O'Connell Bridge - Pt. 10

“Really Cait, two weeks in Ireland, I guess. My reservations are for a hotel in Dublin—the Ashling. The travel agent said it is a four star.”

“Totally cool, LC. Sounds like fun.” Caitlin was half listening, half reading a textbook. “I love hearing these events, but honey I have a final, you remember those.”

“When’s your final?”

“Today at 6 PM, it’s the night class. Last one.”

“Okay, am out of here. Let me know when you’re done.”

“Check.” She raised a pencil.

LC eased out of the apartment and climbed the stairs. He didn’t have to work, but he wanted to keep the same hours, so he settled onto the couch and picked up a game controller. “Naw.”

He leaned his head back and dozed.

His roommates came and went, he acknowledged them, and promptly went back to sleep. Sometime around 9 PM, he felt soft hands on his cheeks.

“You need to brush your teeth and gargle before I kiss you.” Caitlin pulled on his arm.

LC stumbled to the bathroom and brushed his teeth and finally woke up. He gargled and half spit and half swallowed the mouthwash. Caitlin was sitting on the couch cross-legged.

“You may kiss me now. Nobody is home but us. Mac is at work; Arthur is studying at the library, so he says. Betty Jo is out with Todd. I finished my final and now am footloose and fancy free, so kiss me and get it over with.”

“No.”

Cait hopped off the couch. “Why.”

LC grinned. “Cause you’re on the couch with your legs crossed, which, as anyone knows, is a defensive position.”

She jumped up. “As if I have anything to worry about. Okay, I’m standing, now what?”

“Pull a cushion off of the couch and put it on the floor.”

“You’re kidding.”

“I never kid when it comes to a serious kiss.” LC crossed his arms.

Caitlin pulled a cushion off of the couch and placed it on the floor at LC’s feet. “Will there be anything else, master?”

“Yes, stand on the cushion and kiss me.”

“Yes sir.” She stepped up on the cushion, which improved her height about two inches.

“LC bent down and kissed her paternally.”

“You do that again and I’ll kick you where it hurts.”

He immediately picked her up and wrapped his arms around her and kissed her passionately. When he released her, she gazed up at him.

“Kiss me like that again and I know what we can use this cushion for.”

LC put his hands on her buttocks and lifted her to his height. “Now what was that again?” He kissed her deeply and with as much passion as he could gather in the awkward position.

Caitlin whispered, “We don’t need no stinking cushion.” She wrapped her legs around him and held onto his head and neck.

His phone rang and he tried to ignore it. Finally, he answered.

The frantic caller said, “LC we have a bus wreck and church mini van wreck coming in, I think it’s a header. Kids from a baseball team, Surf City, plus a pastor and a couple of others. We need all hands. Ambulances are on way as I speak and the helicopter just arrived with a patient not having time to make it to the main hospital. Staff coming from NH, but we need you.”

“I’m on my way.” He hung up.

Caitlin looked worried. “What’s wrong?”

“Bus wreck—kids.”

“Go.” She pointed at the door. “Take your scrubs with you, you can change there.”

LC grabbed scrubs out of the drawer and ran out of the apartment. He hardly noticed Caitlin straightening the table and putting the couch back together.

At 5:30 the next morning, he clocked out. He would have to take comp time, as overtime was frowned upon.

By 6 AM, he was sitting in Waffle House feeling drained. “Suzi if you propositioned me right now I would certainly go home with you, but fall asleep and wake in two days.”

“That’d do me no good, Liam. I like my men to be active. My first husband was like that. Come home and sleep half the night on the couch. Never said 10 words in his life; after the 'I do,' it was just snoring.” She poured his coffee and then moved to serve two other customers.

The text read: “Proud of you.” Again it was from an abbreviated address. A second text came in while he was holding his phone. “Trust me.”

LC shoved his phone in his scrubs shirt pocket. “Whatever.” He sipped his coffee and watched customers until after 6:30 and then headed for his apartment. Arthur and Mac were seated at the bar eating sweet Danishes and watching Sports Center. “Hey guys,” said LC as he dragged his bag of clothes into his room. “Got called in cause of a bus wreck in Surf City.”

Mac looked up. “It was on the news last night. Twenty kids, four coaches, and two mother volunteer sponsors hit a full church van, most of them except the preacher and another man, who was driving, are okay. Anything serious?”

“Most were transferred. We had one who almost checked out, but the docs finally got enough blood into him and it appeared they closed the wounds. I cleaned up blood all night.”

Arthur looked up from eating. “You the only orderly working?”

“Naw the three other guys were doing what I was doing plus. We were totally slammed and, with the normal caseload, it didn’t ease up. Even when I was forced to leave, it was still busy. The doctor ordered me out. Too many fat guys decided to have cardio events last night right in the middle of the rest of the mess. Plus we had a shooting come in about 3 AM.”

Mac looked up. “Was there a full moon?”

“I’m going to bed. Officially, I’m off tomorrow, so don’t worry about waking me.”

Mac pointed with a Danish. “Turn off your phone.”

“Can’t. Technically, I’m on call for emergencies.”

Arthur licked a finger. “Sucker work.”

LC kicked off his scrubs and added them to the pile of dirty clothes.

Mid-afternoon he got up and fixed himself a hotdog. They had no buns so he just wrapped the dog in bread and flopped down on the couch in his underwear.

The front door opened and Caitlin came in carrying a prepackaged salad and a beer.

LC pointed with his hotdog. “That’s an oxymoron.”

Caitlin took a drink of her beer. “I’ll remember that when they pump your stomach for eating a hotdog on stale bread.”

LC recounted his night of ER duties and Caitlin listened without comment. Finally she leaned over and kissed him.

“You have hot dog lips.”

“And you have Italian dressing lips.”

“You’re wearing only your underwear.”

“You’re wearing a see through blouse.”

“I’m wearing a bra.”

“Yeah, sexy.”

“You’re terrible.”

LC tried to kiss her again, but she moved away. “What?”

“You also stink. Take a shower.”

“Will you take a shower with me?”

“LC behave.”

“Well, I had to ask.”

“No, you didn’t. You knew I would not jump in the shower with you this evening with roommates lurking about to appear at any time. You have the timing of a blind cat jumping in a box.”

He laughed and walked to his room. “You never know.” He picked up clean clothes and a towel and started to the bathroom.

“I like the boxers,” Caitlin held her hand to her forehead as if to get a better view and leaned back on the couch. “They’re cute, the little ducky design I mean.”

LC pulled on the flap as he walked to the bathroom. “Last time I let you choose my underwear at Belk.”

Ten minutes later, he walked out of the bathroom freshly bathed and dressed. Caitlin was not in the apartment.

He walked out on the porch and couldn’t see Caitlin’s car in its usual parking spot. Arthur and Mac’s vehicles were gone too. He trotted down the stairs and saw Betty Jo in the kitchen of the girl’s apartment. He knocked on the door and stepped in. “Hey.”

“Hey LC. She’s not here.”

“Didn’t see her car. You’re not working tonight?”

“Nope. Todd and I are going out for pizza later. Thought we would drop in on Mac and give him a hard time.”

“That’s a great idea. Say, do you know where Cait went?”

“She said something about Walgreens; sorry that’s all I know. Hey LC, you two are getting pretty thick, any chance of something more permanent?”

“Wow, you’re perceptive. Yeah, I’d like that but not till I know where I’m going to school. It wouldn’t be fair to her to make pseudo permanent arrangements when I know I may be in Kalamazoo for the next eight years.”

“True to some extent. But still.”

“Actually, when I get back in July, you know from this trip, I want to talk to her about our future, but I’m really on a pinhead right now. I can’t, you know,” he stumbled in his speech. “Without the ability to commit to anything longer than the next paycheck, which I may not have after my vacation. If you’re talking about a ring or something, I will have to save bottle caps or take in laundry. I haven’t a clue what I’m going to do. Maybe be a greeter at WalMart.”

“You’re too young.” Betty Jo walked into the living room. “Really LC, if you can’t commit to a relationship.” She paused. “Maybe its just men. I should talk; I try to chat with Todd and all I get is macho car talk. I think he wants a wife to support his automobile habit. We are going to have a sit down talk about that this weekend, but tonight he’s buying dinner.” She giggled. “Terrible isn’t it?” Betty Jo looked out the window. “I just need to find the right time to discuss these things with him.”

“Seemed like a nice guy to me.”

“You’re right there. But, you don’t really know him. He’s a car salesman for one of the biggies, and I don’t remember which. He wants me to meet his mama; she lives like in Farmville or somewhere in that area. Anyway, we’re going to run up there next weekend, he’s off on Sundays.” She grinned, “that’s a good sign isn’t it?’

“Oh, yes, Betty Jo. If guy wants you to meet his mother, I would think he is looking for approval to take the next step or acceptance for some decision he already made.”

“Could be; but I doubt there’s a ring in the pizza. You know, an eight-carat on a bread stick. Oh, there he is. You can stay if you want. Cait should be here pretty soon.” She grabbed her purse and ran out to the waiting Lexus.

“Grab that one, Betty Jo,” LC said to the door as it closed.

LC sat on the couch and looked at the various magazines the girls kept strewn on the coffee table. After 30 minutes, he got up and trotted up the stairs. His text read, “Do exactly as I say.”

He bounced around the apartment, dozed and finally drove to Taco Bell for something to eat. “No new texts, I guess I don’t have to look over my shoulder.”

“Hey LC.”

“Oh, hey Murph. No banquet tonight?”

“Early banquet. The group is meeting right now. Bunch of Pharma reps, they’ll probably drink the night away and pour tips to the cheeky bar maids. I thought I would get some tacos, stop by Food Kitty, get some beers, and make a night of it. Hey, might as well join me. There’s a special on Netflix.”

“Yeah, let's do that—at least for a beer or two. Gotta stay on schedule as much as possible.”

“You have a screwy job. Meet ya back at the apartment. Give me a few minutes to bounce a check at Food Kitty.”

“Got it.”

LC drove back to his apartment. There were no lights on in the girl’s apartment so he sat on the steps and waited for Murphy.

“Hey Murph,” LC said as the neighbor approached. “I see you have a blessed 12 of beer.”

“And a bag of tacos. Come on in, I paid my cable bill so we’re watching a Netflix special tonight.”

“So you said. What is it?”

“Haven’t got an idea. Just saw that there was a special on. Tacos and beer and probably nudie women or something.”

“Murph, I think it’s a sports special.”

“Oh.”

“Speaking of sports, your favorite squeeze came home about an hour ago and went immediately in saying something about a splitting headache. I think she went straight to bed.”

“Give me a beer.”

To be continued...