Prescribed (The White Coat Series) by D.D. Parker Page A

dirty pussy. That was always my motto!” Courtney cracked up, slapping the bed next to me. It sure enough was her motto, so when Frank found out she was the kitty caper, he decided to take revenge by throwing a bag of cat shit at Courtney’s window. What he wasn’t expecting was to hit Courtney’s father, who also happened to be a policeman. Needless to say, Frank never even thought of throwing a baseball, much less a bag of cat shit after that.
    “He was such a skeeze ball,” I said through the trailing end of a loud laugh. The laughing helped my mood incredibly. It somehow disarmed me and helped my muscles relax. They had felt like they were tense ropes tightening around my body, threatening to take my breath away just like Eric had done. His name alone sent another shiver down my spine, but I tried to control it. I wasn’t going to let myself fall back into that negative downward spiral of confusion, depression, and fear. 
    It was something I had to deal with and I would, I just understood it was going to take time. So these small victories, like laughing along with my best friend, helped more than any therapist could. 
    “You sure know how to pick them,” she said and quickly added, “too soon?” 
    “No,” I chuckled, slowly unraveling myself from the safety of the bed sheets. 
    “Since we’re on the subject… what are you going to do?” 
    “I’m not sure yet,” I answered, genuinely not knowing what my next step would be. I knew I couldn’t go back home though, that just wasn’t an option. 
    “Well you have to go out with Ryan clearly.” 
    “What?” I asked, a little shocked at the suggestion. 
    “Yeah, you said you were having some nerd date last night. And it might be too soon… but that clearly didn’t happen.” 
    Courtney’s abrasiveness felt like home to me at this point. It was actually really soon to bring up my abuse from the night before. But somehow, the bluntness of her approach made me giggle. And for a flash of a second, I felt happy at the mention of Ryan. It was like the tiniest ray of sunlight shining through a really shitty thundercloud. 
    “You’re right. Let me call him once the bruise shaped like a hand around my neck is gone,” I said, finding myself return her dark humor. It made some light out of this horribly fucked up situation. 
    “Mind if I crash here for a little?” I asked Courtney, playing with the frills on her pillow. 
    “Absolutely not. What happens if I bring a guy over?!” she said. 
    I stared at her blankly, not knowing what to say next. 
    “I’m just joking, of course you can stay here! Shit, you should just move in. You know how many midnight Netflix marathons we can have? It’ll be like high school all over again!” Her voice pitched up in a faux teenager kind of way, making it easy to picture her hugging a pillow and flipping through a yearbook. 
    It did sound pretty fun, and I wasn’t at the risk of losing my life at Courtney’s either. 
    Unless she cooked. Then there was no guarantee.  

CHAPTER SEVEN

    A week later and things were slowly getting back to normal. The calls from Eric started to become more and more infrequent. My bruises were healing and my tears were no longer freely flowing at just the mention of someone whose name started with an E. I was slowly putting myself back together. It was a long road, but I was determined to do it. 
    I decided to walk home from lab class that day. The breeze was perfect enough to shield me from the bright summer sun that beamed down on the city, bringing a life that was apparent throughout everyone who walked out on the streets. I popped in my headphones and made my way to Courtney’s place, passing our favorite little Mexican taco stand and saying hello to Danny, the neighborhood cook who everyone seemed to know on a first name basis. I walked past parks ringing with the laughter of children playing out on the emerald-green grass, rolling down the hills with their