Free Anything but Ordinary by Lara Avery

platform before she dove. She swallowed and walked through the doors onto the patio.
    “Hi,” Carter said, looking at a spot above her head.
    Bryce could see that he had just come from the hospital. He was still wearing his ID badge on the pocket of a worn button-down shirt, through which she could see the lines of his upper half. He was lean and long and solid, all the way from his broad shoulders down to the waist of his khaki cutoffs.
    “Hey,” Bryce said, trying not to smile.
    “How are you feeling?”
    “Great,” Bryce responded. He was now staring at his feet. Bryce continued, “I mean, physically. I’m sore, but…good.”
    “Good,” he echoed.
    “Yeah,” Bryce said, looking at him pointedly. He still avoided her eyes. Was he going to say something about the other day? She wished he would make a joke. This clean, formal version of Carter was making her nervous. “Am I due to go in for a checkup or something?”
    “Kind of,” he said. “Remember when you made me take you to that restaurant?”
    Before Bryce could nod, he continued. “I forgot to tell you. Before I left, I told Dr. Warren where I was going. She said it was a good idea. Didn’t seem to think you’d be coming in much on your own. So. She decided to work something out where you don’t have to go all the way to the medical center, if you don’t want to.”
    “I don’t want to,” Bryce said quickly. “I definitely do not want to.”
    “There ya go,” Carter said, shrugging.
    “And instead…”
    “I will be checking up. On you,” he said slowly, almost one word at a time.
    “Is that standard procedure?” she asked, tilting her head, smiling.
    He squinted off into the distance. “Not really.”
    Bryce made her way over to the edge of the pool, where Carter’s bug was crawling away. “You know, if med school doesn’t work out, you could always find work rescuing drowning insects.”
    Finally, a small laugh. “At least then I wouldn’t be tempted by beautiful patients.”
    Bryce froze, looking at him.
    “What happened the other day was completely out of line. I apologize.”
    “That’s okay,” Bryce said, but cursed herself immediately afterward. She should say something more—well, more official. But she was distracted. Carter had said she was beautiful. He had just gone ahead and said it. “Apology accepted,” she added.
    “And it wasn’t professional,” Carter went on, taking a breath. “Not only was it unprofessional, it was inappropriate. You know, to what—to what you were feeling at the time.”
    “Right,” Bryce said. But she didn’t mean “right.”
    She looked at him. His brow was unfurrowed, but his head was still down. “So.” He looked up at her and forced a smile. “Do you remember what ‘checking vital signs’ means?”
    Bryce smiled back. “Is that what they call it these days?”
    Carter blushed. “It means you’ll have to stay in one place for ten minutes. Can you do that?”
    “I can try,” Bryce said with mock exasperation, and sat gingerly on a pool chair while Carter removed a stethoscope from his shoulder bag.
    He kneeled next to her and put the cold disc to her chest. Bryce felt an electric jolt with his hand near her skin. He stared in concentration, his mouth turned down at the corners.
    “A little fast, but consistent,” he said after a minute, looking at his watch.
    He recorded the number on her chart. Bryce could see somebody had typed her name incorrectly on the top of the paper; BRICE GRAHAM , it read. Carter had crossed out the i and replaced it with a y in his own scratchy writing. He took her blood pressure and temperature, staying quiet all the while.
    “Well.” He stood up.
    For some reason the motion was too fast for Bryce.
    A small fire seemed to travel up the base of her neck, to her skull, behind her eyes. At first, Bryce just thought she was blushing, but no, this was a real fire. Pain branded the top of her spine and traveled in shots of heat to her