Page 1 of What are the Risks
CHAPTER ONE
Humour me
Ruby
Grey’s Anatomy hadn’t prepared me for this. My entire body felt exhausted. My feet were sore, my back ached, and I could sense a headache forming behind my eyes.
With heavy limbs, I collapsed onto the rickety bench in the co-ed locker room. As ready as I was to escape the hospital after that sixteen hour shift, I had to wait for Bri, my roommate. I’d passed her on my way here, wrapping up her handover.
To keep myself from falling asleep, I reached for my phone. I hadn’t checked it since midday, so the notifications had built up.
I opened a message from my boyfriend, Noah. It was a picture of him and his fraternity brothers in their Halloween costumes. Noah was dressed as Aladdin, rocking the signature open purple vest, white harem pants and red hat. One of his close friends was dressed as the Genie, and another as Abu.
Noah: Wish u could’ve been my Jasmine tonight. Miss u babe. X
Ruby: I miss you more. Lessthan a month to go now.
Ruby: P.S. I don’t remember cartoon Aladdin being that hot.
Noah and I had been together since our sophomore year of high school, and we’d committed to long distance after graduation. He’d gone to Miami on a water polo scholarship, and I’d accepted a nursing position in Columbus, Ohio.
I was set to wrap-up my graduate residency year in May, and Noah graduated from college around the same time. After that, we had plans to move back to our hometown in Detroit together.
As much as I’d enjoyed living away from home for the past three-and-a-half years, I was ready to be in the same place as him. There was no nice way to put it – long distance was tough. I couldn’t wait until it was over.
I watched my phone as the typing dots appeared beside his name, but before his reply came through, my best friend Ryker started FaceTiming me.
I’d known Ryker my entire life. Our mums were best friends, so we’d been forced to spend time together whether we liked each other or not. Luckily we did. We’d been inseparable since kindergarten.
Leaving for college, it had been just as hard saying goodbye to him as it had Noah. Ryker had gone to Phil-U, a college in Philadelphia renowned for its athletics programs, on a football scholarship. He was one of the best – if notthe best– college quarterbacks in the country.
I’d been to visit him about as often as I’d gone to Miami for Noah... maybe more, if I was being honest. Between the two of them, I’d clocked up a lot of airline miles.
While Noah and Ryker were both still in their senior year of college, I’d finished up already. My degree had consisted of three years of study with an accompanying residency year working full-time in a hospital. I was now nine months into it, and apart from missing Noah, Ryker and my parents, it had been one of the best experiences of my life – even the exhaustion.
“Wheels,” I said in greeting as Ryker’s face filled my screen.
His familiar blue eyes narrowed. “Please tell me you didn’t go as a nurse to Halloween, Rubz.”
“This isn’t a costume. I just finished a double. Some of us are too grown up to spend Halloween playing dress ups anymore.”
He chuckled. “Sounds boring.”
“Not even a little bit. I got to stitch up a naughty maid who’d impaled herself playing beer pong.”
“How does one–” Ryker shook his head. “Never mind. Are you home yet?”
“I’m waiting on Bri. We carpooled.” I paused, yawning. “I can’t wait to climb into bed. I’m beyond wrecked.”
“I can let you go–”
“No. This is good. You can keep me awake until Bri clocks off.” I squinted, attempting to make out Ryker’s costume. “What are you wearing?”
He temporarily glanced down at his chest, which I could just glimpse was covered in a red, yellow and blue striped top.
“It’s a long story.”
“I’ve got time. Humour me.”
