Starting Over

[Persephone]

She shrugged when he tapped on the glass, and rolled down the window with more effort than necessary, "I think I have to get the old girl towed. She's not going to drive like this, and I don't think she's going to drive again."


She winced, "I may need a ride home, but I don't know if that's appropriate for a date like this."

 

[FloatingAroundSpace]

"What?" Barrin said in mock surprise. "I already told you I wasn't a serial killer." His voice dropped to its normal inflection when he said, "Besides, I don't mind. I actually took the night off for calls. I have to work double tomorrow because of it but might as well make the most of not being forced to deal with annoying patients for a night, right? Come on, my cars this way. Get a tow truck in and I can drive you back."

 

[Persephone]

"Thanks, I know that it's been a long time coming, but I thought that she'd at least last another year or so," she said. She'd have to find a car soon, and preferably used because she wasn't ready to shell out big bucks on a new ride. Plus she could always just trade it in. Natalie grabbed her bag and took out her cellphone, dialing the number of the guy she usually called when her car broke down. He said it'd be at least another fifteen minutes.


"He said it'd be another fifteen minutes," she said, and got out of the vehicle. She locked it, and pocketed her keys. "Thanks again, for everything. It means a lot. Like I'm used to having the car break down and then waiting for a tow truck to come. But this is probably the first time that I haven't had to call a cab."

 

[FloatingAroundSpace]

"No problem," Barrin said, this time keeping his hands close to his sides. "My car is this way."


He led her to the sleek thing he had been given by his parents the instant he graduated med school, a "congratulations, you survived your mind trying to kill you and became successful" gift, or at least that's what he referred to it as. He knew that they were just trying to make him feel better about graduating, to show him that they still loved and cared for him and that it was a huge milestone. He knew they still felt guilty about his suicide attempt and wanted him to know that they were by his side. Or his wallet.


He opened the passenger door for Natalie.


"After you," he said politely.

 

[Persephone]

She followed him to a sleek little model that undoubtedly impressed her just a little bit. It was nice of him to give her a ride home, and she would definitely say something along the lines of that to Nartai tomorrow when he interrogated her about the date. He'd probably say it was a sign or something, or just a wacky coincidence.


Her car had been the culmination of years of hard work and saving up, with a bit of help from her grandparents. It wasn't the best model, but it got her around for almost eight years before dying a pathetic death in the parking lot of a Noodle House.


She got into the passenger seat of the car, and buckled herself in. "Thanks again, for all of this."

 

[FloatingAroundSpace]

"No problem," Barrin said, rounding the car to the driver's side and sticking his keys into the engine before his car purred to life. The interior was a dark black with soft seats. It was a fancy, newer model, the kind with a bunch of buttons that controlled one side of the car at a time, allowing people to adjust to what they wanted. A radio station flickered on as the car did, tuned to one of the news stations, reporting on the latest national occurrences, from stock markets to the latest race for office.


"You can change it if you want," he said, reaching a hand over to turn down the volume. The screen for his radio was touch controlled.


'My parents got me this car; I'm not a broke med student but I'm totally not a rich one," he quickly explained, "they wanted to do something nice for me when i survived med school."


He didn't tell her how it was literal that was.

 

[Persephone]

The car purred to life so smoothly that she barely even knew it started. Years with the clunker had conditioned her to think that all cars came to life with a groan and a rattle before dying. Honestly, she had no idea what the buttons even did. She was lost. The news station was on, which was always a nice station. Even if she didn't actively listen to it, she still remembered it from how her grandpa would play it in the car every time they went for a drive.


"This station's alright," she said. So the radio was controlled by a touchscreen? Now that was two different eras colliding in an interesting way.


"Right, don't worry about it. I was just going to assume that you took out a loan."

 

[FloatingAroundSpace]

Barrin dug around in his pocket for his phone, pulling up the GPS and handing it to Natalie. "Put in your address," he told her.


He shrugged. "Mom and dad don't like adding more stress to my life," he said and left it at that.

 

[Persephone]

She typed in her address quickly, and handed it back to him.


"Fair enough," she said, and knew that he wasn't going to delve deeper into the subject at the moment. There was a time and place for everything.

 

[FloatingAroundSpace]

Barrin fumbled with his phone for a moment before situating it on a stand he had set up in his car. The robotic voice told him where to go and turn and he followed it, not bothering to spark anymore conversation when he felt like they had exhausted the night. He kept mostly quiet until they reached her home.

 

[Persephone]

She mostly just looked out the window as he drove her home. It seemed like they had exhausted every topic of conversation for the night, so there wasn't much use in trying to start up another one. When they reached her apartment complex, she turned to him and gave him a small smile.


"I had fun tonight. Thanks for the date," she said, before she unbuckled herself and got out the car. Natalie closed the door before giving him a small wave.


She walked the remaining distance to the entrance, and used her key to get in.

 

[FloatingAroundSpace]

"Welcome," Barrin said as she left before punching in his own address and heading home.


He collapsed in his own apartment once he managed to get in, throwing his jacket off and onto the back of a chair before shuffling over to the refrigerator and pulling out a beer for a nightcap, sipping on it before throwing it back in and heading to the bathroom. He showered and brushed his teeth, going through his usual bedtime ritual before collapsing and falling asleep almost instantaneously.


What felt like minutes later, his alarm went off at the same time as someone called him on his phone. He fumbled for the device and pressed the talk button, noticing that it was someone from the hospital.


"'Lo?" he slurred, sitting up and running a hand through his hair to wake up. "Yeah I'm up, I'm up. Is there an emergency?"


The person on the other end squabbled at him.


"Well I was out last night, ok?" he said irritably, heading to the bathroom to wake himself up, taking his medication and examining the facial hair that was just peeking through. Deciding it wasn't worth it to shave, he simply turned towards the toilet.


"I'll be there, yes, yes," Barrin said and hung up, finishing up his routine and heading to the kitchen to make himself an omelet for breakfast alongside pancakes that he had frozen for the week. He brushed his teeth afterwards, shoving his plates into the dishwasher and heading out to his car a moment later.


The hospital was already abuzz with patients and doctors coming out. He noted some exhausted individuals who were yawning getting into their cars and pulling out. He shook his head with pity and went inside, greeting the receptionist and heading to the changing room to pull on his scrubs and head to work. Someone handed him a clipboard of the patients that day and he sighed, staring down the long list and the various items that he still needed to examine and do.

 

[Persephone]

She kicked off her shoes as soon as she walked through the door. There was a bit that had rubbed one of her baby toes raw, and so she had to do some of what she called first aid. Which was cleaning it, putting some polysporn on a bandaid, and sticking it on there for the night. Natalie spent the rest of the night checking her calculations before collapsing on her bed.


Sleep was pretty instantaneous, and she slept most of the night. That meant that she only got up a couple of times to walk around her apartment before going back to sleep.


Morning came as it usually did, with her half off the bed and the alarm blaring from across the room. She got up, scratched her forehead, and turned off the alarm before it would annoy the other neighbors. The walls were paper thin.


She stumbled into the shower, and dealt with most of her normal routine. The only difference was that she put waffles in the toaster instead of microwaving pancakes. Natalie buttered the two waffles and stuck them together. That'd make a good breakfast while she was waiting for the bus to show up.


By some miracle she had made it into the office in time. There wasn't too much to do, only basic calculations for price and quantity, and to check it over several times to make sure the numbers added up perfectly. She wasn't going to be responsible for losing money.

 

[FloatingAroundSpace]

Nartai sent Barrin a text right after he had run out from a room, briefly confusing him as he thought his pager had gone off. Seeing that it was just his brother prying, he ignored it, stuffing the device back into the pocket of his coat and pushing it to the back of his mind. When it went off several more times, he gave up and shoved it into his locker. If something drastic happened, he would be told.


When his lunch break rolled around, Barrin's feet were aching and he washed his hands for five minutes straight.


He dragged his phone out and plopped down in the lounge, taking his lunch from the refrigerator and glancing over the texts as he warmed it up.

Nartai

them

So how'd it go last night?

them

Did you spend the night?

them

Please tell me you didn't.

them

Kissing her is fine tho.

them

Oh god did you spend the night???

them

Are you still asleep????

them

Oh my god are you at her place is that why you're ignoring me????

them

Barrin I know some people can handle sleeping with other people but YOU CAN'T

them

Plz Barrin I'm dying over here

them

I don't want to have failed you again.

Barrin sighed and finally fired back his own text.

Nartai

me

I'm at work, doing a double because I took off last night. I didn't sleep with her, we held hands briefly and that was as far as we got. Now let me eat my lunch in peace.

He turned his phone on silent and shoved it into his pocket once more as the microwave dinged.

​

Natalie also received a text from Nartai, but around lunch and in a much calmer fashion.

Nartai

them

Hey, how'd it go last night? Did my little brother give you any trouble?

them

Do you want to meet up for lunch and talk about it?

 

[Persephone]

She was in the middle of doing something when her phone went off. Natalie looked around, and then took out her phone to quickly text Nartai back. If she didn't text him back within five minutes, he'd probably explode. He was a good friend, he just liked to stick his nose into her private business. But, in his defense it was his brother so it was technically his business.


'It went well, and no he didn't give me any trouble. I'm afraid that I was probably more trouble than he was. Sure, let's meet. I'm off in 15.' she managed to text back before she shoved her phone back into her pocket.