***
I stretched until my limbs quivered, as I usually did. It seemed to impress Eva, since she confessed she was unable to stretch like me.
“Long week?” she asked, rolling on her front next to me.
“Sort of. This concierge thing is not as glamorous as it sounds.”
“What do you mean?”
I sighed, already feeling tired of the job. “Yesterday I had to explain to a woman that I don’t do massages, I only recommend solutions for various problems. She didn’t seem to take it very well. I think she complained to the management.”
“Did they say anything to you?”
I shook my head and yawned. “Good thing I found a way to actually use my talents.”
“Oh?”
I waited for Eva to curl up in my arms before settling better myself.
“I’m volunteering at a homeless shelter.”
“Aren’t you the perfect catch?” she said, giggling. “Handsome, impressive lover, heart as big as it can be. Girls must be chasing after you all the time.”
“There are no girls, baby. You’re the only one,” I assured her, kissing her neck, then closed my eyes, ready for a full night’s sleep.
“You seem tired,” Eva said and I had the feeling she wanted to ask me something.
“Umhm.”
“So, a party wouldn’t be something you’d be interested in.”
“Party?”
She turned to face me. “A friend of mine invited me to a sorority party, and she said I can bring a plus one. It think it’s more to do with the fact that everyone wants to meet my mysterious boyfriend.”
“Mysterious?”
“Yeah. You’re not from the campus and everyone thinks I left Alex the Great for you, so they’re curious.”
I smiled, a little flattered. “When’s this party?”
“The day after tomorrow.”
I frowned, going through my schedule in my mind.
“It’s OK if you can’t come.”
“Tomorrow I have a lot of work to do, but I think I can manage to take the day off after. Do you want to go to this party?”
“Kind of.”
I blinked, trying to open my eyes enough to see Eva’s face. She seemed on the brink of disappointment at the possibility that I wouldn’t be able to accompany her. I couldn’t bear the thought of disappointing her.
“I’ll come. I’ll make time.”
“Are you sure?”
I nodded, the struggle to stay awake becoming harder to win.
Eva kissed my lips softly before promising me a nice wake-up present. It was the last thing I heard as I fell asleep, and it made me smile.
In the morning, I hurried out of bed and went straight into the bathroom. A few minutes later I had taken a shower and was ready for my appointment with one of this establishment’s distinguished guests.
Laying my eyes on Eva, sleeping like an angel in my bed, I felt real pain. Her present had to wait, but she looked to tempting to leave. I kissed her forehead, protectively, and pulled myself out of the room.
In the middle of my consultation, she sent me a text notifying me of the fact that she was pouting. Her reasoning was flawless, as she presented her motive being my leaving without waking her up.
I texted her my apologies and promised I’ll make it up at the sorority party. As we both had crazy schedules for the day, there wasn’t any chance of us seeing each other until the next evening.
By lunch, I was too exhausted to be happy about the party, but I had every intention of keeping my promise.
I arranged a day off for tomorrow, thinking that I would sleep in, put in a few hours at the shelter, then get ready to meet Eva at her dorm.
It made sense, it was a good plan; if not for the fatigue following me all day through my appointments, and the gallons of coffee barely keeping me awake, I would’ve actually been excited about my plan.
“How are you today, Sir?” the nice waitress asked me, as she poured me another coffee.
“Same as yesterday, only more tired.”
She smiled warmly. “You look like you’ve had plenty of coffee today. Are you sure you want another cup?”
“Keeps me going, what can I say?”
“How about I make you a nice tea?”
I glanced at my watch. It was already late in the afternoon so anymore caffeine would interfere with my sleep.
“Sure. Why not?” I finally said and watched her take away my coffee. I was already regretting my decision, as I wasn't quite sure I would be awake enough to get through my last two consultations.
It seemed that a bridal party had heard about my services and every lady wanted me to see them, looking for recommendations on cosmetic treatments. It was simply useless to point out I was not a dermatologist, they wouldn’t have it.
“Here. I made it to go.”
“Thanks.” I paid for my tea, smiled at the waitress and left for the elevators.
I miraculously survived the rest of the evening without any incidents and soon found myself back in my room. A warm shower had never felt this good before. I thanked the gods of hot water and modern plumbing as I shampooed my hair, then wrapped myself in a soft towel, brushed my teeth and crushed into bed.
I could barely see the screen as I texted Eva good night.
The surprising thing about working myself to the point where I slept like a comatose person was that I always woke up fully energized and in the best spirits. It was almost worth it to exhaust every ounce of energy in my body, only to enjoy the feeling of a restful morning.
Despite planning to sleep in, couldn’t stay in bed past nine o’clock.
Eva was busy with classes, so I soon found myself bored out of my mind.
“Stop being so dramatic and just go for a walk or something,” was Eva’s sensible advice, followed by an assortment of emojis.
Joking aside, she was right, so I went for a run before my shift at the shelter.
As I got there, I was happy to notice that it wouldn’t be a crowded day. Everything went smoothly, a few scratches, one or two dog bites, the usual coughs — all in a good day’s work.
I was actually whistling at the end of my shift. I put my jacket on, grabbed my bag and headed for the door. Then, an ear piercing scream happened and I knew my day was about to be screwed.
“Doctor Morris, Sheila’s water broke!” my nurse shouted as she ran past me.
“Great,” I muttered. “I’m coming!”
Between assisting Sheila and convincing the 911 operator this wasn’t a prank, I managed to be half an hour late with my schedule. Eva would kill me.
Finally free of my duties, I haled a cab, ran to my room, took the shortest shower in human history and got dressed as fast as I could. I was still late.
When I finally knocked on Eva’s door, I was actually worried she might be mad at me.
“I know you have a good explanation for being thirty minutes late. I know you do, honey, you wouldn’t stand me up like this,” she said to me as I stepped into her room.
Her words made sense, and sounded kind, but her tone scolded me. The fact that she was standing in the middle of the room with her hands balled up on her hips didn’t deter me from dropping my jaw at her beauty.
She was all dolled up, wearing a burgundy dress that hugged her perfect figure without looking cheap, with very discrete makeup and black suede stilettos.
“You look amazing,” I said without realizing it might seem like I was changing the subject.
“Thank you. Now, explain yourself.”
She wasn’t joking. She had crossed her arms and was tapping her foot, demanding an answer.
“Sorry. A woman went into labor as I was leaving and I had to stay and help her out. The 911 woman didn’t seem really helpful as soon as I mentioned the name of the shelter. I’m really sorry, baby...”
“Oh, my God. Is she alright? How’s the baby?”
“She’s... I don’t know, the baby is probably still on his way.”
“I’m sorry, babe. I didn’t mean to be a bitch.”
She came to me and wrapped her arms around my neck, genuinely sorry.
“I was only joking, I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“It’s alright, baby, you didn’t know. Besides, you’re right, I am late. Now, shall we go?”
She nodded and took my arm.
“Don’t you need a coat? Kinda cold outside,” I pointed out.
“Oh, sure.”
As soon as she grabbed her coat, we hurried out the door and across campus. The sorority house was decorated heavily and it made me wonder how much electricity was being used to power all those flashy lights.
“So, this is a sorority house party, eh?” I mumbled as we stepped into the noisy living room. The party seemed to be going pretty well, by the looks of it.
“You never been to a sorority party?”
I pulled Eva out of the way of a very drunk frat boy before saying that college parties had never made it on my bucket list.
“You’re such a prude,” she laughed and lead me to the queen bee; or whatever they called the boss of a sorority house.
“Hey, Gemma!”
“You made it!” the classy looking girl shouted over the music.
“Yeah. This is my boyfriend, David!”
“Nice to meet you, handsome!”
I only nodded, deciding to preserve my vocal cords in case all the electricity caused a fire and I needed to yell for help.
For the next half an hour, Eva walked me through various rooms, in her quest to present me to all her friends. Good thing they had plenty of whiskey around.
“I’m starting to feel like a trophy boyfriend or something,” I whispered in Eva’s ear. She pressed herself against me, the warmth of her body seeping through my skin and starting my blood into a rush.
“You are, pretty boy,” she whispered back, giving me the worst case of goose bumps.
“Hey, aren’t you going to present this mysterious guy to me?” a petite girl asked, tapping Eva’s shoulder. I could see her expression changing into something that looked like discomfort at the least.
“Who’s this girl, babe?” I asked, protectively pulling Eva by the wrist towards me.
“David, this is Maggie. My boyfriend, David,” Eva made the introduction. I felt like she meant for me to understand something from her words, but I couldn’t quite see it.
“Hi, Maggie,” I said, shaking her hand. My frown must’ve spoken of my lack of information.
“I’m Alex’s sister,” Maggie took it upon herself to explain. “Eva didn’t mention me?”
“Oh. Nice to meet you, Maggie. I think she must’ve told me but I forgot. My apologies.”
Eva hadn’t told me about Alex having a sister, let alone her name, but I lied nonetheless. She looked uncomfortable and my job was to make her feel better.
“Aw, that’s so mean,” Maggie pouted. She looked comical, like a little girl trying to blackmail a grown up. It made me smile. “Can I steal your girlfriend for a minute, David?”
She batted her lashes flirtatiously and I didn’t realize she was still holding my hand until she let go of it to grab Eva’s. I felt guilty instantly and looked away. Eva only threw me a disappointed glance before leaving with Maggie.
“I’m a fucking moron,” I muttered under my breath and went in search for another whiskey.
From where I was standing, I couldn’t see Eva. I panicked for a second, then I saw Maggie making her way towards me.
“Oh, my God! What are you drinking?”
“Whiskey. It seems to be the only decent drink around here.”
“Oh, no. This is crap in liquid form. Come, I have something better.”
“You do?”
I almost reached for her extended hand, then I realized Eva wasn’t with her.
“Where’s Eva?”
“She’s with friends. I’ll take you back to her once I get you sorted with some good booze.”
I squinted at her, suspicious.
“Oh, come on! She’s right there. See?”
I followed her hand and saw Eva talking to a tall girl. She seemed fairly happy and in no immediate danger. Besides, the whiskey was truly bad.
“Sure. But make is fast, I don’t want to get lost in this jungle.”
“Don’t worry, pretty boy.”
Seeing that I was reluctant to take her hand, she resigned to just walking ahead of me. I followed her up some stairs and into what looked like a dorm room.
Judging by the multitude of framed pictures of her and various tiny dogs, I concluded that this must’ve been her room.
“Are you even allowed to have alcohol in this place?”
“Please,” she said, rolling her eyes. She managed to be childishly pretty even doing that. I suspected she was the sort of woman men would kill for and that the moment she batted her lashes at someone, they’d be under her spell.
While she fiddled with the bottle, I paced around the room, admiring how she had managed to gather more shades of pink than I knew existed and combined them into an appealing girly mosaic. She knew her stuff.
“Here. You like my room?”
I took my first sip and thanked God she was a nice person.
“This thing is amazing!” was all I could say before I enjoyed two more sips. “Must’ve been expensive.”
“Meh. Daddy paid for it.”
“Of course.”
She giggled, never breaking eye contact. She had a way of hypnotizing with a glance. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought she was a witch.
“So, who are you?” she asked. “David Morris.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to have this conversation elsewhere? Eva must be looking for me.”
“Oh, she knows you’re here. I told her I would get you the good whiskey.”
“Really?”
“Umhm.”
She sat down on her bed, obviously in no mood to get back to the party. She wanted me to talk.
“I’m a doctor. Well, a resident for now.”
“Wow. And you still have time for college parties.”
“I’m on sabbatical.”
“Oh?”
Out of habit, I sat next to her. The alcohol must’ve gotten to me, as I was starting to feel dizzy.
“I reported someone for abusing their kid and they hit me with their car. Nothing glamorous.”
Her perfectly arched eyebrows rose for a second and there was something in her eyes that looked a lot like regret. Or guilt, perhaps? I couldn’t be sure, I was more preoccupied with fighting off my sudden drunkenness.
“I’m sorry, do you have a case of water? A glass. A glass of whiskey. Water.”
“What?” she said, giggling. Her face stretched weirdly. I shook my head to regain some composure, but it only made me nauseous. “Are you alright, David?”
“I don’t know.”
“Maybe you should lay down for a minute. I think you had a few too many tonight.”
Her voice sounded like it came from far away. I was having trouble recognizing her, she looked so different.
Then, it came the headache. It felt like my head was about to explode. The struggle to stay in control was too much so I let her lay me down. She said something, but I didn’t understand what.
I was trying hard to remember where I was by focusing on the most obvious points I could still distinguish.
There was the light, in the middle of the room. I remembered it had a bouquet of pink roses around it. I could almost see them. Then, there was Maggie, in her pale green dress. Was she laying next to me? It couldn’t be.
I must’ve been hallucinating, as I was now starting to see Eva. She seemed to be in the door. She said something, or Maggie did, then I fell asleep.