Torrie Reed (hardbitten) wrote in remains_rpg, @ 2017-02-14 13:32:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | # 2020 [02] february, nick choi, olivia jensen, victoria reed |
Who: Torrie Reed, Nick Choi, and Olivia Jensen
Where: The LBJ Health Center
What: Physical therapy, with a (unpleasant) surprise for Liv.
When: 2/4/20, afternoon (?)
If there was one thing that Torrie Reed never wanted to do again, it was dislocating a shoulder. The months of physical therapy that followed were a pain in the ass, and living with a doctor meant that it wasn’t responsible to ignore after care. The only upside, she had mostly come to terms with Lita’s boyfriend and his responsibility to help her through the process. He wasn’t a bad guy, maybe too fucking happy and chill, but she knew it could have been worse. She was seated in the PT room, weighing whether or not she could bullshit Nick into believing she’d done half of the exercises before he showed his face, when the door opened. He was on time, like every other appointment she’d made with him so far. He had a shadow also. Perfect. Some twenty-something girl. It was bad enough cursing through some of the more annoying exercises with just Nick in the room, having a fucking audience wasn’t going to endear her to the process any better. “You’re late,” she greeted Nick and his shadow, her expressions smoothed out and neutral while she fired off the phrase she’d been greeting him with since the first appointment. At least he had stopped telling her she should probably try to start with a better attitude. "And you're--" The shadow had stopped in her tracks just inside the doorway; the freeze was an odd sort of throwback to the last time they'd seen each other. Her eyes narrowed and her face set into an obvious scowl, though a follow-up to her exclamation was a long time coming as she seemed to struggle with what she wanted to say. "What are you doing here?" she asked after a long, painful pause. “Physical therapy,” Torrie answered with no shortage of ‘what the fuck’ in her tone. She wracked her brain to try and figure out why Nick’s tag-along would even respond like that and came up with nothing. “Didn’t he clue you in?” she jerked a thumb towards Nick, and gave him a look. More than likely he wouldn’t be able to figure out what it was for, since he wasn’t fluent in her facial expressions, but seriously, he knew she didn’t like these sessions to begin with and then to get that warm welcome, it didn’t make it any fucking better. A sharp look had been sent in Olivia’s direction at her response to Torrie’s less than welcoming greeting. Even on her most moody day Nick knew that Olivia would never greet a patient like that, not unless she had a reason, or a history with said patient. Even though he felt entirely like he was missing something here, he would bet money that there was some kind of history here and reason Olivia had been less than professional with their client. “I think I’m missing something here,” Nick started, “Anyone care to clue me in?” He looked between the two women, one who obviously didn’t recall the other, so his words were directed towards Olivia more than they were Torrie. "She jumped me," Olivia said bluntly, gesturing with one arm towards Torrie just in case Nick couldn't figure out who she was referring to -- but how could he not figure it out? She let her arm fall then, almost as though she'd realized how stupid a move it was, and crossed her arms over her chest. "Like, two years ago. In an alley." “Fuck,” Torrie muttered, taking a closer look at Olivia. “Are you serious?” Because she couldn’t remember that happening, but believed that the girl was telling the truth. Who the hell made shit like that up just to fuck with a stranger? Probably not someone who worked with goody-two-shoe Nick. She glanced at Nick, her discomfort ratcheting up for a minute. “I guess that’s your answer.” Shit. Of all the replies Nick had expected that had not been on the list. In truth his brain had begun to assume that maybe it was like Olivia’s dislike of Dani Diaz from back before the zombies happened. This, well, this was worse. Could he expect Olivia to take part in this appointment? Or Torrie for that matter? Although it seemed as if the latter didn’t remember the incident as clearly as the former did. “Well, that makes things awkward,” Nick finally said as he rubbed at the back of his neck. “How would the both of you like to handle this?” He would put it in their hands since they were the ones more closely affected by this shared (and possibly unpleasant) history. Olivia shook her head, but the gesture didn't do much to chase away the irritated, sour scowl from her face. "Whatever you guys want," she said, stepping back against the wall to allow Nick to proceed further with the PT appointment. After all, it wasn't like you were allowed to tell someone they weren't allowed medical treatment -- anymore, at least. Sighing, Torrie shrugged. “I don’t fucking care,” she told Nick, but she was looking over his shoulder at the girl she’d jumped. “It’s not like she’s making this worse.” And she probably needed the experience or something. Torrie didn’t know how that worked. “But seriously, what the fuck,” she muttered, not quite able to hold her tongue. “Did I really fuck with you that bad?” Maybe because she couldn’t remember the incident in question it was chewing at her worse than it would have otherwise. "Oh, am I supposed to be totally cool with the fact that you came after me once?" It was like a sudden explosion, even though Olivia hadn't raised her voice or stepped away from the wall. There was a force behind her words, though, as she spat each one out. "Just because you could've fucked with me more?" Torrie scowled, she took a deep breath, and she tried to be an adult. “I don’t even fucking remember what happened.” Except her impulse to defend herself won out. Admittedly saying that meant that attacking scouts happened often enough that one event bled into the next pretty easily. “I don’t remember you! I’m sorry, I don’t.” The exchange was a bit like watching a tennis match, one Nick knew he needed to end before it spiralled out of control. “Enough!” He hadn’t raised his voice, but there was a finality to that one word that would clue them both into the fact that going ‘round and ‘round about this wasn’t an option. Once he was certain he had both their attention, Nick turned his gaze on Olivia first. “Nobody says you have to be okay with the fact that Torrie came after you once,” he started, his gaze shifted over towards Torrie. “And you’ve already admitted to not remembering her.” Nick scrubbed a hand over his face before he continued, “Now, I won’t stop either one of you from talking about this shared history if that’s what you need, but I would like it to remain civil.” Olivia rolled her eyes with a huff. "Fine with me, if Miss Jumps-A-Lot over here can manage," she said, unable to resist the urge to get in one last word. Stuff like this had to happen occasionally whenever you worked with clients; she was sure this wasn't the last time she'd have to deal with someone she didn't like in a professional setting. She could be the bigger person, maybe. Nick’s only reaction was to raise his eyebrows at Liv and give her a look that by now she should have been all too familiar with. A look that was mostly an attempt to get her to notch back the attitude a little bit. Later he would ask her how she was doing and apologize for putting her in that situation to begin with. But now they needed to focus on that patient. And that’s what Torrie was -- their patient. “I’ll try to restrain myself,” Torrie retorted, an edge to her voice. She wasn’t going to unpack what being a Ghoul was like to someone that obviously didn’t understand. She wasn’t going to try and explain away her actions either. Jumping scouts for supplies had been fucked up, she was removed enough to recognize that. “Do you mind getting started?” She stared down Nick, like she could intimidate him into making the appointment move quicker. “I already went through some of the stretching before you came in.” It took everything within Nick to remain professional in the face of two of the moodiest people he knew. They had their reasons for their reactions and he couldn’t fault them that, so instead he chose to move past it and focus on the appointment -- that’s why they were all here after all. “Alright, then let’s start in with the first round of exercises,” Nick began. “You should know them by now.” They had had enough appointments by this point that Nick hoped Torrie knew the routine enough not to give him any kind of grief. While he questioned whether she really had stretched out before they got into the room, he was a smarter man than to question that out loud with the mood his companions were in. They both just wanted to get this over with and Nick couldn’t blame them. |