That night,
Christina and the gang were back in no time.
"Look, I hate to say it, but I told you so!" Adam couldn't help but grin.
Christina stormed in, her lower half soaked, looking like she was ready to murder someone. Adam couldn't hold back his amusement.
"If they hadn't stopped me, I swear I would've killed her!" Christina fumed as she marched into the changing room to swap outfits.
Meredith and the others filled Adam in on what happened.
So, here's the deal:
They'd gone to the Old Friends Bar and barely sat down at the counter, ready to drink and chat, when a nurse walked over with an iced drink and dumped it right onto Christina's lap—clean and deliberate.
"Adam, you should've seen it!" Liz said, cracking up. "I've never seen Christina like that. She was cursing up a storm, arms flailing, ready to deck that nurse! Sure, the nurse was bigger, but Christina had her completely outmatched in vibe."
"No way, really?" Adam pictured the scene based on Liz's description and burst out laughing. "Christina's that wild? She looks like she's been in a street fight or two!"
"Probably has," Liz nodded, totally on board. "That kind of stance and energy? You don't just fake that."
"It didn't turn into a full-on brawl, right?" Adam asked, still chuckling.
"Nah, the bartender stepped in, pulled them apart, and we dragged Christina out of there," Meredith said with a sigh. "What a mess!"
"Well, that's a relief," Adam nodded.
The Old Friends Bar was his business, after all—meant for networking with medical folks, not starting doctor-nurse wars.
Hmm…
If it weren't for that, letting them duke it out might've made the bar even more famous. Word gets around, and suddenly it's a hotspot! Especially for guys like Howard, who'd pay to see girls scrapping. Too many of those types out there! 😅
"Guess Christina's not exactly Miss Popular," Adam mused aloud.
Out of all the doctors there, she was the only one who got hit with a stunt like that the second she walked in. Only explanation? She's got a knack for ticking people off.
Two days later,
the nurses' strike wrapped up nicely. The hospital bigwigs, representing the money, caved. Everything went back to normal.
Two weeks flew by in a blink, and just like that, tomorrow was Christmas. Which meant tonight? The legendary Christmas Eve.
During the day, Adam was at work when Robin and Lily showed up together with a request that left him speechless.
"What?!" Adam's jaw dropped. "You want me to do what?"
"My little sister, Katie!" Robin said with a bitter laugh. "She said I must be lonely out here with no family, so she begged me to buy her a plane ticket to come spend Christmas with me."
"That's sweet," Adam said, his lips twitching into a smirk. "You two really have that sisterly bond, huh?"
"Yeah, I was kinda touched at first…" Robin's face twisted like she didn't want to finish the thought.
"I can vouch for her," Lily jumped in. "I went with Robin to the airport to pick her up. Robin was so excited, going on about how she used to drop Katie off at home—little ponytail, Hello Kitty backpack, all innocent and adorable…"
"And then?" Adam leaned in, curious.
"And then," Lily said, wincing, "just as we were about to go greet her, that 'innocent, adorable' Katie was hanging off some guy's neck, making out with him in full-on French-kiss mode right there in public. The whole cute-little-sister vibe? Shattered. Robin must've said 'no' a hundred times in shock, but it didn't stop anything. Turns out, Katie didn't fly out to keep her big sis company for Christmas—she came to spend Christmas Eve with her boyfriend. You know what that means~"
"Nope, I don't," Adam said, playing dumb with a blank stare. "How old is Katie, anyway?"
"She's 16! Just 16! Still a kid!" Robin wailed. "I can't believe my baby sister's about to lose her innocence to some spiky-haired, slimy-tongued creep tonight. No way! I won't let it happen! Adam, you've gotta help me!"
"Uh…" Adam's mouth twitched. "You're sure I'm the guy for this?"
"Of course—" Robin started, but then she caught his weird look and smacked his chest hard. "Gross! What are you thinking?! No, I just want you to talk from experience. Tell her how, back in high school—especially on Christmas Eve—you were like that spiky-haired creep, tricking girls, messing with them, then dumping them like trash afterward."
"Sorry," Adam shook his head. "Can't help you there. I was a total innocent in high school. Never even held a girl's hand, let alone tricked or messed with anyone. And this whole 'everyone-knows-what-Christmas-Eve-means' thing? What are you even talking about? Isn't it just the night before Christmas? What's so special about it?"
"Oh, come on!" Robin's face went cold. "Don't play dumb! You're way too familiar with… stuff to have been some pure little angel in high school. You were either a player or a total flirt—stop pretending!"
"Familiar with what?" Lily perked up, eyes sparkling with gossip fuel, but she shrank back under Robin's glare and switched to backing her up. "Yeah, quit acting innocent! Christmas Eve is the night—Barney's got a whole playbook for it. You really don't know?"
"Ahem," Adam coughed, caught under their stares. "Okay, fine, I've heard some rumors about that, but that's for guys like Barney. I've never done anything like that! I don't care about some 'special night.' Look at me—I'm working late tonight saving lives. No time for that nonsense! If you want a sleazy guy to scare her straight, Barney's your man."
"He's too sleazy," Robin groaned. "I wouldn't let him near my sister. Just knowing she exists would give me the creeps—he's so gross, I'd swear he could pass a disease through the air to her."
"So you're asking me because you trust me?" Adam said, half-laughing, half-crying.
"No," Robin said dead serious. "I trust my gun. Last time, I didn't pull the trigger, and I've regretted it ever since. If you pull anything that pisses me off this time, we're settling old scores and new ones. Dare to bet there's no bullet in it again?"
"Nope, not daring that," Adam said, wisely backing down.
Hmm…
Even if he was brave enough, this wasn't the moment to say it.
"So, you helping or not?" Robin pressed, staring him down.
"Helping, helping," Adam sighed.
He owed her after last time, anyway.
" Look, I've never done any of that shady stuff, but I'm a writer, right? I can whip up some scary tales about sleazy guys tricking and dumping girls. Easy."
Robin and Lily both rolled their eyes in sync. Clearly, the only word they believed was "helping."
"Tonight, we'll all have dinner," Robin said, laying out her plan. "Lily'll casually steer the convo that way, then you step in and talk to Katie…"
"Got it," Adam nodded, no objections. Then he tossed out a casual question: "How long have they been dating?"
"Like, two months, maybe?" Robin said, unsure.
"Oh, come on!" Adam groaned. "Why go through all this trouble then? Two months! Whatever's gonna happen has already happened. Why wait for Christmas Eve?"
"No, no, no!" Robin clamped her hands over her ears, chanting denials, refusing to hear it.
Lily shot Adam a helpless look—don't push her—and chimed in, "As long as she hasn't, you know, gone all the way, none of that other stuff counts. Nope, definitely not!"
"…" Adam's mouth twitched again.
For some reason, he couldn't help but think of a certain quirky college girl from a certain American TV show.
Who are we kidding here…
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