Page 19 of Open To Negotiation

I did have plans last night and tonight, but Oli and Theo had incorrectly assumed it was a date.

Nope.

My Wednesday nights were always spent here, volunteering. Aubrey and I had been doing it since university. Last night she’d been off when I volunteered but since there was an open spot tonight, I took it too.

I got to hold babies in the NICU when their parents couldn’t be here or when they needed a break. I loved it. I took evening shifts and would head here straight after work. Wednesdays were the only day I refused to leave work late, even starting earlier in the morning or working afterwards, to make sure I could make it on time.

My shifts were only supposed to be four hours, but most of the time I didn’t leave before ten because I couldn’t walk away. Plus, I got to spend time with Aubrey on her first break when she was on night shift which was a bonus.

“Yep.” I popped the P as I stirred the yogurt she had passed me.

“Quinn.” I looked up to find her brown eyes waiting for me, I braced myself for the ‘you need to get yourself back out there’ lecture, but it never came, since the door opened.

“Hey girls.” I hid my eyeroll and looked over my shoulder as Max came strutting in, walking over to plant a kiss on Aubrey’s lips. Max was her boyfriend and a doctor here.

I kind of hated him.

He was nice enough… I guess. But he was arrogant and a giant flirt. Something about him bothered me but I tried to be supportive by not making my dislike obvious.

“Done for the night?” Aubrey asked, looking at her boyfriend with stars in her eyes.

They’d been together a year, but something just felt off about the guy. I tried broaching the subject with Aubrey, but it didn’t go over well so I kept my feelings to myself and my eyes on him.

The thing about Aubrey was that she could probably go out and get any man she wanted, one much better than Max. She had this confidence about her that made people notice her. Even in her scrubs she was a knockout with her curves that she knew how to dress. She, unfortunately, didn’t see that and felt like she got lucky when Max ‘picked her.’

“Yep, I’ll head home to Luna,” Max replied as Aubrey swooned. She had to convince him hard to get a dog. When he finally gave in she was so excited, not noticing how he couldn’t care less. I’m surprised he was paying it any attention honestly. “How you doing, Quinn?”

“Swell,” I said with a tight smile. He didn’t really care about my answer.

“Lucas was asking about you the other day.”

I held back my gag as Aubrey whipped around to look at me. Her brown hair brushed the top of her shoulders, she’d been rocking a bob for years. “Gross. Pass.” I threw my trash in the bin next to me.

Lucas was my ex-boyfriend, the one that manipulated me, treated me like shit and then blamed me for everything going wrong. Maybe it was part of the reason I didn’t like Max, he was his best friend, and Max had set us up. Although to be fair, I liked Max more while I was dating Lucas, he had me convinced he was a good guy. But Lucas was a liar about a lot of things.

“What did he ask?” Aubrey turned back to Max.

She knew how he ended things with me. The manipulation however, I wanted to keep to myself. I felt stupid for falling for it in the first place. I knew better than that. I’d seen it happen before, read about it, and was sure I would never fall into that kind of situation.

Max shrugged. “He wanted to know how she was doing.” I rolled my eyes as Aubrey scoffed.

“There is no reason he needs to be asking you about her.”

I loved the hatred she had for him, if only she knew.

“Babe, come on. Give the guy a break,” Max said in a critical tone that made me bite my tongue.

“A break?” Aubrey’s voice rose an octave at the end.

I knew what was about to happen. They were going to argue, he would convince her to forgive him and they would agree she could hate Lucas if she wanted to. I’d seen the fight enough over the past few months.

“Alright, I’m going to head out. I’ll see you guys later.” Neither said anything as I slipped out of the breakroom, their raised voices silenced by the door closing behind me.

I lived a fifteen-minute walk from the hospital, so I’d left my car at home before coming here. It was dark out when I finished but the fresh air felt good. It was a safe area and I had bear spray in my purse within easy reach.

As I entered my apartment, I threw my keys on the counter and kicked off my shoes, heading to the couch. Snuggling babies always made me sleepy, especially because it was warm in the NICU and the babies were like little furnaces. But on my walk home, I got myself a little wound up. Aubrey knew what she wanted to do with her life since we were in high school and I still had no idea.

Leaning my head against the back of the couch, I looked at the ceiling and tried to let myself relax.