9. Megan
CHAPTER 9
MEGAN
A t six in the morning, Megan shot up and out of bed. It took her several minutes to remember where she was and that it wasn’t her own bed or even her own apartment. She scrambled back into the clothes she was wearing the night before. Charlie was still asleep, and Megan was briefly tempted to let him oversleep, but then she realized she didn’t have her bike with her. Catching a taxi wasn’t a sure bet, and he had access to a car and driver. She ran back into the bedroom and shook him.
“Charlie. Charlie .”
He groaned and opened his eyes. “Megan,” he mumbled her name with the quirk of an exhausted smile on his face.
“We’re late.”
Now it was Charlie’s turn to leap out of bed. He was barely dressed, and Megan couldn’t help but remember the night before, how rapturous he’d made her feel. Then he opened his mouth. “You’d better call a taxi, Bright.”
She felt her jaw drop and forced herself to close her mouth again. “You’re not giving me a ride?”
“Now how would that benefit me? We’re in competition, aren’t we? It’s not my fault you overslept.” He picked up his phone and texted his driver, Megan assumed.
“Oh, it absolutely is your fault!” She could hardly believe she was being treated like this. But then, what else had she expected from Dr. Sourpuss. Whoever the extraordinary lover she’d met last night was, he seemed to have vanished into thin air. The jerk had replaced him. Then she got the idea to appeal to his competitive nature. “You don’t want to win by cheating, do you? I mean you got me drunk last night?—”
“I did not, and you know it.”
She got in front of him and pulled him in by the collar. “I didn’t say you used alcohol to do it, Sullivan. Now, do you want to take that win along with the responsibility of getting me to the hospital on time, or do you want to forfeit the points you gained last night?”
His eyes smoldered as he considered her proposition. He bent close to her, and she was almost certain he was going to kiss her again. But at the last second, he pulled away. “I’ll take the win,” he said with a mischievous grin. “George will be out front in five minutes. Don’t be late, or we’re leaving without you.”
They both scrambled to get ready, although Charlie had much more to work with than Megan did, being on his own turf and all. She managed though, and so found herself in the back seat of his car once again, only this time, she didn’t put her hand on his thigh.
She was late, flustered, and starving. She hadn’t had time to eat breakfast, and she always ate at least something. As though he’d read her mind, Charlie reached over and handed her a breakfast bar. She took it with a baffled look. “I thought we were in competition,” she said.
He shrugged. “Like you said, I don’t want to win by cheating. I’m going to beat you fair and square, Bright.”
By the time Megan discreetly exited the car and made her way to the locker room, Kayla was already there. She gave Megan a scrutinizing look. “You’re still wearing what you wore last night. What happened?”
“Nothing,” Megan answered, but even she could hear that the pitch of her voice was off.
“Nothing?” Kayla narrowed her eyes. “So you just time traveled from last night to right now?”
“Yes, Kayla,” Megan answered with a roll of her eyes. “I time traveled. It’s a talent I happen to have and why I think I’ll make a great doctor.”
“I thought your special talent was how good you are with people.” Kayla crossed her arms. “It’s a talent you’re not using right now.”
Megan stepped into her scrubs and groaned. “Okay, you got me. Sorry I’m so cranky this morning. I didn’t sleep well. When I got home from the bar, my mom wasn’t well, so I had to do some things for her.”
“Some things?” Kayla crossed her arms. “So vague. You’re usually so specific — like it gets on my nerves sometimes, how specific you are.”
“It’s just the usual stuff,” Megan said in a clipped tone she immediately wished she didn’t have. “Sorry. She didn’t feel well and hadn’t eaten all day. I had to make her food and clean up around the apartment. You know, the usual stuff.”
Kayla followed Megan out of the locker room, needling her the whole way. “That’s awfully convenient. So you were so busy cooking and cleaning all night that you couldn’t be bothered to change your clothes? Sounds reasonable.” By her tone, Megan could tell Kayla was being sarcastic, and she didn’t appreciate it. On the other hand, she had lied to Kayla, so she supposed she deserved it.
When they found their attending, Charlie was there waiting for them, an infuriatingly smug expression on his face, probably because he’d beaten her in punctuality. Point for Sullivan. Fine. She would just have to win all the other competitions today.
“First appointment today is a burn injury.” Dr. Ralter stood with a file and clipboard looking chipper and ready to start the day. The others looked significantly less chipper. Megan wondered how late they’d stayed at the bar. Either way, she probably slept better than they did. She had been as relaxed as Jello by the time Charlie had finished with her.
“We’ll be monitoring healing progress and checking for signs of infection,” Dr. Ralter was saying. “And Charlie, this will be your moment to practice bedside manner, all right? I want you to make this patient feel that silly little thing called hope. She’s been through a lot, and you’re a good-looking chap. Make her feel beautiful.”
Megan quickly stuck her tongue out at Charlie when no one else was looking. In her opinion, that was a point for her. Now they were even.
“Very mature,” Charlie said, but his characteristic scowl was tempered somehow, like he was holding back a smile. He looked downright personable.
Kayla noticed, and she sidled up next to Megan to whisper, “You were with him, weren’t you?” She nodded toward Charlie.
Megan scoffed unconvincingly. “Please.”
“You were!” Kayla’s eyes got wide. “Ah, I knew there was something there. You two hate each other way too much not to be pining away in secret. That’s how it always works out, you know.”
“Is it?”
Kayla nodded.
“He might have given me a ride home.” Megan tried to save herself, but it was no use.
“A ride to whose home?” Kayla asked with a wink.
“Oh, stop it. You read too many romance novels.”
“You can never read too many romance novels.”
She had a point there, and Megan didn’t argue against it. Instead, she spent the rest of the day subtly insulting Charlie, hoping Kayla would notice and change her assessment. Of course, by the end of the day, Kayla had become more certain than ever that there was a secret affair happening right under her nose, and the thing was, she wasn’t wrong.
That evening, Megan crept into her apartment like a teenager who had stayed out too late. Her mother was sitting up at the dining table, waiting for her exactly the way the mother of a teenager who had stayed out too late might be waiting. The kitchen was clean, so maybe it had been a good night. On the other hand, Megan had been gone for two days, so maybe her mother hadn’t eaten at all.
“Where were you?” Sadie asked with that look in her eyes that Megan knew so well. It was some combination of I love you and how dare you , and Megan had been seeing it since she was still young enough to be playing with dolls.
“I’m so sorry,” Megan grabbed a bowl and poured herself some dry cereal. It was late, she was too tired to cook, and she wasn’t about to ask her mother to make something for her. “The other residents invited me to go out for a drink. I only had one, you know. But I think it was still too much.”
“You should have called or texted.”
“I know,” Megan said, watching the milk splash into her bowl. She couldn’t stand to look directly at her mother. “I just wasn’t thinking.”
“Mm-hm.” Sadie leaned back in her chair. “And what were you doing instead of thinking?”
Megan blushed and opted to change the subject instead of answer. “Did you get anything to eat today?”
“Snacks mostly.”
“Eat this.” She handed the cereal to her mother. “I’ll pour more for me.”
The kitchen was too quiet while Megan poured her own bowl of cereal and sat down across from her mother. “Mom, can I ask you something?”
“Of course, Megan. You know you can always talk to me about anything. You’re my daughter, and nothing’s going to change that, even if you do forget to text me and stay out all night.” She laughed, and her laugh put Megan at ease a little.
It was true. For most of her life, Megan’s mother had been as much of a best friend to her as anyone was. She told Sadie things none of her friends could ever tell their mothers. And Sadie never judged her. Oh, she’d speak her mind and give her advice, even if it wasn’t what Megan wanted to hear, but no matter what Megan talked about, she never saw the kind of disappointment and judgement her friends feared from their own parents. And that made her think of Charlie. It was clear the expectations of his own family were massive, and the consequences for not meeting those expectations were far from simple.
“I was with a date,” Megan admitted.
Her mother’s smile grew and grew. “I knew you’d met someone! I told the neighbors that’s probably why you were out — I was so sure of it. Ooh, tell me everything. It’s been so long since I dated. I have to live vicariously through you.”
“Okay, you’ve got me.” Megan smiled a half smile and looked back down at her cereal. “But it’s not what you think. I’m not smitten with him or anything. In fact, we kind of hate each other.”
“Oh?” Sadie leaned over her bowl. “Are you sure you’re not in denial?”
Megan laughed. “About what? The guy’s a privileged asshole. I mean he’s a hot, rich, privileged asshole, but he’s an asshole all the same. We were just blowing off steam really. Could’ve been anyone.”
“But it wasn’t anyone.”
“He just happened to be there.” Her mother’s look was enough to tell Megan she wasn’t buying it. Sometimes, it was inconvenient to have a parent know you so well. “Okay, fine. You win. It’s been building for a while. He and I have been in some kind of deranged competition lately. It’s been sort of good for motivation, I guess. I’m determined to beat him, and that’s giving me energy. The trouble is that he’s… well, he’s…”
“Hot?”
“Yeah, attractive.” Megan blushed again. “Turns out he feels the same way about me. He hates me, but he’s attracted to me.”
“He thinks you’re his sexy librarian.”
Megan nodded.
Sadie beamed. “I told you so! Now do you believe me?”
“Mom…” Megan did her best to calm her mom’s enthusiasm, but it was also a good sign. Anything that gave her energy, happiness, a little pep in her step was worth whatever embarrassment Megan wound up feeling as a result. “Okay, well, we… blew off a little steam last night, if you know what I mean. But it doesn’t mean anything. We both still hate each other, so things aren’t going to change much.”
“You keep telling yourself that, sweetheart, and maybe one day it will be true.” Sadie’s smile was way too knowing. “You’ve always been secretly complicated. I know you. You wear a squishy exterior shell, so people won’t think badly of you, but you’ve got this concrete wall under that, and you won’t let anyone past it.” She took a bite of her cereal and waited for Megan to respond.
When Megan didn’t, Sadie went on. “Your father was the same. Didn’t let anyone in for fear of getting hurt. Maybe this man you were with last night is the same, too. Maybe you both put up a wall and won’t let anyone in for fear that you might get hurt. Maybe his wall is just out in the open, while you keep yours covered in cotton candy.”
Megan’s cereal was getting soggy as she stared across the table at her mother, who may have just uttered the most profound thing she’d heard in years, even if it was a cotton-candy metaphor.