Leaving At Last Chapter 02
At dinner, my parents could tell something was wrong.
My mom served me another piece of lasagna.
I set down my fork and took a breath.
“I don’t want to be a nurse anymore.”
They both stared at me.
“But you said you’d retake the MCAT a dozen times if you had to, just to get into med school.”
“Did something happen at work?”
“Don’t throw away your dream just like that.”
I shook my head and said nothing.
Becoming a doctor had been Briar’s dream, not mine.
One evening in our last year of high school, as the library was about to close, he’d held out his hand to me.
“Blair, just try a little harder.”
“As long as you keep up, we can stay together.”
For that one sentence, I forced myself onto his path.
From then on, my life was an endless cycle of classes, training, and night shifts.
Concepts that came easily to others took me endless repetition to grasp.
After I started working, I never let myself relax for a single shift.
I was terrified of betraying my patients’ trust.
But even then, Briar would only pinch my cheek and say, “Learn from Talia. Stop getting so flustered at work.”
I was his girlfriend.
But he hadn’t treated me like an equal in a long time.
The next day at noon, I had just finished writing my resignation letter and was eating in the staff cafeteria.
Talia sat down across from me with her tray.
She scooped half of her quinoa salad onto my plate, then studied me.
“Did you cry yourself to sleep last night?”
I looked up at her, confused.
My reaction seemed to surprise her.
“Briar and I worked so late we crashed in a hotel near the hospital.”
“He just told me he forgot to let you know.”
“I figured you’d be pissed.”
I’d slept at my own apartment in Queens last night.
I had no idea if Briar had gone back to our place.
Even if I had known, it wouldn’t have mattered now.
I lowered my head and kept eating.
“I see.”
My calm seemed to throw her. She leaned closer.
“You really didn’t cry?”
“Looks like someone owes me a yogurt.”
Briar suddenly appeared behind me.
He placed a bottle of Chobani in Talia’s hand.
Then he sat down beside me, a slight frown on his face.
“So our Blair’s all grown up?”
“Before, you would’ve been furious with me for days.”
“Hey, Blair would never do that.”
And just like that, they were debating who knew me best.
Sitting between them, their voices blurred into a dull roar.
My hand trembled around my fork, and my stomach churned.
The two people closest to me were betting on my emotions.
I slowly turned to Briar and said it plainly.
“Let’s break up.”
The table fell silent.
Briar stared at me, stunned.
“You—”
Before he could finish, Talia leaned forward.
“Blair, are you mad at me?”
“Last night, we really were just talking about work. I didn’t deliberately keep him there.”
At that, Briar’s frown deepened.
When he looked at me again, the surprise in his eyes had hardened into impatience.
He dismissed it as just another one of my tantrums and said coldly, “That’s enough, Talia. You don’t need to explain.”
“She’s always like this, running everyone ragged.”
Talia looked like she wanted to say more.
But he quickly pulled her away, leaving me alone at the table.
I dumped my barely touched lunch.
Then I went to the head nurse’s office and handed in my resignation.
She didn’t put up much of a fight, only explaining that hospital policy required two weeks’ notice.
The whole process would take a month, minimum.