture. Fingers clasped my arm and spun me around. I nearly had a heart attack when I looked into Chase’s stern eyes.
“Jesus Christ, where in the world have you been?” he sneered. “I’ve been trying to call you since yesterday. Olivia is freaking out trying to get her nails on you!”
Chase and I met each other by accident only a few weeks ago. He was the one who told me about Liliah’s engagement and since he was such a pal, he promised to keep my whereabouts a secret. However, I had no idea what he was planning on now. Chase had lost his child and I was to blame, who’s to say he wouldn’t turn around and stab me in the back this instant?
With a steady hand, I reached into my coat and pulled out my cell phone. Dead. “Looks like I didn’t have battery. I went out of town for a while and must’ve forgotten to charge it, sorry.”
“Doesn’t matter anymore, Olivia’s been waiting for you. Do you have any plans? Because I swear she’s ready to tear your throat out.”
“What about you?” I asked, lifting my gaze. “I lost your child.”
He let out a deep breath. “The loss is great but I know you tried your best since you knew it was Olivia, my wife.”
“I didn’t know it was her,” I stated. “Six years changes everyone.”
He was silent for a minute. “Did you try your hardest? Did you think about the life that you had in your hands, Luke?”
My lips pressed together as my fingers worked their way through my hair. “Maybe you should just punch me,” I said with a shrug.
“Are you trying to be funny? Tell me.”
Letting out a heavy sigh, I nodded. “I did my best. I’m sorry that my best wasn’t good enough.”
“The other doctor said that you were able to clean up pretty well, which means we still have a chance to have another child. Don’t beat yourself up, I know what kind of person you are,” he said while shoving his hands into his jeans. His blond hair was a mess and he looked pretty restless. “What are you going to do about Olivia? I can’t tell her to keep it a secret, you know.”
“I’ll meet with her and…we’ll see where it goes. If Liliah finds out then I guess I’ll just do my best to ignore her. It’s not like we have any ties anymore,” I said.
Chase agreed and we went to the elevator. My heart was struggling to stay calm. My palms were sweating but I kept my face constructed. I should just be glad that Chase was nice enough to forgive me yet I still felt uncomfortable next to him.
“How was the engagement party?” he asked as we waited for the elevator to reach the fifth floor.
“It was fine. I just went to drop of a gift, that’s all.”
“So you’re really over her?”
“I’ve been over her,” I countered, displeased that he would even say that. It didn’t really look like I spent my entire life revolving around Liliah, did it? “I have a girlfriend now.”
Chase turned to me, confused. “I thought you didn’t.”
“Her name is Blair,” I answered, feeling slightly better with his reaction. “It’s been a few months now.”
“Hmm.” He rubbed his chin. “Any plans for marriage? Wait, isn’t she one of the doctors here?”
I nearly choked. “No and yes.” Thankfully, the doors opened and I was relieved of any more questions regarding Blair. The truth was, she wasn’t my girlfriend and I don’t think she ever would be. Between Blair and I, things would have to be kept clean if our relationship was to survive the rockiness that it was on already.
Chase and I took a second to breathe and flex in front of Olivia's door. We knew I was so in for it, it would be wonderful if Olivia didn’t jump out of her bed and strangle me until I passed out.
“Are you ready?” Chase asked as if I was going in for combat.
“Um..yeah,” I said. My fingers tightened around the clipboard. With a slight push, the door opened and I stepped into the white room.
“Hello,” I started, keeping my eyes on the clipboard. “I’m Dr. Price…You wanted to speak to me?” My drowning heart was gasping for some air. I felt the piercing blue eyes strike me once I looked up. “First of all,” I began. “How are you feeling?”
Olivia was still in her bed, staring at me with a tilted head. “Slightly better…” Her thoughts were running, her eyes were widening and that only meant one thing.
“What’s your name?” she asked, her gaze hardening.
“Dr. Price,” I answered.
“No…your full name.”
I contemplated making one up but I would only get in trouble later on. “Lucas….Price.” The words tasted like salt on my tongue.
She gasped and I flinched, waiting for some vase or pillow to hit my head but nothing happened. “The hell,” she cursed, shaking her head. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” Her voice rose to a new octave. “Lucas? Lucas? You…Jesus…it’s you, right?” she asked, pointing a finger in-between my eyes. Olivia must’ve thought she was hallucinating with the look of horror on her face.
“Long time no see?” I shrugged, not knowing what else to say. That’s when the pillow hit my face. I was too busy thinking of what to say that I didn’t see it coming. The case of fluff hit the floor and I reached down to pick it up. “You shouldn’t throw things.”
She let out a laugh. “You’re a bastard, you know that? Does…does Liliah know?” She cocked her head and studied me as I pinched the ends of the pillow.
“No, and I’d like to keep it that way so if you wouldn’t mind-”
“Wait!” She lifted a hand. “Don’t tell me not to tell her, she’s my best friend.”
“I don’t want things to get complicated. I don’t plan on staying here that long anyway. As long as we don’t meet, things will be fine.”
“Things will be fine?” She laughed, rolling her eyes. “After the tornado you left them to, things will be fine? You can’t just ignore what you did.”
Yes…yes, everything was my fault.
I groaned. “What did you have to say to me? You called Dr. Price not, Lucas Everstone , so tell me what the deal is,” I replied, losing my patience.
“My baby, you couldn’t save it.” Her eyes dropped to her tightening hands.
“I’m sorry,” I said. It seemed that of lately, I was running out of words.
She looked up at me. “Can…I still have kids?” she asked with a bit of hope.
I smiled. “Yes.”
A faint smile lit up but disappeared in an instant. I was just about to turn around when the door opened, startling the both of us.
“Olivia, I got you something to drink,” Liliah said, stepping into the room with a cup in her hand. “Do you like cranberry juice? Because I was going to get orange but I remembered that you don’t like oranges.”
My heart took a giant leap, knocking on my ribcage. I pulled the clipboard to the side of my face, hiding myself.
If you love me God, you’ll get me out of here alive.
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I didn't expect that, really. It may be predictable to more experienced readers but, for me, I was like 'OMG' with matching jaw-drop lol. For the 'Long time no see?' part, I couldn't believe that he would give it up so easily. I meant 'I couldn't believe' like I was surprised, not literally 'I couldn't believe'. For the beginning part, what was Lucas doing in the orphanage. I didn't quite get the point of 'burying everything'. What did he do there to 'bury everything'. I really didn't get it xD. About Chase and Olivia's relationship, I (literally) can't believe they ended up together. I mean, Chase was like introduced as the 'rich, bad guy' 7 years ago, and, as far as I can remember, Olivia suggested to Liliah that she shouldn't come to Chase's party. Lastly, I dislike that 'Blair' girl. She seems like a flirt to me or something.
