Chapter 16
Cat chats away with Brittany, excited to have an online source for all things, baby. Being a pediatrician, she gave Cat some sound advice on what to do in the upcoming months of her pregnancy.
Doug and Olivia return from their swim, and Olivia catches the last part of their conversation. After drying off, Olivia thankfully put on a cover-up. However, the black lace dress thingy turned her look from revealing bathing suit to a lingerie model.
"You're a doctor?" Olivia asks as she tries to tame her wild hair.
"Children's Medicine," Brittany offers.
"Wow. I'm in pre-med," Olivia says, reluctantly impressed.
"Medicine?" Dillion spoke up. "What happened to you becoming an artist?"
Olivia shrugs. "Can't really make a living as an artist. Medicine is a far better decision."
"You sound like your parents," Dillion grumbles moodily.
"Well, they were right," she pauses only a second before adding, "about a lot of things."
Dillion clenches his jaw.
"Anyone else hungry. I was thinking of going to the boards to pick up a few pizzas," I interject.
Everyone agrees pizza is an excellent idea and chip in.
"I'll go, I know my way around better than you."
I expected Dillion to offer, so I easily agree, handing him the money. Dillion starts walking away when Doug jumped in with, "I'll go with you. We'll need something to drink too. I'll help you carry it back."
Dillion shrugs. "Suit yourself," and continues to walk on. Doug has to jog a little to catch up to him.
"Your brother seems in a mood today?" Olivia questions Cat, who shrugs it off.
"He got beat by dad again in miniature golf. I think he was really hoping for some recognition but alas."
Brittany looks at Cat. "Dillion plays golf?"
Cat laughs. "Only when forced. My dad planned to make him his protégé, take him to the championship, make him a pro, but Dillion was never interested in such pursuits."
"How did you two meet?" Olivia asks Brittany, taking her place among the inner circle.
"I was an intern at the local hospital, working in the emergency room. Dillion came rushing in with this kid who was hit by a car. The boy was in bad shape. Turned out the kid was homeless. He was trying to set up a spot to sleep by an underpass. The car never saw him, it was a direct hit."
"Oh my God! Did the kid survive?" Olivia demands to know. Hell, we all wanted to know.
"Thanks to Dillion. A few more minutes and the boy would have bled out from his wounds. Dillion was so strong that day. He stayed by that boy's side the entire time. He refused to leave him. The days following during the boy's recovery, I got to know Dillion more. I helped him figure out how to get the funding to pay for the boy's stay and when it was time for the boy to go home, I asked Dillion out."
"You asked HIM out?" Olivia questions with disbelief, and I wonder why she finds this important to know.
"Well, sure. Not every day you meet a guy like Dillion. I wasn't about to pass that opportunity up."
"It didn't sound like you two were that serious about one another when you said you were his +1," Olivia challenges.
Brittany smiles. "I don't know. Maybe we will be someday, but right now I'm focused on my work and Dillion has his shelter to run. We both lead very busy lives."
"Hold up! Dillion runs a shelter? Why haven't you told me any of this?" Olivia questions Cat with obvious annoyance.
"Since when did you ever care what my brother does?" Cat fires back.
Olivia looks away. She has nothing she can say. "I... I don't but that's kinda a big deal. I figured something like that would come up in, I don't know the several thousand conversations we've had, over the years."
Cat looks at her friend like she's lost her mind, "Sorry?"
"Yeah, whatever. As you said, no big deal. Brittany, we're putting together a baby shower for Cat at our sorority, you should totally come," Olivia mentions casually.
"Oh, um..." Brittany looks embarrassed. "That's really nice of you, but Cat's mom already invited me to the family shower she's throwing her. I'm sorry."
"Yeah, sure. No problem," Olivia says, but it was easy she looks hurt.
"Well, you're coming to the family party too, right?" Cat asks.
"I wasn't invited," Olivia confesses, and that explains everything. No wonder it hurt her. She was Cat's best friend.
"Not invited? My mom must not have sent all the invites out yet. There's no way she wouldn't invite my baby's Godmother."
"Yeah, well, maybe she thought since I was throwing you the one at school I wouldn't want to be at both, so... I won't sweat it if the invite doesn't come," Olivia says sadly.
Cat got up and sat next to Olivia, pulling her into a side hug. "You don't have to wait for an invitation from her. You're getting one from me right now. I'm not sure what the details are since they keep these things a surprise, but I'm sure Brittany can fill you in on the details," Cat points out and Brittany immediately agrees.
"Absolutely, give me your number and I'll text you when I get home. I have the invite up on my fridge," Brittany hands Olivia her phone.
"That's really nice of you," Olivia says, putting her contact information into Brittany's phone.
"See, problem solved. Now, where are those boys with our pizza?" Cat wonders. "I'm starving."
I wonder that myself. I really hope that Doug and Dillion weren't getting into trouble. Images of the two of them fist fighting on the boardwalk spring to mind. Just when I thought to offer to go find them, they show up.
"Whose hungry?" Dillion inquires, and he's smiling. Doug hands out the drinks. I get up and offer to help pass out the plates. Dillion puts the pizza down on a blanket to keep it from the sand.
"One extra cheese, one pepperoni, and a chef salad for Brittany."
"Aww, you remembered my gluten allergy. You're the sweetest," Brittany gets up and takes it from Dillion, giving him a kiss on the cheek.
"And one Hawaiian," Dillion says, putting the last pizza down.
"Hawaiian? I don't remember anyone asking for a Hawaiian pizza," I say, but I see Olivia staring intently at Dillion... oh.
"I'm going to take another swim in the ocean before I eat," Olivia announces.
"Care if I eat, babe. I'm famished?" Doug asks, obviously hoping he won't offend her.
"No, go for it," Olivia takes off her cover-up and starts heading for the ocean.
After she walks away, Dillion takes a spot near the pizza, but I can see this vantage point allows him to monitor Olivia while she swims. Oh, he's got it bad. I only hope that Doug or Brittany don't notice. But they seem oblivious.
Doug and Brittany are getting along famously, as they are both huge football fans, and start chatting away about our home team and the stats. Brittany's knowledge is impressive. I consider myself a fan, and not even I knew as much about trivia as she did.
"You and Dillion should come with me and O to the next Quizzo. You'd be a ringer for sports trivia," Doug says, chuckling.
"Nice to talk to someone who actually follows the teams. I can't get Dillion to watch a single game." Brittany giggles. "Can you believe that? I'm dating the only man in America that doesn't like sports."
"Man, I grew up with box seats from my Dad. It was sort of our thing. Catching every home game together," Doug reminisces with a smile on his face. "Baseball games in the spring, football in the fall, catching the occasional hockey game during the winter. Got to agree with Dillion though, golf sucks."
"Thank you," Dillion takes a bite of the Hawaiian Pizza. "Glad I'm not the only one who thinks so. Alex seems to be a savant at it, though."
"Just had a lot of opportunities to play is all," I say, totally underplaying my abilities. I really don't like being recognized for something I left behind in my old life.
"My dad and I were always at the games too, but in the nosebleed seats. It was the best we could afford, but my dad and I wouldn't miss a game either. Although, I envy you in those box seats when the weather got cold. We'd freeze our butts off. I had so many layers I don't know how I didn't fall down those narrow steps and kept going like some kind of fluffy slinky."
We all laugh at the visual, except Dillion, who suddenly stands up. "Where's Olivia?"
Doug turns to peer out at the ocean, but she disappeared. Doug became alarmed. We all did. Dillion doesn't wait he runs. A brief second later, we see Olivia's head pop up over a wave. Doug, too, went tearing down the beach after Dillion.
Olivia is waving her arms frantically. When Dillion dives into the water and swims out to her. I call 911, fearful that she may be in some serious trouble.
Cat and Brittany stare on in fear of the scene before us as it plays out. Olivia keeps going under. Dillion is obviously the stronger swimmer between him and Doug, but I know the fear of Olivia drowning must provide him a boost of adrenaline to reach her even quicker.
Olivia goes under again and this time does not resurface. Dillion dives beneath the waves and Doug wades for a second or two, looking around frantically for them to resurface again. Finally, Dillion resurfaces and is swimming back with Olivia in tow.
"Oh, God! He found her!" Cat says, grasping onto Brittany's arm.
"She's not conscious!" Brittany grabs her bag, kicks off her shoes, and sprint to meet them at the surf.
I join Cat, who looks scared out of her wits. "Paramedics are coming, Cat. Brittany's here. She'll be okay."
"She's got to be!"
"Come on. I know you want to be there with her."
I walk Cat over to them. Cat I could tell wanted to spring into action. She must hate that she couldn't. She still has to watch her blood pressure, to protect the baby.
Dillion gets help from Doug as he gets closer and it speeds up them up dramatically getting back to shore. Dillion carries Olivia over to the wet sand, lays her down, and kneels by her shoulders. He interlocks his fingers and immediately administers CPR.
Brittany joins him and is looking her over. She points something out to Doug and I see him nodding gravely as he stands by helplessly. Dillion just keeps up a steady rhythm of resuscitation and compression.
"Don't stop, Dillion," Brittany instructs him as we get closer. "She has been stung by a jellyfish."
I could see the thin tentacle that was stuck to Olivia's leg.
"Do you need alcohol?" Cat asks, "I think I may have some hand sanitizer in my purse."
"I always heard seawater worked best," Doug states.
"No! No, none of that works and could make the irritation worse." Brittany dug through her bag. "Damn it!"
"What do you need?" Cat asks, desperate to help.
"Tweezers. I could have sworn I..."
Cat grabs Brittany's bag and finds what Brittany was looking for. "Here you go!" Cat hands her a nail kit.
"Perfect!" Brittany pulls out the tweezers and got to work. Soon she has the tentacle removed.
Olivia still, however, has not revived.
"COME ON! DAMN YOU!" Dillion demands, working diligently on Olivia. Finally, she coughs and Dillion rolls her over on her side as she vomits up the seawater.
"Oh, THANK GOD!" Dillion professes, rubbing Olivia's back as she got it all out.
He lays her back down and smooths the hair out of her face.
"Hey, Olivia?" Brittany says gently. Olivia looks over to Brittany, which was a good sign she was indeed coherent. "You've been stung by a jellyfish. You think you can sit up?"
Olivia shakes her head no.
"I got her," Doug says and made a move towards Olivia just as the Paramedics showed up. Dillion grabs her first and lifts her with ease to place her on the stretcher. Doug took a step back so he could do so.
Brittany fills the Paramedics in on what happened and Doug follows them back to the ambulance. Dillion looks lost as he ran his fingers through his hair. It must kill him not to follow.
We walk back to the fire pit and Dillion notices Olivia's things. He grabs hold of them like a lifeline. He has his excuse to follow the group up to the ambulance. "I'll be right back." And he goes running off after them.
"Well, this certainly wasn't how I expected the night to go?" Cat says with tears in her eyes, I pull her in close.
"I know, but Olivia is conscious. She's going to get help, and she'll be just fine."
"Promise," Cat questions, her voice scared and childlike.
I hug her even closer. Even though I knew I really couldn't, I say the words she needs to hear. "I promise."
Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top