The story of a lonesome ol'Jerome

*Gwyn’s POV*

I tried to mentally prepare myself for all manner of weird potential interactions on the short walk back to the hospital. I’d known Dr. Gray for a long time, he had been a mentor to me early on- what if he got protective and started giving Andy a hard time? Or, more likely, what if he was a total dork and Andy would never let me hear the end of it? What if he had been hitting the bottle? Holy shit- what if he was boning his wife in there? It seemed impossible, but what if he was boning someone else?!? What if Andy lost his temper and I got fired? I thought about a zillion things and decided that most of them resulted in Georgia getting exactly zero Andy autographs and grinned. Somehow, she would just have to carry on, I guess.

As we came to the door, I heard Andy make a weird, tiny noise, like a cross between a manly grunt and a whimper. I turned around and gave Andy’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “You, uh, weren’t supposed to hear that...” His brow was furrowed, and I could see the worry in his eyes, even by the sparse outdoor lighting the clinic had at this hour.

I decided that keeping him from fixating on it and lightening the mood was the only way to go. “You’ll do fine, kid, you’re the Prophet!” I gave him my best, open-mouthed, exaggerated, silly smile, gave his package a good squeeze, then turned and unlocked the side door to the clinic.

At that point, two things happened at once- one surprised me, and the other did not. Andy yelped- whether with disgust, surprise, annoyance, delight, or amusement, I couldn’t say- I was distracted. That would be because, simultaneously, the countdown for the building alarm started to go off, giving me 60 seconds to enter the code before it summoned the police.

Notes

Oh no! Andy's worried! Visual aids:




but don't worry- Gwyn's silly antics will settle him down and whatnot:

QOTD: aside from Gwyn or Andy (too easy), in this story, who has been your favorite character?

yeah answering that isn't exactly possible for me, as most of the characters are highly fictionalized versions of real people. i am not the type of person to have best friends or favorite people. i guess, at a stretch, i could say Owen and Z, because i miss those two people terribly. i can't tell the story of their lives, it's not my place, but i can tell a story, and they can be a part of that story.

sorry for forgetting to answer previous QOTD: yes- i have dysthymia (surprise).