dead men do tell tales

Andrew nodded to himself, feeling the swing moving. He gave a smile, staring down at the ground. Of course she had, typical Calli, always ready for the next thing. “That would be great. Give the suggestion to Trez, he’ll definitely consider it. “, he did feel guilty for what had happened with Dom though, he’d been so stupid. “I’m sorry about your brother, Calli, I didn’t mean to worry you, it wasn’t intentional.”, he stopped the swing with his foot, turning to look at her. “That was never my intention and it was dumb of me to even get drunk in the first place, I shouldn’t... get drunk. Yeah. But I’m sorry.”, he really meant that, he didn’t want it to change things between them, their friendship, he was always honest with Calli and this was no different, he’d own up to his mistakes. “Can I at least make it up to you somehow? So you don’t think I prefer your brother over you.”, he joked. “What about lunch? On me.”

“Every day, yes, my sister does, so does my dad.”, he gave a smile. Andrew knew deep down it was true but he loved his job, he loved to be a doctor, even if as of recently, most days he woke up in the morning not wanting to leave his bed. “That’s not necessarily a bad thing, in my opinion.”

“Yeah your brother got a little carried away with the drinks... So did I and I won’t lie to you, we did end up stumbling back to my place and crashed on the couch.”, he knew it was wrong and felt guilty for making her go through that but he couldn’t lie to Calli. Not now, not ever. “So my apologies. It won’t happen again. You have my word.”, he held on tight when she pushed the swing, smiling. “It was great, I really enjoyed it, we should tell Trez to do these events more often.”

“As doctors, we can only advise people about the right things, we can’t force them to follow it so...”, he rubbed Lee’s back. “I’m simply trying to help a friend out. Did you enjoy the party?”

Andrew smiled, rolling his eyes in a playful manner before taking the swing. “I hope I don’t break it.”, he glanced up then at her, rocking back and forth gently. “The highlight? Well... Except for the fact I had way too much alcohol, I remember hanging out with your brother, it was a fun time.”, he couldn’t remember much but the parts he could remember were laughing and overall a chill bit, which he appreciated. “Yours? Except the time you spent with me, of course, I know it’s hard to top that.”, he smiled.

“Oh, your sis, yeah.”, he winced, feeling bad he’d forgotten about that but to be fair, they were both way too drunk at the time to remember anything. “I hope she didn’t get too mad.”, he smiled at that. “I know, my couch is way better than my bed, that’s why I prefer it.”, between a few words with the nurses and glances at the file in front of him, Andrew didn’t even notice how odd Dom was acting. 

“They did though, the warning label is alcohol.”, he gave a smile, thinking back to how much he had drank too and furrowing his temples at it. “But really, drink lots of water, eat light foods, avoid coffee and anything with caffeine and you’ll be good as new tomorrow.”

“I admit it, yes, I got a little too drunk. It happens.”, he followed her, hands in his pockets. “I had, yeah. Good to take my mind off things, even if only for a few hours.”, when they stopped, his eyes wandered away. “But at least everyone’s okay and that’s the most important thing, I’m happy I barely have any work to do today. Except for the older cases, of course, which we’re still handling, looking for answers.”, he shrugged his shoulders, out of instinct.

“My family?”, he got lost for a second. “What do you mean?”, he pulled his sleeve up a little to check the time. “You mean my sister? She sold you way too many drinks? To make up for the ones she refused to give me.”, he smiled. 

“You must be the only person in the town who doesn’t look like they’re dying.”, Andrew put an arm around Calli’s shoulders, staring at whatever she was staring. The park? The park. He wasn’t sure what exactly in the park but that didn’t matter. “Which is insane, you must’ve had a bunch of water because sweetheart, you were gooooone.”, he giggled, squeezing her shoulder so she knew he was joking and meant no harm.

“I’m not.”, he chuckled. “I feel like I’m one with the dead down at the morgue today. No disrespect to them. We actually didn’t have any body coming in today. Yet. Either way, it’s a positive because I can barely stand straight let alone open a human being.”, he scratched his head then put his fist in front of his mouth, yawning. God, he was tired. He was always tired but today, he was tired with a capital T.

Andrew was listening to a nurse, something about a patient who’d showed up with something stuck in his nose. They always had the best stories, some horrifying, others hilarious. Between nods and chuckles, he caught a glimpse of Dominic coming in his direction. The guy looked like hell and Andrew was sure he didn’t look that much better either but he was holding himself together for the day. 

“Again? What does that mean?”, he snorted, feeling the sides of his face burning. Surely not because of the odd conversation but because of the alcohol he’d had earlier. “So you’re admitting I’m big? What happened to the ‘you’re not a big deal’ talk, Calli? Is it honesty hour?”, he followed her moves at this point, he was sure they looked like two drunk worms on the dancefloor.