“Nah. Nothing till he comes out,” Shauna replies, busy typing furiously on her phone. Scott just looks away, tension on his face.
“So are you guys a thing now?” Shauna asks me once she’s done with her phone.
“Er... no. I'm not sure,” I hesitate.
“Oh, you silly girl,” Shauna sighs. “You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into, have you?” She shakes her head.
“It was just a kiss, Shauna. It was just a... moment,”
“I hope it wasn’t a moment you staged to get your three seconds of fame,” Shauna gives me a stern look, but I’m offended.
“Shauna!” I say, but it comes out louder than I intended. “I would never do that to David!”
“Come on, Shauna, Carrie’s not like that,” Willie defends me. A sarcastic grunt comes from Scott’s direction but Shauna stares him down.
“You're right. She doesn’t seem like that,” she says to Willie. “Besides, had you staged it, the story probably would’ve been broken by your own magazine,” she nods, as if justifying the proof to herself.
“I bet Max is pretty pissed about this,” she chuckles. “His writer kisses a superstar and he doesn’t even get to break the story. This gives me more joy than I care to admit!”
I’m wondering what to say back to her, when David, along with the elderly doctor with a fatherly face, comes out to the waiting room.
“So, doc, how bad is it?” Willie asks, looking worried.
“It's very—” the doctor lets out a naughty smile from under his bushy mustache and continues, “—good. It’s very good news indeed.”
Scott looks to the heavens. “Thank God! Does it mean that he can play in the Cup Final?”
“Well! If he behaves like a good boy and does what I tell him to do, there’s a chance he might. Whether he can play the full game or not depends on how hard he focuses during his physiotherapy sessions.”
David is smiling from ear to ear. “Thank you, Doctor. I really appreciate your h
elp with this.”
“Well, don’t thank me. Thank the people around you who are taking care of you.” He smiles at me. From the corner of my eye, I see Shauna glance quickly at the doctor and then at me, probably wondering what he’s talking about.
“You seem much happier now than when you first came in. If your girlfriend here,” he nods at me, ”keeps taking care of you like she has so far, I see no reason why you can’t play the full game.”
I'm not his girlfriend. The thought comes to me once again, but this time I don't mouth it. The idea seems rather pleasing in fact.
“What the hell was that about?” Shauna asks me once the doctor leaves. I just shrug.
“Man, this is the best news I’ve got all day,” Scott crows. “Now you can play the cup final!”
“Easy there, mate, let the team reach the finals first,” David cautions.
“The Knights are playing San Diego bro, there is no way they're going to lose to that pathetic team.”
“Still...and I'm still unhappy that I'm not playing in the regional playoffs.” True to his reputation as a team player, David isn’t content being on the sidelines.
“Is the coach miffed about the picture in the papers?” David asks.
“Who knows, I haven’t received any phone calls or gotten any emails. My guess is that he’s too busy preparing for the upcoming games,” Scott replies and David nods his head in understanding.
“Now that David will probably play the final, we need that article to be out on time,” Shauna turns to me. I wince as I realize that I haven’t told anyone that I left my job.
“About that…” I hesitate. “I’ve left that job... for personal reasons.”
“Does it have something to do with Max? I bet it does.”