I stormed out of my guesthouse and slammed the door behind me. Outside, I inhaled the cool night air, trying to regain composure before returning inside.
Once I got back in the house, I carefully locked the door and tiptoed down the hall. I pressed my ear up to Ariana’s door. I heard nothing. I hoped she hadn’t been disturbed by my stomping around.
More than anything, I wanted to call my mom and tell her about what I was dealing with. But, it was getting late, and I tried not to mention my dad under any circumstance. She had already been through enough with him, and I didn’t want to burden her with my issues.
I had so much on my mind, I knew that I wouldn’t get an hour of sleep. I dug through my drawers and pulled out my old iPod that I used in college. I found a recording of one of my old calculus lectures, one taught by an old man with an extremely soothing voice. I stuck my headphones in my ears and did my best to focus on the old lesson about integrals. I didn’t want to have to worry about anything else right then.
Chapter Ten
Ariana
I woke up late the next morning, completely disoriented. When the previous day feels like a strange dream, it makes for an equally odd morning. When I opened my eyes and realized that I was in my doctor’s bed instead of my own, I wanted to teleport back home and pretend like it had never happened.
I had revealed a lot about myself and got nothing out of it. In defending Daniel in front of his dad, I inadvertently shared a lot of my feelings for him.
Whenever I heard stories about people sharing their secret feelings to their crush, they always seemed to end happily. Magazines were full of cute stories about people biting the bullet and confessing their love for someone, only to find out that their crush had been harboring secret feelings for them as well.
No one ever talked about what happens when the recipient doesn’t respond. Probably because it doesn’t make for a very good story.
So, when I told his dad how amazing Daniel was, and in response, I was sent to bed, it didn’t feel great. In fact, it made me want to crawl under the covers and never come out.
If the alarm clock in the bedroom was accurate, Daniel had probably been at work for a few hours. I could avoid any awkward contact with him until he came back in the evening. With this knowledge, I crawled out of bed and went to the kitchen.
All the blinds were closed, casting faint yellow light into the dark kitchen. I liked it this way—it made me feel like I was hidden from the world. I saw a piece of paper on the counter, so I peeked at it, hoping it wasn’t anything too private. Much to my surprise, my name was at the top.
Ariana,
I didn’t want to wake you, so I left you this note instead. I hope that’s okay with you.
I’m really sorry for everything that happened last night. I’m ashamed of the things my father said about you and want you to know that his words don’t reflect upon my feelings for you. Last night should have been a fun, relaxing time for you to get away from your problems. From here on out, I’ll do my best to make sure the rest of your stay is better. I think I already have a few ideas in mind.
I’m going to be gone all day, but feel free to make yourself at home. The fridge and pantry are fully stocked. As your doctor, I recommend you make yourself some salmon for lunch with leafy greens. As your friend, I think I have some frozen pizzas and toaster waffles that you might enjoy. It will be nice to finally have someone use my kitchen beside me. This place is fully stocked, but there’s no one to share it with.
If you need me, give me a call and I’ll come home right away. Otherwise, I’ll see you tonight around six. I would suggest we play video games, but the graphics might not agree with your brain. I hope you like board games. I’m sorry to say that you stand no chance of winning against me.
See you soon,
Daniel
I sat down at the counter, stunned. I couldn’t stop smiling at his note. He didn’t say much, but there was something so cute about it that made my insides flutter.
I scanned it repeatedly, trying to analyze every line and every word. Though it wasn’t necessary, I appreciated his apology and his promise that he was nothing like his father. I had a pretty good feel for who Daniel was and I knew that he was a kinder, gentler man than his father.
My heart skipped a beat at the part where he mentioned fun future plans. He didn’t agree to do anything more than put me up in his house—entertaining me was a whole other story. He cared about my health and happiness. It felt so good to be worried about, even if it was needless.
Then, he called me a friend. I wished he had said more, but I could handle being called a friend. After a strange night, the fact that he still wanted me around meant so much to me. Overall, I was pleased.
I bounced around the kitchen, preparing myself a fancy breakfast. When I lived alone, I tended to eat poorly because no one could see my abysmal eating habits. There was something about staying at my doctor’s gorgeous house that put me on my best behavior. I made myself an egg white omelet with a side of fruit and a cup of green tea. Then, I sat on his sofa and ate while watching TV.
As I flipped through the channels, I got the idea to bake Daniel something special as a way to thank him for taking such good care of me.
It took a while to figure out where everything was, but once I got set up, I was so excited to surprise Daniel. I figured out that he had all the ingredients I needed to make chocolate chip cookies, so I ran with that idea. As I combined ingredients, I imagined the surprised and hopefully pleased look on his face when he came home.
After I scooped the dough onto the baking sheets, I stepped back to look at my handiwork. The baking ingredients and utensils were scattered all over his marble countertop, but it made it look more like a home than just a fancy house. I was starting to picture the two of us cooking together, and it was the perfect picture of what I wanted out of life. He was right—he had too many great appliances in his kitchen to leave unused.
As I waited for the cookies to finish baking, I did a little snooping. I hate to admit it, but I still felt like there were things I could learn about Daniel, and his house was the perfect way to uncover this information.
The first thing I deduced was that he didn’t spend a lot of time at home. His house was way too clean for it to look remotely lived-in. But, from looking through his food, I could tell that he was a healthy eater. That explained why his body was in such great shape. He was really quite stunning with his tall, lean physique. When I hugged him, I could feel the taut muscles in his back. It made me wonder what he looked like with his shirt off.
I even ran into his room and peeked through his closet. He dressed in mostly dark colors, but they suited him well. He had a very cool, very simple fashion sense. As someone who tended to keep it casual, I liked that.
Then, I took a quick look in his bathroom. It was all very stereotypical male. As far as toiletries go, he didn’t use much else besides shampoo, soap, and deodorant on his body. Before I headed back into the kitchen, I opened up his bottle of shampoo and took a whiff—I couldn’t help myself.
I jumped when I heard the oven timer go off. I laughed to myself thinking about how terribly embarrassing it would be if Daniel had caught me in the act.
I skipped down the hall to the kitchen, excited to try one of my cookies, fresh out of the oven. So, it came as a nasty shock when I saw Terry standing in the kitchen.
I gasped, nearly tripping over my own feet. Seeing him inside the house startled me so badly that I thought I was going to faint. I stabilized myself by holding onto the counter.
“What are you doing in here?” I asked.
“Calm down,” he frowned. “It’s not like I’m not allowed to be in the house. You know I’m staying out back. I just came in to use the kitchen. This one is better than the little one in the guesthouse.”
I had a bad feeling about Terry being inside the house. Something told me
that Daniel would not be happy if he knew what was going on.
“Are you going to take those out before they burn?” he asked.
I grabbed an oven mitt and scurried over to the oven. The cookies were perfect. I just hoped that there would be some left by the time Daniel got home.
“I think I’m going to go,” I said, bluffing to get Terry to go away. The truth was, there was nowhere else for me to go. “I’ll be back later.”
“Hold on,” he said gruffly. “I should apologize for my behavior last night. I was drunk. But, what I said still had some truth to it. My son is not right for you. If you stay with him and lead him on, you’re both going to be very unhappy. He’s going to have to choose you or his practice. It’s not going to end well for either of you.”
“You have the wrong idea,” I said. “But I appreciate your apology. I’m going to clean up these dishes, then I’ll get out of your way.”
I dumped the mixing bowls into the sink, eager to retreat to my bedroom. I felt uncomfortable being around Terry in the first place. Being alone with him made things much worse.
As I ran water into the sink to wash dishes, Terry shoved the bag of flour toward me, spilling the entire contents of the bag in the water.
“Whoops,” he said flatly as I scooped handfuls of sticky flour into the garbage disposal. I was starting to feel stressed out, something that Daniel had warned me about. I tried to do some breathing exercises to calm me down, but even his presence stressed me out.
Then, Terry turned on the big screen TV and turned the volume up all the way. He flipped through channels until he found something that interested him.
“Have you seen this?” he asked, a sinister smile on his face.
I looked at the TV. Bright, flashing lights covered the screen. I looked away once I realized what he was up to, but the damage had been done.
Small, flickering lights had appeared in my line of vision. This sometimes happened before a seizure.