Free Love Unexpected by Anne Leigh Page A

were definitely not her cup of tea.
     
    She looked happy. The Swimming Dude was all smiles in the picture. I bet he was. I had to rein in my emotions. Practice was in 15 minutes.
     
    What was wrong with me? I didn’t get bent over a girl. Ever. I was crazy. She was making me crazy. I texted her every day. I was biding my time. Waiting for her until she was ready. This picture showed that she was ready to get into something. I wasn’t even talking about a relationship. I just wanted to see her, hang out with her. Let it go, Zander, she just wasn’t into you.
     
    Football practice sucked. My head just wasn’t in it. Coach Tanner called a couple of plays and it was my fault that the plays weren’t executed. In one particular play, I was supposed to throw the ball to my tight end, Aaron Dominguez, but I screwed up and threw it to Jason Schwan, my wide receiver. My offensive line was shocked. We had run that play a hundred times in practice. I made more mistakes after that. Coach had to pull me aside and ask what the hell was going on. I just replied, “Sorry.”
     
    The field was supposed to be home for me. Today, I felt like a fucking stranger on it. My drive was not there. My focus was somewhere else. I couldn’t wait for football practice to be over.
     
    After practice, the football team hung out at Hudson’s. I needed a couple of drinks in my system. I also needed to release the tension built inside of me. I was tired of Sedona’s antics. One minute, she was hot for me. The next minute, she was cold and not ready to be involved. I received a text from her after the College Sports Awards Night, which was two days ago. She congratulated me on my nomination. I wanted to respond back, “WTF? You have a boyfriend? You told me you weren’t ready for anything?”
     
    Maybe, she was a liar. Maybe, she was one of those women who tagged men along for the ride. Maybe, I should just forget about her. It has been a while for me. Tonight, I was going to find my way towards blondes, brunettes, whoever they may be, as long as they didn’t remind me of piercing violet eyes.

Chapter Six
     
    “Life is ironic. The sunglasses you’ve been looking for, has been sitting on your head all this time.”
     
    Sedona
     
    "When I get older, I want to be as pretty as you so I can kiss a boy."
 
    Ashley, my 14 year-old patient in the Pediatric Unit, dreamily uttered those words while I was fixing her position on the bed. It tired her out to do anything strenuous. Her oxygenation saturation probe, wrapped around her right finger, reflected 98% saturation on the screen of the cardiac monitor, situated at the head of her bed. Her oxygen saturation was good. What was not good was that she was attached to an oxygen tank through her nose so that her oxygen could be maintained at that level.
 
    I smiled at her. Her parents went to the cafeteria to grab something to eat. She was one of my 2 patients for my 12-hour clinical ro tation today.
     
    "Ashley, you're already very pretty. I think it will be you who will have to say no to all the boys who want your attention."
 
    Her light green eyes shimmered as she sighed and asked softly, "Have you ever kissed a boy, Sedona?"
 
    I didn't think her parents would appreciate it if they found out a senior nursing student was talking to their daughter about kissing boys.
     
    However, when Ashley looked at me with those pleading, gentle eyes, I found myself, saying, "Yes."
 
    She sighed again, "Can you tell me how it feels to kiss a boy?"
 
    In two days, Ashley was going in for her 10th surgery. She was born with congenital cardiomyopathy, a heart condition that caused her heart to be enlarged, which led to multiple heart problems. Without the surgeries, she would not survive.

            "Ashley, I don't think your parents will like me telling you about this."
 
    Her green eyes dimmed, "Please, Sedona," she begged, "My mom kisses my dad and I think it's gross. But you, you