That Girl Next Door Ch. 06b

"Hey Miss Bridges! I didn't think that I would ever see you again. It seems like I have met every other nurse who works here with you though."

Brooke placed her hand on Jason's left bicep then slowly slid it up under his hospital gown to his shoulder and back down again. Their eyes were once again locked on each other as Brooklyn took a deep breath and then sighed. Jason detected a hint of sadness as her countenance adjusted to match her thoughts. He reached over with his right hand and gently cupped the hand caressing his arm, and in that moment Brooke was certain that their attraction for one another was a real thing and not just her imagination run amok.

"Yeah, about that," she began. "I've done something truly awful. I broke a hard and fast rule because for some reason unknown to me, I failed to remain 'clinical' with you. It doesn't make any sense at all to me, but somehow I became emotionally attached to you. I made up excuses to come to your room and check up on you even when it wasn't necessary."

"Like I said," Jason responded, "in the past day or two I have met a lot of nurses who work here. Some of them are very pretty. In fact they're downright beautiful, especially in their uniforms. I think I can understand for the first time why the porn industry has so many 'Candy Striper' videos online. Until now, I thought it was just a pun or a gag because 'Stripper' is just a single letter off in spelling.

"There's one of your coworkers, a blonde named Trudy Litton that is a total knockout. She should be a fashion model or something. But here's the thing, not a single one of them stirred up my emotions the way that you do, and just like you said, it doesn't make any sense at all to me because I am totally and completely in love with my girlfriend. I would never cheat on her, but I would be a liar if I said that I didn't find you very attractive and desirable."

Brooklyn leaned over Jason and brought their lips together. Both of them met with lips parted and tongues ready for a deep passion-filled kiss. Brooke locked her lips onto Jason's mouth and surrendered to her desires, probing and exploring the orifice without any further restraint. Their arms encircled each other and Brooklyn let herself lay on Jason's chest as they kissed. It was almost five minutes before they stopped making out and came up for air. Brooklyn placed both hands firmly on Jason's chest and pushed back from him.

"Okay," she gasped. "Huge mistake! Damn it to hell!"

"Why?"

"Mr. Stewart," Brooklyn addressed Jason trying to regain some sort of professional demeanor. "I apologize for my actions just now. It was totally unprofessional and out of line. Please forgive me."

"Oh, come off it! I wanted that kiss just as badly as you did. We shouldn't deny our feelings for each other." Jason's words of encouragement caused Brooklyn to soften and she reached up to his forehead to run her fingers through his hair again.

"Like I said, hun. There are rules that I have to follow and I just broke a big one with you. You could very easily have me fired for what I just did with you."

"I would never do that!"

Jason realized in that moment that he couldn't speak in familiar tones with Nurse Bridges. Her name tag only had the initial 'B' in front of her last name. He had just been making out with a girl and had no clue what her name was and that thought both embarrassed him and aroused him in an unusual way. Some would say that he had just french kissed a virtual stranger.

"Nurse Bridges," he addressed her. "I think that since you have been so affectionate with me that maybe you should tell me your name. I have no idea what the 'B' on your name plate stands for."

Brooke's face turned a bright red in humiliation. Jason's formal approach to addressing her had caused her to totally overlook the fact that they had never been properly introduced.

"My name is Brooklyn," she said as she raised her hand to signal stop. "Yes, my parents are weirdos. 'Brooklyn Bridges'! Totally hilarious to name your daughter like that. Since you're a pilot, I am fairly sure that you have heard about Bill Lear's daughter that he named 'Shanda'. If it had been my parents, they would have probably would have taken it a step further making Shanda her middle name and giving her 'Crystal' for a first name.

"I got married during the week that I became legally of age to do so because I wanted to change my last name so badly. I was able to avoid some of the teasing growing up because I introduced myself to everyone as 'Brooke'. A lot of parents use alliteration when naming their kids because it's cute. So when I shortened my name, no one really dug any deeper into it. Some of my close friends even nicknamed me 'Beebee'. I learned very quickly to approach my new teacher at the beginning of each school year and head them off from using my real full name in front of the class.

"The first year or two of marriage was great, but once I was in college, I learned that I couldn't have any platonic male friends. My husband was excessively jealous. Even though I was completely faithful to him, he imagined me as a slut sleeping with all of the college boys while he went to a trade school and straight to work.

"I couldn't have any female friends over either. Whether or not it was because of his irrational and false opinion of me, he would hit on all of my girl friends and try to seduce them. Once I finished nursing school and got a job, I left his sorry ass. As part of my divorce, I took my maiden name back because I didn't want to have any connection to that asshole ever again."

"Brooke is a beautiful name," Jason said. "A beautiful sexy name for a beautiful sexy woman. It really does fit you well."

"Damn you! Stop saying stuff like that to me! Geezus, but you're making this so hard! I came here just to tell you goodbye, but you're making it nearly impossible! Look, I kind of had an idea that you were into me before I came here today. Since I had feelings for you too, I had to keep away from you and put distance between us. But I didn't want you to think that I did it out of malice. I wanted to set the record straight and wish you happiness with the rest of your life.

"You're already in a relationship and I can tell that she loves you very much. You're doubly blessed because you have a great family that obviously cares a great deal about you as well. Your sister and your girlfriend were both all over you like white on rice. I could never compete with that and I honestly don't want to. Maybe in the next life, you and I will find each other and be lovers."

"Can I at least give you my phone number? If you are ever in trouble or just need a shoulder to lean on, would you promise to call me?"

Brooklyn giggled then recited his phone number from memory. Jason was stunned, but it was also a confirmation to him that she really loved him.

"Ooooh! You're a psychotic stalker!" Jason teased her with a twinkle in his eye and a Cheshire grin. That earned him a chuckle from Brooklyn in return as well as a playful slap to his shoulder. Brooklyn brought her face to Jason's one last time. Their lips connected and their tongues caressed each other. They each hummed together as they enjoyed a final goodbye kiss together. It was both a farewell and an acknowledgement of love for the couple. After she ended their kiss, Brooke gently cradled his cheek in the palm of her hand.

"Please don't get injured again, okay babe? I don't think that I could restrain myself if you showed back up here a second time. It will end my career and I will be out of a job."

With that, she gave Jason one last smile and walked away. For the first time ever in his lifetime, Jason could not deny that he had found an older woman attractive, even if the age difference was only four years or so.

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Not too long after Brooke walked out of Jason's room for the last time, Melanie and Jessica showed up with a complete set of clean clothes and underwear for Jason to wear for the trip home. They knew that the paramedics had ruined his other clothing because the remnants had been given to them after Jason had been moved out of the emergency room.

Melanie's mother had taken Jason's pants and soaked them in ice water before washing them. This had successfully removed all of his blood that had gotten on them during the incident at the bank. But the girls brought him a fresh pair of khaki pants just the same.

Dr. Adams had left paperwork with instructions regarding Jason's prescriptions for antibiotics and Tylenol 3 with his mother, Halona. She had taken the time to sit Melanie and Jessica down and go over the instructions with both of them so that everyone was on the same page and clearly understood what was needed to properly care for Jason.

She had decided to spend the following week with her son and catch the Greyhound home at the end. Her husband Leland would return to Satsuma with Robert and Cheryl once they had Jason safely back at his apartment. Cheryl promised Halona that she would keep Leland well fed until she got back home. That almost started an argument as Leland defended himself and his own abilities in the kitchen. But once he was back home, a day or two of living alone was all that he could take and he took to dining with his best friends the remainder of the week.

Just before their departure, there was a knock on the door. Cheryl crossed over and opened it to see who their visitor was. It turned out to be the bank manager that Jason had ordered to stay put after killing the bank robber.

"I hope that I didn't stop by at an inopportune time. I'll only be here for just a moment." He crossed over to where Jason was standing and offered him his hand.

"I wanted to shake your hand and personally thank you for the actions that you took in my bank the other day. After that horrible man grabbed the young lady as a hostage, Horace our guard went to draw his weapon and was immediately shot by that maniac. I had no doubt that he would have probably killed his hostage and God only knows how many others without your intervention.

"Horace is out of ICU and in a private room now, by the way. The bullet punctured his lung and damaged some of his heart tissue, but he will make a full recovery. I wanted to tell you in person that I cannot offer you any kind of a reward for your actions. Trust me when I tell you that I personally feel like you truly deserve a reward from the bank. But in a show of appreciation, we took up a collection and put the balance on a Visa gift card for you. Hopefully it will cover anything like groceries or the electric bill for you as you recover. I was told that you work on the flight line at the airport and will not be able to return for a couple of weeks.

"The bank is covering all of Horace's hospital stay on it's insurance since he is an employee. I made an enquiry with the billing department here and they said that your own insurance only covered 80% of your stay."

The bank manager crooked his finger at Jason and then whispered in his ear, "It's totally illegal, so please keep it to yourself. But the girl in accounting here at the hospital accidentally put in the wrong numbers on Horace's bill so that our deductible was combined with yours. The bank will cover your 20% as part of Horace's bill. Okay?"

The banker leaned back then with a huge smile on his face and laid his index finger along side of his nose and flicked it. Jason recalled seeing that signal in the Paul Newman / Robert Redford movie called "The Sting" when he was a kid. They both chuckled as they reached out together and shook hands.

"All of you have a very blessed day," the banker said to everyone in the room. "I look forward to seeing you under better circumstances next time, young man." Then he turned for the door and was gone.

The door had not had time to close on its own before an orderly showed up with a wheel chair to take Jason downstairs to the exit. The different odds and ends that Jason was issued by the hospital, such as his water mug were placed in a plastic laundry bag for him to carry in his lap as he was wheeled out of his room.

Downstairs, everyone waited for a moment or two in the lobby while Cheryl retrieved the Suburban and Jessica retrieved her Honda Pilot. After Jessica had parked close to the door, Jason stood up from the wheelchair and walked over to the SUV. His father held the door open for him and Robert stood nearby ready to assist Jason with climbing into the vehicle. Melanie was carrying Jason's 'loot bag' when she herself got into the back seat behind him.

Halona rode in the Suburban with her husband and their friends. They had all checked out of the motel together that morning and she had her own baggage in the seat beside her, ready to help take care of Jason during the coming week. She would sleep in the second bedroom at the apartment since it was unused by Jessica.

For the sake of appearances, all of Jessica's stuff was in the dresser and closet of the second bedroom to make it look like that was her room. But since she and her brother shared the same girlfriend, the three of them slept together in the king sized master bed most of the time. When they all arrived at the apartment, Halona left her luggage in the living room to give Robert and Cheryl the impression that she would be sleeping on the couch.

"That couch looks a little lumpy," Cheryl commented.

"If my back starts acting up on me," Halona chimed in, "I can always sleep with Jessie in her bed for a day or two. It's a Queen size and big enough for both of us. But I doubt that it will come down to that."

The parents all stayed and visited until suppertime, and that is when the party returning to Houston decided it was time to get on the road and head home. Halona offered to cook supper for the kids and received no arguments about it. Later that night, Jessica changed Jason's bandage for him. She applied the triple antibiotic ointment given to her by the hospital to Jason's wound before putting the gauze padding over it with tape to hold it in place.

Jason slept in a Tee shirt for the first time in months to keep the bandage in place as he slept. Melanie attended to his oral meds just before bedtime and Jason thought to himself that he could not be in better hands for his recovery. His whole world had changed in the blink of an eye. Becky was back in his life now making his future confusing and uncertain. But for now, he was back home with Melanie and Jessica. So he fell asleep with a contented smile on his face.

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To be continued...

Dramatis Personӕ

1. Jason Alexander Stewart - The main character of our story. (visual reference- actor Robert Urich age 23 or 24)
2. Jessica Anne Stewart - Jason's little sister. Jason is about two and a half years older than his sister. (visual reference- actress Jennifer Connelly in "Career Opportunities")
3. Halona Stewart - Jason and Jessica's mother. Halona's Father is a full blood Creek Indian and her mother is Caucasian, descended from the Louisiana Cajuns.
4. Leland Stewart - Jason and Jessica's father. His bloodline emigrated from Scotland in the mid-1700s just before the American Revolution.
5. Cheryl McLaughlin - Melanie's Mother
6. Robert McLaughlin - Melanie's Father
7. Melanie Rose McLaughlin - "The Girl Next Door". Jessica's childhood BFF and now Jason's fiancé. (visual reference- actress Emily VanCamp in the TV series "Everwood")
8. Rebecca Renee Broussard - While Jason had dated girls during High School, Rebecca was his first and only girlfriend at College. Six months after they began dating, they found a one bedroom apartment that they could afford and moved in together. They had been a couple for a little more than two years, but broke up at the end of April just mere weeks before Jessica's 18^th birthday. (visual reference- singer Carol Decker in the music video for T'Pau's song "Heart & Soul")
9. Roel Luis Hinojosa - Jason's best friend. They met for the first time in the sixth grade when Roel catches three juvenile delinquents trying to steal his sister's bicycle at school. He takes on all three but is quickly overwhelmed. Jason and some friends in his Boy Scout patrol arrive in the nick of time and save Roel from serious injury while also aiding in preventing the theft. (visual reference- actor Diego Luna as Cassian Andor from the movie "Rogue One")
10. Cynthia Marie Combs - Rebecca's best friend. She develops a crush on Roel after they meet for the first time. During this part of the story, fate lends a hand as she and Roel find themselves both simultaneously unattached for the first time since they met. (visual reference- British actress Sophie Turner)
11. Brooklyn Bridges, RN - Jason's nurse who develops a crush on her patient, which is a big taboo in the Health Care industry.

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Appendix F(b)

1. Y'all and You-all - I looked this up on Dictionary.COM to be certain that I was not making a mistake. They have an entry for "you-all". It contains several pronunciations including 'yawl' which is one that I have used my entire life. They also included the example of "You-all come back now! You hear?" If you have ever watched the end credits to the television show The Beverly Hillbillies, then you have heard that phrase used before now. I believe that Jerry Scoggins probably did that voice over, but it may have been Lester Flatt.
2. RTIC brand - Have you ever heard of RTIC? The company sells a variety of products like coolers, tumblers and bottles. It claims that its coolers are half the price and hold more ice compared to its closest competitor YETI. The company's 30-ounce tumbler is the No. 1 best seller on Amazon. So who are the people behind the brand? RTIC is actually a Houston company (YETI is located in Austin, TX). It's based near Cypress and was started by twin brothers John and Jim Jacobsen. They attended Klein Oak High School and went to college at Sam Houston State University.
3. ¿Te sientes mejor ahora?- Spanish for "Do you feel better now?"
4. Warbreaker - a novel by Brandon Sanderson. If you are confused about the 'take my breath away' joke, then I implore you to read the book and find out. If you ever see me use the acronym RAFO, that is Read And Find Out.