Precious Consequences by Tamsyn Bester Page B

about Ari, even though telling her proved to be harder than I anticipated. Not that I had much choice though. After I stopped answering her calls, she started showing up at my grandmothers’ house and after three days my grandmother finally caved and told her where to find me. She was surprised, and when I told her everything, I waited for her judgment and condemnation to surface. But it never came. Instead, she showed me what it means to have at rue friend, someone who will stick with you through the good, the bad and the scandalous. She also asked about my date with Cameron and after I filled her in, it took everything in me to convince her to leave it alone, rather than strangle Cameron the way she wanted to. But I couldn’t blame her. This was something she just couldn’t understand unless she was in my shoes.
I walk over to the bed and Ari’s eyes light up when she see’s me. My chest constricts and it feels like days since I last saw her, when in actual fact I haven’t left her bedside all week. I see a giant pink teddy bear sitting on the floor, with a giant gift basket of goodies, all for Ari. I look at Hannah and she shrugs, saying, “I couldn’t visit without bringing something for the patient. That’s rude.”
I chuckle. “Thank you, Han, but you’ve already done so much for me this week.”
It’s true. Hannah has been helping me stay up-to-date with all my classwork and assignments and spoke to all my professors about rescheduling a few tests.
“Oh please,” Hannah brushes me off. “That’s why you have me.”
“And me!” Taylor pipes up.
Macy yells, “And me!” and that has all of us giggling.
I slide past them and take a seat next to Ari on the bed, careful not to move around too much, and gently wrap my arms around her.
The door opens and I watch as Dr. Gates, Ari’s pediatric surgeon walks in.
“Good morning ladies,” he greets politely.
He stands at the end of Ari’s bed, making notes on his clipboard, and then smiles down at her. He’s a lot younger than I expected and far better looking than any other doctor I have ever seen, with his thick black hair, olive skin and dark brown eyes. I watch Taylor from the corner of my eye, and snicker. She’s flustered and totally beguiled by the good doctor. I’m tempted to tell her he had that affect on all of us, even my sixty five year old grandmother, but decide to wait until he’s left. I clear my throat and she whips her head back to me. Her cheeks flush crimson.
“How is my patient feeling today?” he asks Ari.
“Rough night,” I answer for her. “She didn’t sleep well.”
Dr. Gates frowns and makes notes again. He comes to stand on the other side of the bed, brushing past a still flustered Taylor, and moves to examine Ari’s cut. She squirms, trying to get away from him.
“It’s ok, Ari,” I reassure her. Her scared brown eyes meet mine and I give her a soft, comforting smile. “Dr. Gates just wants to make sure your tummy is getting better, ok? He won’t hurt you, I promise.”
Her little hands slide away from her stomach and Dr. Gates lifts her pajama top, going about examining her wound. He presses down and Ari flinches.
“Hmmm,” he says, scrubbing his chin. “It’s still quite tender, but that could be because we had a hard time getting her to keep still when she came out of surgery. I’ll give her something a little stronger for the pain, and something to help her sleep tonight, and then she should be okay to go home tomorrow. You’ve been shown how to clean the wound?”
I nod, remembering how I’ve been the only one, aside from Dr. Gates, who Ari has allowed near her stomach.
“Great,” he continues. “I will be back to check on you in the morning, Miss Arianna. And you ladies must enjoy the rest of your day.”
He looks at each of us, his gaze lingering a little longer on Taylor, and then promptly leaves the room.
“Holy cheese on a cracker,” Taylor sighs. “That man is fifty shades of sexy!”
“I