The Right Treatment by Tara Finnegan

that. I wanted to talk to you about it the next day and you wouldn’t give me the chance, remember? Then the next time I was home you were with someone else.”
    “So why was it then, Matt, sorry, Doctor McDaid? Why did you refuse me because the pill wasn’t enough?” Aoife watched Matt blush even as a rogue tear streaked down her cheek.
    “Why do you always assume everything is your fault? Anyway, it’s hardly relevant now after all these years. But for what it’s worth, apart from the fact that my parents could have walked in on us at any moment, there was also the problem that some of the lads had thought it was hilarious to replace my shower gel with hair removal cream and my genitals were an itchy, red mess. I was way too embarrassed to tell you.”
    Even through her tears Aoife couldn’t help but giggle at the practical joke that not only gone so badly wrong, but had driven a massive wedge between them. But her chuckle incensed him.
    “However, ten years later, it is very definitely your sexual health we are worried about and that’s what we are going to concentrate on, is that clear?” He was back to Dr. McDaid, filling in the forms, and the cold mask of the previous weeks was back in place.
    “I’m sorry,” Aoife whispered. It was like those delicious few minutes after the examination never happened. Why did he find emotional intimacy so hard to take? He rose from the desk, grabbing the tests in his hands.
    “I’m bringing these to the lab. Wait here.” He kissed her. Not the soft gentle tentative kiss of young love. A hard, angry kiss that bruised her mouth. Unsure of what the hell was going on with him, Aoife offered no resistance. She stared at the door for several minutes, trying to figure what to make of it all. It had been one hell of a day. All she wanted was for it to be over.

Chapter Eight
     
     
    “Do you never go out? I mean apart from work. What about girlfriends?” Aoife eventually asked Matt one evening over dinner. She had been there for weeks, and the only time he ever left the apartment was to go to work, or to run with her. She felt both guilty that she may be the cause of it, and stifled as things had been unbelievably strained between them since the day of the examination. Matt had gone right back into sergeant major mode and it was if the intimacy had never happened. No, worse than that actually; they both knew it had happened and it increased the awkwardness tenfold.
    “No time for them. Most of them want a boyfriend who is free every weekend and when I was in casualty, I couldn’t do that.”
    “You’re not on casualty hours anymore. There is nothing stopping you having a social life. And if it’s me, you needn’t worry. My days of drug dabbling are over, the rehab centre fairly cured me. I don’t need babysitting.”
    “Good. But no, it’s not just you. Apparently, I’m ‘uncompromising’ according to my last girlfriend. But I find most women more interested in my being a doctor than in me.”
    “Uncompromising? I can’t imagine.” Aoife smothered the sarcasm from her voice. So it wasn’t just her Matt liked to disapprove of. “There are some nice people out there, you just have to find them.”
    “The holy gospel according to Aoife. You’ve not exactly been that successful in finding the best of influences yourself.”
    “Maybe not, but it was me who made the wrong choices. Maybe you do too,” Aoife snapped, ending all conversation for the duration of dinner. She was glad to leave the table to do the dishes. Matt didn’t volunteer to help her.
    Going to the rehab centre had become the highlight of Aoife’s life. It was an escape from the silent sterile prison of Matt’s apartment. Katie had been fantastic after Aoife had opened up to her, providing a listening ear if Aoife needed it, but also seeming to understand Aoife’s innate self-sufficiency and finding a way to be supportive, non-judgmental, and yet un-intrusive all at the same time. It was no