Brothers in Blue: The First Love Match Read online

  “Well, I was in a two year relationship until about 7 months ago. My girlfriend broke up with me and told me I was too stuck in my ways and that I was boring. The boring thing hurt the most, it seemed like she really liked to do all of the things I did, like training Mallard and going to the park, camping, swimming and spending time with our friends and family, but it turned out she hated it all. She claimed that in the last six months of our relationship pretty much every second we spent together made her miserable. I really don’t’ even know why she dated me for so long.”

  “Maybe it was because you’re incredibly attractive and you have it all together, a house, career, that can make someone overlook a lot.”

  “I like that you said the incredibly attractive part. Do you find me incredibly attractive? Oh there’s that blushing, that answers it for me. And just so you know, I also find you incredibly attractive.”

  Ariel looked up only to realize that he had moved over closer to her on the couch and she was looking right into his eyes. He leaned forward and she could smell his soap and it smelled crisp and masculine and he leaned a little closer as his hand slid along her shoulder to her neck. He gently pulled her towards him and she closed her eyes and felt his lips on hers. Forget the electrical tension in the room, this was a full on lightning storm. His lips were warm and soft and he was kissing her gently. She let herself relax while he took over. It felt safe to have him kiss her and hold her like this. The kind of safe that once you have it you never want to let it go. After a few minutes he deepened the kiss, just a little more hungrily as his tongue nudged her lips apart and she let him enter her mouth with a little moan of contentment. She was leaning back against the high arm rest on the couch now and he over her, kissing her. His tongue was slowly stroking inside her mouth while his hands rubbed over her neck and shoulders. She had one hand clutched in his hair and the other wrapped under his arm, clutching him to her, holding him so tight it hurt her hand. She wasn’t sure how her hands had become so tightly clutched to his body but she wasn’t complaining. One of his hands traveled down from her shoulder and rubbed her side slowly, stopping at her hip and going back up, the back of his hand brushing over her breast. Just that little bit of contact caused her to moan out loud into his mouth. It seemed painful to him but at that point he broke contact with her and waited for her to open her eyes and look up at him.

  “Ariel, do you want me to stop?”

  “I really don’t want you to, but I don’t want to rush into things. Can’t we keep doing what we’ve been doing?”

  “I’m also really enjoying myself, but honey, if this goes much longer, or much further, I’m afraid things are going to happen pretty fast, not that I mind, but I don’t want you to feel pressured or to do anything you might regret.”

  In all honesty at that moment in time, Ariel was more than willing to give up her virginity, it seemed like something that wasn’t such a big deal now that she was a little older. Sure, waiting till marriage seemed like a great idea and she was sure there would be some spiritual repercussions, but she had waited a really long time already and she had a feeling that letting John be her first lover would be something she would not regret.

  “I don’t want to stop, but, I have to tell you something first and you have to promise not to freak out.”

  Mike’s face seemed frozen, he was unsure now and Ariel had a feeling uncertainty was a rare feeling for him. Mustering her courage Ariel plunged forward while staring down at her hands.

  “I know that this might sound a little bit silly to you, since I’m 22 and all, but, ummm . .. well, I’m a virgin.”

  You could have heard a pin drop in that living room. The muted TV is all Ariel could focus on. She watched the smiling actress demonstrate how to apply a wallpaper paste to walls of a lovely Victorian style home. Ariel felt Mike withdrawing from her. Not that she was shocked by any means, but it still hurt. And he still had not responded.

  Clearing his throat, once, then twice, Mike finally spoke up.

  “That was certainly not what I expected you to say. I was prepared to hear that you had some sort of incurable disease, but not that. No wonder you wanted to take things slow in the past. I understand and I don’t think that we should finish what we were about to start today.”

  Mike stood, Mallard and Bruno also got up following him to the French doors that led outside. It seemed that his decision was final. Ariel was busy cursing herself while she sat on the couch. He was probably right, but that didn’t mean that there was something wrong with her, she wasn’t a leper or something. He had gotten up so quickly that it seemed to her as if he had run for the outside. After a few minutes he poked his head in the door.

  “Aren’t you going to come outside?”

  Rousing herself Ariel went outside to work with Bruno.

  Over an hour had gone by, the dogs were hot and tired, moving a little more sluggishly and John refilled the water bowls under the shade tree. It sure seemed like he was going to pretend that Ariel and her admission just hadn’t happened. That might be easy for him to do, but Ariel had never in her life been kissed the way that John kissed her. Virgin or not she knew that John made her feel amazing.

  “You ready to go and get some lunch?”

  Glancing up Ariel saw him watching her from across the outdoor patio table where he had sat. He seemed to be studying her and she realized that she had just been sitting there staring at her hands. It was awkward now. She didn’t want to go to lunch and pretend like everything was ok when she would probably never hear from him again. It seemed like he wanted to keep distance between them.

  “I think I should head home with Bruno and finish up some laundry and errands before going back to work tomorrow.”

  There that sounded valid, and she didn’t sound like she was disappointed, she would keep that on in the inside. Leaving now was the easiest way to end things without her being embarrassed or seeming like she was hurt by John’s rejection. Getting up she went inside the house before John had even responded to her words. She called for Bruno over her shoulder seeing John get up to trail behind her.

  She was at the front door unlocking it with her purse and keys in her hand when John put his hand on the door above her head.

  “Everything ok with you?”

  “Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?”

  “Well for starters you won’t even look at me.”

  Turning slightly she looked up and he was looking at her face as if expecting it was going to somehow tell him something new and different than what her mouth was saying.

  “Have a good day John, thank you for everything you’ve done with Bruno.”

  He had moved his hand off of the door and she swung it open easily. She led Bruno out the door and turned only after she had opened the passenger door for Bruno and watched him settle down into the seat. John had come outside after her onto the front porch area, and he looked good. His white t-shirt clung to his muscled torso and Ariel found herself studying him as she climbed into her seat and put the car into reverse. What would it have felt like to run her hands over those bare muscles and that perfectly tanned skin? John was standing on the porch still and as her eyes slid up to meet his face he waved, obviously not wanting to go back inside until he saw her drive away. He’s probably thinking good riddance; at least I don’t have to waste time on the virgin. She sighed to herself. Bruno chose that moment to lick the side of her face and she swatted him away feeling frustrated by the whole situation.

  For the rest of the afternoon Ariel spent her time staying busy, doing laundry, re planting a few flowers and starting a crock pot of chili for her and Sean to eat when he got home from school. She did whatever she could to keep her thoughts off of John. That was over and she just needed to move on. So what if he was really hot and she really liked him and had just this morning pretty much offered her virginity to him. She felt stupid, it had been humiliating, he probably thought she was a slut, or even worse, desperate. They hadn’t even been on a real date yet
and here she was acting practically throwing herself at him willingly. She felt her stomach turn with the shame. He probably thought the worst of her at this point, and she deserved it.

  Dinner with Sean was good, as it usually was. The chili was tasty and the banter that they shared helped the evening go by faster. Before she knew it the time was past 8pm and Ariel went into her room to watch TV and relax before falling asleep. She tried to go bed a little earlier on her days off, it helped to make her feel more rested when she was working really long days like she would be the next day. She snuggled in bed and patted the spot next to her inviting Bruno to join her. He hopped up and after turning around three times he settled into a spot on the quilt beside her. Checking her email and sending a quick note to her mom she decided it was time to turn in for the evening. She clicked off the TV and quickly fell asleep.

  Work on Friday was busy. There must be a full moon out there or something. The Psych unit was already full when she arrived and stayed full throughout her shift. The rest of the ER was also teeming with patients. Thankfully, even though the police brought in a few patients none of the officers were John. She wasn’t so sure she was ready to face him just yet. It would be a little awkward at first but she would just pretend like she didn’t know him outside of work. That was the plan at least. She was pretty sure he would play along. Late in the evening Ariel was called into the locked unit to try and talk to a patient who wasn’t coming up in the hospitals database, but the nurses were pretty sure he had been in before. He was obviously on some sort of drug, his pupils were dilated and he was scratching his arms with his nails, rivulets of blood were dripping onto the floor. After entering his room, he stood up and approached Ariel slowly while muttering to himself, walking towards the door like she wasn’t even in front of him.

  “Hello? My name is Ariel and I’m from the ER registration team.”

  The man turned and for the first time seemed to see her.

  “I just have a few questions for you so we can get your paperwork going.”

  “Your shirt makes my eyes feel all crazy.”

  Ok, this wasn’t going to be an easy registration.

  “I’m sorry, I have a plain sweater outside in the main ER, would you like me to go get that?”

  The man nodded and Ariel backed out of the room. She had learned some months ago that it was never a good idea to have her back to someone in this unit. The video camera with the red light in the upper corner of the room was a small comfort, but it all depended on how fast staff members could get to her if something went wrong while she was with an unstable patient. Heading back into the ER she retrieved her sweater and went back into the unit to see the patient again. Then the alarm went off. A code gray was called for the Psych unit. A code gray means that there is an incident occurring where all free staff members needed to respond to the area called due to a staff or patient being in danger, this usually meant someone was resisting or fighting with staff and needed to be restrained. This also meant that the doors to the Psych unit would be automatically locked and all staff in the unit would be the ones responding to whatever had happened. Proceeding down the hall Ariel saw a small crowd outside of the room she had just been in. Apparently her mystery patient had somehow climbed into the ceiling panels and was crawling around in the ventilation system above the Psych unit. Luckily, this portion of the ventilation system was only for the Psych unit so he couldn’t get into any other part of the hospital. The security guards were discussing among themselves who was going to climb up there and try to get him. Ariel sighed and went into the nursing units desk area to sit down and rest her tired feet. She was supposed to get off of work in fifteen minutes, but if she was locked in here that wasn’t going to happen. She called her night supervisor to advise her of what was going on in the unit and was basically told she would have to wait it out, she had tomorrow off anyways so at least she didn’t have to worry about getting up. A few hours of overtime pay would be a nice addition to her paycheck anyhow.

  While sitting around and doing nothing she decided to go ahead and check her email. A note from her mom asking if she wanted to meet in Ellenton at the outlet malls tomorrow and have some shopping time and lunch. She responded that yes, lunch sounded wonderful. A note from her friend Melissa asking if she was going to be in town anytime soon, maybe they could get together and see a movie or have a girls night. She responded that she wasn’t sure when, but she would call Mel before she came home the next time. The last email in her inbox was from John. No subject, and that already had her nervous. She didn’t want to open the email, what if it was John just saying good bye or telling her that she had acted in a ridiculous way. Or maybe he wanted to chastise her for her wanton behavior yesterday. She decided to wait and open it at home. Logging out of her personal email she sat and stared at the clock for awhile, chatted with the nurses a bit and in the back of her mind, the entire time all she could think about was this subjectless email waiting for her to read it. Sitting back down at the desk she logged in again and clicked on the email.

  Ariel-

  I’m sorry about yesterday and how I reacted. I still wanted to have lunch with you and I wasn’t sure why you left in such a hurry. I was hoping it would be ok if I could give you phone call when you left work tonight.

  John

  Since the night was pretty much over, the clock showed it was 4:47am right now, and Ariel suspected she would be sleeping until after noon on her day off she decided to just respond.

  Hi John-

  I wasn’t sure whether or not you still wanted to have lunch with me. I didn’t want you to waste your time. Tonight there was an incident at work so I am still here and it looks like it may be a little longer before I get to leave. If you want to talk you can call me tomorrow, I’ll probably be up after noon.

  -Ariel

  She included her phone number and hit the send button. So it would seem that he did want to talk to her again, or at least try to smooth over the situation. Probably because they would be running into each other now and again, she didn’t want it to be weird either. One of the nurses came and told her that the code gray had ended and the patient returned safely to his room. Ariel got up to clock out and go home.

  The next morning Ariel kept hearing this annoying sound. She reached over automatically slapping her alarm clock knowing that if she hit it enough times she would certainly hit the snooze button one of those times. The noise did stop. Thank goodness. She rolled over and went back to sleep. The scratching at the door to her room woke her a few hours later. Bruno. Sighing Ariel hauled herself out of bed and noticed that it wasn’t even bright outside. Glancing at the clock she saw why, it was already 5pm. She had slept away her entire day off. Starting tomorrow was three days straight of grueling 10 hour shifts. Argh, and not even a decent break in between all of that. It sure didn’t seem fair. After letting Bruno out the events of the past few days entered her mind. Ariel found herself rushing back to her room and seeing that she had two missed calls on her cell phone, both of which were from John. He hadn’t left a message and she knew he was working so she decided to write him an email. He had a laptop in his patrol car and the email address he had given her was his work email address anyhow. She opened up her laptop and typed a quick message.

  John-

  Sorry I missed your calls. I was still asleep. I just woke up a few minutes ago. I didn’t want to call you back while you were working and interrupt you while you were busy. You can call back when you have a chance, if you want.

  -Ariel

  She hit the send button and decided to find herself something to eat for dinner. Not a thing in the fridge was appealing and to be honest she was sick of eating left over chili. Deciding that she would go out to Taco Bell and get something she threw on some sweats and a t-shirt and started out the front door. Sean wasn’t home so he must have left for work already or be spending time at his girlfriends before work. Saucy was staying at his parents for the weekend while he worked so she only had to w
orry about coaxing Bruno into his crate before she left. As she walked out to her car her cell phone rang. John.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi Ariel. So you just woke up?”

  “Yeah, I’m about to get in my car and head out to get something for dinner, I’m tired of the leftovers in my fridge right now.”

  “Do you want a ride?”

  “Huh?”

  “I’m on my meal break right now and I just had a call in your area, I could be there in just a sec and pick you up. We could talk and eat.”

  “Um, I just threw on some sweats, I wasn’t expecting to see anybody.”

  “That’s ok, I just threw on this blue uniform this morning, and I knew I was going to see people all day.”

  Ariel smiled to herself.

  “Ok, come on over. I’ll wait on the front porch.”

  A few seconds later a patrol car came slowly up the street and parked along the curb in front of the house. Ariel approached from the passenger side and heard the door lock click. Opening the door she got inside.

  “Well that was awful quick. I guess I should be glad I get to sit in the front seat”

  “I told you I was in the area, and I was hoping we could talk. It’s always better to talk in person.”

  Ariel felt her stomach flip and appetite disappear. So he came in person to tell her he didn’t want to see her again. This sucked.