Your Surrender

"Ohhhhhhh
How long till your surrender?
Ohhhhhhh
How long till your
Surrender?
It's a long way
For heart break
Let your heart wait and bleed
Ohhhhhhh
How long till your surrender to me?" Your Surrender by Neon Trees

"Remember, stand your ground." Trevor said to me, when he dropped me off, when we got back to Dallas.

I shook my head. "Not necessary. I'm gonna be like you. In one ear, out the other."

"I don't think you're as cool as me to pull that off."

"I'm cool like the other side of the pillow!" I declared, leaning over to give him a hug. He holds me for a moment, before letting me go. Hopping out the car, I gave him a confident grin. "Thanks Trevor. See ya later." I walked to the house, ready to slay my own dragon/witch/beast hybrid. Inside, Brandon is in the kitchen, stirring tomato sauce in a pan. Rocky is buttering a sliced French loaf. The smell of garlic overwhelms the kitchen.

"Wow. It smells good in here." I exclaimed.

"Lily! Perfect timing. It's almost ready." Brandon greeted me.

"All we need is the salad. You can get started on that." Rocky said, smiling sweetly. I wasn't fooled by her smile. She was trying to get me relaxed and comfortable before she struck. Not happening.

"I would love to. But I really should shower first." I replied, just as sweetly.

Her smile faltered briefly. "Go ahead, we'll wait."

I take my time showering and washing my hair. I slather lotion all over myself and dress in the sexy low cut maxi dress I bought with Sammy. I was saving it for Ethan, but I needed to prove a point. I towel dry my hair then pile the messy curls up into a bun. Dressed for battle, I head back to the kitchen. I'm shocked to see the salad ingredients sitting out waiting for me. I figured Rocky would get impatient waiting and would make it herself, then she could complain about having to make it. But that's ok. Game on.

"Where'd Brandon go?" I asked her, washing my hands.

"He left to go get some wine." She answered, looking me over. "You look nice."

"Nice and appropriate?" I questioned, spinning in a full circle.

"Very." She said, dryly.

"Thanks. Sammy the slore picked it out." I told her, grabbing the lettuce, tomatoes, carrots and cucumbers and throwing them in a colander to wash.

"So are we going to talk about why you ran to Austin with Trevor?" Rocky asked, changing the subject.

 "I definitely did not run. We drove." I hid my grin from her. That's something Trevor would say. I'm so glad I thought of it.

She sighed. "You know what I mean."

"I don't. I told you I had plans at the game."

"Plans before or after you got upset with me?" Rocky questioned.

"I wasn't upset!" I answered, too quickly. Dammit. Her lips twitched in amusement.

"Why would you think that?" I said, regaining my cool, as I tore the lettuce into the salad spinner. "Do you think you said something that woulda made me upset?" I spun the lettuce, looking her straight in the eye.

"Sometimes the truth hurts. Even if that wasn't the intent." Rocky shrugged, keeping my stare.

"And sometimes people should just keep their opinions to themselves. Unless asked." I challenged. Any other time, I would accept that as her way of apologizing, but not this time.

The tension is broken when Brandon returns.

I focused on finishing the salad when Brandon asked me about my trip. "So how was it? I miss being able to be spontaneous and just leave. The joys of working in retail."

"It wasn't spontaneous. It was planned." Rocky corrected him. "Kinda weird you planned it on a weekend you were on call..."

"It turned out ok. Besides, Bilal's band was playing a major bar. Couldn't work that around my schedule." I lied, trying to cover up that she had me on that. She knows I would never skip out on any of my responsibilities. I'm still feeling bad that I did. I was hoping the mention of Bilal would throw her off that line of questioning.

"That's your ex, right babe?" Brandon asked, changing the subject for me.

"Well, yeah." I answered quickly. "But he was so much more than just her ex. Rocky is my person. Bilal is Trevor's person. Bilal was Rocky's boyfriend. I wanted Trevor to be my boyfriend. We were like the fantastic four in College- Inseparable." I grinned, good naturally.

Rocky forced a smile. Brandon just listened, nodding understandingly.

"We should all make a trip down there soon! We never got to after I graduated." I reminded her. "Trevor was talking about going down for the Fourth of July."

Brandon answered when she just narrowed her eyes at me. "My mom always has a huge bbq at the house. We have a swimming pool and everything. The whole family goes. I understand if you wanna go to Austin, but my mom invited you too."

Now I'm shocked. "Me? Really?"

"Of course. She's been trying to get you over there ever since EJ started talking about you. After I bragged about your cooking, she's not gonna stop til you come." Brandon explained as he set the table.

Rocky looked over at me. When Brandon's back is turned, I waved my hand like I'm holding a white flag in surrender. I don't need to be going into battle with her. I need to be focusing on being Ethan's girlfriend by the 4th of July. She smiled, but pretended to wave her flag as well.

"Tell your mom I would love to." I replied.

"Awesome. Let's eat!" Rocky declared.

Surrendering never tasted so good.

-----------------------------------

The next day at work, I found Christy first thing.

"Thank you so much for covering for me. I swear when I didn't get a call Saturday afternoon I thought I was all clear and I went out of town. I'll work two of your weekends. Whichever ones you choose." I thanked her profusely.

"It's no big deal. Just don't make a habit out of it." She said, patting me on the shoulder. "As far as working my weekends, I have another proposition for you. Can you take over Darren Wood's rehab for me?" Christy asked.

"Done!" I agreed, enthusiastically.

"Don't get too excited. He's young and stubborn. And constantly late. And he's supposed to be here 3 days of the week. Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Don't be surprised if he cancels on you. Particularly on Friday. I've already talked to the parents, but it didn't help. I just don't have the patience for him." Christy explained. I nodded and thanked her again. I remembered Darren. He was one of her patients I worked with when I shadowed her. He was the 17 year old patient that claimed he broke my rehab cherry. 

Just as Christy said, Darren was late. He was supposed to be here at 4:30, the last appointment time because of his school schedule. He doesn't show up till 4:50. "Hey, you're normally gone by the time I get here." he grinned widely.

"Yep, couldn't leave because you're now my last appointment of the day." I told him.

"For reals? What happened to Christy?" He asked.

I had already thought over my approach. I couldn't let him think it was acceptable for him to be showing up late and half-assing. I was aware that I could contact his parents again like Christy did, but at the end of the day, he was my patient and it was his knee. I needed commitment from him.

"Honestly, she couldn't continue to keep up with your routine of being late and canceling. You're the one that's going to have to deal with your knee for the rest of your life. What can we do to make this successful?" I asked him, as we headed over to the stretching mats.

He huffed, irritated. "The surgery was successful. I already told Christy I don't need to be here all the time. I've been doing the same stuff with my athletic trainer at school instead of spring football. She's the one that pushed 3 days a week. I'm straight."

I thought this over. After working through his routine, I set him up on the stimulation machine. I asked him about the routine he does with his athletic trainer at his high school. He talked me through it. It was pretty much the same. They don't have the up to date equipment, but if he was comfortable there, there was no difference as long as the work was being done.

"Ok. I need your athletic trainer's contact information." I told him when he finished.

He huffed. "What does he have to do with anything?"

"Cause you're right. There's no point of you doing the same thing twice a day, 3 times a week. Quite frankly, it's probably too much." He gave me a crazy look, but I continued. "When is school over for you?" I asked him.

"2 weeks. But I have summer school. The training room is still going to be open, so the assistant trainer is still going to work with me. He's who I rehab with at school." He explained.

"I think if you continue working out with him over the summer, we can start meeting only on Wednesdays. I still gotta monitor your progress for the next 3 months, but me and your athletic trainer should work together. If that's what you'd rather do." I explained.

He nodded enthusiastically.

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On Wednesday, Darren brought  me the assistant athletic trainer's information. I sent him an email from the nurse station explaining what I told Darren. I asked him to email me back so we can work out the guidelines together. I had to run it by Derek, my boss, before I can agree to it with Darren. I hoped it worked out.