Softly Awaken

 

 

Chapter Twenty

 

*****

A friend loves at all times,

and a brother is born for adversity.

                                                                                                            Prov. 17:17

*****

 

"Funny meeting you here, stranger." Luka smiled faintly as he nudged his hip against Abby's.

 

Abby hadn't expected to bump into anyone at the unknown coffee shop, while waiting for her Moccachino. And running into Luka was another thing in itself. She waited, plastering a smile on her face as his attention was focused on the petite blonde cashier, no older than 20, while ordering an double espresso. When he had given his order, Abby let out an audible sigh, attempting to appear content.

 

"What are you doing at this end of town?" she asked, sipping the hot, steaming, expensive delight.

 

Luka shrugged his shoulders back, uncomfortably, and leaned against the tiled counter. "I had to pick some stuff from the pharmacy across the street and decided I needed a pick-me-up before I go in tonight."

 

This was the first time he had seen Abby alone since he decided that he needed to clear the air with her. Her reddish blonde hair was loose against her shoulders; and her smooth, fair complexion was au natural - no makeup - which Luka had always preeferred on her. She had a natural glow about her that made her face appear flawless.

 

"Oh," Abby smiled, fidgeting with the take-out cup in her hand. "Well, I better get going." She pointed to the glass door, which led to the bustling Chicago street.

 

Luka frowned. If he didn't tell her now, that he wanted to speak to her, there would be no other opportune time.

 

"Abby, wait!" he said, hesitantly. She peered at him curiously. "Could we talk?"

 

Abby swallowed the cooling cocoa-flavored liquid, and cleared her throat. "Uh," she looked at her watch, "sure." She nodded.

 

While she waited for Luka to thank the server for his express, Abby couldn't help but wonder what Luka could possibly want to talk about. And then it suddenly dawned on her. This was going to be a heavy conversation, at least on his part.

 

“I don’t know if this is appropriate,” Luka hedged, as they exited the Starbucks, “but I think that it’s important.” He paused, letting his words sink in, for both of them. “I think we need to talk about what I said the other night.”

 

They walked down the concrete sidewalk, weaving through the almost hostile strangers that met them with cold stares. It was a quiet night - what could be considered quiet for the active streets of the extremely populated city.

 

“You don’t have to explain,” Abby replied, embarrassingly. “We were both having an off night.” She shied away from the subject, hoping that her quick dismissal of the subject would satisfy Luka’s guilt for springing his declaration of love - as much a declaration as Luka would ever make - on her.

 

She felt the hackles on her neck stand on end, waiting uncomfortably for his usual, casual smirk and nod. Abby was not in the mood to discuss relationships. It hadn’t been two nights since she broke the news to John that she thought it would be best to take a break, and now she had to tell Luka that this wasn’t the right time? Abby silently groaned. How did she get herself into these situations?

 

Luka searched deep within himself for the right words to broach the subject. He didn’t want this to be an uncomfortable conversation - if there was such a possibility. Notiicing Abby’s uneasy and strained expression, Luka knew that no ‘specific’ words would make a difference. She was already retreating into her shell, which kept her from being exposed or vulnerable for too long.

 

“I’m sorry if I…if I made you uncomfortable, when I told you those things the other night.” He kept the specifics vague, though both remembered exactly what he had said to her. “I really don’t want you to feel like I’m pushing you…” His voice trailed off. He just couldn’t find the right words.

 

Abby closed her eyes as they stopped at the curb for the red light. This was the last thing she wanted to happen; Luka felt guilty about her less than receptive behaviour, even though it had nothing to do with him, really.

 

“Luka,” she sighed, as they stepped down from the curb and crossed the white stripped area, reserved for pedestrians. “It’s not you. It’s just that…well, a lot of things are on my mind right now and I just can’t focus on one more thing.”

 

Abby peered up at the tall Croatian doctor and hoped that he understood. It had crossed her mind that she needed to discuss the situation between her and Luka, but since the break up, it was the last thing on her mind.

 

Luka took a deep breath as he assessed the situation. ‘There definitely was something on her mind,’ he reasoned silently.

 

After a moment, Luka finished his last drop of express and nodded. “I’m not going to push,” he said quietly. “But if there is something wrong, I would like to try to help.”

 

Abby smiled graciously at Luka. “It’s not something you can fix,” she said vaguely.

 

She could feel Luka’s gaze fixed upon her. It made her tense up and stare awkwardly at the cooling Moccachino in her hand. Would it be right to tell him that they had broken up?

 

Abby kept her eyes averted from the warm concern that she was certain evaded from Luka’s eyes. Sometimes she wished that she didn’t feel the need to be in control of her emotions and hide what she was really feeling and thinking from people. It had been the problem in all of her relationships. And it was what had broken the connection between her and John.

 

“So this is probably where we have to split up, huh?” Luka quipped.

 

Abby frowned. “Hmm?” As she looked up at her surroundings, Abby realized that they were at the corner of Carlisle Drive and Avenue C.

 

“I said that this is our fork in the road,” Luka repeated, gesturing to the different streets they would take - his led to the hospital and hers to the ‘L’ train.

 

His meeting with Abby hadn’t gone according to plan, but in retrospect, it probably went better. Though he had not explained his feelings, Luka felt that they had an understanding - they would actually talk about it.

 

Abby bit her lip and nodded. “I guess,” she said, letting out a deep breath.

 

The warm, late afternoon breeze swirled around them. It brushed a few of Abby’s long, straight locks into her eyes. She looked like a woman standing in a modern day portrait. It was then that the bustle of traffic and human voices around them seemed to drown away; silence replacing the unfocused mixture of sounds.

 

“You work tomorrow?” he asked.

 

“No. I’ve worked five day shifts, so I’ve got two days off and work a night shift,” Abby explained as she kicked the air in front of her.

 

“Oh,” Luka nodded, not knowing what else to say.

 

Abby tilted her head to the side and furrowed her brow. “Maybe if you’re not busy sometime, you can give me a call,” she said hesitantly. “I don’t know if I’ll be home, but if I am, then maybe we can catch a movie or something?”

 

Luka brightened at the suggestion. By her invitation, he knew she didn’t feel too awkward about the prior unresolved issue. He nodded. “Sure. I’ll give you a call.” He paused a moment. “Don’t you think Carter might have a problem with this?” he joked.

 

Abby stiffened. “Uh, no,” she coughed, staring down at the sidewalk. “Shouldn’t be a problem. But you should probably get going, huh?”

 

Luka frowned as he looked down at his watch. He nodded, as he realized his shift started in 15 minutes. “Yeah,” he said slowly, eyeing Abby‘s restlessness at the mention of John‘s name.

 

Abby was antsy after Luka‘s casual mention of Carter. And she was even more so after her reaction to his name. She could tell from the curious look in Luka’s eye. He had noticed her reaction too.

 

Clasping her hands around her coffee cup, Abby let out another deep breath and plastered on a smile. “Well, I better be going,” she chirped. “I have a few things to do before it gets dark.”  Luka nodded slowly, yet made no comment.

 

“Well, I’ll see you.” Abby turned on her heel and made her way to the L train. After a short debate, she turned around and waved awkwardly, knowing that she probably looked like she was running away from something.

 

Luka watched Abby make a quick getaway. He waited until she disappeared around the corner before turning around to begin his shift at County. ‘That was strange, even for Abby,’ he thought.

 

I wonder if there is something up between those two?

 

~~~

 

Jing Mei ran the thin, bristle brush through her hair one last time.  It was the first time she had really gone out ‘officially’ since her pregnancy.  Sliding her hands down her black silk dress, she took one last look at herself in the full-length mirror.  The corners of her lips curled slightly as she winked at herself in the mirror.  “Not bad, Chen.  Not bad at all.”

 

Grabbing her matching black handbag, Jing Mei ran into the bathroom and checked her make up.  She ran the tip of her index finger along the edge of her bottom lip and blotted with a square of toilet paper.  Her date would be pleased she surmised.

 

Now satisfied with her presentation, Jing Mei looked at the thin silver band across her wrist.  5:45 p.m.  Bobby would be there in a few minutes.  She felt her chest tighten at the thought.  It had been a year since she had seriously connected with a member of the opposite sex.  Did she remember what to do?

 

Ring.

 

The phone startled Jing Mei from the pre-date anxiety that she was allowing herself to sink into.  Picking up the phone, she smiled as she answered, as if the expression on her face could be translated over the thin, fiberoptic lines between her ears and her caller.

 

“Hello?”

 

“Hey Deb,” John’s voice greeted her casually.

 

Her smile vanished and her brow furrowed at the call.  “John!”  Her voice rose revealing her surprise.

 

“Hi,” he laughed hesitantly.

 

Jing Mei leaned against her kitchen counter as she detected a certain awkwardness in his voice.  “What are you…”  Just then, John interrupted her.  “Are you busy tonight?“ he asked.

 

But before she could ask John what the call was really about, the buzzer sounded in her apartment.  “Sorry.“  Jing Mei turned towards the source of the noise.  “Could you hold on for a second?” she asked apologetically.

 

“Yeah,” he answered.

 

Jing Mei ran to her door, pressing a small white button, letting Bobby into the building.  As she waited for Bobby to arrive, Jing Mei returned to the conversation at hand.  “John, sorry about that,” she apologized again.  “What’s up?”

 

There was a slight pause at the other end of the phone.  Now Jing Mei knew something was wrong.

 

“You’re busy right now, right?” John finally spoke - his question more of a statement.

 

Jing Mei frowned, shaking her head out of habit, as if John could see her.  “No,” she dismissed.  “What’s wrong?”

 

As she waited for his answer, there was a rhythmic knock on the door.  Jing Mei strode towards the door, when John finally replied.  “I need someone to talk to.”  The answer was a simple statement, but Jing Mei knew it was more of a plea.

 

In the awkward silence over the phone, Jing Mei had reached her door and opened it to reveal  her tall handsome date.  Her first prospect, in the dry spell of her romantic entanglements, stood with flowers in hand and a warm smile.

 

Jing Mei swallowed hard, as the receiver pressed uncomfortably against her ear.  What was she going to do?

 

“Deb?”  John’s voice beckoned over the phone, just as Bobby handed her the bouquet of wildflowers.

 

“Uh,” she hedged, as she held up her hand, gesturing Bobby to wait for just a second, “John, I just need one more second.  There’s someone here I need to talk to for a minute.”

 

Pressing the receiver against her chest, Jing Mei considered the man who stood before her and then her needful friend on the other end of the receiver.  Closing her eyes and letting out a deep breath, when she opened them, she looked remorsefully at Bobby.

 

“I’m sorry,” she mouthed to the expectant resident, who looked like he had never been turned down by a woman before.  Jing Mei pointed at the phone.  “I really need to take this.”

 

The muscular blonde creased his brow and tilted his head, resembling a confused puppy, unable to understand what had just happened. 

 

“Jing Mei, c’mon!  Our first date and you’re blowing me off?” he exclaimed in astonishment.

 

Jing Mei shrugged helplessly, pointing at the cordless receiver.  “I really have an emergency here,” she explained vainly.

 

There was no point in trying to explain the vague, and wordless plea John had uttered over the phone.  And as much as she was trying to move on and stop swooning over the med student she had studied and learned hard lessons with, he needed her right now.  As a friend, she could not ignore that; she would not ignore it.  “Sorry.”

 

Bobby rolled his eyes and shook his head.  “Fine,” he frowned.  “Whatever.”

 

Jing Mei was about to apologize once more, but the resident surgeon at Mercy turned on his heel and stalked down the hallway.  She frowned, wishing it had gone differently.

 

“John?” she said hesitantly, wondering if he was still on the line.  Her regrets about Bobby already forgotten.

 

“I’m still here,” he sighed.

 

“Well, I’ll be over in 20 minutes.”

 

~~~

 

“John, there’s a man standing at the door with a pizza.”  Gramma’s familiar dry and dispassionate tone made John look up from the most recent medical journal he was reading.  “I presume that he is looking for you?” she said, looking over the bridge of her reading glasses.

 

“Yeah.”  John stood up from the comfortable couch and set down the journal on the coffee table.  He reached into his pocket as he entered the foyer and greeted the delivery boy, who was subtly inspecting a house that seemed less than likely to order pizza.  “How much?” John inquired.

 

Startled, the delivery boy jerked his head to see John standing there.  “Huh?” he muttered.  After a short pause, the boy laughed nervously.  “Oh, yeah.  That’ll be an even $20.”

 

John handed him $25 and accepted the steaming, flat cardboard box.  “Thanks.” 

 

He walked the boy to the door and made his way back to the living room.  Gamma was sitting on the edge of the couch casually flipping through the journal he had been reading.  John slipped the pizza on top of a short pile of magazines, which sat on the coffee table.  He didn’t dare set it on the surface of the cherry oak coffee table.  His grandmother would have a ‘cow‘.

 

“Find anything interesting?” he asked, as he lifted the lid on the steaming pizza.

 

The prim silver-haired matriarch lifted her head and looked irritably at John.  “I don’t understand why you read these things,” she said drolly.  “All they ever describe is a new type of medicine, or a procedure that some doctor has just done.  It’s not like you don’t see enough patients and think about medicine enough when you’re at the hospital, but do you really have to read this too?”

 

John carefully picked up a slice of the pepperoni and bacon pizza, and cautiously bit the American delicacy, dripping with cheese.  “I have to,” he chewed a few times and swallowed, “keep up with the new medicines and procedures Gamma.”  The warm, spicy food sparked a sense of comfort within him.  John knew he would pick pizza over any gourmet meal any day, especially when it was pepperoni and bacon.

 

She ignored his comment and set down the journal, closing its pages and placing it neatly before her.  “Who did you call earlier, John?”  Her probing grey eyes seemed to scrutinize his every move while waiting for an answer.

 

John quickly swallowed his third bite, as he juggled the half eaten slice of pizza in his hands,  while trying not to drip sauce on the coffee table or the carpet.  “Uh, Deb,” he replied casually, licking the sauce that managed to dribble onto his hand.

 

Gamma seemed to take in this news with interest.  “What reason do you have to call Jing Mei this evening?” she frowned.  “If your evening is free, I would assume you would be out with Abby?”

 

John coughed, almost choking on his second to last bite of pizza.  Her observation sent an acute, stabbing pain into his chest.  Suddenly his appetite had waned.  “I needed to talk to Deb,” he mumbled.

 

“But what about Abby?” Gamma curiously probed.  “I don’t think you want the same melodramatic incident to occur like last time?”  She leaned forward, as if she knew she was waiting for some intimate revelation.

 

John shifted awkwardly under his grandmother’s indirect query about his love life.  “Nothing is going to happen,” he dismissed uneasily.

 

Ding dong.

 

John‘s gaze turned towards the foyer.  “That must be Deb,” he exclaimed, happy for the interruption.  He excused himself and practically ran to the door.  He opened the door to find Deb standing in a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt; her hair tied back in a ponytail.

 

“Hi!” she smiled, tentatively waving her hand in front of her.

 

John gestured for her to enter the house.  “Hi,” he said breathily.  “Thanks for coming over.”

 

When he had phoned earlier, John hadn’t realized who he was phoning until he heard her voice on the other end.  He was completely overrun with thoughts about Abby.  It was horrible.  He couldn’t sit still for a minute without thinking about her.

 

“So what’s up?” she asked, folding her arms across her chest.

 

Before John could answer, Gamma appeared in the foyer, slowly making her way towards them.  “I thought I heard your voice Jing Mei,” she exclaimed, a crooked smile on her face.

 

“Mrs. Carter, I’m so glad to see you’re moving around a little better,” Deb chirped, greeting his grandmother with a conservative embrace.

 

John sighed.  He hoped that Gamma wouldn’t make a big deal over her visit.  “Yeah,” he nodded, “she’s been making slow but sure progress.”

 

Deb glanced back at him and smiled briefly, before turning her attention to his grandmother.  “Well, I’m glad.”

 

John smiled politely at Gamma and stepped up behind Deb.  “Uh, Deb and I are just going to be in the other room,” he informed his grandmother, hoping to save Deb from a detached and polite conversation about her work and parents.

 

Gamma looked less than pleased with his attempt at a quick getaway, but she turned and smiled politely at Deb.  “Well, Jing Mei, I was planning to have a rest,” she explained, “and just wanted to say hello.”

 

John pressed his hand lightly into the small of Deb’s back.  She looked back at him and frowned slightly before turning her attention to his grandmother.  “Well it was good to see you again.”

 

Gamma finally took her leave, which wasn’t soon enough for John.  As much as he loved his grandmother, it was hard to talk to her or have her relate to what he was going through.  He also preferred not to expose his friends to her subtle criticisms.

 

“Let’s go into the living room,” John motioned to the dimly lit room.

 

Deb tilted her head and furrowed her brow, pausing a moment to look at him, before accepting his suggestion.  John followed behind her, not exactly sure what they were going to talk about.

 

~~~

 

“So it’s not a done deal yet, right?” Jing Mei frowned, taking another bite out of the now cold pizza.  She leaned back and snuggled into the plush couch, her knees tucked into her chest.

 

It had taken awhile before John got to the big news.  He hadn’t wanted to just blurt it out.

 

“I guess not,” he shrugged, leaning over and picking up his coffee cup.  “But it certainly seems that way.”

 

Jing Mei rolled her eyes.  This news hadn’t broken her heart by any means.  In fact, she had to silently chide herself for thinking, ‘Finally.’  “John get into a big knot.  You guys just started dating.  You were bound to have a fight sooner or later,” she sighed.  This was anything but fun.

 

Why had she bailed on a date to hold John’s hand?

 

“I suppose,” he groaned, setting his coffee back on the wooden coaster.

 

John knew Deb was probably right, but somewhere deep down, he felt like there was no point.  She knew the score.  Every time he dated a woman, they just ended up breaking up and he never saw them again.  All of the doctors he had dated left County, and the non-doctors…they vanished as quickly, if not faster.

 

“John,” Jing Mei groaned, scooting over, until she was close enough to grab him by the shoulders.  “You need to stop obsessing over this.”

 

She knew she should have had more sympathy, but it was nothing new to John.  His love life was a roller coaster, and he never seemed to do anything to change that.  Jing Mei would have given him advice, but how could she lecture him, when she hadn’t had a date in over a year?

 

John narrowed his eyes and stuck out his tongue.  “You know it’s not that easy!,” he pouted.

 

“I don’t know why not,” Jing Mei shrugged.  “Actually you’re taking this whole time out thing better than I would have expected.”

 

“Yeah, really well.  I call you up and make you come over here to talk about it,” he scoffed.  “I’m taking it really well.”

 

“Well maybe we both should give up on dating,” Jing Mei sighed, not knowing what other advice to give him.

 

John chuckled.  “We’ll start a Singles Anonymous club,” he suggested cavalierly.  “You and I can be founding members.”

 

Jing Mei almost considered the offer, before pursing her lips and shaking her head.  “Can’t do it,” she laughed.  “I’d miss out on the sex too much.”  She winked at him.

 

John pretended to mull it over a while longer before nodding head.  “Yeah, me too.”

 

They sat there in a comfortable silence for a moment, both staring contently at each other.

 

“Do you think I just suck at picking women,” John asked off-handedly, staring at his feet.

 

Jing Mei was caught off guard by the question.  Her mind raced, trying to think of an appropriate answer.  “Uh,” she laughed uneasily. “No?”

 

John looked up and tilted his head to the side.  He let out a deep breath.  He blinked a few times before speaking again.  “No,” he said softly.  “Really.  What do you really think?”

 

Jing Mei bit the bottom of her lip as she watched John’s demeanor suddenly change.  He seemed more vulnerable.  “I…I don’t know.”

 

John’s eyes narrowed and he pushed himself up until he could lean forward and look her straight in the eyes.  “You think something though,” he pressed.  “I can tell from the look in your eyes.”

 

“John,” she hedged.  “I don’t…”  He jumped in, interrupting her.  “You won’t hurt my feelings…really.  I just want to know,” John coaxed.

 

Jing Mei shifted uncomfortably.  “You don’t know what you’re asking for,” she stalled, hoping some vague answer would satisfy his desire for why he could never settle down with a woman.

 

In her heart, Jing Mei knew she couldn’t tell him what she really thought about the women he had chosen.  She hadn’t met all of them, but from comments by the nurses and other doctors, he always went for the obvious.  John dated the typical devastatingly beautiful, whether they happened to be on staff or not.

 

She was sure they had some sort of intellect, but that wasn’t what attracted him.  Sometimes it was the challenge, and sometimes it was just the attraction, but in the end, it was never based on anything more than that.  And with Abby it had been his desire to help her…to fix what hurt.

 

None were the basis for something that would last.

 

“I’m telling you, Deb, I can handle it.”  John watched her, as she sat in front of him, quietly musing to herself.  He could tell she didn’t want to hurt him…ego or otherwise.

 

Jing Mei looked up at John and shook his head.  “I can’t,” she sighed.  “Not right now anyway.”

 

“Why?” John frowned.  “You don’t usually have a problem telling me the way things are.”

 

It was a challenge.  He knew she wouldn’t tell him just because he asked.

 

Jing Mei rolled her eyes.  She wasn’t going to bite.  “Well, you’re the one who just broke up with his girlfriend…I don’t know if you’re allowed to ask questions like that right now.”

 

John just shook his head.  “Cop out.”

 

“Let’s just say that it’s not all your fault John.  I mean, it’s never just one person’s fault,” she reassured.

 

“Yeah, but why does it always feel that way?”

 

Jing Mei leaned over and put her hand in his.  “You’ll be all right,” she said confidently.

 

John locked gazes with Jing Mei.  “Thanks.”

 

They sat in silence for a moment; both appreciating each other’s company. 

 

She nodded; the first to look away.  “I’ll bill you later,” Jing Mei teased, lowering her legs and stretching them out in front of her.

 

John rolled his eyes and laughed.  “I thought the pizza was payment!”

 

"You wish."

 

John slowly nodded. eyeing one of his closest friends.  "Well, what would you take as payment then?"

 

Jing Mei scrunched her face as she considered the open-ended possibilities.  There were several which she would put to the side right away.  "Hmmm, that's a hard question."

 

John smiled curiously.  "Why?"

 

Jing Mei raised her eyebrows mischievously.  "There are so many options," she said slyly.

 

"Oh really?" John was intrigued to hear Jing Mei's thoughts.  "Sounds like you've given a lot of thought to this...payment issue between us," he teased, gently poking her in the side.

 

Jing Mei flinched, moving away from the dangerousl weapon in John's possession.  "Don't," she warned, pointing a finger at him.

 

"Don't what?" John asked innocently.  Meanwhile his fingertips were inches away from her ticklish left side.

 

"I'm warning you Carter!"

 

A devilish glint flashed in his eye.  He was never responded well to warnings.

 

Jing Mei screamed bloody murder when John's fingers managed to penetrate her defenses, and begin to tickle her mercilessly.  "Stop!" she cried, trying to get a grasp on his wrists and hold him at bay.

 

John wiggled his eyebrows, announcing to Jing Mei that he wasn't about to let up.  "I didn't know you were so ticklish Deb," he chuckled, while she was gasping for breath.

 

She could feel the tears running down her cheeks.  "Pleaaase!" she choked.  "I can't breathe!"

 

Finally after a few more seconds of torture, John let up and settled back into his part of the couch, allowing Deb time to catch her breath.  He tried to stifle his amusement at Deb's appearance.  Her hair was mussed and staticy.  Her face was flushed and she had a murderous gleam in her eye. 

 

Jing Mei glared evilly at John and pointed at him, uttering a warning.  "You'll pay for that," she growled.

 

John just laughed.

 

Suddenly Jing Mei's expression changed from a murderous threat to one of guilt.  John turned around and saw his grandmother standing in the entrance way, the sliding doors ajar.

 

"What on earth is going on John?"  Her tone revealed her annoyance at the racket.  "You two could wake the dead!" she chided.

 

Jing Mei blushed as she attempted to smooth her disheveled hair and clothes.  "I'm sorry if we woke you Mrs. Carter."  She glared at John, silently urging him to apologize alongside her.

 

John rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out.  He got up from the couch and walked over to his grandmother.  "Gamma, it wasn't anything.  We were just playing around."

 

His grandmother looked at him sternly and pursed her lips.  "Playing?  At your age John, really now," she huffed.  "I thought I taught you better."

 

Before John could say word, the tough-as-nails widow slowly turned her back to them and hobbled back up the stairs.  John looked back at Deb and made a face, knowing very well, he would hear about it after she had left.

 

"I saw that John Truman Carter," Gamma called from the top of the stairs.

 

John slid the doors closed and tried to stifle his amusement at Gamma's short lecture.  "Good thing she never saw me tickling you, or she would have had a heart attack!" he joked.

 

Jing Mei shook her head at John's disregard for his grandmother's warning.  "You're bad," she chuckled, getting up from the couch and straightening the cushions and clearing the plates and napkins from the coffee table.

 

John took the plates from Deb and set them down on the table, along with the pizza box.  "You don't have to clean up, Deb."  She was always so conscious over his grandmother, it made John sometimes want to shake her.

 

"I just don't want your grandmother to get more upset than she is," Jing Mei explained.

 

"She'll get over it," he said dimissively.  "Gamma probably won't remember it in the morning."

 

Jing Mei eyed him skeptically, resting her hands on her hips.  She knew his grandmother better than that; even if she was getting older, she had her wits about her.

 

John smiled crookedly and sighed.  "Okay, maybe she will.  But it doesn't mean you have to jump everytime she comes in the room."

 

Jing Mei grimaced and nodded in agreement.  "I know," she laughed.  "But you have to admit, she's really got that glare down.  I mean you've lived with it most of your life, so you're used to it.

 

He always appreciated her sarcastic humor.  Deb always kept him on his toes.  He knew she loved to say things for shock value too; like the time she had mentioned a 'hand job' while he was eating lunch.  It was lucky he didn't choke to death over that one.

 

"But of course," John exclaimed, playing along.  "How silly of me?"  He rolled his eyes.

 

Jing Mei glanced at the cloc,k which sat on the mantle of the fireplace.  "It's getting late," she said reluctantly.  "I'd better get going."

 

"Do you have to work?"

 

Jing Mei shook her head.  "I don't have to work until the afternoon, but I have a few charts to catch up on before I go in," she explained mournfully.  "Otherwise I wouldn't be mentioning it."

 

John nodded.  "No problem," he quipped.  Deb walked past him, and he followed behind her.  "I really appreciate your coming by to talk."  He leaned on the door, as she stood in the doorway.

 

Jing Mei shrugged.  "No big deal.  It's not like I had a date or anything," she said sheepishly.

 

She couldn't believe she said that.  Actually it amused her.  The boy didn't have the slightest clue about know how she felt about him at all.

 

"Night, John."