Raw Medicine (A Medical Romance Short Story) (5 page)

"Katie?" It was Drew.

"Oh, hey Drew-" I said,
hearing my voice catch, "you can come in."

"Are you decent and everything?"

"Yeah."

I watched as Drew stepped in,
looking around my little place. My face grew even redder.

"Hey," he began, and
then his eyes fell over my body. Drew paused for a second, as I
self-consciously adjusted the towel. Our eyes met for a second and locked
together.

"Hey yourself," I said,
running a hand through my wet hair. The way Drew had looked at me had made me
suddenly feel hot again.

"Paul and I are going out to
dinner tonight—we were wondering if you wanted to join us?"

"Uh, sure, yeah. I'd love
to. I'm supposed to do yoga with my friend in the afternoon, but I can be ready
for dinner after."

"Great. Can I roll by here
around six to pick you up?"

"Yeah," I smiled,
tousling my hair again.
Dinner
with the two of them?
What
more could a girl want?

"Hey Katie!" Paul
arrived at my door a second later, peeking in, a mischievous twinkle in his
eye. "Sorry to interrupt you two, but Drew, are you ready to go check out
that new gym downtown?"

"Yeah, man. For sure."

"Well, I gotta take a piss
first, and my dick's not going to shake itself. Come on." He grabbed
Drew's arm playfully, pulling him out. "And quit flirting with my hot
neighbor."

"Bye Katie!" they
called in unison as they walked back to the courtyard together.

Maybe they were gay.

And maybe I'd find out tonight,
over dinner.

****

I was hot and sweaty again by the
time I was done with yoga, so I drove quickly back to my place to take another
shower before Paul and Drew swung by. It was still hot, the afternoon sun
glowing over the pavement, and I cracked the door again before undressing and
jumping in the shower. I loved these warm summer evenings, and I was excited to
be going out with Paul and Drew. I shut off the water and toweled myself dry,
my mind mulling over
who
was the hotter: Paul or Drew.
I loved Paul's muscular bulk, but Drew was just so damn gorgeous, so it was
hard to decide. I stepped out of the tub, drying my face.

Then I shrieked in alarm. I'd
just bumped the old-person handle, and now I was fighting for balance. I
teetered for another second, hoping to God that my feet wouldn't slip on the
wet floor of the tub. And then I started falling. The last thing I saw was the
bathroom floor coming closer and closer.

****

"Katie! Thank God you're
okay!"

I blinked, fighting the throbbing
pain in my head. "Where am I?"

Paul and a doctor in a white coat
were standing in front of me, and a monitor behind them was displaying my
vitals.

"In the emergency room. You
hit your head pretty hard on the floor. Thank God Drew and I found you in
time—you had a concussion."

"Damn," I breathed,
realizing what had just happened. "I tripped over the damn tub handle.
Again."

"I'm just glad you're
okay," Paul said warmly, gripping my hand tightly within his. "We
just ran some tests, and it looks like the impact wasn't too bad. But you have
to stay awake for the next twelve hours, while someone monitors you."

"I have to check on another
patient," the other doctor said. "Paul, can you take care of
her?"

"Of course. Thanks for your
help, Jim."

He snapped his gloves off and
walked out, leaving Paul and I alone together.

"My hip hurts." It was
a dull pain, and I knew I had hit the ground hard.

"We should examine it right
now. I want to make sure you didn't break anything."

"Okay," I said,
shifting painfully in the hospital bed. Paul began to pull up the hem of my
hospital gown, and I realized with a start that I wasn't wearing anything
underneath. His fingers brushed against my skin, and despite the fact that I
had just woken up in a daze, I immediately felt aroused. My pulse began to
rise.

"Ouch," he said,
screwing up his face. "It looks like you have a nasty bruise."

"Yeah?"

"Do you feel any pain when I
do this?"

"Yeah, a little," I
winced.

"How about this?" This
time, Paul's fingers moved dangerously close to my sex. I felt a wave of heat
wash over my body.

"Just a little," I
whispered. If it had been any other doctor, even someone I had a crush on, I
would have been shocked by the way he was touching me. But Paul was probably gay…right?

I shook my head ‘yes.’ But the
pleasure I felt at his touch was overwhelming whatever discomfort I had from
bruising my skin. His fingers inched downward,
millimeter by
millimeter
, and I drew my breath in, riding a wave of anticipation.

"How about this?" Paul
whispered. I shifted on the bed, and my robe fell all the way open, baring my
sex.

Then the door swung open. I
quickly covered myself and Paul cleared his throat. Our eyes met for a
spine-tingling second before Drew walked in.

"Katie, you’re awake! Are
you alright?"

"Yeah," I breathed, my
heart still pounding in my chest. I couldn't believe what had almost just
happened.

"Her bruising is pretty
superficial. Dr. Gleason said her concussion was pretty minor as well."

"Okay, great," Drew said,
his expression relaxing. "Why don't we all go out anyway?"

I shifted a little uncomfortably.
It was late, and I didn't have much time to get ready. And after what had
happened, all I wanted to do was go home and be by myself.

"What do you think, Katie?"
Paul asked. He touched my shoulder gently.

"I don't know," I
wavered. "It's late. I'm not tired, but…I don't have any time to get
ready, or anything."

Drew waved away my concerns.
"I can get us into Le Bon Petit around 9. The manager was in the same frat
as
me and Paul
; I talked to him earlier. He's been
holding a spot open for us."

Le Bon Petit?
That was one of the nicest places in town. It usually took weeks
to get a reservation, and that was only if you knew somebody. There was no way
I could say ‘no.’

"Well, okay," I said,
smiling. I knew this night was going to end up great after all. "Get me
out of here!"

****

I went over the day’s events as
Paul drove us home. I knew they had both seen me naked, but it didn't feel
awkward. I still didn't really know if they liked me, or each other, or
what—but at least I knew I'd be having a good time tonight.

We arrived at my apartment and I
got ready quickly.

I emerged from the bedroom
wearing a slinky black dress that clung to every curve of my body. I felt a
little self-conscious at first, wondering what Paul and Drew would think about
how I looked. My ex had really got into my head with all those asshole things
he had said.

Needless to say, I wasn't
prepared in the least for the way their eyes devoured my body.

"You look beautiful,"
Paul breathed, but his words barely registered. My eyes were locked with
Drew's. I watched as he brazenly looked at my breasts, and then his eyes rode
my curves all the way down my body, and all the way back up, to my eyes again.

"Le's go," he said.

****

The valet took Drew's car and we
headed inside. The
head-waiter
nodded at Paul and Drew
before quickly ushering us past the host and seating us in a corner. Drew shook
his head.

"Cory, we'd like a private
room, please." Then his voice lowered a notch. "The
back
room
.
"

"Of course," Cory said,
in the same quiet voice. "Right this way."

We followed him further into the
back of the restaurant, where the lights were dim, and he opened a nondescript
door. We stepped inside a private dining room. I looked around, stunned by the
opulent surroundings. The walls were tiled with mosaics, and even the table
looked expensive: it was solid oak.
Everything was
brilliantly lit by a chandelier
.

"It's wonderful to see you
two gentlemen again," Cory said. Then he bowed politely to me.
"Madam."

He took our drink and appetizer
orders and left, disappearing into the kitchen through a small door opposite
the one we had come in through. Drew and Paul talked quietly for a moment as I
looked around the room. There were paintings on the wall, and as my eyes ran
over them, I realized with a start that they were all paintings of sex. My eyes
paused on one, fascinated by the tangle of bodies depicted in rich oils. It
looked like a classical setting, like ancient Greece. It was a picture of an
orgy in a palatial dining room—naked bodies reclined on couches, eating,
as others engaged in all sorts of lewd acts.

As the seconds passed, I realized
that all the figures in the painting were men. A shiver ran up my spine as I
recalled what Ellen had told me the other day. Then my eyes turned to Paul and
Drew. They were chatting excitedly, reliving the glory days. Their eyes locked
together, and Paul leaned forward to touch Drew lightly on the arm.

Were they gay? What about what
happened in the emergency department, when Paul had almost fingered me? Had he
really just been examining my bruise the whole time? Then why had Paul and Drew
asked me out? Maybe they were just being friendly. That was it. They were gay
for each other, and as gay men, they had simply asked me out as a friend. But
what about the chemistry I had felt between
me and Paul
?
And me and Drew?
Maybe it was all in my head. Maybe
they were so used to acting straight that...

My mind kept racing, and I turned
my attention to the next painting on the wall, trying to keep my thoughts from
spinning out of control. It was full of satyrs. Two of them were locked in an
embrace, their muscular arms holding each other’s torsos as they kissed. The rest
of the creatures were dancing in a circle around a nude woman with a garland in
her hair. Was this painting gay? I couldn't decide. Were they about to have sex
with the woman, or was she some kind of fertility goddess or something? I'd
taken one Greek mythology class, years and years ago in college, but I couldn't
remember a single thing. I felt my pulse pounding harder and harder, and then
there was a polite knock on the door.

Cory entered with our drinks and
appetizers. He set everything down in front of us and took our orders. Cory was
about to leave, when Drew stopped him.

"Hang on a moment,
brother."

Drew leaned back in his chair. He
lifted his wine glass to his lips and sipped it slowly.

"This is an excellent
wine," he said.

"1988 was a good vintage,"
Cory said, "I'm glad you approve." Drew's eyes met mine for a second,
but I couldn't decipher his expression. He put his wine glass down on the
table.

"I'm going to cut right to
the chase," he said. "I have a proposition for you. You can take it
or leave it, and I won't mind if you say ‘no.’"

"Uh, okay," I wavered,
wondering what Drew could possibly have in mind.

"Let me go back in time for
a second," Drew continued. "One month ago, I was sitting alone in my
office, talking to Paul on the phone waiting for another patient to show up.
I'm a plastic surgeon in Miami—I don't want to brag, but I'm one of the
city's best—anyway, every time we talked, he kept going on and on about
his beautiful neighbor. He kept talking about how gorgeous her body was, how he
couldn't stop thinking about her..."