Grace Tsichlis THE WAITING ROOM

Valerie opened the car door for Alec to gently drop Robert into the backseat. Robert was clutching his stomach and moaning, something about God and something about his mother.

“Listen, man. It’s going to be just fine. The ER is only like 15 minutes away,” Alec said to his best friend.

Robert grunted in reply.

Valerie and Alec slipped into the front of the car while Valerie rummaged through her bag; she was carrying all three of their wallets, Robert’s shoes, and a half-eaten bag of potato chips.

“Do you have the car keys, Val?” Alec asked.

“No, why would I?” Valerie replied.

“Because you said we had everything while I firefighter-carried Robert out of our apartment.”

“Please, he had his arm around your shoulder with his feet on the ground,” she said. “I wouldn’t call that a firefighter carry.”

“Can we please go?” Robert whispered from the backseat.

“Check the ground—maybe you dropped them on the way to the car,” Valerie said.

Alec swung the car door open and leaned down. The keys were resting on the concrete. Valerie smirked as Alec started the engine, but didn’t say anything. They hit every single red light on the way to the emergency room. Robert’s moans from the backseat bounced around in Alec’s truck. Valerie resisted the urge to cover her ears. When they arrived at the hospital, they were all given neon wristbands and ushered into the waiting room. Robert immediately laid down on the floor and curled into a ball.

Valerie twisted the band around her wrist. The nurse had tied it much too tight, as if she thought Valerie was going to rip it off and run wild through the corridors. Maybe she would if the man behind her didn’t stop coughing in her ear. In the corner across the room, an elderly woman was sobbing. Valerie grabbed her leftover bag of potato chips and started to eat.

“How can you eat right now?” Alec said.

“Our three year anniversary dinner was interrupted by our roommate’s blinding pain. I’m starving.”

Alec rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath. A twenty-something woman three seats away from Alec vomited into her hands. The smell of parmesan cheese filled the air. Alec looked furious.

“How are you doing, Robert?” Valerie asked.

“I would like to die now,” he said.

“Aw, Rob. You’ll be okay, don’t worry. The nurses will come to take you back soon.”

“I doubt it.”

Valerie and Alec exchanged a glance. This was the most commotion Robert had caused since the three moved in together two years ago. When Valerie and Alec decided they wanted to live together, they quickly realized they couldn’t afford to do so without a roommate, so along came Robert, Alec’s best friend from college.

“Maybe this is your very elaborate way of telling us you don’t want to live with us anymore,” Alec joked.

“That makes absolutely zero fucking sense,” Robert said. “Anyway, I like living with you guys—minus all the yelling.” He clutched his stomach and groaned loudly. He slowly pulled himself up and climbed into the empty chair between Alec and Valerie.

“We don’t—” Alec began. Valerie looked over at him, black mascara streaked under her eyes, and he stopped. The trio was silent for a moment. Other patients were called up, but Robert’s name had yet to be announced. Valerie started a game of Scrabble on her phone while Alec stood up and paced around the room, weaving in and out of the rows of chairs. Valerie updated Robert about her game; she was destroying the other player. She knew he wasn’t listening, but she was desperate to fill the desolate room with something other than groans. An hour passed without Robert’s name being called, without a single glance from Alec to Valerie.

Robert sighed. “I’m sorry I interrupted your special date night. I know you guys were looking forward to it.”

Val crushed up the now-empty bag of chips and attempted a smile. “We just want to make sure you’re okay.” Alec looped back around, and removed his hands from his pockets to pat his friend on the back, but didn’t say anything. A nurse in blue scrubs carrying a clipboard called out Robert’s name. “Thank fuck. It’s been long enough,” he said. He slowly raised himself out of the chair with help from Valerie.

Valerie wrapped her arms around Robert. “We’ll see you soon.”

The nurse and Robert disappeared behind the double-doors, leaving Alec and Valerie to confront their silence, their eroding relationship. Valerie glanced toward the vending machines. “I’m going to grab a granola bar. You want anything?”

“I could go for some Chips Ahoy,” Alec said. “I’ll buy.” Valerie could count on two hands the number of times Alec had offered to buy her something in their three years of dating. He was frugal. She had liked that. In the blinding fluorescent lights, Valerie watched her boyfriend type in the codes on the vending machine and swipe his credit card. He returned to his seat, leaving an empty chair between them, and they ate their midnight snacks in silence—surrounded by sputtering, coughing, and screaming.

Charlie Brogan

FANTASY #17

Picture this. We’re in this grey apartment in Paris. The windows are wet, we wait for instructions. I wear a contradiction in the form of a beret and denim booty shorts.

Picture Olga. She has the face of a young cherub, round pink cheeks, blood orange lips, you’d like it a lot. We stroll right into January, her and I wordless, beautiful, and hungry.

We drop into golden bakeries, curl our lips around the words: Mille Feuille, Religieuse, Choquette. Isn’t that gorgeous? You’d love to see it. Picture her leaning over a toilet, tight abdominals pulsing, all the goodness returning, blonde hair falling into the bowl like a violent Rapunzel.

See how we live, a measuring tape on the nightstand, young hips, pretty collarbones popping, glistening like chicken wings at a sports bar.

Now Olga’s so thin I could carry her like a puppet in the crease of my elbow, we could put on a show for you. Delightful! She’s Russian so she won’t understand me, that’s tricky, but she will look delicate and erotic in a dumb way, like an ornate slipper. We’d be dumb together! and we will do exactly as we are told, just look at these open mouths.