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#Post#: 1137--------------------------------------------------
The Friendship Test - Chapter 16 - Dissolution
By: RampageSports Date: February 20, 2015, 9:52 pm
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The Friendship Test - Chapter 16 - Dissolution
Trish had Danni moved to what was known as the "private room."
In the far corner of the emergency department was a small door
that looked like the entrance to a closet. Inside was the
tiniest kitchen area Danni had ever seen. It contained only a
small sink and microwave, surrounded by a few small cabinets.
Along the left wall of the small space was a slightly larger
door, which opened onto an over-sized hospital room. It
contained a bed, a visitor chair and a small array of cabinets
along one wall. It wasn't hard to figure out what had happened.
The kitchen area and the room had once been a single space... a
break room for the ER staff. In the drive to make money in
every possible way, another bed meant another patient that could
be charged. So, the break room got a makeover. The kitchen
area was all that remained, perhaps as a peace offering when the
ER staff revolted. More likely, though, hospital management had
simply been unable to come up with a profitable use for the
space. Either way, keeping the kitchen meant keeping the doors.
Thus was born the only truly private bay in the ER.
Danni's initial reaction had been to protest. Her injury had
already been diagnosed as a mild sprain. A little ice, a wrap
job and she was out of there. Why would she need extra privacy
for such a short stay?
"I've already called Richelle," Trish said, by way of
explanation.
Danni closed her eyes and sighed. "How thick is the door on
that room?" she asked.
"Not nearly thick enough."
About an hour later, that door opened and Danni didn't have to
look to see who had entered. The room immediately took on the
feel of impending doom. She'd been talking to Sophia at that
moment, and the sudden change in the Dragon leader's expression
confirmed that doom had, in fact, arrived.
Danni turned to find the red-headed owner of Rampage Sports
standing at the foot of her bed. The look on her face was a mix
of anger, disappointment and sadness. But Danni was confident
it was mostly anger.
Richelle stared silently at her for a moment, then slid her eyes
over to Sophia.
"Miss Bush," she said curtly. "I don't suppose you could give
us a moment."
Sophia looked to Danni, who nodded.
"Sure," she said. She stole one last supportive look at Danni,
then made her way out into the hallway.
After she left, the room went stone silent for a few moments.
Danni was sure that Richelle was simply biding her time before
unleashing hell, and she was girding herself for the coming
storm. But what the owner did next threw her completely
off-balance.
"Trish says your ankle is going to be fine," Richelle said.
"That's good."
Danni expected quite a few emotions from Richelle during this
conversation. Concern had not been on the list.
Richelle took a deep breath, opened her mouth to speak, then
closed it again. She fell heavily into the chair beside the bed
and ran her hands through her hair.
"I don't know what to say, Danni. I really don't."
Her voice was cold, hollow and distant... as if she'd
bottomed-out emotionally before the conversation even started.
Meanwhile, Danni didn't know what the hell was going on here.
Richelle seemed to be struggling to control herself, which made
no sense. Screaming and yelling was kind of their thing. They
did it all the time, for the stupidest of reasons. Now, they
had a real problem to deal with, and Richelle was fighting hard
against her natural instinct to throw sh*t.
"How long has this been going on?" Richelle asked.
"It started after the last tournament," Danni said.
She watched Richelle's jaw tighten.
"So, over a month now," the owner said.
Danni nodded, even though she knew it hadn't been a question.
"That's a long time to keep such a secret," Richelle said. "You
must be very good at lying."
"I didn't lie," Danni said, regretting it almost immediately.
"What are you? Five?" Richelle said. "You deliberately kept
things from us. Things you knew would matter. That's lying."
Danni didn't like being spoken to as if she were a child, and
she was sure that was Richelle's intent.
Richelle rubbed at her face in frustration, and Danni wondered
again why she was holding back. She had been expecting a huge
blowout, and she was prepared to face the music for what she'd
done. But this restrained approach was, in almost every way, so
much worse than what she'd expected. The conversation seemed
heavy and sad, and it made Danni wonder just what was going on
in Richelle's head.
Whatever it was, she didn't like the feel of it, at all.
"Just answer me one question," Richelle continued. "Why? Why
would you betray your teammates like this?"
"I didn't betray anyone!" Danni responded.
"Then why the sneaking around?" Richelle asked coldly.
There was no way Danni could frame the answer to that question
in a positive light.
"I didn't want to have to explain..."
"Because you knew we wouldn't like it!" Richelle snapped as she
jumped out of the chair.
It was the first time her voice had risen during the
conversation, and she calmed herself before she continued.
"You knew what it would look like," she said, her icy tone
restored. "You knew no one would believe you were just... what
was it? 'Helping a friend.'"
Danni knew instantly where the quote had come from.
"You talked to Steph," she said. "She didn't have anything to
do with this. She just answered a question I asked her. That's
all."
"What happens to Stephanie is not your concern."
The comment caught Danni by surprise. Despite the risks...
despite the warning Steph had given her... despite the fact that
she knew she would eventually be discovered... she had always
imagined this would work out. She'd take her medicine, make her
apologies, and things would go back to normal.
Now, for the first time, she was forced to seriously consider
that the situation could turn out far worse than she'd expected.
"I don't think you're being reasonable about this," she said.
"And I don't think you answered my question," Richelle replied.
"What was it, Danni? What mysterious force drove you to go
behind our backs like this?"
Despite knowing this moment would come, Danni had no ready
answer for the question. She had some idea of what had happened
and why she'd let this mess get so out of control, but, try as
she might, she had no luck putting it into words. She certainly
didn't expect a miraculous breakthrough at this particular
moment.
"I don't know," she said finally.
Richelle's eyes slid away.
"I have to admit," she said, "that was even more disappointing
than I'd expected."
"I'm sorry," Danni offered feebly.
"Me too."
Silence filled the room again. Danni wanted to say something...
anything... but every word that came to her seemed hopelessly
inadequate. After a few moments, Richelle brought her eyes back
to Danni's as she broke the silence.
"I thought we were a team."
The way she said it snagged in Danni's brain. She wasn't
talking about the team at RSI.
She was talking about the two of them.
"We are," Danni said softly.
"No," Richelle replied with a sad shake of her head. "We're
not."
"What are you saying?"
Richelle looked away again as her eyes clouded over. She
swallowed hard as she steeled herself for what she was about to
say.
"Come to my office tomorrow," she said, the request necessitated
by the fact that RSI was normally closed on Sundays.
"And bring boxes with you."
Danni was too overwhelmed to speak, but the owner never even
gave her the chance. She turned and left the room without
another word, leaving Danni to think about everything she'd just
lost.
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