Taboo

Keywords: Sophia,

For one thing, he kept on being called in at strange hours. He missed the nice, regular schedule he used to keep. For another, if he took a general surgery job, he wouldn't get paid half as much. You wanted to have two specialties, he reminded himself, sighing. It's your own damn fault.

He lazily turned the corner as his mind wandered to a date he'd had last Friday. Pretty woman, but not much upstairs. And not too interested in conversation. But that's what he wanted, right? A nice body that he wouldn't want to stick around too long. He peered into the passing shops and he walked by. They were small and conventional, with long racks of clothing in the shops and restaurants with televisions in the corners. No one I know would shop on this street, he thought. Perfect, I don't want to run into the gang; this hour is mine.

Suddenly, something caught his eye. Or more exactly, someone. He stopped and doubled back to the café he'd passed. There, at the register. A girl with creamy brown skin, long brown hair, and delicate shoulders set off by her modest top. And wow, exotic, sharp black eyes. But it was the flick of her hand as she swept a strand of hair behind her ear, so unselfconsciously, that hooked him. Why not? He grinned as he pushed in the door. Tom knew he looked good in a suit and he was sure he'd impress her without effort. She's just a café worker. She'll fall all over herself to say yes.

"Hey there, Sophia," Tom said, as he approached the register and glanced at her name badge.

"Hi," she said shortly, unphased. "What would you like?" She brushed her hair back impatiently and looked at him.

So she wasn't thrown off by the name thing. He'd be more direct. "A date, this Friday."

She blinked at him. Now he noticed that her beautiful eyes sat under a brow that looked very intelligent and, god help him, serious. "That's nice. Good luck finding someone to take with you. Now, what do you want to eat?"

He grinned at her as smoothly as he could manage. "I meant with you."

She stared hard at him. "That's not on the menu. If you're not going to order, please move, because you're holding up the line."

"A small chai latte, then." He watched her as she lightly tapped in his order to the computer. Nice small hands.

"$2.35."

He held out the money and made to brush her hand as he gave it to her, but she dropped her hand abruptly as soon as the money touched it. Ok, so she was expecting that. He had been expecting an easy catch, but now he was intrigued.

"Here's your receipt and change. Go have a seat; I'll bring it to you when it's ready. Next, please."

"Ooh, special service," he chided, pretending not to know that she delivered all the hot drinks to the tables as part of her job. She ignored him.

Sophia turned away from the register and flushed. Of all the arrogant assumptions… what made him think she was single? Or that she would be interested in someone like him? She glanced at his retreating back. His suit jacket fit nicely across his broad shoulders, and he was tall. He probably thought she was desperate or something. Did she look desperate?

She took the next few orders and then turned to fill them. Eddie came up to her. "After you finish with that, take 10 minutes. You look tired." He turned away and started scrubbing the counter vigorously. Eddie liked to play at being stern, but he sometimes let slip a concerned word and then had to cover it up by cleaning something fiercely. Sophia thanked him and carefully hoisted her tray of drinks onto one hand and came out from behind the counter to deliver them.

Tom had been watching her closely as she dealt with other customers. As she came out from behind the counter, he caught a glimpse of her long, brown legs. Ending in sensible black Converse shoes. Okay, well, she was practical and exotic. He watched her lean over to hand a little boy his hot chocolate, and then she smiled. Oh wow, could she smile. Her eyes crinkled and it looked like an anvil had just been lifted off her shoulders. Now, that was interesting. What did she have to worry about? He saw her chatting with the other customers as she handed out the orders.

She walked toward his table, rather slowly. She set his cup down without a word and turned to go. "Hey," he said. "Don't I get some conversation?"

She fixed him with that stare from earlier. Then she looked at a spot somewhat above his left shoulder and said, "Fine. How was work?" She looked at her tray and then finally, back at him.

"Great!" he said, brightly. "Though it's not work. I am doing rotations for certification as a general surgeon at St. James Hospital."

"Really?" She suddenly looked him in the eyes, but this time it didn't seem like she was trying to fry him. Rather, she suddenly looked interested. He took up the tack. "Yeah, I'm already certified as an anesthesiologist, and I work at a private practice, but I wanted to have two certifications." He debated whether to add that this was because two certifications made you look more attractive to private, higher-paying practices. He decided not to.

"What part of your rotations are you in?" she asked, almost moving toward the chair opposite him.

"Please, sit. I'm learning about back surgery. Though I'm mostly watching, at the moment." All of a sudden, it seemed like her lights were on. Her face was open and her hands relaxed on the table in front of her. He was startled at the change.

"So do you do any extremities surgery or is it mostly torso area?"

"Extremities right now. Hey, how do you know so much about rotations and surgery?"

"I want to be a pediatrician. Or a surgeon. But I want to do children's medicine."

"Really? That's great, we always need more children's doctors. A lot of people think treating children is just like treating little adults, but it's not at all. There's a whole field of anesthesiology just on how to properly treat children. Are you in medical school?"

She smiled. Hallelujah, he thought. A smile, just for me. "Not yet. I'm an undergrad right now."

"Really? Where at?"

"Columbia. I'm a junior. So where are you an anesthesiologist?"

"A private practice. Johnson and Howe Specialty Surgery."

"Oh. Plastic surgery." She drew her hands back from the table.

He laughed lightly. "Hey, you say that like it's a bad thing. There are a lot of people who pay good money to look better. And they need surgeons too."

"When there's a shortage of good doctors in city hospitals, where there are real emergencies?" she demanded. Whoa, he'd gone the wrong way.

"See, just because you obviously don't need it doesn't mean there aren't a lot of people who do." He smiled smoothly at her, hoping to bring her back in with the compliment.

She stood up. Whoops. "I should get back to work. You can leave your cup there when you're done." She turned and walked back behind the counter. Damn. He hadn't felt so off-balance since high school. He frowned and turned back to his cup.

Sophia walked around the corner and into the back room. That was weird. He was a doctor, and he seemed genuinely excited to talk about what he did. She had even begun to open up a bit, but then it turned out he did anesthesiology for rich people. She wondered why he was getting a second certification, when he was obviously already making a lot of money. Maybe there was something more to him. Or maybe not.

*****

The next day, he showed up again. Sophia didn't even see him coming until he was at the register. Without looking up, she asked, "What would you like?"

"A date with you. You know, you should really put that on the menu." She looked up. It was him, looking happy and smug for having caught her unawares. He was handsome, she realized with a start. He had longish, light brown hair and bright green eyes. And his smile was nice, really nice.

She shook herself. "Nope, sorry. Next!"

He quickly reached out and touched her hand. She jumped and pulled back her hand. Why was she being so skittish?

He put his hand on the counter. "Alright. A small chai latte then." As he walked away, Nina came up behind her.

"So, who's that? Weren't you talking to him yesterday? Wow, he's hot," Nina said, all in one breath. Nina was nice, but a little nosy, and she only got interested in the conversation when it concerned men, her favorite subject.

Sophia laughed and closed the register drawer. "Well, you can have him."

"Really?" Nina practically bounced. Sophia could feel the man watching her from his table near the window.

"Sure, take his drink over to him." Sophia handed her the chai latte and turned back to the next customer with a smile. See what he thinks of that.

She watched Nina's progress out of the corner of her eye. Because she couldn't hear their conversation over the noises of the cafe, she watched them like a silent movie. Him, looking up to see Nina and then quickly glancing back to the counter, where Sophia was pretending to fix the register. She watched them talk. She liked the man's easy way of gesturing and his animated face. Nina laughed at something he had said and casually put her hand on his arm. Sophia flinched. This is what she wanted, wasn't it? She sent Nina over there to flirt. She turned back to the cups and rested her hand on the back counter.

Suddenly, Nina was back. "So?" asked Sophia.

"Eh, I think I was too late. He only wanted to ask questions about you. Sorry babe, you're stuck." Nina laughed lightly at the look of horror on Sophia's face. "Come on, he's nice, friendly, and—did I mention—hot? You haven't been on a date since high school. Live a little."

Sophia sighed. That was silly. She was living; she just wasn't dating. "Excuse me, Miss Boys-on-the-mind, we've got a customer." She went back to the register. After she took the woman's order, she turned around to talk to Nina again. But she wasn't there. The man was, and he was very close in the tight area. She backed into the register.
"Look Mark, I'm not sure what you want of me, but I was twenty six when we last saw each other and you were eighteen.

Keywords: Sophia,