Page 5 of Doc Rock
Last week, her blood had run cold when Sadie pulled out an ageing app and put a picture of Sie Harrington—it felt like a lifetime ago, and she now referred to Sie as a whole separate person—into it to work out what she would look like now.
They tried loads of different iterations. Making her hair different to the straight, black style she used to wear and taking off the raccoon makeup. One of the faces it spat out looked so similar to hers that her heart plummeted, and she shrank down in her seat, pushing her pink glasses up her nose as if that would protect her identity.
She’d breathed a huge sigh of relief when they didn’t make any connection to her and put the app away.
Mai’s phone rang, and she jumped. She would have left it, but Hel’s name flashed up on the screen. Something must be wrong for Hel to be calling her, so she answered it.
Mai didn’t even get a chance to say hi before her friend spoke.
“I stuffed up, and I need a favour.”
“Yeah?”Mai said, her voice soft as usual.
“I’m booked as the doctor at the Midnight Thunder concert tonight,”Hel rushed.
Mai’s breath caught in her throat.“Okay,”she croaked out.
“I’ve got a plan. It might be a bit stupid, but it’s Frost’s last game this season.”
“Okay,”Mai saidslowly, not quite seeing how Hel’s boyfriend, Frost’s—who was coaching the local ice hockey team—game was relevant to Hel’s concert commitment.
“I’m going to propose to him tonight,”Hel said in a rush.
Mai blinked, then blinked again. She pulled her phone away from her ear and stared at it for a moment. Had she heard her friend right?
“You’re going to propose?” she asked tentatively.
“Yes,” Hel exclaimed, way too loudly for a phone call.
Despite Mai's own discomfort, a massive grin split her face.“That’s awesome.”
It made her a little envious when she saw her friend and the hulking hockey player together; they were so in love. Not that she would ever call him hulking to his face, but he was a man mountain.
Her mind, without her own volition, turned to Ford; he was tall as well, six-two-ish. But when she knew him, he’d had the lithe build of youth. The photos and videos she watched of him—only ever alone late at night when her hands looked them up on their own—showed that he'd filled out. But despite the cords of muscle, his build was very different to Frost’s.
“Yeah. I love him. He loves me. I can’t see a reason not to,”Hel continued, her voice still nervous and rushed.“I once thought a girl was getting on the ice to propose to her man, and I thought it was an amazing idea, and it kind of stuck with me. So here we are.”
Mai laughedsoftly.“I’m so happy for you.”
“Itotallyforgot I was the doctor tonight at the concert, and Idesperatelyneed someone to cover,”Hel said.
Even though Hel couldn’t see her, Mai shook her head. She didn’t want to go.“You know my patients tend to be four kilograms and under. I’m not going to be much use at a concert. Unless they have an invasion of premature babies.”
“Do you know CPR?”Hel asked.
“Of course,” Mai said automatically to the stupid question.
“Then you’ll be fine. Please!”Hel begged.
“Why me?”Mai didn’t want to go. Did she?
A little voice in the back of her head clamoured to be heard. A voice that said she would love to hear them play, that she was wasting away without live music.
She glanced over at the guitar that sat propped in the corner of her living room. It was nothing fancy, a plain old acoustic guitar, but playing it kept the itchy feeling away.
It still made her sad that she left her electric guitar behind. But when she walked away from the band, she told herself that part of her life was over and she wouldn’t need it. But even after all these years, her fingers ached for it so often it hurt.
“I’ve tried everyone else,”Hel statedbluntly.“I know it’s not ideal, but they're all either on-call or going to the concert.”
