Infidelity by Pat Tucker

bewilderment on his face. All she could do was prepare herself for whatever lame excuse she was sure was about to spill from his lips.
    "Damn, Shorty! What the hell's wrong with you? Don’t you feel that?" Clarke flapped his arms to nervously emphasize his words.
    Persha sat confused by his comment. Her heart started racing. She was frowning. When the waiter came to the table, he dropped his entire tray and stood staring at her.
    "Jesus, Ma'am!" the waiter exclaimed. "Are you okay?" His blue eyes stretched wide in horror.
    Persha had no idea why they were both staring at her in shock, and not at all the food on the floor.
    "Baby, your nose, it's bleeding!" Clarke screamed with his face completely twisted.
    "What?" When Persha jumped up from the table, Clarke and the waiter stumbled back.
    "My nose?" Persha grabbed the napkin and held it to her face. Suddenly feeling the wetness she franticly started looking around for the restroom. Blood was all over her blouse.
    "Should we call an ambulance?" The waiter yelled after her. Before she could make it to the bathroom, she felt all eyes glued to her and the bloody mess.
    "I don't need anything! I'm fine," she mumbled through the blood-drenched napkin.
    A few minutes later she emerged from the bathroom. Although her silk blouse was still stained with the blood that she couldn't wash out, she felt okay.
    Clarke was waiting for her at the bathroom door.
    "I don't know what's wrong. I have a doctor's appointment today. I'm sorry about lunch. I'm sure your appetite is gone, but I'll make it up to you later. You are still coming by this evening, right?"
    "Yeah, but whassup with you. What's going on, Shorty?"
    Persha felt more hurt by the look of sheer disgust that was plastered across his face.
    "I really don't know. I've been so sick lately. I have no idea what's wrong. When I'm home all I can do for relief is sleep. I think it'd be best if I try to head over to my doctor's office right away."
    "You need me to drive you?" he asked. But his expression remained the same.
    What the hell do you think? Persha thought. Blood was just gushing out of my head like a water fountain and I have no idea why. Do you really think I need to be driving?
    "Well, I don't want to put you out," she mumbled softly. But deep down, she hoped he’d insist.
    "Okay, well, I do need to get back to the office anyway. So, I tell you what, why don't you call me to let me know you made it there safely. Here, let me walk you to your car," Clarke offered, all but pushing her toward the front of the restaurant.
    Persha was pissed, but what could she say? At least he did offer, even if he didn't really mean it. On their way out of the restaurant, she noticed Clarke's friend and his date were already gone. She was oddly relieved at that even though she didn’t know him or the woman.
    At the doctor’s office, Persha felt lucky she had made it safely. As she sat in the waiting room, she couldn't wait to hear her name called. Finally, the nurse called her into the back and led her into one of the five patient rooms while she checked her heart, pulse and everything. After that, Persha was more than ready to see the doctor.
    As she sat in the room waiting, she remembered that she was supposed to call Clarke. At first she was a bit concerned by leaving him to worry about her. But then she figured that if he was all that concerned about her well being, he would’ve driven her and waited to find out what was wrong with her in the first place.
    Once the doctor came into the room and began questioning Persha about what had been ailing her, Persha found it hard to describe what the past few weeks had been like for her. She told the doctor how she was constantly tired and described her bouts with diarrhea, the nosebleeds and a few other flu-like symptoms, even though she knew the flu was not the culprit.
    "Okay, Ms. Townsend, are you allergic to anything?" Doctor Connell asked.
    "No," Persha replied, shaking her head.
    Doctor