On the Brinks

Faith swallowed as she looked at the officer and bit her lip. The last thing she needed was to be charged with public misconduct. She brought her arms around her, her body not accepting the cold well.

“Officer, sir, I’m so sorry. I’m afraid these two are patients of mine. I swear I only turned my back for a minute.” The officer turned on his heel only to look up at Dale who now held a sheepish grin mixed with worry.

“What do you mean patients of yours?” In the process of him questioning Dale, Faith reached out and took Beth’s wrist.

“We, uh, should probably get out.” Her eyes remained fixed on her boyfriend as he spoke with the officer.

“They’re…mental patients. I was supposed to keep an eye on them today, special day out and all. Honestly, I didn’t mean to let them escape.” His eyes landed on Faith. What had she been thinking?

“You don’t look like you belong with the psychological or medical field.” Faith could tell Dale was trying hard not to laugh.

“I’m a nurse.” Faith shivered as he talked to the cop.

“Faith?” She looked over at her friend who was looking at her with blatant concern.

“Yeah?” Her smile was weak; playing in the fountain had been a bad idea.

“Are you okay? You don’t look right.” Faith shook her head as another shiver went through her.

“I-I’m fine, just c-cold.” A warm arm, strong arm wrapped around her thin waist. Looking up, she met soft, grey eyes.

“He’s letting you two off, let’s go get warm.” Dale glanced briefly at Beth before looking at Faith. Of all the stupid things for her to do, this was the most stupid. The cold was going right through her, to the point that she was leaning heavily against Dale to receive his warmth and to remain standing. She nodded slightly in response; ignoring the looks Beth was sending her. All she wanted was to be warm and hopefully not get sick.