The Long Day Is Over

‘How’s your day been? Are you still sick?’

Harper smiled to herself as she sat in the doctor’s lounge at the hospital with her phone in her hand, reading Roman’s text. She was trying, and failing, to get up and grab her things from her locker to make her way home and into her bed. She had thought, when she woke up that morning that she was finally starting to feel better and would be able to survive her twelve hour shift that day and, up until the last four hours, she had done just that.

The last four hours however she had spent trying not to vomit, downing Tylenol and pressing her forehead against any surface that was cold whenever she had the chance. Her trip up to the lab to get results had taken her almost three times as long as it normally would have and she was practically drenched by the time she got back to the ER.

Out of her eleven patients that day eight of them hadn’t even needed to come into the ER, one had gone home worse for wear with a diagnosis she was glad she didn’t have to give him, one had gone up to surgery and was, according to her attending, still in the OR and the other, a thirteen year old boy who had come in with a gunshot wound had died on the table.

Harper wasn’t sure whether she would constitute today as a good day or not.

She heaved herself out of the couch she had been sitting on and to her locker, yanking the door open and slipping her work jacket over herself, putting her stethoscope on the top shelf before she grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder and headed outside.

It was cool out, something she welcomed, and she reminded herself to respond to Roman’s text once she got home, she was taking a cab tonight rather than the bus, or walking like she normally did. She was waiting by the curb for one to roll up, as they usually waited around the hospital every night anyway, when a car honked at her.

It was Brad’s vehicle, but Bristol was driving it, she pulled to a stop next to the curb in front of Harper, rolled the window down and told her, “Get in loser, I’m taking you to dinner.”

Harper rolled her eyes but climbed into the passenger seat, and she asked Bristol, “What are you doing here?”

“Well John is on a very long road trip and a certain someone might have mentioned you were feeling a little under the weather so I thought, what kind of best friend would I be if I didn’t come take care of you.” Bristol explained to her, glancing at the scrubs Harper was wearing before she asked her, “Rough day?”

“Rough week.” Harper stated, knowing Bristol would know to take her home to change before taking her out for dinner. She went on to explain to her, “I thought I was feeling better this morning but nope. Now I have an entire week off because two of my co-workers took pity on me and took my shifts for the week and I forget how to be a normal person who does normal things when they’re sick.”

Bristol laughed, “I’m a pro at that, given that I can’t really work when I’m sick because, you know, might be a bad idea to be up close and personal putting mascara on someone and start hacking up a lung. I’ll teach you the ways.”

Harper let out a laugh and she asked her, “Can we go for dinner somewhere that has chicken noodle and a cold sandwich? Maybe some ginger ale. Crackers. Garlic bread.”

“You are strange… I love that about you.” Bristol told her with a laugh, and Harper grinned over at her.

Harper pulled her phone out of her bag while Bristol drove and quickly responded to Roman’s text.

‘Sorry, just left work. I’m okay, still feel like shit and apparently my body doesn’t appreciate me running around all day. Bristol came to take care of me, I guess she’s bored of NY and John’s on the road so you can stop worrying so much now that I have someone here. We’re going for dinner, FaceTime later tonight maybe?’

She hated, at times like these especially, that they had to communicate through long winded text messages and nightly FaceTime calls. As much as she didn’t want to get him sick, and she was pretty sure she was no longer contagious anyways, all she wanted was to curl up in bed with him and sleep until morning.

Harper ran up to the apartment to change out of her scrubs and into something more comfortable that was merely just yoga pants and a sweater, and she fixed a few loose strands from that mornings braid as Bristol drove. Bristol asked her, “How was your day at work?”

“Awful.” Harper stated as her phone buzzed in the kangaroo pocket of her sweater. She told Bristol, “Most of the people I saw today weren’t even hospital sick, like I’m taking your garden variety cold and they wasted everyone’s time in the ER, I had some guy come in with terminal cancer who didn’t even know he had it, that was a blast. There was an elderly lady that needed surgery, no idea how that went and then a thirteen year old gangbanger got shot four times in the chest and died before we could even really do anything for him. Why did I go into this field of work?”

“Because you like putting things back together.” Bristol reminded her.

Harper rolled her eyes and muttered, “Clearly I’m not very good at it.”

“Thirteen, you weren’t joking?” Bristol asked her, taking the subject back to that.

Nodding Harper said, “Yeah, tell me about it. Should have been playing Playstation games or whatever the kids are into nowadays but instead he’s on the street playing with guns.”

“God, I can’t imagine what it would be like to be a parent now. I don’t know, I mean there was bad shit going down when we were growing up but I just feel like it’s a whole different ball game now.” Bristol stated, and Harper nodded her head in agreement.

Bristol pulled into a parking space at a restaurant she and Harper frequented when she was in town and they made their way into a back booth, close enough that they wouldn’t be forgotten by their waitress but far enough away from everyone else that it felt like they were getting some privacy. Bristol took her phone out to let John know they were having dinner and that she would call him later if he wanted and while she did that Harper pulled her own out to read the response Roman had sent her.

‘You went to work? You should have stayed home. I’m glad Bristol is there though, it does allow me to sleep better at night knowing you’re not suffering alone. I can’t FaceTime tonight, team thing at Shea’s and I’ll probably be late, but how about sometime tomorrow if you aren’t working?’

‘Ha Ha. Tomorrow sounds great, had my shifts taken so I’m off all week. Not sure what I’m gonna do, I’m not used to not working, what do people do all day?’

‘Lay around, take your medication, eat three meals a day and focus on getting better, that’s what you do. Now go enjoy your dinner with Bristol, talk to you tomorrow… maybe I’ll continue to text you tonight, depends on how boring my teammates are.’

Harper simply sent him a kissy face emoji as a response and then she slipped her phone into the pocket of her sweater and turned to Bristol, who was watching her in amusement. Harper’s eyebrow raised as she asked, “What?”

“Nothing, it’s just cute how smiley you get when you text Roman.” Bristol told her, laughing when Harper rolled her eyes. Bristol then told her, “So… John and I decided on a date. Sort of.”

“Sort of?” Harper asked her, brow lifted again.

Nodding Bristol explained, “Well, it’s the plan for now but it is subject to change. We kind of thought august 19th had a nice ring to it.”

“Thank God. Everyone does July weddings.” Harper stated.

“I know, that was part of why we wanted to do it in August, right before we have to be back in New York for next season.” Bristol told her, and Harper whipped her head back up to look at Bristol as if she had three heads.

“Wait, August 19th of this year?” Harper asked her, and when Bristol nodded she went on to ask, “You want to plan a wedding in six months?”

“We don’t want to wait until next summer, that’s so long.” Bristol told her, and then she asked Harper, “Do you think it’s crazy? Totally unobtainable? Ridiculous? Stupid?”

“No, frankly I think it’s a very Bristol thing to do.” Harper stated, and when Bristol raised her eyebrow she explained, “You’re a planner, but you like getting everything done quickly. I shouldn’t be surprised that you want to bang out a wedding in six months and if anyone can do it, it’s you.”

“You’ll help, right? With little things like giving me your opinion on things, and stuff?” Bristol asked her, adding in, “The job of the maid of honor is to help make the bride’s life easier.”

“Wait… you want me to be your maid of honor?” Harper asked her in surprise.

“Duh, you’re my best friend in the whole world.” Bristol pointed out, and then she added, “We’re having a small wedding though. You’re my maid of honor, John’s sister is my bridesmaid, my brother and Steven are John’s groomsmen. Very low key, guest list is like under fifty people, honestly we contemplated just going to the courthouse but our mothers threatened disownment.”

“I think a smaller wedding sounds very much you and John.” Harper told her, asking, “Have you thought about what kind of like theme or décor you want? Your dress and stuff?”

“Just… simple. Maybe a little whimsical. You know, outdoors with lots of flowers and plants, candles and twinkle lights and stuff. I’m actually recycling my mom’s wedding dress, only making some alterations to it.” Bristol told her, pulling up Pinterest on her phone and handing it to Harper so that she could see what she was talking about. As Harper looked through the various pictures of centrepieces made out of colorful plants in glass globes and candles, of various ways to set up twinkle lights and gauzy curtains, and ways to incorporate flowers and jewels into bridal hairstyles Bristol told her, “I kind of want to do a cupcake bar.”

“A cupcake bar?” Harper asked her in confusion.

Nodding Bristol told her, “Instead of cake we would just have this long table filled with different kinds of cupcakes so people could try different flavors and stuff.”

Harper handed Bristol her phone back and she told her, “That’s cute. This is all very romantic and beautiful and I think it’s gonna be absolutely perfect.”

“I’m trying to convince John to get married at night, instead of in the afternoon. I was looking through pictures of outdoor weddings in the style that we like and they all look so amazing at night. We found this really amazing place in Ontario, James told us about it actually because it’s not too far from where he lives, and it’s like this makeshift outdoor church with benches and an aisle to walk down and everything and the structure around it is just wooden posts and then wooden beams across the top and there’s all this white and green plants and flowers that have grown over all of the wood.” Again she held the phone out so that Harper could see the place.

“You’re gonna have the hockey wedding of the year, I’m calling it right now.” Harper told her with a smile, adding in, “Please don’t make me wear something ugly. I know it’s a thing but please.”

“I would never, the people in my wedding party have to look good because then the wedding as a whole looks good. John’s sister is designing the dresses, actually. We’re thinking flowy and just… the whole theme thing, you know?” Bristol asked her, adding in, “You know… I’ve kind of hit a slump lately, work has been really slow and I’ve just been in a funk and I finally feel like I have something huge to look forward to again and I just… I can’t wait to get married.”

“I can’t wait for you to get married.” Harper informed her, asking quickly, “Hey, am I allowed to bring a hot date? Because, you know, I have one of those now.”

Bristol let out a laugh and she told Harper, “You can tell Roman that I will be serious personally offended if my social media best friend doesn’t come to my wedding.”

“I miss him.” Harper stated softly, chewing on her index finger nail. Bristol sent her a sympathetic smile and Harper went on to say, “I hate this. Part of me hates going to visit him, or when he comes here because then when we’re apart and I’m alone I just feel… I don’t know.”

“A little empty. Really, really alone, more so than usual. Pretty shitty, pity party for one kind of a feeling.” Bristol told her, knowing exactly how Harper felt. She told her, “When I moved home and John and I did that year and a half apart it was hell Harper. It’s like you just get used to being alone and suddenly you’re with them again and then they leave and you have to go back to getting used to being by yourself. It’s a never ending cycle. But it’s worth it, you know, when you love someone.”

“Yeah, I know. I just… matches come out soon and I’m a little nervous.” Harper told her, adding in because she knew the question that was to come, “Next month soon. Two weeks after I go to visit him.

“Harper, I get why you’re nervous but you gotta stop living in your head so much babe. You just stress yourself out and become obsessed with it, and that’s not healthy.” Bristol informed her, as if she didn’t know that.

Harper smiled and stated, “You go to one yoga class and all of a sudden you’re all zen. I’m gonna start calling you ZB.”

“Zen Bristol?” She asked, laughing when Harper nodded her head. Bristol surprised her by telling her, “Actually, I’ve been going two or three times a week to yoga with one of John’s teammate’s wives.”

“Who are you right now?”

Harper had driven them home after dinner, she had checked in with Brad, who was spending the night with a friend, Harper wasn’t going to ask for clarification on that subject, and as Bristol gathered snacks, medicine and the TV remote from the living room Harper showered and changed into pyjamas. When Harper crawled into bed, pushing all but one thin blanket over to Bristol’s side of her bed Bristol walked in the room with ginger ale, a sleeve of crackers, a bowl of popcorn, two Ho Ho’s and Harper’s Tylenol and Gravol combination.

“Lover boy sent you a text.” Bristol told her as she crawled into the bed next to Harper. She handed Harper her cell phone and then she told her, “You know, I really liked him already but when he actually reached out to me to let me know that you were sick and to see if I would check in on you… I love him Harp.”

“You have your own boyfriend.” Harper joked with a wide grin on her face.

Bristol laughed, and then she rolled her eyes, nudged Harper’s shoulder with her own and told her, “I’m just glad you have someone who treats you like he does, is all. You’re my best friend, I want you to be treated right, I want you to have that fairy-tale bullshit that I have, you know.”

“He’s way too good to me, too good for me even.” Harper stated, nodding her head for good measure.

Bristol shook her head, “No, I think you two are just right for each other.”

Harper looked down at her phone, where Romans obviously alcohol influenced messages waited and she smiled as she read them.

‘Hope you’re having fun with Bristol, I’m glad she’s there. I’m still at Shea’s. It’s not that bad.

I miss you.

Like a lot.

Like way more than I expected to.

I’ve also had a few too many drinks, so yeah…

But I do miss you, I swear on Elly’s beard.

I’m gonna stop texting you before I embarrass myself even more. Night, love you.

Talk to you tomorrow.

Okay I swear I’m done.’