15-05-2021-052358It-Ends-with-Us

“These next couple of months are the most important months in
my entire career. I have to be focused. I’m closing in on the end of my
residency, and then I’ll have to sit for my exams.” He’s pacing my
living room, talking frantically with his hands. “But for the past week,
I haven’t been able to get you out of my head. I don’t know why. At
work, at home. All I can think about is how crazy it feels when I’m
near you, and I need you to make it stop, Lily.” He stops pacing and
faces me. “Please make it stop. Just once—that’s all it’ll take. I swear.”
My fingers are digging into the skin of my arms as I watch him.
He’s still panting a little, and his eyes are still frantic, but he’s looking
at me pleadingly.
“When is the last time you’ve had sleep?” I ask him.
He rolls his eyes like he’s frustrated that I’m not getting it. “I just
got off a forty-eight-hour shift,” he says dismissively. “Focus, Lily.”
I nod and replay his words in my head. If I didn’t know better...
I’d almost think he was...
I inhale a calming breath. “Ryle,” I say carefully. “Did you seriously
just knock on twenty-nine doors so you could tell me that the thought
of me is making your life hell and I should have sex with you so that
you’ll never have to think of me again? Are you kidding me right
now?”
He folds his lips together and, after about five seconds of thought,
he slowly nods his head. “Well... yeah, but... it sounds way worse
when you say it.”
I release an exasperated laugh. “That’s because it’s ridiculous,
Ryle.”
He bites his bottom lip and looks around the room, like he
suddenly wants to escape. I open the door and motion for him to walk
out. He doesn’t. His eyes fall to my foot. “Your ankle looks good,” he
says. “How does it feel?”
I roll my eyes. “Better. I was able to help Allysa at the store for the
first time today.”
He nods and then makes like he’s walking toward the door to
leave. But as soon as he reaches me, he spins toward me and slaps his
palms against the door on either side of my head. I gasp at both his
proximity and his persistence. “Please?” he says.