Prologue, Chapters 1+2.

Still needs editing and all, but here's a first draft.


PROLOGUE

I smiled at the sight in front of me. It was incredibly early in the morning, so early that everything was silent. The grasshoppers and birds hadn’t even awaken yet, but I just couldn’t fall asleep. I could’ve sat there forever.
I was in our bedroom, in my soft lounge chair with a fleece blanket draped over my lap. There were snowflakes beginning to sprinkle down outside, and the light was softly creeping into the window. On our old, historic bureaus and dressers sat pictures. Pictures dating back nine years ago. There was an old picture of our first date, when we moved in together, and my sister’s renewal of her vows. Old, happy pictures of vacations, parties, or even just hanging around the house.
There were old pictures of my growing belly when I was three, five, eight, and nine months pregnant. There were old pictures of our baby, Charlie, when he was just weeks old. There were pictures of Charlie at every age, all the way up to seven years old, as he is today. Then, there was my favorite picture.
Well, it wasn’t really a picture.
Sitting at the very edge of our dresser was our wedding certificate. We had a tiny picture of the two of us sitting on the corner of the frame. It read:

Certificate of Marriage
Henry Charles Archer to Catherine Margaret Jones

Now known as Catherine Margaret Archer, by the way.
The bed sheets were wrinkled as can be, and I tried to remember the last time they were washed, and failed. The bed was our favorite place to be. It was place to sleep, a place to play, and a place to just be together. Those sheets got worn out every single day. Laying underneath those fleece sheets were my husband, Henry, and our eight year old son Charlie. We’d been playing Monopoly here the night before and Charlie fell fast asleep, so Henry and I finished. I won by a long shot, thank you very much.
I got up from my seat, and sat on the edge of the bed, next to Henry. He was shirtless, and his chestnut brown hair was tossed in each direction, plus a five o’clock shadow was growing on his chin. His lips were slightly turned into a smile, which made my heart flutter.
Charlie, laying right next to him was on his stomach, facing an odd way so that I couldn’t see his face. But he was a spitting image of his father. They did everything the same. They smiled the same, they laughed the same, they talked the same, and they even played the same sports. Just like his father. Just much, much smaller.
I put my hand on his well built stomach and inhaled. The feeling of his chest, moving slowly up and down, the vibration of his heart steadily beating safely inside his chest. After eight years, I still couldn’t believe he was here.
My hand softly moved up his warm, milky white skin until it was stopped by Henry’s hand, now on top of mine. His eyes were still closed, but he was grinning. “Hi.” he whispered.
I locked my fingers with his. “Hi.” I could now see those beautiful, almond brown eyes.
“Whatcha doing?” He yawned.
“Just trying to make sure I’m not dreaming.”

CHAPTER ONE
Nine Years Earlier.
March 21, 2000

I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs as I heard the phone ring again. “Is it her?”
“Yeah!” Cate screamed back. “I’ll tell her you’re on the way…again.”
Our bakery had been closed by that time, and I was running incredibly late for my younger sister’s 22nd birthday party. I was in charge of the cake, of course, since I’m a baker.
Cate is my assistant/employee/best friend. She’s been working with me for three years now and we couldn’t get along better. Right now, she was probably saving me from deafening my sister over the phone.
My sister, Michelle, hated when people were late. Especially for parties. This wasn’t a party that I was looking forward to. My sister is young, going to graduate from college this year. She goes to U Miami, and is home in San Francisco for the summer. Exactly.
“Okay. Yeah, she’s on her way. She’s on. Her. Way. Okay Shelly, okay. Yeah, bye.” Cate sighed loudly. “Leave, before she comes here!”
I was putting the finishing touches on the cake. I was angry, because the cake was still warm and that was terrible for decoration. But it looked beautiful. She’d asked for marble cake, marble frosting with pink and white stripes. Three tiers, and I was almost done. The phone rang again and my veins were about to pop. I knew Michelle was going to give me hell when I got there and frankly, I was thinking about just skipping the whole thing. But the cake was just too beautiful for just me to see.
I threw it in the tallest box I could find, taped it shut and started to fly towards the door. “You got everything here?” I asked Cate as she opened the door for me.
“Don’t worry about it.” she smiled brightly. “I’ll be there in about an hour.”
“Yeah, you better be.” I called as I ran into my awaiting taxi.
“112 Broadway Hill, please.” I told the driver.
My sister was still living with my parents, who’d retired to the nicest part of San Francisco in a huge, country like home in Pacific Heights. We did pretty well growing up. Not the best, but pretty well. We grew up in an old, 70’s style condo at Twin Peaks. Michelle, me, and my older sister Debra used to play in those streets every moment we were awake and not in school. It was great to us, decent to the adults. My father had a desk job that he hated at an old, worn out paper company and my mother was a nurse at the local hospital. Decent money came in, decent kids came out.
Debra is the most successful of their three daughters. In career, that is, not in relationships at any stage at all. Debra was born to be a lawyer, so she became a divorce lawyer. Married a divorce lawyer as well, named Matt. Nice fellow, didn’t really get to know much about him. They started to fight, but didn’t want to give up the huge fortune they had combined in each other’s money. So basically my sister cheats, Matt most likely cheats, and they come home to each other, miserable at night. I can’t say I’m a matchmaker, but even I know that’s screwed up. Wasn’t expecting to see my older sister at this party tonight.
Michelle, like I said before, goes to U Miami. Ever since she was little she’s been the most feminine out of the three of us. She’s always dressed the nicest. She was the captain of the cheerleading team, and of course, had the most boyfriends. I think she might’ve went to junior and senior prom about five times, since she was asked by five different guys a day. This part of my sister made me laugh, because it baffled me that we were related.
Me, the middle child, was middle class. As corny as it sounds, I’ve loved to bake since I was a kid, which is probably why I was a fat kid because I didn’t know that the batter was supposed to stay in the bowl.
My mother would teach me new recipes that her mother had taught her almost every week, and I’d practice and practice until I got it perfect. My family loved me that way, because I was baking pastries almost every night. When I had a good amount of money saved up, I opened my bakery. When my mother was 50, she started to go deaf. She’s completely deaf now, but still as proud as ever. Deb and I tried and failed to learn sign language, but my father mastered it for his wife.
Anyhoo, my parents never spent, saved all their lives, so they went crazy on this house. And when I mean crazy, I mean cra-zy. I never even found out how much they paid because I really didn’t want to know.
Traffic was a mess. Rush hour on a Friday night meant that, of course. I was going insane. I didn’t want to go to a stupid college party, I didn’t want to have to sit their all night and have to hear about how these ninety pound girls are so “fat”. I was just praying and praying that a small, tiny miracle would be sent my way.
But the earlier I got there, the earlier I was allowed to leave. So I paid the driver in the middle of the street, got out, and began to walk up the steep hills of the city. It was only a few more blocks when I turned a corner, and suddenly hit what felt like a brick wall. It was actually a man. A very tall, very built man. My face hit his chest very hard, along with the rest of my body, smashing the cake. It flowed out from the seems of the box and pressed itself right into my black t-shirt. I was completely covered in icing. “Ah, fuck!” I screamed, probably a little too loudly.
The man must’ve apologized about one hundred times by that point. “Are you alright, ma’am? Oh shit, I’m so sorry. This is terrible! I wasn’t looking where I was going- fuck! I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”
There was nothing left to be salvaged. Chunks of marble cake were now falling onto my shoes. “Yeah, yeah I’m fine.”
That was the first time I took to actually look up at his face. He was pale, but his cheeks were dark red with embarrassment, which made me smile. His eyes were almond shaped with a hazel color, and he had short, dark chocolate brown hair. He was staring at me in a way which either said “you look very odd with icing all over your chest” or “you’re very hot”. The man was wearing a white t shirt, jeans and tennis shoes. He was actually very attractive
“I… I really don’t know what to do. Can I buy you another cake? Shirt? A bat so you can hit me over the head. I’m so sorry, miss.”
The whole day had been so fucked up that I just started to laugh, quite loudly actually. The man’s face went blank, and he waited as my fits of laughter continued. “I’m sorry,” I said through my chuckles. “I just had a really bad day.”
I could feel my heart flutter when I first saw the man smile. His face lit up like the sun when he smiled, and for some reason I felt like I wouldn’t forget it for a very long time.
He gently grabbed a piece of cake off my waist and bit into it, and his eyes glowed with delight. “This is fantastic! Where did you get it?”
“I made it.” I said, digging in along with him. “Hey, you’re right. Not half bad.”
“You’re a baker? Shit, now I feel even worse.”
The man was so sensitive and sweet, I actually felt bad that he ran into me. “Don’t feel bad, really. I didn’t want to go to the party this was for anyway. Now I just have to get a taxi back to my bakery covered in cake.”
He shook his head violently back and forth. “No, no you don’t.” he said, as he took of his dress shirt to reveal a white t-shirt underneath.
I smiled brightly, as he handed me his shirt. “I’m Catherine. Catherine Jones.”
“Henry Archer. Very nice to meet you Catherine.”
Well, Henry. I feel like you’re going to change my life. As much as I wanted to say that, I didn’t.
“So, Henry.” I coughed, wrapping his warm shirt around my shoulders. “Would you like to come with me back to my bakery as I try to remake this cake? You, you sort’ve owe me, you know.”
He smirked. “Catherine, I’d love to.”
The sun was almost gone at that point, and Michelle’s party was probably in full bloom. That was the last thing on my mind right then. For some reason, I couldn’t stop thinking about Henry, and how I felt like I’d known him much longer than twenty minutes or so. “So what was the party you were going to?” he asked.
“My sister’s birthday party. My sister’s college birthday party.”
Henry laughed. “Ouch.”
“Exactly.”
He held the door for me as I climbed into an awaiting taxi. “I was about an hour later,” I said. “so I was rushing. Believe me Henry, this was partially my fault.”
Henry smiled at me for about fifteen seconds. “Thank you for being so understanding. This happened once before to me, you know.”
“Oh really?”
“Mhm. Except the person I ran into wasn’t a beautiful young lady,” he flirted. “it was a three hundred pound Italian man.”
“What’d he do?”
“He broke my nose, that’s what he did.”
I grinned. Henry was really sweet, and for some reason it felt like I’d have much more of a nicer Friday night with him than with my own sister.

We arrived at the bakery when it was completely dark, and the night life of San Francisco was just about to begin. Cate was gone, and I suddenly started to feel bad about abandoning her. But Cate’s a big girl, if she sees that I’m not there, she will seriously just walk out.
The driver pulled over, and Henry stopped me from pulling out my wallet. “You’re a walking birthday cake.” he said. “Let me get it.”
A small gesture made a big difference in how much I respected him. I respected him a lot already, and it’d been about an hour since he killed my cake.
We walked inside and I flipped the lights on. “Make yourself at home.” I said. “Hungry? We obviously have plenty of desserts.”
Henry chuckled. “Starved. I was actually on my way to dinner when I ran into you.”
I looked up and felt immediate guilt. “You’re missing a dinner?” I walked over to the door and opened it. “Go.”
There was that beautiful, breathtaking and playful smile again. My goal in life right now: make Henry Archer smile as much as possible.
“No, really.” His smile stuck. “I didn’t want to be there either. Just a bunch of friends and beer.”
I opened the pastry shelf and smiled. “I thought that’s what guys loved.”
“Well, I don’t love to smash peoples’ cakes.”
“You’re being too hard on yourself, really. You actually did me a favor. Instead of being at a college birthday party, I’m here, with you.” Am I flirting?
Henry smiled sweetly as I put a giant plate of chocolate chip cookies on our table. “Milk?”
“Please.”
I grabbed a couple of kid sized milk boxes that I stored in the fridge for kids that came in. “Henry.” I said, relaxing at the table across from him. “Tell me about yourself.”
“Don’t you want to start your cake?”
I smiled flirtatiously. “It can wait.” I really wanted to learn about him.
Henry cleared his throat. “Well, I grew up right here in San Francisco near Castro. Pretty poor when growing up. I’m an only child. My mother worked as a telemarketer and my father was a small business architect, which he still does today. I’ve always been fascinated with architecture. My pop would teach me everything about it when I was little, and of course, I wanted to be just like him. My parents brought in some money, not much. Finished high school then I joined the army to pay for college. Didn’t see any action, came home in a year or so and went to Academy of Art University.”
“You’re an artist!” I said excitedly.
“Architect.” Henry said proudly.
“Well that’s wonderful. Architecture is a wonderful form of art.”
He smiled brightly. “Yes, yes it is. I work out all the time, work on houses here and there around the bay. My mom died when I was seventeen of lung cancer, and my pop is basically the only family I have. We don‘t really get along very well.”
“Why?” I poked.
“Well, every since my mom died he’s been incredibly standoffish with me, as if I’d killed mom or something. Whenever I’d visit, he’d seem incredibly confused as to why, and spend all his time in his drawing room, working on new designs.”
“He loves you.” I reassured. “He’s your father.”
Henry smiled. “You don’t even know him.”
“Yes,” I said, waving a cookie around. “but there’s no reason why he shouldn’t. He’s grieving, and I guess your father hasn’t dealt with his pain very well. He loves you, Henry, I’m sure of it.”
He smiled happily, and I was incredibly glad I said that. But I wanted to learn more about Henry’s dad.
We went through two plates of cookies and five milk boxes each. Hours and hours of hearing about Henry’s fascinating life and with every word I became more attracted to him. He was my tiny little miracle.
“Well Catherine,” Henry’s voice was sore. “I’ve been talking for hours. Let’s hear about yourself.”
I told Henry my story. I talked about my parents, my two sisters and being the middle child. Wanting to be a baker and opening my bakery. He listened carefully, smiling when appropriate and asking lots of questions. I felt safe when I was with him, maybe it was something about him being in the military. But he was different. I was curious to learn more about him. I came from a pretty successful family and loved pastries, Henry came from a lower family and loved buildings and the military.
“Favorite food.” I asked.
Henry hesitated. “Shrimp.”
“Ugh,” I moaned. “I hate shrimp. Sorry.”
“Don’t be.” He chuckled. “Yours?”
“Pizza.”
“Everyone says pizza!” He said excitedly. “So plain.”
“Well excuse me, sir.” I crossed my arms. “But have you ever had Donhue’s?”
Our talking never really died down, but around midnight I thought I should start working on Michelle’s cake so I can go visit her tomorrow. She’ll have a hangover, so hopefully she’ll be much quieter. She won’t when she hears about Henry.
I changed, then I started baking, and Henry watched. He seemed fascinated, and I really don’t know why. I mixed the batters, stuffed them into the oven, and we began to talk again. I felt so comfortable when he was around. One, two, three o’clock in the morning and we never yawned, never had an awkward moment, and never got stiff with each other.
I swear to God, I must’ve known him in another life.
The sun had started to rise when I finally put the finishing touches on the cake. Henry was laying down on the counter, and I could feel his eyes on me. “Well,” I sighed. “that just about does it.”
“You’re amazing.” He said, sitting up. “So much concentration, so much detail.”
I stepped closer to him. He smelled fantastic, like fruit shampoo and cologne. “Well it was kind’ve distracting with your eyes on me the entire time.” Was I saying this out loud?
He stepped so close that our shirts were touching. “I couldn’t help it.”
I wanted to kiss him, but I resisted. It’d only been about ten hours since we’d met, but we’d spent all those hours together. Suddenly, the door to the bakery flew open and I stepped back from Henry. He did the same.
It was Cate. She looked tired and incredibly confused. “Oh! Catherine! Sorry I was just- no- I thought you’d be here. Hi, I’m Cate.” She said to Henry. “I just didn’t see you last night and…now I know why. Okay, I’m leaving.”
I was giggling the entire time, replying in grunts to her comments. Finally, the door closed behind her. Henry was smiling at me, his face turning that slight pink again. “That’s Cate.” I said. “She works here with me, and I guess she was just worried since I didn’t show up last night.”
“So I see.” Henry laughed. “Well, uhm, I guess I should get going. I gotta go out to Seneca Park today.”
I was disappointed to hear this.
“Again,” Henry said. “I’m terribly sorry about what I did. But I guess it turned out for the best. We both got each other.”
That comment warmed my heart. “When can I see you again?”
Henry blushed. “Uhm, I’m free tomorrow afternoon. Too soon?”
“No!” I giggled. “You can find me right here.”
“Great,” Henry said, walking towards the door. “well, I’ll see ya’ around.”
I smiled brightly. “See ya’.”

































CHAPTER TWO

After Henry left, I didn’t really know what to do with my life. He’d been what the last twelve hours of my life revolved around, and it was fantastic. Henry was smart, funny, beautiful, and all around perfect. We got along well, so well that I began to feel like I was in a dream.
Of course Michelle must’ve been furious with me, and Cate was just incredibly confused, so I decided to make myself a cup of coffee and wait for Cate to get in, which only took about a half an hour. Her eyes were bulged, and she looked incredibly frantic.
“Okay,” she said loudly. “explain woman!”
We spent forty minutes in the front kitchen as I told her about the mishap with the cake, the sweet gestures, the talks, the flirting, and the all around amazing way we got along. Something clicked inside and, my mind could not stop thinking about Henry. I couldn’t wait to see him again.
Cate’s eyes were bulged by the end of the story. “Holy crap!” she yelled. “This is like a fairy tale!”
“I feel like I’m dreaming. He’s going to stop by tomorrow afternoon so, you’ll get to meet him.”
“One other question.” Cate snickered. “Does he have a brother?”

Every “h” word I said that day almost turned into “Henry”. Heart, hug, heat, hurt, and so many others. Our customers must’ve thought I was some sort of crazy woman because I had the brightest smile on my face, even when they’d be complaining about something. I’d giggle to myself, thinking about something Henry had said, and close my eyes to the feeling of his chest so close to mine. I wanted that feeling again, and prayed that he did too.
Around lunch, I took an hour break to go up to my parents’ to see them and my little sister. I reluctantly brought the cake as well. I wanted to keep it, look at it, and relive those moments in my head as Henry watched me so carefully as I baked.
I got to Broadway Hill exactly at noon and noticed Debra’s Porsche in the driveway. Perfect, a family reunion and I’d just met the man who would change my life forever.
There was rustling, yelling and locks switching from the inside of the house, then the door opened to see my 60 year old father smiling widely at me. “Catherine my dear!” He said in his heavy Italian accent. “So nice to see you! You look so beautiful today!”
“Hi daddy!” I said, embracing his frail body for a hug.
He gestured me in, and I walked into the enormous house. Debra and my mother were sitting in the living room, watching something about knitting on the giant plasma screen as Deb punched some things into her Blackberry. They both looked up when I walked in. “Catherine!” Debbie said, standing up. “Nice of you to show up 24 hours fashionably-late.”
I slapped her arm and kissed her on the cheek at the same time. “How’s the job?”
“Making me money.” She sighed. “You?”
“The best its’ ever been. Where’s Michelle? I have her cake.”
“Is it moldy?” Deb loved to be sarcastic.
My dad went to the edge of the long, winding stairwell and called for Shelly. She yelled “coming”, and I heard rustling from one of the rooms.
I grabbed my mother’s hand as she smiled brightly at me. “Hi, mama.”
She signed something to my dad. “She says you look very beautiful today.”
I smiled. “You always look beautiful, ma’.”
Her face was full of delight, and it always killed me that I couldn’t have just a private conversation with her. My mom had always been my best friend.
“Claire.” My dad said. “She’s asking what his name is.”
My father and older sister were now staring at me like I’d just grown a second head, but my mother had a look of pride on her face. “Tell you later, ma’. Tell you later.”
“Yeah, you better.” Deb blurted loudly. “What’s going on?”
Before I could answer my sister’s interrogative questions, another sister was glaring at me from the bottom of the stairs. It’d been a few months since I’d seen Michelle, and her blonde hair was much longer. Michelle is a natural brunette like myself, but when she was about ten years old she told my parents she wanted to look like Madonna, so she dyed her hair blonde. Her eyes were bright blue, like my mother’s, so I guessed it worked well on her. I could never be a blonde, even if I wanted to, because I have the darkest brown eyes you’ve ever seen, like my dad. Michelle was dressed in a neon pink U Miami sweatshirt, tight sweatpants, and her favorite worn out UGG boots that she’s had for years. “Hi, Michelle.”
“My name is Shelly.” she hissed.
I put the cake on the coffee table and decided to play along. “No, I don’t think my little sister was named after a Playboy bunny, right dad?”
Deb and dad chuckled as Michelle scoffed. Everyone called my sister Shelly, but I’ve believed since I was ten years old that Michelle was a much prettier name. Plus, it drove my little sister crazy, which made me smile quite a bit.
“First of all,” she now had her index finger pointed in my face. “the Playboy bunnies help a lot of great charities. Second of all you didn’t show up to my birthday party, so you have absolutely no right to make fun of me!”
“Shelly,” Deb said, putting her hands on my shoulders. “be nice. Catherine met a guy.”
All of the sudden, the scowl on my sister’s face was gone. It had been replaced by two glowing blue eyes, and a huge smile on her face. “I’m sorry I didn’t make it.” I said.
Michelle yanked me by the arm and pulled me onto the couch, next to our very confused parents. “Stop apologizing, and get talking!”
My dad intensely signed every word I said to mom, and she watched with complete fascination. I didn’t mention a single thing about how I felt for him… my parents didn’t need to hear it.
“He joined the army after high school.” I continued.
“Good kid.” My dad said. Even though he was born and raised in Italy, my father was very patriotic for this country. Besides, he’s lived here for over 50 years.
“Are you going to see him again?” Michelle asked.
This was incredibly awkward. I didn’t ever talk about relationships with my family and Henry was definitely… a different situation. I couldn’t wait to talk to my mom alone.
“Your mother says he sounds like a nice boy.” Dad said, taking his wife’s hand.
I smiled, thinking of Henry’s face. “He is.”
Finally, my sister got off the subject of Henry, and went on to talk about her “AP” classes at U Miami. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t stop thinking about Henry. I was convinced I was losing my mind. But we just, we got along so well in the small time we spent together. I was so excited to see him again, and couldn’t wait to find out if he was thinking about me.
Believe me, spending time with my family was fun. We caught up, sitting around my parents’ kitchen table and devoured the cake that held so many memories for Henry and I. And before I left, I asked my mother, by writing it down, if she would like to have dinner with me, at my place that night. She said that nothing would make her happier. My dad said he didn’t want to come because he’d be in bed by eight o’ clock, so my invited Deb and Matt. I laughed loudly when she wrote that “we could all use a little break from Michelle.”
When I got back to the bakery, there wasn’t much going on, so I let Cate go home early. After people would leave, I’d go back to my new favorite spot in the kitchen. The place where Henry once lie a few hours ago.
Tomorrow wasn’t coming soon enough.
I left the bakery at six, got home around seven thirty. It was a hot, foggy day in San Francisco and the wind was slowly beginning to pull the fog off of the roads, back onto the ocean. I live in Berca Heights, which is almost right off of the Golden Gate Bridge. Berca beach is about a half a block down, and Deb’s condo is about five blocks up from my condo. She always visits, so I knew she would be here any minute. My mom, being the brave person she is, convinced me that she’d be fine taking a taxi. I was more worried than convinced.
Then there was what to cook. Yeah, I can bake pretty damn well, but I took after my mom in the way that I can’t cook a single thing. So I cheated, called the local Margaret Kuo’s and paid extra to get their delivery boy to sprint over to my place.
Luckily, those two extra dollars I paid helped, and the kid got here just minutes before my sister did. I threw everything into plates and hid the evidence under my sink. A couple of knocks on the door.
Deb was standing alone on the other side of the door. She looked terrible. Her blonde locks were flattened, probably from the humidity outside, and her eyes were red and watery. Plus, she was wearing the same thing I’d seen her in earlier that day. My sister changes outfits for every occasion she as, and I’ve never seen in wear the same thing twice. Something was definitely wrong, but she tried to pathetically hide it.
“Hey, don’t you look nice?” She said more like a statement then a question. “Mm. Smells good in here. What did you make?”
“Deb.” I said, worried. “What’s wrong?”
She looked at me, disgusted. “What, oh, nothing. I just had a fight with Matt. He won’t be coming tonight, or ever again. He said he wanted a divorce.”
I wrapped my arms around my older sister’s thin, model like frame. “Oh my god, Deb, I’m so sorry. You can, uhm, stay here tonight if you want to.” I shut the door and gestured towards the dining room table. “Now sit down and tell me what happened.”
Deb told me how Matt had come home in a huff, like he always does. Everything she said to him got him more angry, until he blurted out the big “D” word. He told her that he couldn’t take all this fighting anymore and had been seeing someone else. Kind of hypocritical, right? That’s what I said. A little after I had settled Deb down there was a light, frail knock on the door. “That’s mom.” I said. “Hold on.”
I walked as fast as I could to the front door and pulled it open. There was my mother, practically an exact reflection as to what I’ll look like in the next thirty years. Her salt and pepper hair was nicely combed, and she was dressed in her favorite pink dress. “Oh, ma’.” I said, hoping she’d read my lips. “You look beautiful.”
Her smile was beaming until she saw Deb. They greeted each other, then I handed my mom a pen and paper. “Something’s wrong with Debra.” She wrote. “I feel it.”
Deb confessed as I pretended to be busy in the kitchen. She didn’t cry, I think I helped her get over that part. But she sounded serious. More serious than I’d ever heard her. Ever since we were little, Deb was always the joker. Not in a silly way, but she knew how to make people laugh when they were down, and she even made jokes at the worst times possible.
We traveled to Italy when I was sixteen, Michelle was fourteen, and Deb was twenty one for our great grandmother’s funeral. An Italian ceremony is a very serious thing, and they save afterwards for the party in the person’s remembrance. Deb, Michelle and I couldn’t stop laughing the entire time. Mom even got in on the giggles, too. Basically, we were stared at the entire time by distant relatives we didn’t even know the names of, and it was all Debra’s fault. That was my older sister.
Of course, she got serious for her job, since she would sometimes be representing murderers, and other times, celebrities in for a silly crime. But I chose not to know that part of my sister, since that part was miserable. That part of my sister is the part that fell in love with Matt two years ago. That part of my sister made the part I know and love completely miserable. I hated that side of Deb.
But tonight was the first exception. After thirty years on this Earth, for once in her life Deb Jones needed someone else to be the sarcastic one. That job was left to mom and I.
When I walked back into the kitchen, the two of them were sitting at the table, holding hands. Mom was scribbling down some words of advice that Deb intently read, smiled and talked mom for. “Hey,” I let them know I was in the room. “No more tears. Just fun with the girls tonight.”
They nodded simultaneously as I put my fraud homemade dinner in front of each of them. We dug in, sitting quietly for the first twenty seconds or so. I looked up at my mom, who wrote something down and was how passing the paper over to me. I read it aloud. “Tastes just like a dinner your father and I had at Margaret Kuo’s the other night.”
Mom was giving me that sneaky smile again. My eyes bulged, and a lump grew in my throat. They were both waiting for an answer. Suddenly, I just burst out laughing. The whole situation was comical, and sure enough, about two seconds later the three of us were howling with laughter. Great job, mom. Great job.
Even after our meal was finished, we sat at that table and talked. Mom used pages after pages of paper as she told joke after joke about Matt, every single one bringing laughter and tears of joy to our eyes. I’d never known it before, but Deb must’ve gotten her stubborn, crazed, sarcastic sense of humour from mom.
Then, we started to get into the subject of love. Deb grabbed the wine bottle and poured herself another glass. “I just, I don’t believe it anymore. There is not someone out there for everyone.”
“That’s not true.” I said, my mind traveling to Henry.
Mom nodded, working on her next statement. She handed the paper to me. “Look at Catherine and Henry.” I read. “Oh, ma’.”
Mom laughed loudly, but then wrote “It’s true” afterwards.
For some reason, I felt like Deb was glaring at me. “You really like Henry,” she said. “don’t you?”
I nodded, which confirmed my thoughts, she was glaring at me. I wasn’t angry. I knew she was just upset so I tried to change the subject. “More wine?”
Mom handed Deb a paper. “ Stop being such a child, Debra.” she wrote. “Don’t glare at your little sister. She’s found someone who she cares about, and so will you. I’m not saying she’ll marry the boy, but who knows? I’ve never seen that twinkle in her eye.”
They both looked up at me, searching for the twinkle. I focused on Deb, who stared, looked to mom, and smiled. “You know people to well, ma.”
Mom smiled smugly, and dropped a paper onto my lap, obviously trying to hide it from Deb. I opened it up, and read what it said.
“I want to meet this boy!”

Around ten I called mom a taxi, asked the cabbie at least twenty times if he was sure where Broadway drive was. When he convinced me, I forced cab fare on mom and watched her as she climbed in. I said goodbye, and she squeezed my hand tightly. “All in good time, mom. All in good time.”
Mom’s face lit up with excitement. She kissed me on the cheek, and I watched as the cab rolled off.
When I got back inside, Deb had already passed out on the couch, wine still in hand.
I yanked it out of her grip, threw a blanket over her and kissed her goodnight. I got changed, climbed into bed and realized that trying to sleep was completely pointless. I was going to see Henry again tomorrow.

Novel.

For the past month and a half, I've been working tirelessly on a novel.

It's 63 Microsoft Word pages right now, and I should be finishing it up soon. It will be posted on here, and please tell me what you think. I want to know anything and everything that you think is wrong, right, and everything in between.

I'm excited to see what everyone thinks. :)

See You Soon. Another Old One.

ONE:

“Dr. Pitt.” I heard someone call from behind me.
Of course turned around to see Layla standing there. “Just get one of the nurses to take blood if you can't.”
She shook her blond hair wildly. “I have a new patient for you.”
I walked up to her and took the file out of her hands. “Is this for real?”
“He just came in. His hand's pretty screwed up.”
I walked out of the conference room and down to where he should be. “You don't use screwed up, Layla. That's not a term a doctor would use, is it?”
When I opened the curtain four eyes looked up at me. There was one man sitting in a chair with brown spiky hair and almond brown eyes. The other one was sitting on the patient bed holding his hand. He was pale, and had curly, cinnamon brown hair and the brightest blue eyes I'd ever seen. “Mr. Martin, I'm Doctor Sophie Pitt.” I said, shooing Layla out of the room. “What seems to be the problem?”
Chris stared into my eyes for a few more seconds, shook his head as if he was shaking something off, then smiled widely. “I seem to have hurt my hand.”
The other man stood up. “He was playing the guitar, ever so fast and his hand got like stuck in the strings.”
I smiled and nodded. “Let's have a look.”
The sides of his wrist were red with bruises and his palm was severely swollen. As I gently poked and prodded at his enormous hands I suddenly felt his eyes on me. Usually this freaks me out but for some reason I got shivers up and down my spine. Yes, he was incredibly gorgeous but, well, he was a patient.
“Okay Mr. Martin-”
“Please, call me Chris.”
I smiled. “Chris. Call me Sophie. I'm not too sure yet but from what I see it seems to be a very severe fracture.”
“Shit.” The other man muttered.
“Phil.” Chris said to the other man. “Shut up.”
The two of them stared at me until I would say something else. “Um, we'll have some x-rays done then I'll come back to make sure I was right.”
I walked out the door and handed the order to the nurse. When I went back to the conference room I noticed my friend Jim was now sitting at one of the tables, snacking on some sort of chip. I grabbed a Snickers bar from the machine and sat down next to him. “Fuck, Jim.”
His bright, blue gray eyes looked up at me. “W...what?”
I tore open the Snickers and chomped down. Then, I immediately felt more relaxed. “Why does this job have to suck so much? This morning I had two kids who bit me when I tried to take blood, then a psychopathic pregnant woman who claimed she'd never had sex. Oh, and I just got back from some gorgeous pervert checking me out.”
He grinned. “Gorgeous pervert?”
“Yes!” I spit through the giant bites of candy. “He was gorgeous, but he was a perv. Well, he just looked at me but he was still a freak.”
“We're doctors.” He sighed. “We see it all. Well, I got to go pick Katie up from day care. I'll see you tonight.”
I smiled legitimately for the first time that day. “Bye. Tell her I say “Hi”!”
Five minutes after Jim had left my candy bar was sadly gone. I contemplated getting another one but remembered that cake I had yesterday for one of the nurse's birthdays. Suddenly Layla blew into the room and ruined my mood. Again. “Dr. Pitt? Chris Martin's X-rays are back.”
I snatched the files from her and held the photos up to the light. When I had my answer, I shoved the photos back in her hand and walked back to Chris's room. “Chris. Phil.” I said as I opened the door. Ugh, there was that smile again. So beautiful. “Well, it seems that I was right. You fractured a bone in your finger. I see it a lot with musicians. I'll put a cast on it right now.”
Phil stood up and started to walk over to me. “When will it be... well... better?”
“About six weeks.” I said while grabbing all the cast materials out from the shelves.
Chris just kept smiling, even though his hand was practically black now. I slid over on the stool to him, and gently started dabbing his wrist in water. “So, you're a doctor. How's that working?” he asked.
I looked up at him like he just asked me if the sky was blue. “It's... well it is what it is. What color cast do you want.”
“Oh god.” Chris giggled. “I don't know! This is probably one of the hardest decisions of my life! Um... what do you think?”
I felt like I was back in pediatrics. Even though he was acting like a kid, it made me laugh. “Um, how about red?”
“No, no I don't want red. Pick another.”
“Green?”
“Nah.”
“Oh, here we go. Blue.” I said, holding up the bandage box.
Chris nodded frantically. “Yes! Blue! I love blue! Great choice.”
We both laughed. There was something about this guy I'd never seen in any other men. Or patients for that matter. For one thing, he hasn't tried to smack my ass yet. “So.” I said, feeling a little more relaxed. “You're a world famous singer. How's that working?”
He laughed, while watching me put the bandages on. “It is what it is.”
I giggled. I'll admit it, he was cute. We were talking for about twenty minutes about random things. At first he was talking about Phil, which pissed Phil off, so he stopped. Then he asked me about how hard it was to become a doctor, and I think I rambled a little too much on that subject. He didn't seem to show it, though. Then I was finished. “Okay, you're good to go.”
Chris looked disappointed. He looked up at me with those sad, puppy dog blue eyes. “That's it?”
“That's it.” For some reason I felt disappointed too. This conversation helped me get off my anger. “I'll have Layla come in and get your discharge papers. Have a good day, Chris. Phil.”
When I was walking out I could've sworn I noticed Phil mouthing something to Chris. I closed the door and took in my surroundings for a minute. Layla was waiting for me at the end of the hall with anther file in her hands, so I headed down her direction. Suddenly I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder. I turned around, and I saw Chris smiling down at me. God, he was tall. “Hey Sophie, um, so sorry to bother you. But you know, my hand hurts like hell so I'm really going to need a drink. Whenever you get done your shift, would you like to go get one with me?”
I felt butterflies in my stomach. Something about him. God, I just couldn't put my finger on it. I smiled to let him know I liked the idea, but I couldn't speak yet. A seconds later I coughed. “Um, yeah. Well, I actually have to work all night but what about tomorrow?”
Chris's face lit up. “Yes! Tomorrow's perfect! Um, can I have your number?”
I took a Sharpie out of my scrubs pocket. “Do you have paper?”
Chris looked a little flustered for a minute, then laughed, and held up his new blue cast. I chuckled and signed my name and number. “See you tomorrow.”

TWO:

Two A.M. and I couldn't stop thinking about Chris. Maybe it was the fact that he was so famous, but, I didn't really feel like he was. He acted just like every other patient I'd had. The only other celebrity I had ever treated was some football player, and he kept complaining to me about how incompetent I was. Oh, he also kept asking me if I knew who he was. I can't even remember his name.
Around two thirty I had a twenty minute break so I decided to get some real food in the cafeteria, since I'd been living on candy and chips for the last 23 hours. When I was walking down the stairs, I felt my right pocket vibrate. I reached down and noticed my Blackberry said a very odd number was calling me. Since I usually didn't answer odd numbers, I didn't know what to do. But then I remembered Chris. “Hello?” I said in a confused tone.
“Is this too quick to call? God, I'm so bad at this shit.” I heard his soft spoken voice.
He made me grin. “No, no it isn't. I was actually hoping it was you.”
For some reason I could hear him smiling on the other line. “I know this great, quiet little place right by the Empire State Building. It's called Dubbin's. Want to meet me there at seven?”
Thankfully I knew where Dubbin's was. “See you then.”
Hearing Chris's voice got me through the rest of my shift. I'd had two head traumas, a stab victim and some homeless man brought in a sick dog, and for some reason I had patience for them all. On a regular day I might have killed them on purpose. My shift ended at seven A.M., so I quickly got changed into my street clothes and got ready to leave. When I was walking by the conference room, I noticed Jim inside, so I went in. “Hey. I'm heading out.”
Jim looked up at me. His face was pale and his eyes were saying something to me that they'd never said before. “Katie's missing.”
My heart sunk. Katie was not the kind of four year old that would just run off because daddy didn't give her a cookie. Jim and Katie were so close, ever since Jim's wife Debbie passed away two years ago. She was all she had left of her. “Oh god.” My voice shook. “Okay, um. She couldn't have gotten too far. Where was the last place she was seen?”
“Right outside daycare.” Jim said. He looked like he was about to cry. “Apparently some kids were bullying her, she got upset and they didn't see her again.”
I shut my eyes tightly and tried to think. Katie loved the park. There was this tree that Jim and her would sit in and yell at the top of their lungs whenever they were sad or mad. That was it. I opened my eyes. “Follow me.” I said, and sprinted out the door.
Jim's footsteps weren't too far behind, so I kept running. All the way out the door of the hospital, down four blocks to Central Park. It was absolutely freezing, so that made me run faster for two reasons; if I stopped I would've froze to death from just wearing a sweater and I knew that Katie must've been cold, wherever she was. The sun was just rising over the coast, and wouldn't be warming things up for at least another three hours. I stopped at the giant Oak tree and tried to catch my breath. Not to my surprise, there were two small pink shoes sitting about ten feet up in the tree. Jim stared at me, and since I couldn't say anything I just pointed. “Oh, God, Katie!” He said with relief. “Thank God!”
About ten minutes later Jim and I were sitting up in the tree with Katie in between us. “You want to tell us what happened?”
Her bright red hair was all blown around from the winter wind. She still had a little pink Barbie backpack on her back, and her bright blue eyes would not look up at either of us. “You can go.” Jim whispered. “I can't thank you enough for thinking of this.”
I smiled. “I want to hear what happened... if she'd tell us.”
Katie rolled her little eyes and took a deep breath. “There was this kid and he was bullying me. He said my hair was ugly. So the teacher didn't say anything and that made me mad. I don't wanna be there daddy. They're mean.”
I was now sitting there while Jim was being the great dad he was, talking Katie through her first bullying. While waiting, I started to think about my first bullying. I was in first grade. Lets just say I probably weighed more than all the kids in my class combined.
“Soph? We can go now.” Jim said, popping me out of my bubble.
We carefully got Katie out of the tree, passing her to each other like an assembly line, then the three of us walked out of Central Park to my place. “Well, thanks again.” Jim said, picking an exhausted Katie up.
“Oh, don't mention it. Good night, Katie.” I said, putting a gentle hand on her back.
After I got a mutter of a 'good night', I gave Jim a friendly kiss on the cheek and headed inside. Thankfully my heat was on high from the way I had left it a few days earlier. The living room was so perfect. Warm, and silent. I threw my bag on the ground and passed out on the couch.
The next morning I woke up around 11 A.M.. My head was pounding from the long night before, but everything stopped when I remembered I was going out with Chris Martin that night. I threw on a screaming hot pot of coffee and called my best friend Amy. “Do you realize how early it is now?” she snapped.
I grinned. “You've always been a late sleeper. Listen, I need a nice outfit. Since you always keep telling me I need better clothes this is your chance to help me out.”
Amy was shuffling something around on the other line. “What is it... some sort of corporate meeting with all you smart doctors?”
I didn't say anything.
“Oh God. This isn't really happening, is it? You have a date?” she yelled.
“It's not a date!” I snapped immediately. “I'm just going out for a drink with someone.”
There was silence on the other line. “Who is he? God, did you save his life? Oh, such a fantastic love story!”
“Would you just shut up and get down here?” I said while pouring out the coffee.
“I want to know his name.” She demanded.
Shit. Amy was going to freak out. She wasn't that big of a fan of Coldplay but, she was an enormous fan of celebrities. “Um... Chris.”
Amy groaned. “Chris what?”
“Does it matter?”
“Of course it matters!” I could hear keys being picked up in the background. “I need to know!”
I put the cup of coffee down on the table and braced for impact. “Chris Martin.”

THREE:

After twenty minutes of screaming Amy was on her way. I went upstairs to get rid of anything I bought without her consent. Amy's the kind of person who... well... takes charge of- oh, how do I say this nicely? Everything. When my sister got married, I was the Maid of Honor. The entire wedding came out of Amy's mind. Don't get my wrong, I love her with all my heart but, sometimes she's a little... crazy.
Ten minutes later I heard the doorbell ring. I jogged down the stairs and opened it to see Amy still ecstatic about who I was going out with that night. My, she was glowing. Her bright red hair was pulled up in a messy ponytail, and she was wearing a blue jogging suit. Something about pregnant women and jogging suits. I guess they're just comfortable to wear. She also had an enormous gym bag slung over her shoulder.
I reached over her belly and gave her enormous hug. “Hey, darling! Good to see you.” I said, and bent down to give her belly a kiss. “Hey, Nathan. You're not going to come tonight, are you? Please don't. For aunt Sophie's sake.”
“He'll be here any day now. Don't worry. I'll call you if he does.” Amy smiled. “You're the only one I want to deliver him. Okay, let's get started.”
I felt Amy's hand grab mine and pull me up to my bedroom. I felt proud to see everything organized in my closet. That was the first time in ages. God, it felt so good to have some time off. When you're a doctor you live at the hospital. But since I worked overtime this week my chief gave me today and tomorrow off.
I sat down on the bed and as Amy threw her bag on the chair and began rummaging. “So,” I sighed, watching her with fascination. “how's the husband?”
“Oh Brandon?” She said, holding up a blouse then throwing it over her shoulder. “He's wonderful. Hasn't been sleeping at all lately, but wonderful.”
“He's just excited.”
Amy threw another blouse over her shoulder. “We all are.” She turned around and grinned again. “So, have you talked to Chris?”
I felt myself blushing for some reason and I shook my head. “Not since yesterday. Oh, how about that one?”
She looked at me and back at the cream colored tank top. “This can be an option. Then we can pair this with a black pea coat, jeans, and boots. Do you have any of these things?”
I stared into my closet of scrubs and long sleeved t-shirts, and shook my head. Three hours later Amy had exactly what she wanted me to wear laid out onto my bed. “Perfect.” I said, putting the size six boots on the floor. “Now what shall we do?”
Amy raised her eyebrows. “Well, I could use a nice couch and a cup of tea.”
So, I helped Amy slowly get down the stairs and sat her down on my couch. She took off her sandals and rested her swollen ankles as I put a pot of tea on. “So,” she said. “how far do you think you're going to get tonight?”
“Oh shut up.” I said with a smile on my face. “He's a really sweet guy. But I don't even know if he wants any of that.”
Amy was silent for a few seconds then she looked back at me. “You're kidding, right?” I shook my head. “Oh, Sophie. Look at yourself. You're a successful, single, beautiful doctor. I think every man would want that with you. Hell, they want that with a tree. But I'm getting off the point. He obviously liked you. The boy asked you out for a drink! Now get that self esteem up and realize that you are liked.”
That made me get more excited about that night. I really liked Chris. Even though we only talked for about twenty minutes, there was something about him that I wanted to see more of. He was unlike any other man I had ever met. Looks and personality. But who was I kidding? Chris is an enormously famous singer. I'm just a New York doctor. What do I have?
I handed Amy a scolding hot cup of green tea, just the way she liked it. She smiled to thank me and exhaled. “Do you think you're ready for this?”
“Nathan?”
She nodded.
I had to think about that one for a few seconds. “Yeah.” I finally replied. “I know it's been three years since the last baby I delivered but, I took the training class with the residents and things came back. Plus, it's your baby.”
An hour later Brandon picked Amy up and they drove home. I felt really good after the talk I had with Amy. We basically went through what would happen on the big day step by step. The talk made both of us feel more relaxed.
When I closed the door behind her I realized it was five o'clock. Shit. I needed to get ready. The butterflies in my stomach led me up the stairs to the shower. I jumped in and out in about twenty minutes, then went over my outfit again. Amy had left me a black military style coat, a purple tank top, ripped blue jeans and tall black boots. It was nothing like I'd ever worn but, it was still me. Now was when I started to get really excited, but then I realized. We were just having drinks. If I went there too hyper he would think I was some sort of freak.
I got dressed, grabbed a black scarf out of the closet and headed out the door. It was actually pretty warm that night. Not too cold, not too hot, so I decided to walk to Dubbins which was only a few blocks away so I got there at just about seven. Before walking in, I took in a deep breath of fresh air, then opened the door.

FOUR:

When I stepped inside I immediately started to look around for Chris. After a few minutes I spotted him in the back corner of the bar wearing an old Flaming Lips t-shirt, a green military hat and black pants with white sneakers. His eyes were focused on the two beers sitting next to him.
“So you're an early bird.” I said, putting my jacket down on the chair and stealing one of the beers.
Chris looked up as soon as I spoke and grinned. “Just today. I'm really glad you came.”
“You didn't think I was going to come?”
He shook his head and took a gulp of beer. “Who would go out with me? Especially now that you know what an idiot I am after Phil told you that terrible story of my wrist.”
“I see it all the time.” I assured him, even though I didn't.
“So,” Chris said, shifting his body to my direction. “tell me about yourself, Sophie!”
I sighed and gulped down some more beer. For some reason I felt more relaxed with him than I usually did at these sort of things. “Well, I'm a doctor, as you know. My parents were both doctors so I was pretty much forced into it. But my younger brother John, he didn't take it. He moved to France when he was eighteen. I was twenty. Anyways, grew up right here in New York, graduated from NYU, and that's basically the story of my life.”
Chris tapped his fingers to the music playing softly in the background. “Well, that's much more intriguing than my life story.”
“Oh, bullshit.”
We both laughed. “What?” Chris chuckled.
I waved my hands in the air, as I started to feel the beer taking hold of me. “You're the lead singer of one of the most famous bands in the world. You're just trying to be nice.”
Chris smacked his beer down and waved at the bartender for more. “I grew up right outside Liverpool in England. I'm the oldest of five. Two brothers, three sisters. Both my parents are teachers. Graduated London University.”
“Okay, both our stories are shit.”
Three hours and too many beers later we were still sitting in the same spot. We must've seen at least two hundred people come and go. Plus, I was learning so much about him. He was so sociable, and for some reason I felt so comfortable with him.
Chris put his head in his hands. “Okay, tell me something no one else knows.”
“What?” I mumbled, slightly drunk.
“Tell me something that no one else knows, and I'll tell you four things no one else knows about me.”
I nodded to tell him I got it, and thought for a few seconds. After going past a few secrets I had told people, then I came to it. “I can't do this.” I mumbled.
Chris looked worried. “What? W...why?”
I looked up at him and felt tears forming in my eyes. God, I had way too many beers. “This is something that only two people know in the world. Two people and it was all my fault.”
Suddenly I felt Chris gently put a strong hand on my knee. “Sophie,” he smiled sweetly. “who am I going to tell? I really hope these past few hours have told you that I don't go ruining the lives of New York doctors.”
He was right. I could tell him this, so I took the last gulp of my beer and closed my eyes tightly. “I accidentally killed my best friend's wife.”
I could tell Chris was trying not to look too shocked. He gently squeezed my knee and nodded. “You want to tell me what happened?”
My heart was sinking below my stomach. “She came into the trauma ward. She had been hit by a drunk driver and had severe organ damage. God, she was bleeding all over. Plus, there was an enormous piece of car still stuck in her stomach. I was on call that night for surgery. Long story short I severed one of the major nerves and she bled to death. I haven't forgiven myself since.”
Chris didn't say anything for about a minute and I didn't expect him to. I honestly thought he was going to grab his jacket and leave. Who wants to hang out with a terrible, murdering doctor? “Well then you're stupid.”
I looked up. “What?”
“You're stupid for blaming yourself.” Chris smiled wryly. “That wasn't your fault. I wasn't there but it sounds to me like she was in pretty bad shape. It was an accident, and a good doctor should get over an accident.”
“But I killed her.” I snapped.
“Every doctor does once and a while! But you can't put that all on yourself! You didn't hit her with that car, did you? It happened, you tried to save her but you couldn't. And you're stupid to blame yourself for that. You're best friend doesn't blame you, does he? If he's still your best friend then I'm guessing he doesn't. So you need to realize that you need to change the way you think about it and realize that it wasn't your time to save a life that night. Maybe it was just her time to go.”
I was speechless. Chris Martin of Coldplay had just figured out my entire life. He was absolutely right and he'd known me for less than 24 hours. God, I really was stupid. I tried to smile. “You know what? You're absolutely right.” I flirtatiously put my hand on his. “Thank you.”
We sat there for a few minutes just staring into each others eyes, then suddenly Chris stood up. “You want to get out of here? I'm drunk as hell.”
I stood up slowly and smiled. “Let's go.”
Chris wrapped a warm arm around my neck and we stumbled outside. The cold air made both of us shiver. “Well, do you need to call a driver or something?”
He laughed. “I actually drove here.”
“Oh,” I said, slightly smiling. “Well I live two blocks away.”
Chris gently put his hand on mine. “I know this sounds really perverted but, do you think that I could stay at your place? If I call a taxi I know the paps will come and, I really shouldn't be dealing with those asses drunk.”
I smiled and pulled him to the direction of my house. Ten minutes later we arrived at my stoop, and fifteen minutes later I got the door open. When we got inside the warm air hit us and we both let out an enormous sigh. “You're house is so... clean.”
“Thank you!” I murmured.
Chris walked over to my couch and plopped down. “Do you want to watch a movie?”
Shit. “The only movie I have is Back to the Future.”
“You're gaming me!” Chris yelled excitedly. “That's my favorite movie!”
I grabbed Chris a pillow and blanket out of the closet and put the movie in my DVD player. Part of me felt like this was every other night, then the other part of me could not believe what has happening.
When the movie started I sat on the couch next to Chris. A few minutes in I realized that I was curled up next to him and my head was resting on his strong shoulder. I don't think he cared, though, since his arm was around my neck again and I felt him softly kiss the top of my head. It was the most comfortable moment of my life. So, a few minutes later I was asleep.

FIVE:

I woke up the next morning to the smell of crackling bacon coming from the kitchen. God, I hadn’t smelled that since my last boyfriend. I can’t even remember when that was. When I sat up this pounding headache hit me like a ton of bricks. “Holy shit.” I moaned, holding my head.
“Oh, you’re up!” I heard Chris’s voice say from behind me. Then he appeared at my side with a cup of coffee. “Here, take this. I promise it will help.”
I looked at what he had in his hand. “An Asprin and an antacid?”
Chris grinned. “Don’t judge me. I promise you it works!”
I reluctantly took them out of his hand and shoved them down my throat with a splash of some of the best coffee I’d ever tasted. Suddenly I felt a rush of relief in my head. “Jesus, how did you know that works?”
“Old trick my dad would use for himself. Now come and get breakfast.”
I stood up to see my worn out table completely set for two, with a beautiful bouquet sitting in the middle. “Daisies. How did you know I love Daisies?”
Chris flipped a pancake. “Guessed.”
I sat down at the head of the table and a few minutes later a fresh pile of pancakes and a side of bacon were in front of me. Since I hadn’t eaten real food in days, I dug in. Chris’s eyes watched me with satisfaction for a few seconds then he dug in himself. “You know, I remembered something.”
I looked up with confusion, Chris laughed. “I didn’t get to tell you four things no one knows about me last night.”
At first I was completely shocked that he’d bring the subject up, so I put down my fork and knife. “Okay, let’s go.”
Chris set his silverware down and put a finger on his temple. “Um, okay. These are going to be shit.”
We sat there in silence for a few seconds.
“I cheated on more than seven tests in University.”
I chuckled. “I totally have you beat on that one.”
“I broke my sister’s boyfriends nose when she was seventeen.”
“People know that! Okay, since you really can’t think of any, gimme one more. And make it good.”
Chris looked up at me and shifted his weight in my direction. “I tried to kill myself once.”
At first I thought he was joking, but the seriously saddened look on his face made me realize he wasn’t kidding. “Oh, um. You really didn’t have to tell me that if you didn’t want to.”
He looked up and gently put a hand on mine. “For some reason I feel extra comfortable with you. Like, I can tell you anything in the world.”
I smiled and played with the tips of his fingers. “You want to talk about what happened?”
Chris sighed and leaned back in his chair. “Well, I was six. My parents had just had my first brother, Matthew. So they were basically doting over him and I felt incredibly left out. Like, they didn’t love me or whatever. So, I went up onto the roof and I was about to jump off when my dad called me. Matthew got real sick, and it was then that I realized that if I did hurt myself, he wouldn’t have an older brother to look out for him.”
I took my hand off his and replaced it on his cheek. Since he hadn’t shaved he was getting a bit of a five o’clock shadow. I could feel it under my thumb as I gently stroked his face. He just kept smiling at me, and a seconds later my lips were pressed against his. I had just met the man two fucking days ago, and I already had so much feeling for him. This was something I really, really couldn’t explain. After about a minute I pulled away from him and we just sat there, resting our foreheads on each others. A while later we resumed our breakfast, holding each other’s hands when Chris finally said something. “You know, I have to go to Perth in a week.”
My heart sunk. “When will you be back?”
Chris’s eyes widened. “Probably not for a while.”
Shit. Just when I meet one of the sweetest guys ever, he flies off to be a big singer. Why, why do I always fuck myself over? After a few more minutes of silence then Chris set his silverware down. “Why don’t you come with me?”
Again, he must’ve been joking. I looked up to see his bright blue eyes staring straight through me, looking for an answer. “W…what?”
“Come with me.” he said again, like it was no big deal.
I ran a hand through my chocolate brown hair. “Chris, I, I have a job.”
“Don’t you have any vacation time?”
Now the idea became more rational. I did have seven weeks of vacation time because well, I never went on vacation. Chief probably could do without me, right? “Are you sure?”
Chris gently wiped a stray hair off of my face. “I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life.”
This incredibly relaxing, incredibly exciting moment was interrupted completely by my phone ringing. I reached over to the coffee table and flipped it open. “Hello?” I said happily.
“Soph?” Amy panted. “Oh God, Sophie!”
I stood up, immediately alert by the tone in Amy’s voice. “What? What’s wrong?"
“The baby’s coming! Oh God, can you meet us at the hospital?”
“I’ll be there in five minutes.”

SIX:

I busted through the doors of the hospital with Chris slowly following behind me. The entire place was a mess as usual, so I went up to Shawna, one of the maternity nurses. “Where's Amy Nelson's room?” I asked incredibly quickly.
“Room seven, doctor.” she said while checking out Chris, who looked incredibly overwhelmed.
I took Chris's hand and sprinted to room seven. When we got there, I quickly found a nurse to get me scrubs. “Do you want to wait out here?” I asked Chris while trying to catch my breath.
Chris nodded. “They don't let paps in here, do they?”
I pointed to the waiting room and gave him a kiss on the neck. “If you have problems with anyone, and I mean anyone, let Shawna know. She'll take them out herself.”
After Chris was safely sitting in the waiting room I walked into Amy's room. When I got in there were tons of flowers sitting in every corner and every open space. My guess was Brandon bought all of them. He was sitting right by her side, squeezing her hand so hard it was turning pink. Amy was just about asleep when I got in, which meant she must've been almost ready for her C- section. “Hi.” I whispered to Brandon.
He got up slowly and gave me a hug. “Thank you so much for being here. Amy told me you had a hot date.”
I giggled. “Do you know how many centimeters dilated she is?”
Brandon shook his head. “All they said was they'll get started when you arrive.”
That must've meant she was being taken care of by nurses, who had no idea what they were doing. So I checked her chart for myself. “She seems to be just about ready.”
I jumped into my scrubs as the doctors sent Amy and Brandon down to the delivery room. When I walked out of the women's bathroom I noticed Chris, sitting there all alone, reading some sort of sports magazine. “You really don't have to stay.” I said. “Really. I feel so bad dragging you through this.”
Chris looked up and smiled. “Are you kidding? This is the most interesting thing to happen to me in a long time.”
“Better than the Grammys?”
He nodded. “Way better.”
Suddenly Chris stood up and gently put a hand on my neck. “You sure you're ready for this?”
How did this man know exactly what I was thinking. “Do you think I am?”
Chris smiled and wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me in for a hug. I pulled him in and stuffed my head into his incredibly sweet smelling shoulders. We must've been there for at least ten minutes until I heard Shawna call me. “They're ready.” she said, giving me an odd smile.
I let go of Chris and kissed him on the lips. “Really, if you want to go, go.”
“I'm not going anywhere.”
A few minutes later I was in the deliver room, completely rejuvenated and ready for this. Amy was already on the table and she was awake, talking to Brandon. “Hey, kiddo.”
“Sophie!” Amy screamed, slightly drugged. “How was the hot date? Brandon told me you came in wearing the same thing you wore last night. Did you get lucky?”
“You're about to have a baby.”
“I know, I know. Did you?”
After a few minutes they had Amy under the anesthesia. I took the incision knife and gently cut my best friend's stomach six inches. The entire room was completely quiet, and a few seconds later I was at the uterus. I gently cut the top of the uterus and the first thing I saw was a tiny foot, moving around inside this clear bubble. Once I had my new nice or nephew completely exposed to the world, I noticed their tiny neck was wrapped around the umbilical cord.
Two hours and a lot of gentle cutting and pulling and stitching later, I stumbled out into the waiting room, where Brandon and Chris looked like they were getting along pretty well. When I was about ten feet away from them, they both looked up and immediately walked up to me, waiting for me to say something. Anything.
My eyes started to tear up as Brandon stared at me like he was trying to stare the answer out of me. I looked him straight into his big, almond brown eyes and smiled. “Congratulations, Brandon. You have a daughter.”

SEVEN:

After I revealed the news to Brandon that he actually had a daughter instead of a son, Amy and him were sitting in her room deciding on a name while I was sitting in the waiting room with Chris. “My hands are still shaking.” I said, squeezing my fingers inside my fists. I looked up at Chris and put a hand on his arm. “I would love to go to Australia with you.”
Chris smiled brightly. “Really? Cause, I really thought you didn’t like the idea.”
“No, no I just, I’m not the kind of person who gets up and goes to Australia with Chris Martin.” I laughed. “I really like you. And I don’t want to screw this over. Plus, some time away would do me well. So you want to wait here while I go talk to my Chief?”
He shook his head. “I’m actually going to go in and talk with your friends. Brandon’s a great guy.”
I nodded and we headed our separate ways. The hospital was at the peak of it’s busy time as I weaved my way through the nurses and patients. Then I saw Jim walk out of the conference room. He looked at me with bulged eyes. “What the hell is going on? Amy goes into labor and you don’t call me?”
The only thing I could do was give him a big hug. “I’m sorry.” I whispered quietly, then let go of him. “I just, I’ve had a lot on my plate.”
“The hot date.”
I nodded. “The hot date.”
Ten minutes later I’d explained the entire thing to Jim over a couple of Snickers bars. “Wow.” He chuckled. “Wow!”
“Yeah. Don’t expect me to be surprised if you’re shocked because,” I bit into the candy. “hell, I’m shocked too.”
Jim smiled sweetly. “I’m happy for you, Soph. It’s good to take some chances in your life. I just, I don’t want you to rush into things.”
I shook my head vigorously. “I’m not. Don’t worry. I haven’t changed my entire look at life completely.”
He nodded and chomped down on his candy. “Have you told Chief Hopkins yet?”
“I was actually on my way to do that now, when I saw you.”
Jim stood up. “Well go! If you don’t mind, I’m going to go make sure I approve of your rock star boyfriend.”
Jim always knew how to make me laugh, even when I really didn’t need it. He was like my older, incredibly protective brother. Or my father.
I left the conference room more refreshed and headed to Chief’s office. Chief was always nice to me because I worked so much overtime, so I really, really hoped he was in a good mood. For some reason I really wanted to go to Australia for two and a half weeks with a practical stranger. “Come in.” Chief said after I knocked on the door.
When I opened his heavy wooden door, he was sitting behind his desk working on patient files. “Oh, Dr. Pitt. Excellent job on Amy’s C-section.”
Good start. “Thank you, Chief.” I sat down in front of him, which made him look up from his work. “Listen, I need to talk to you about something.”
He put his pen down and leaned back in his chair. “Shoot.”
“I need two and a half weeks of vacation time, starting next Monday.”
Chief chuckled, and stroked his salt and pepper beard. “Well it’s about time. What made the change in heart?”
I sighed in relief. “It’s a really, really long story. I just think it’s about time I took some time off for myself. Gather my thoughts, you know the whole deal.”
“I think it’ll be good for you. Where do you think you’ll go?”
“Australia.”

Ten minutes later I officially had my time off, so I was practically floating back to Amy’s room. When I got there, it sounded like a party from outside. I walked in to see Jim and Chris standing in front of Amy’s bed, laughing about something. Brandon was still right by his wife’s side. And there she was. That still little nameless baby that I had taken out of Amy’s belly. “Hi.” Was all I could come out to say.
“Sophie!” Amy said with tears in her eyes.
I walked over to her side and reached in for a hug. “He is so gorgeous!” She whispered in my ear.
I could feel myself blush as I looked over at Chris, who looked so incredibly happy. “How is she?” I asked, looking over at the tiny person in her arms.
Amy smiled at her new daughter. “She’s perfectly healthy. You did a wonderful job.”
“Ey, you did a wonderful job. What’s her name?”
Brandon looked up. “Vivienne.”
I leaned over to the tiny, squirming baby in her arms and gently stroked her stomach with my fingers. “Hi Vivienne, I’m your aunt Sophie.”
“So what’s this I hear about you going to Australia?” Brandon asks.
I squint my eyes, and I could just feel Amy staring me down. She hated it when she didn’t know all of the news in my life before everyone else. Before I could say anything, I felt something heavy on my shoulder. “Sophie’s going to join me and the other guys when we go to Australia next Monday.” I heard Chris’s voice say.
When I opened my eyes, Amy’s eyes were practically popping out of her head. “Wow, that’s wonderful!” She handed Vivienne to Brandon and leaned in close to me. “I want to hear all details tonight.”
After a few more minutes I realized my shift was about to start, so I grabbed Chris and took him outside. “I’m going to be on for the next ten hours, so you should most definitely go.”
Chris nodded. “Definitely.”
I took his right hand and stroked his fingers. “How’s the wrist?”
“Oh, I almost forgot it was broken.” He chuckled.
There was a few minutes of us just staring at each other until Chris broke the silence. “You know, these past few days have been the weirdest of my life. But… also the best. I don’t know what it is about you. You’re just, different.”
A man had never said such sweet words to me, so my eyes immediately started to tear. I put my hand on his face and stroked his cheek. “I’ll call you when I’m done my shift.”
Chris leaned in pressed his lips against mine. This kiss was more passionate than before, since he started to involve much more tongue into the equation. So I returned the favor. We pulled away and he kissed my nose. “See you soon.”

EIGHT:

Three hours into my shift I’d already come across two drunk drivers, one sociopath and an abandoned infant. This was my life. And basically, I was used to it. I went down to the cafeteria, picked up a salad and decided to eat it in Amy’s room. When I opened the door, she was playing with her new daughter. “Hey!” she said to me. “You got a break?”
I nodded and sat down in front of her. Vivienne was laughing hysterically at Amy’s fingers dangling in front of her. She reached her oh so tiny arms out and grabbed each one, examining it to try to figure out what it was. Then she just ended up falling asleep. “So,” Amy whispered, gently putting Vivi back in her crib. “how was this hot date?”
I ended up spending my entire break telling the story to Amy, and I’d completely forgotten about my salad, so I ate it up while she took it all in. “Wow.” she chuckled. “Wow!”
“Oh yeah.” I mumbled with my mouth full of lettuce.
“Australia! Oh my god, this is like, every girl’s dream! Running away to Australia with a gorgeous, rich man!” Amy waved her hands in the air. “Oh, I’m dizzy.”
I stabbed a crouton with my fork. “We’re not running away. I’ll be back in two and a half weeks.”
“And what do you think will happen in two and a half weeks. A whole lot, I tell yah. You’ll have to watch out for those paps taking pictures of you, making headlines about Chris’s “new girl”.”
I ignored the last thing Amy said, gave her and my new niece a kiss on the head and headed back to work. As soon as I got out the door I noticed Jim jogging down the hall, most likely looking for me. “What?” I said, getting his attention.
“Trauma.”
Shit. Trauma was, well, trauma. No pun intended. It was the area every doctor hated and tried to avoid during their shifts. This was the area well… well, where you’re most likely to kill someone.
I sprinted down the hall with Jim to the ER. There were two paramedics standing over a stretcher with loads of nurses surrounding them. “Details.” I said immediately, and started to push the stretcher to a room.
“Eleven year old boy in a car crash.” One of the paramedics said. “Severe injuries to the head, bleeding on the left side of the torso.”
When I looked down for the first time I saw this tiny, tiny body on this enormous bed. He had cinnamon brown hair and his eyes were shut tightly, and he had so many tubes coming out of him he looked like a water slide. Plus, his head was covered in scratches and bruises. When I looked down further, that was when I saw the blood. He had an enormous cut on his left side, and at least one of his legs were broken. “Okay, get him into the ER surgery room, we need to stitch up that side first.
A few seconds later I flew in and out of the scrubbing room and was ready for surgery. As I stood over him, I told the nurses to give him a shot of adrenaline to prevent him from going into a coma, then I began the procedure.
A few more seconds after that I realized he was internally bleeding from at least seven of his major organs.
A few more seconds after that the kid had cardiac tamponade.
And a few more seconds after that he stopped breathing.
Don’t ask me how I did it.
Don’t ask me to remember anything specific.
Those entire ten minutes of my life are a blur.
But.
About fifteen minutes later, he was stable.
After that ordeal I needed some fresh air, so I went out for a little walk in the freezing cold with Jim. For the first ten minutes I really didn’t say anything. “You okay?” Jim asked.
I just nodded, staring down at my incredibly steady hands.
“You were fantastic in there. Really. I’ve never seen anyone work that fast or that concentrated.”
“I can’t remember it.”
Jim hesitated for a minute. “What?”
I looked up at his face for what felt like the first time in years. “It… it happened really fast. Like, really fast. I can’t even remember what I did.”
“You saved his life.” Jim said.

Before I knew it, it was Monday. My eyes fluttered open to the sound of Chris’s cell phone ringing on the dresser. I turned to see him lying next to me, his head on my shoulder and his chest completely exposed. I kissed him on the forehead and stroked the top of his head. “Chris, Chris you’re phone’s ringing.”
A few seconds later his eyes fluttered open, and he smiled up at me. “Forget the phone.” he moaned, and kissed me passionately on the lips.
When I had a chance to stop him I slid out of bed and threw the phone at him. “Have you forgotten what today is?”
Chris looked completely baffled for a minute, then a wave of realization washed over his face, and he pressed accept on the phone. “Yeah. No, sorry, I was asleep. Yeah. Yeah, she’s here. Okay. Ten? When is that? Yeah. Kay. Bye.”
He looked up at me and grinned. “We’re off to Perth.”

NINE:

I quickly got into a black tank top, jeans and boots. Chris changed into a black t-shirt and green cargo pants he’d brought in his suitcase. We both loaded our bags into Chris’s Range Rover sitting outside. It was a gorgeous morning. The sun was just warming up the city and there wasn’t a cloud to be seen. When I walked down the steps I noticed someone standing on the street out of the corner of my eye. I dropped the last bag into the trunk and turned around. There was a man hovering behind a lamp post across the way, snapping pictures of the two of us. “How the hell did they find you?”
Chris looked up, moaned, and put another bag in the trunk. “Just ignore them.” He said. “They had to find out sometime.”
I smiled and got in the passenger seat of the car. Chris locked the front door of my place, and got in the driver’s seat. “Ready?”
I was more than ever. I didn’t want Chris to see it but I was incredibly excited. The last time I had ever been on vacation was probably when my parents were still alive, let alone ever with a rock star. Chris put the key in the ignition and turned the car on.
When we got to JFK, instead of doing what I was used to, being a regular citizen, Chris drove around to the back, basically where the planes were. When we got around the corner I noticed a smaller plane sitting right in front of us with an enormous “VIVA” written on the side. I couldn’t help but giggle.
Chris parked the car safely away from the planes and two men dressed in black suits took our bags. This was the life. I took Chris’s hand and we walked over to the plane where a familiar man was standing at the stairs. “Chris.” he said, giving him a rather manly hug. “Dr. Pitt.”
“Oh please,” I smiled brightly. “call me Sophie.”
I followed Chris up the fancy looking stairs onto an even fancier plane. The entire thing was cream colored. Cream colored walls, seats, and plasma t.v.s on the back of each one. The first thing I noticed though was the bar. “Soph”, Chris said, walking me down the plane. “this is our best friend Jonny Buckland.”
“Hi!” I said happily, friendly kissing me on the cheek. “It’s so nice to meet you.”
“Oh and you too! It’s finally nice to put a face to the person who’s been stealing our lead singer.”
I could see Chris’s face turning red out of the corner of my eye, and all I could do was laugh. Chris took me on to Will and Guy, who were both very sweet, talking about how Chris talks about me all the time. Every time they’d say something like “oh Chris never stops talking about you” or “this is the first time in a long time we’ve ever met one of his girlfriends” I could feel Chris squeeze my hand a little tighter.
We took our seats in the front and Chris got us a couple of bottles of water. He went up to the DVD player and yelled “Movie anyone?” through the plane.
“What do you got?” Will asked. “I’m so sick of Back to the Future.”
Chris flipped through a few DVDs, looked up at me and smiled. “This is my favorite movie. Ever.” he said, sticking a DVD in.
I smiled and looked at the screen in front of me. Suddenly “Psycho” started playing. “Are you kidding me?” I chuckled, as Chris put his arm around my shoulders. “This is my favorite movie.”
Chris kissed my head and pulled a warm blanket over us. “Seems like we have a little more in common than we thought.”

TEN: Sexual Content

My eyes fluttered open a few hours later. The movie was off, the plane was dead silent, and it was night… wherever we were. The sight was beautiful. Everything looked so peaceful and quiet from a few thousand feet up. I looked around the plane and saw Guy smiling at me. “Have a good nap?” he asked.
I nodded. “Where’s Chris?”
“He’s doing a phone interview in the other room. Hungry?”
“Starving, actually.” I said, getting up.
Guy stood up and walked over to a counter near the center of the plane and pulled out a plastic container. “My famous chicken salad sandwich. Seriously, even if you don’t like chicken salad, you’ll love this.”
I smiled. “Well it’s a good thing I love chicken salad.” I opened the container and took a small bite. “Oh my god, this is amazing.”
He chuckled. “That’s what they all say.”
For the next couple of hours I got to know Guy, Jon and Will much better. Jonny taught me a little guitar which was incredibly embarrassing, because I have no musical talent at all. Will showed me pictures of his beautiful children and we talked a little bit about what it was like to be on the road all the time. Then I heard my cell phone ring, so I excused myself and dug through my purse. The caller ID read “Jim”.
“Hey!” I said cheerfully.
“Hey, Soph!” Jim said. “How’s the fancy vacation going so far?”
I chuckled and sat down. “Well, hasn’t really started yet. We’re still on the plane.”
“Oh, really? Wow, longer flight than I thought.” He sighed. “Well, I’ll let you get back.”
“Good to hear from you, Jim.”
I hung up the phone and looked up to see Chris walking out of the next room, now wearing a black t-shirt and blue boxers for pajamas. He smiled brightly when he saw me. “Hey, you’re up. Sorry I had to do that. Were you okay here?”
“Just fine.” I said, kissing him on the cheek. “Your friends are very sweet.”
They all smiled as a thank you and we sat down in our seats. “Do you know how much longer we have?”
“No idea. Oh, I got you something. Well, my agent did.” He stood up and walked over to a garment bag and pulled the zipper down.
Inside was a beautiful electric blue one shoulder dress.
“Oh, Chris!” I said, holding the dress up to my chest. “It’s gorgeous! But why?”
“Well as soon as we get there we have to go to some charity event. If you don’t want to-”
Before he could finish I dropped the dress and kissed him on the lips. “I’d love to go.”
Chris grinned and pulled me in again for another kiss. He wrapped his arms around my waist and put a hand up my shirt onto my bare back. Suddenly, he stopped and looked around. “You know… there’s a bedroom in the back.”
“Are you kidding?”
He shook his head.
I took my hands from his neck down to his hand and we slowly crept to the back of the plane, hopefully without anyone noticing. I opened the door to see a tiny bedroom with a twin bed in the back corner. Chris turned me around and pushed me up against the wall, kissing me passionately. I ran my fingers through his hair as I felt his hands pulling off my tank top. When I ripped his shirt off he went for my jeans, and got them off quite quickly. I giggled as he lifted me up and threw me onto the bed. “Condom?” I asked quickly.
Chris nodded and got a condom out of a drawer, then climbed back on top of me.
I tried to be as quiet as I could, but man. That was the most intense sex of my life.

ELEVEN:

“Come on lovebirds, wake up.” Guy pounded on the door.
We weren't actually sleeping. After, well, you know, we just stayed up talking for hours. It was so nice being so incredibly close to him. “What is it, Guy?” Chris moaned.
“We're here. You need to get dressed and we gotta get going.”
I climbed out of bed and slipped on that beautiful blue dress. It fit perfectly. Chris of course wore a t-shirt with a blazer over top. That was his idea of fancy. I put my hair into a pretty elaborate bun and did my makeup quicker than usual. When I walked out of the bedroom four heads turned to my direction. The other three boys were actually wearing ties. “Wow, Soph.” Chris chuckled, his face blushing. “You look absolutely beautiful.”
I grinned and hooked arms with him. We all filed out of the plane into the humid Australian night. Thankfully there was an air conditioned car waiting for us, because I could feel my hair start to frizz. We all filed inside and I could feel myself starting to get a little panicked. I had never done this before, obviously. My idea of fancy was an actual meal in the hospital cafeteria, for Christ's sake.
And I had good reason to be nervous.
“Soph, this is Radiohead.”
“Soph, Noel Gallagher.”
“Oh, Sophie, this is Roger Daltrey.”
“Nelson Mandela, Sophie Pitt.”
After the first two hours of meeting world leaders and rock legends I was on the verge of tears. Because I knew exactly what was happening. There was a balcony no one seemed to be using because of the humidity, so I rushed out onto it and grabbed the first glass of wine I could find. I realized a few minutes later that I was crying my eyes out.
“Soph, hey, what's wrong?” Chris looked me in the eye. “God, what's wrong?”
“I can't do this Chris. I don't belong here.”
He furrowed his brow. “What? What are you talking about? You were getting along fine.”
“Chris,” I said more firmly. “I really really like you. Really. But I'm a doctor from New York City.”
Chris's face turned pink and his eyes started to water. “No, no, Sophie please don't do this.”
I started to sob. “I'm sorry. This never would've worked. I, I gotta go.”
As I walked towards the door I could hear Chris sobbing now too. He kept calling my name as I walked down the two flights of stairs through the royalty, down to the street and walked to the car. My makeup dripping off my face onto the beautiful gown, I grabbed my bags out of the car and walked to the nearest hotel I could find.



“It was the right thing to do.” I said quietly to Amy a few hours later.
Amy sighed. “When are you getting a flight back?”
“Tomorrow afternoon.”
I ended my call with Amy and curled up onto the bed. This was an absolute nightmare. The first man that I... I... my god. I realized right then and there that I was in love with him, which made everything much worse.
I didn't sleep at all that night. Just stared at a pack of gum on the nightstand for eight hours. Around noon I gathered up my things and got ready to leave. Suddenly my cell phone rang. It was Phil. “I can't talk.” I said quietly.
“Chris, Chris is hurt!” Phil yelled.
I immediately became alert. “What? What happened?”
“He just finished Sound Relief and he just collapsed! We need your help, Soph, please!”
“I'm on my way.”
I hailed a taxi and told the driver to speed to wherever the Sound Relief was. When I got there Phil had given me automatic access to the back. I dropped my bags and sprinted backstage. “Soph!” Phil yelled from behind me.
“Where is he?” I asked immediately.
He pointed to a room in between us. I walked in and saw the boys all sitting around, Chris passed out on the couch. His face was beet red and was soaked in sweat. I knelt down next to him and felt his head. “Ice and water.” I said.
I saw someone out of the corner of my eye walk out of the room. “Chris?” I whispered, kissing his forehead. “Chris can you hear me?”
His eyes slowly fluttered open and looked up at me. “Don't go back to New York.”
Tears started to fall down my cheeks again as his weak hands slowly pulled me closer. I kissed him. “No, no I'm staying right here.”

Parachutes. Quite an Old Story.

PART 1:

Chris is sitting in his hotel room in New York City. He’s at the foot of the bed, looking down at his feet, and dressed in all black with white sneakers. The room is dark. The only light coming in is from the sun rising over the buildings. His blue eyes are filled with confusion, sadness and anger. Guy quietly walks in and leans against the wall. “Hey.” He says quietly.
Chris looks up and smiles. “Hey.”
They pause for a few minutes until Jonny takes a few steps forward. “Listen, about last night. I-”
“Don’t worry about it.” Chris says firmly while standing up. “It… it’s fine.”
Guy furrows his brow. “No,” he shakes his head violently. “no it wasn’t fine.”
They stare at each other for a few seconds, then Chris chuckles. “Come on, man. Just forget it.” he slaps Guy on the shoulder.
“I just want you to know that it was nothing. It was stupid, and-”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” Chris snapped. His eyes were staring straight into Guy’s.
Guy nodded. “Fine. Well when you’re ready to talk, let me know.”
“Yeah, whatever.” Chris mumbled, staring at the wall.
They paused for a few seconds before Guy slowly walked out the door. Chris sighed as soon as the door closed, sat back down on the bed, and reached for the mini bar.


PART 2:

ONE WEEK EARLIER
The boys shuffled off the stage as the crowd cheered for more. Chris collapsed on the dressing room couch in a pool of his own sweat as the three others went for water. “Good show.” Phil said as he walked into the room. “You know the audience gets kind of pissed when you only do ten songs.”
Chris shrugged and wiped his face with a towel. “Well what can we do about it?”
Phil shoved his hands in his pockets. “Write another album.”
The four of them all turned to Phil. It had only been a year since they wrote Parachutes, and they were in the middle of a tour. “W…” Will shook his head in confusion. “We’re in the middle of a tour.”
“So? Write on the road. I hate to tell you, guys, but you’re going to have to get used to something now.”
“What’s that?” Chris asked.
“Fame.”
A couple of hours later the guys decided that they’d try to write some new songs, and see where it went. Then they got ready to leave. “Hey, Chris.” Jonny said as they were walking out the door. “Will and I were going to go get a beer. Care to join?”
Chris smiled wryly and shook his head. “No man, there’s something else I have to do.”
“Oh, oh okay. Good luck, man.”
A few minutes later Chris was at the top of her street. London looked like a ghost town late at night. The wet streets made everything look so much darker, and it was so quiet. The center of London, and not a noise to be heard. His stomach turned as he walked up to her front step and reluctantly knocked on the door. There was some rustling inside, then the glow of a light being turned on from the window. She quietly opened the door and smiled. “Hi.” she said quietly.
Chris tried not to fidget. “Hi. Did I wake you?”
She shook her head. “No." There was a pause for almost a minute."Have fun tonight?”
“Natalie.”
Chris and Natalie’s relationship had been nothing that you would call an actual relationship. It all started a few weeks ago when Natalie started complaining about Chris always being away. After that, they’d been fighting like an old married couple. They were slowly drifting apart and frankly, they had no idea what was keeping them together.
A few seconds later Natalie opened the screen door for Chris, and he walked into her living room. Natalie switched off the T.V. and leaned against the couch. Chris awkwardly shifted his weight and leaned against the stairs. “Are we going to talk about this?” he said.
“Oh Chris.” Natalie snapped.
“What?” he quickly replied. “Come on, you know this is awkward, I know this is awkward. We can’t spend our time like this. We have to talk about it some time.”
Natalie glared at him. “What is there to talk about? You, you’re always away and frankly I’m fucking sick of it. Don’t try to deny it but you know this was going to happen.”
Chris’s anger turned to sympathy. He did know that he was away all the time but, he wanted her to care more about what he did. Frankly, he thought she was quite selfish but he never tried to make her think he was right about anything. He put a hand through his short, cinnamon brown hair. “Hey, I’m sorry.” he said, and took a step closer to her.
She folded her arms and let out a shaky sigh. “What is happening to us?”
That statement left them both quiet for a few more seconds. “Hey,” Chris said, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder. “if you want, I’ll ask Phil to postpone next week’s gig in New York.”
Natalie looked up and smiled. “Really?”
Chris smiled back and rubbed her shoulder with his thumb. “Really.”
They looked into each other’s eyes for a few more seconds then Chris felt Natalie’s arm stiffen under his grip, so he slowly let go. “Well, em. I better get going. You should get some sleep.” Chris said.
“Okay. Good night.”
Chris walked out of her house and down the stoop, and felt his heart start to ache. He was disappointed that she didn’t ask him to spend the night. He just wanted to be around her but… something else inside him was asking himself what the hell he was doing with her. They surely weren’t right for each other, so they were just pulling at loose strings. After that, Chris knew he wouldn’t sleep so he walked down the chilled streets of London down to the pub.

PART 3:

Chris awoke to the sound of his phone ringing the next morning. His head was pounding and his ears were ringing from all the drinks he had the night before. That was basically the way he dealt with Natalie. Drinking. He rolled over and picked the phone up off the receiver. “Yeah.” he moaned.
“Chris?” Guy said. “Chris where the hell are you? It's four o' fucking clock!”
Chris shot up and looked at the clock. “Oh fuck, I had such a late night.”
“That's fine. Fine. I just want to tell you we're going to be leaving for New York a little early. Phil was able to get us another gig in at Radio City Music Hall and we have a radio show that morning.”
“Guy.” Chris said, putting a hand on his aching head. “I can't go.”
There was a pause on the other line. “You're joking.”
Chris shook his head as if Guy was there. “No, no man. I had this fight with Natalie and I promised her-”
“Natalie? Is that the reason?”
He sighed. “Yeah.”
Chris could hear Guy trying to hold back his anger. They'd known each other for a long time, and even when they weren't together they knew when they were angry. “Chris.” Guy said. “I, I need to talk to you about Natalie.”
Chris's back stiffened. “What about her?”
“She's not right for you, man. And I think you know that.”
“Guy-”
“Let me finish.” he inhaled. “The boys and I have been talking and we all know that this has been affecting you for the past few weeks. Ever since we went to France you two have been so tense with each other. Is that the relationship you want? You should be with someone who makes you happy, not depressed. For some reason, I don't know why, Natalie can't accept the fact that you're a musician. That's the kind of person we fight against. It's why we do what we do, Chris. Please don't get mad at me. You're like a brother to me, and I just hate to see you this way.”
Chris knew Guy was right. He'd known for a long time but, he'd had such problems with relationships in the past. Chris had met Natalie right after he'd had a really bad breakup, and he was vulnerable. He needed compassion and he found that in anyone. Now he was realizing that he should have broken up with Natalie a long time ago to save each other. “God, you're right man.” Chris admitted. “I'm such an idiot.”
“No!” Guy yelled. “Don't say that. You're not an idiot. You were just trying too hard. Chris, you can't force something to be right.”
“I guess I'll talk to her today.”
“Okay.” Guy said calmly. “Just get yourself together and be at Will's by 5 tomorrow morning. You're a good guy, Chris. Remember that.”
Chris said goodbye to Guy and got ready to do something he'd been regretting for two months. He dressed in a black t-shirt and jeans, and headed out to Natalie's for the last time.


PART 4:

“Chris!” Natalie said, happier than usual. “I'm so glad you're here.”
Chris furrowed his brow. “You are?”
She smiled brightly and nodded. “Mmhm. Come in!”
Chris opened the screen door and walked into Natalie's apartment. Something was different. She sat down on the brown leather couch and gestured for him to sit next to her, so he sat. “Chris,” Natalie said. “you and I have had our differences. And you know, last night was just stupid. I want to thank you for being so compassionate about my feelings. I want a fresh start.”
His bright blue eyes widened. Chris had no idea what to say. He came here with the intention to break up with her, and he thought she'd be okay with it. This changed everything. “Chris?” Natalie said, gently putting a hand on his scruffy cheek. “Chris are you okay?”
Chris pulled away slightly but nodded. “Okay.” he whispered.
“Oh, wonderful!” Natalie yelled. “I want to put everything with your silly “career” behind us and just be ourselves. Obviously singing isn't a profession so maybe I could get you that job at my dad's restaurant like we were talking about.”
Chris was stunned. When he first met Natalie she kept talking about how music isn't a profession but he asked her to stop, so she did. I guess she thought that a “fresh start” meant he doesn't have feelings. “You can't talk like that.”
Natalie shot him a confused look. “Like what?”
“Stop downing my profession.”
She furrowed her brow. “Music isn't a profession.”
Chris stood up and paced the floor. “You know what? I'm done.”
Natalie stood up and waved her hands in the air. “What is wrong with you? I didn't do anything.”
“See? It's always me!” Chris yelled for the first time in their relationship. “You never do anything wrong cause you're fucking perfect, right? Okay, I'm leaving.”
“Why?”
Chris looked puzzled. “Because we aren't right for each other, Natalie. Am I the only one who sees that? We don't get along, you hate music and I'm sorry. I can't be with someone who hates music. Goodbye.”
Natalie started yelling something as he slammed the door behind himself. When he looked around the street, things seemed a little brighter. Chris's heart wasn't hurting anymore, and finally he felt like himself again.


Guy walked into the bar around midnight. He sat down at the counter and ordered a scotch. He was worried about Chris. Their relationship had been a bit odd lately, since Chris had had his mind on so many things that had to do with Natalie.
“Hey.” Guy heard a voice say to his right.
He looked over to see Natalie sitting next to him. Her golden blond hair was soaked from the pouring rain and she was dressed in a black tank top and jeans. “Hi.” Guy said quietly. “How are you?”
“Well your friend broke up with me today.” she said, ordering a martini from the bartender.
Shit. Guy didn't know what to say after that. “I'm so-”
“Don't say you're sorry.” she said, taking a gulp of alcohol. “You're his friend so I'm sure you were one of the ones who probably talked him into it. Don't take this the wrong way but he's a bastard.”
“Another drink?”
A few hours later Guy could barely walk from all the alcohol running through his veins. Natalie and him had been talking about basically everything except Chris, and despite his best friend's feelings he was beginning to like her. The two of them walked outside arm and arm around three A.M., laughing at absolutely nothing. When they got to Natalie's flat she started fumbling through her purse for her keys. “Shit.” she mumbled. “I know they were in here but you know, I can barely remember what I did this morning.”
They stared into each others eyes for a few seconds before Guy took another step closer, until he was about an inch away from her lips. They stood there like that until she made the move and pressed her lips against his. He pulled her small waist in and wrapped his hands around her. She put her fingers through his hair and started to kiss him more intensely. A few seconds later they heard someone cough next to them. They pulled away from each other to see Chris standing ten feet away from them with his jaw open.