“Why so surprised? No, I’m only a doctor in the fantasy world I created in my head.” I smiled, wiping tears off my face.
“Ha, ha. You’re on fire today. But for all I know, you could just be some crazy shaman girl or one of those self-proclaimed doctors who reads tarot.”
I burst out laughing at his ridiculous logic. Rudolph was brisk and sharp, much more layered than I’d assumed.
“Fuck off, man!” he growled suddenly, catching me off guard.
“Hey! Don’t say that!”
“Sorry,” he muttered. I heard muffled laughter in the background. “My idiotic friends are here. Give me a sec.”
A mix of curses, groans, and what sounded like a full-blown pillow fight—without pillows—followed.
“Hello again,” he whispered, and I chuckled.
With that, we restored the chat. Still smiling, I stood up from my spot against the door, paused to listen—Ian was still sleeping—and walked back into my old bedroom.
“I’ll take over my father’s business one day. Until then, I mostly play wereball, hang out with my friends…and the ladies, of course.” He said it like it was a joke.
It wasn’t funny at all. Arms above my head, I grabbed my left wrist with my right hand and stretched to the side. “Of course you do. Of all the hobbies you could invest your time in!”
“Are you jealous again?” He sounded delighted.
Hands in balls, I dropped my arms. “Why would I be jealous of an STD machine like yourself?”
“Ouch! Aren’t you supposed to know that a sharp tongue can cut my fragile heart? That doesn’t make you a very good doctor.”
“Only the shamans would know,” I retorted as I lifted my legs up, wiggling my toes. I giggled, picturing Rudolph doing the same.
“What?” he breathed.
“I just imagined you wiggling your toes in bed.”
He sighed, long and worn out. “All I heard was that you’re imagining me in bed.”
“You don’t need a bed to wiggle your toes!”
“Why would I wiggle my toes anywhere else?”
“It’s comforting! Give your feet some love.”
“Why? They’re feet.”
“They carry your obnoxious, big ego around all day. It must weigh more than an elephant.”
“Well, there is one part of me that was once compared to something belonging to an elephant…”
“Immature.”
“You still laughed! And it’s true!”
“Your big ears?”
“Exactly,” he deadpanned.
I grinned.
We traded insults for a while, with Rudolph making fun of me while I got more and more annoyed, but it was always the funny kind of annoyed.
