Ryan walked into the office of the anesthesiologist, Dr. Kahn, still high from securing a date with Taura. He was a great believer in kismet. Seeing her twice in 24 hours had convinced him to seize the moment. He had asked her to go to coffee with him when they saw each other again at the register of the flower shop after just running into each other over forget-me-nots.

He still remembered the first time he had seen her. It was at a club that Thomas had taken him to. They were in the disco section and “Got to be Real” was booming through the speaker system. She was dancing on a box in a mini-dress. The hem of her skirt was coming undone on the same side that one of her thigh high boots was being held together by a safety pin. With the thump of the music urging her on and the spotlights crisscrossing through the dancers (as if looking for her), at that moment, she was the most glamourous thing he had seen in real life. Thomas had noticed the same undoing-s and had remarked “poor thing, she’s falling apart”. “Hot”, Ryan had agreed.

As the nightclub had been a gay one, he had assumed she was a transsexual or at least a drag queen (she had been too hot to be a girl) and he had been sad for days after – wishing she weren’t a boy. A few days later he had run into her again at a coffee shop and was standing behind her as she gave her order. He had been relieved that there was nothing manly about her voice. It had come out pure glorious female.

She had seemed surprised at first when he asked her to coffee at the register of the flower shop. As a soap opera star he was used to that. It was harder than you would think for him to get a date with a quality woman. Then he remembered that the last person she had seen him with was Marie at the flamenco competition. Whom, he remembered with amusement had not even had the slightest inkling of his celebrity and had treated him like a side kick instead of the romantic lead he actually was… all evening long.

“Oh,” he said quickly with a little embarrassment “if you are worried about that woman from last night, that was just a friend of Thomas’ that stopped by unannounced. There’s nothing happening there.” He explained with the help of some hand gestures.

“Oh,” she countered “Where’s Thomas?” she asked.

“He took a gig and will be gone for a few months.”

“You must be… sad?” she asked with curiosity that seemed odd but that he couldn’t quite place.

“Not really, he’s a great friend, but it’s nice to have a place to myself. I have a roommate in Los Angeles as well – that’s where I work you know.” Taura had declined coffee but had given him her number inquiring whether he enjoyed croissants or not. She had heard of a new bakery where the croissants were supposed to be their signature bake.

“I have plans this weekend, but I’m free Monday.” Coincidentally, so was he. He didn’t have to be back in LA until Wednesday.

Ryan felt like he was skipping all the way to Dr. Khan’s office. Dr. Khan and Thomas had dated briefly but long enough for Ryan and him to become friends. Ryan played a Doctor on TV and Dr. Khan was one. He was always giving Ryan advice on how to realistically portray surgery. That’s why he was here today. He had some questions.

When the receptionist came to get him, he wanted to confess that he had a bad case of love and needed to stay in bed all weekend, but it seemed inappropriate.

“The Doctor will see you now” she said.