FicWad

I woke up to white walls and a consecutive beeping. I looked around as my eyes tried in vain to adapt to my now dried out contacts. I moved my arm, but it refused. IV's. What the hell?

"Hey! You're awake." A man clad in a long with coat and stethoscope around his neck walked briskly through the doorway. I was unnerved by his surprise. From the looks of it, he seemed to be a doctor and I didn't appreciate the fact that he lacked confidence in my stability.

"Yea, I'm now going to need to see an updated list of your credentials. Possibly a diploma of some sort." My mouth felt strangely dry and I ran a finger over my lips. They were chapped as all hell.

The man laughed. I instantly despised it. It was a horrid laugh and ineffectively timed and I was in no way joking.

"Seriously." I persisted. I'm sure, if he truly happens to be a doctor, he has an assistant somewhere that could find these things quickly. His smiled quickly faded as he looked a me inquisitively.

He chose to ignore me.

"You were severely dehydrated but --"

"Severely, huh?" I interrupted as I rolled my eyes. Hospitals were inherently trying to scare people with fancy words and circled logic. "Will this happen to cause me cancer? Because just last week I read that apples had that potential and if apples can cause cancer, I'm sure a severe case of dehydration can." I emphasized 'severe' and stared at him pointedly.

"Yes, they said you would be difficult."

"They?" I inquired. My mind rushed to catch up with what his already knew.

As if on some sort of ironic, staged cue in walked Pete and Joe. Joe looked me dead on while Pete avoided my eyes directly.

"As I was saying, you were severely dehydrated, but we've inserted some IV's and you should be able to be out of here by this afternoon." The "doctor" claimed as he shut his notebook and walked out of the room as briskly as he'd entered.

"Dehydration, huh?" Joe spoke in what would seen to be an attempt to ease tension.

"I never saw a list of credentials." I mumbled, looking away.

Even with my face in the opposite direction, I could just see Joe rolling his eyes dramatically. He walked over to me, grabbing my face to ensure I saw his. He held that position for a second then proceeded to kiss me firmly on my forehead before dropping his hands and walking out.

I began to repeat some NOFX lyrics in my head over and over to prolong the inevitable.

He spoke first.

"You're the most difficult person I've ever met."

"You have more hair than anyone I've ever met."

"Charley. . ."

"Not in terms of length or anything like that, more in terms of density. It's strange, because they tell you that blondes have more hair per square inch than any other, but after meeting you, I beg to differ."

"Charley. . " Pete repeated, though slightly more firm this time.

"I mean, I hate to argue with science and all, but I speak from personal experience."

"Charley!" He all but yelled.

"I'm sorry. I thought we were stating the obvious."

"You didn't deserve what I did to you." His eye contact was sincere and intimidating as he spoke softly.

"The Jew's didn't deserve mass murder." I bit my lower lip and tried to swallow.

I frantically for a glass of water. Now I know why that so called doctor wasn't amped about finding a list of credentials for me. The bastard didn't have any. That fucker had me hooked up to a goddamn IV, treating me for dehydration and I was thirstier than I was sure I had ever been. He probably dehydrated me on purpose just so he could make a few hundred buck. However, the joke's on him because I have no insurance and a damn unlawabiding lawyer.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. For everything." Pete uncharacteristically ignored my comments as well as my desperation for water. Unfortunately so.

"That's what Hitler should have done. Apologized."

Pete sighed sadly.

"Okay, Charley." He claimed defeat. His eyes lingered on me for a few more seconds before he backed up and began to walk out of the room.

"I believe we, as humans, have the ability to fall in love many times in our lifetime." I spoke as he reached the doorway. He stopped in mid step, but didn't turn around. I continued.

"However, there are some people who do something more. More unnerving, more surprising, more significant. They define how you perceive the word love. They allow you to classify it and understand it and define it to fit your own view."

He was slowly starting to turn around.

"I believe that's what you did for me. I'd like to think that's what I did for you. We defined an emotion for each other."

He took a step toward me. I continued.

"As inevitable as it is, and it truly is inevitable because if it hadn't have happened when it did and with who it did, it would have happened at another time and with someone different, but it didn't and I think that's important."

He stared at me with his large brown eyes, patiently awaiting for me to finish.

"I think that if I had to map out a list of important people in terms of intimate relationships at a much later date in my life, you would always be first, because you came first. And no matter who else I meet or who I'm currently in the process of meeting, you will always win over them. I believe this is true for most everybody."

"I think so too." He whispered.

The room was eerily silent as we both waited in vain for the other to speak. Nervosa claimed me and I wondered if I was going to start sweating and how that would be for my severe case of dehydration.

Pete stood at the foot of the bed and I became self-conscious of my current position.

"I flew to town as soon as I heard." He spoke softly. He broke eye contact with me as he looked at the table beside him.

"You'll always come first." He mumbled so quietly that I had to piece together fragments and syllables of words and sounds to actually understand what he meant.

He picked up a small pink cup with that I assumed contained water and handed it to me.

"Dehydration, huh?" I asked rhetorically as I took a drink of the liquid.