Cry to Me

How'd you know I was napping?

Dulci was blow-drying her hair when received the text from Sidney the next morning. She couldn't hear the notification because of the white noise of the blow dryer. When the second text came across, she only noticed because she could see her phone light up through her peripheral vision. She picked up her phone and read the first text and laughed when she read the second.

Are you stalking me?

Turning her blow dryer off and placing it on the bathroom vanity, she responded to the text. She thought about responding with, "you wish," but wasn't sure if it was too flirty for 6:30am. Instead, she replied:

Your blonde friend told me you were napping. You must have a thing for blondes.

She put her phone down and continued with her hair. Once her hair was done, she pulled the face-framing layers back to start her makeup routine. Half way through blending her foundation, her phone pinged.

That was my sister, Taylor. I don't have a thing for blondes. I do, however, have a small thing for beautiful, intelligent women.

She sighed. Of course he liked beautiful women. What wealthy athlete didn't? They could have their pick of women. She knew she was pretty, but she wasn't beautiful like Carly with a perfect symmetrical face and high cheekbones. She silently wished that he was talking about her, but brushed the thought away.

And I'm sure they're all lined up waiting for you with bells, whistles, and skimpy underwear.

She was in the process of putting on mascara when he texted back.

Maybe, but the one I'm interested in stood me up one night.

Ok. Maybe he was talking about her. She didn't stand him up, though. She was working late and tried to contact him. She was hoping he was teasing and replied:

I'm sure she made it up to you somehow?

Dulci was in her closet picking out a work appropriate outfit when she heard her phone ring on her bed. She was running behind because of the messaging. She needed to do laundry so opted for a matching set of navy blue scrubs. Her boss preferred her to wear scrubs, but she felt more professional wearing business causal clothing under her lab coat. Opening a box her mother sent her recently, she figured she'd try out her new five-finger shoes to see what the hype was about.

Pouring coffee into her Virginia Tech tumbler, she finally glanced at her phone to read the response.

She did until she fell asleep twenty minutes into one of her top three movies. She must not be interested.

She couldn't wipe the grin off of her face to save her life. She saw that she was still running late so she grabbed a lean cuisine, a banana, coffee and left the house.When she arrived at the hospital, her first appointment was in the process of being started by Alyssa. She quickly but her stuff on her desk before pulling out her phone and making her last text response for the morning:

Maybe she wasn’t sure that you were interested? Perhaps you should make it more obvious?

"Dr. Hammett, your first appointment is ready."

Dulci put her phone on her desk, grabbed her stethoscope, and started her first appointment.

----

At noon, Dulci was writing up charts when Savannah brought a chart into the doctor's office for Dr. King.

"Jesus Christ! What does this lady want? I've talked to her so many god damned times and she doesn't get her dog is dying!" She went to grab the chart from Savannah's hand, but savannah snatched it back.

"Actually, she wanted to speak to Dr. Hammett."

Dr. King looked surprised before asking Savannah why she would ask for Dulci instead of the doctor she'd been seeing.

"I'm not sure. I have a feeling it has something to do with wanting to speak to a veterinarian with a better bedside manner," Savannah said dryly with a cold smile.

"There is an appointment in a room, though."

Dr. King must've taken Savannah's hint because she quickly stood from her desk and walked hotly toward the exam rooms.

"Did she really ask to speak to me?" Dulci asked looking in the chart.

"Not exactly, but she did ask to speak to a doctor who wasn't a bitch."

"I'll call her when I'm done with this chart. Do you mind taking some charts with you when you go back to the front?"

"Sure. Oh! I almost forgot. This came for you today," savannah handled her a manila envelope with "Dulci" written on the front.

"Hmm. Was it from a client?" Dulci asked breaking the seal.

"I don't think so. A young blonde girl dropped it off. I've never seen here before," Savannah shrugged before turning to go back toward the front desk.

Dulci pulled out a folded piece of paper that was taped together. When she broke the tape, two tickets fell onto her desk. She picked them up to see they were hockey tickets for the Penguins game that night. She opened the paper to see it was a letter with a short message:

I'm interested. How's that for obvious?

-Sid

Without a hesitation, she picked up the message and tickets and ran to the front desk. She waited patiently for Savannah to finish helping a client, trying to hide her excitement by rearranging the request tags.

"So what was in the envelope?" Savannah asked as she wrote the interaction in the chart. Dulci didn't wait for her to turn around and dropped the letter and tickets in front of her. Savannah looked at the tickets and back to Dulci with wide eyes.

"Please tell me you're free tonight?" She begged Savannah.

"Duh!" Savannah then read the message. "I told you he wanted you," she said folding the letter and returned it to Dulci.

"I need to find something to wear. I have plenty of black. They wear black, right?Do you think that will suffice?"

"My shift is done in forty-five minutes. I'll go buy you something pens related to wear."

"I need to run home and get some jeans. You'll meet me here at 6:30?" Dulci asked.

"Sure will! I can't wait to see you at the game," Savannah teased Dulci and she walked back toward the doctor's office.

----

"Dulci, these seats are in the first row. They're on the glass!" Savannah exclaimed as she studied her ticket. They were having a drink at a bar next to Consol Energy Center, mostly for Dulci's anxiety. She kept staring at Savannah's black and orange shirt and completely ignored Savannah's excitement.

"Why are you wearing that?" Dulci asked pointing to the Flyers emblem on Savannah's shirt.

"I'll be damned if I wear penguin shit even if I'm going to one of their games. I'm a Flyers fan!" Savannah didn't realize the amount of glares and comments she got from the people around them. That or she didn't care and Dulci couldn't decide which it was.

"Are you going to get us beat up?" Dulci asked as she looked around at those who were staring.

"No. We should probably pay our tab though, warm ups going to start soon," Savannah said while she waved down the bartender.

"And you'll get to eye fuck Crosby before he plays," she whispered to Dulci.

"Maybe he'll score you a goal," Savannah finished with a wink after she handed her credit card over.

The two walked into the arena and down to their seats where fans were waiting for the players to warm up. Dulci looked around in astonishment at all of the female fans wearing Crosby shirts and jerseys. She also noticed a select few other names that seemed to stand our: Neal, Malkin, Fleury, and Letang. She pulled out her cellphone and search google for the Penguins player roster to look up other players. She didn't realize Savannah was looking over her shoulder.

"He's probably the only one I like," Savannah said when Dulci pulled up Kris Letang's roster photo.

"Wow. He's hot but in a filthy-I'm-going-to-tie-you-up-and-fuck-you kind of way," Dulci looked closer at the picture.

"Dulci, they're coming out!" Savannah yelled nudging her friend. When Dulci looked up to the jumbotron where Savannah was pointing, she saw the players coming toward the ice and within seconds, they were skating around half of the ice while the other team, Columbus, warned up on the opposite end. Dulci felt like a kid in a car, trying to look at all objects as they fly by on the opposite side of glass. She tried to see all of the players as they skated by. Then, she saw him, stretching his legs and groin across the ice. She couldn't look at anyone else. After his stretching, he did some puck work and then skated around before stopping to re-lace his skates.

"I've taken about a thousand pictures of you watching him," Savannah interrupted Dulci from her daze.

"He's mesmerizing..." She said breathily. Looking toward Savannah, who was taking pictures, Dulci asked, "Why haven't you told me about all of this sooner?" as she gestured around the arena with her hands.Dulci didn’t realize how much she would enjoy a hockey arena.She loved the chill from the ice, the buzz of the crowd, watching the players warm up.It was all very exhilarating.

"Look up, look up!"

When Dulci looked up, she was met by Sidney slowly skating by with a smile on his face. She knew she looked ridiculous, but with the excitement of the warm up, the proximity of she and Savannah to the glass, and Sidney subtly smiling at her, she smiled with her whole face and laughed when Savannah poked fun at her.

----

After the game, Savannah dropped Dulci off at the hospital. She quickly ran in and grabbed seven charts that needed to be documented. She knew she wasn't supposed to leave the hospital with medical records, but she wanted to go home and relax as it was approaching 10pm and she had an early morning the next day. Once she was comfortable in her pajamas in her living room, she set up her charts on the coffee table and sat between that and the couch to start writing.

She woke up to her phone ringing. She had fallen asleep with her head on her arm, which was stretched across the table. Quickly wiping her eyes, she grabbed the phone and answered.

"Hello?"

"Did I wake you?" It was Sidney.

"Sort of. I was taking a break from writing in charts when I guess I dozed off," she yawned.

"Go back to sleep. I'm sorry to wake you."

"No, really, it's ok. I need to get these charts done."

"Well in that case, can I come in?" If Dulci was half asleep, at that moment, she was fully awake.

"You're here?" Her voice was a few octaves hire than it usually is as she stood and walked toward the door.

"Yeah, I knocked but you didn't answer, so I got into my truck and called you."

She opened the door as he was walking across her lawn toward her porch. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw him.

"Thank you for the tickets. I had a great time," she stammered once she found her voice.

She stepped out of the way for Sidney to come in, but he entered only as far into the house as possible for her to shut the door.

"I'm glad you came," he said with a crooked smile.

"Listen, I can't stay long but I wanted to invite you to my place for dinner tomorrow evening around 8?"

Dulci felt her face drop as she thought about her schedule.

"I'd love to, but I can't do tomorrow night. I'm working from four to midnight," she said with an apologetic and disappointed look.

"What about lunch?"

"That would work. Should I come over to your place?"

"I'll pick you up here at around noon. We'll go out somewhere," he proposed with a smile.

"Sounds great." Dulci nodded with approval and delight.

"Would you like to come in for a drink?" She asked pointing toward the kitchen. She felt foolish asking if he'd like to come in considering he was inside already, but he hadn't budged from the doorway.

"I can't. I'm late for a celebratory team dinner tonight."

She found herself frowning again for the second time in a couple of minutes. Their schedules definitely seemed to conflict a little.

"Oh, ok. Well have fun." She tried to smile at him to hide her discontent. She looked down toward her feet trying to hide it when she saw him move toward her out of the corner of her eye. He leaned in and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek and lingering close to her ear he whispered, "See you tomorrow."

He opened the door and turned to walk out, but before he shut the door, he reminded her, "Go finish your charts.”

She couldn’t speak, so instead she nodded her head. Even after he left, her legs felt heavy like she was rooted to the floor.She lightly touched her cheek and wondered what those lips would feel like elsewhere.Finally, she walked back into her living room to finish documenting.

Notes