In Your Head

News

One night turned into almost a month, Rudy left in the mornings to head to work and didn't come back to see me until the end of his work day, so he could make the excuse that he had nowhere else to go and he could stay again if I wanted him to. I have to admit I enjoyed having him around. One night he invited me out to dinner, and on the way home he even held my hand. Mostly because the restaurant was within walking distance of my apartment and I insisted that we walk. When we get back to the apartment we are laughing our asses off over some psychology joke Rudy had made.

"Okay, okay, okay," I try to stop laughing, "what is the difference between a psychologist and a magician?" Rudy shrugs his shoulders. "A magician pulls rabbits out of a hat. A psychologist pulls habits out of rats," the two of us begin to die again.

"Okay," Rudy nods, "how many psychotherapists does it take to change a lightbulb? Just one, so long as the light bulb wants to be changed."

I laugh and nod, "alright, I got one more. Two behaviorists meet on the street, one says, 'hi, how am I feeling today?' Some time later the two have sex and the other says, 'that was good for you, but how was it for me'?"

I laugh and fall back on the couch as Rudy heads into the kitchen, grabbing a beer out of the fridge, "you know, we need to get some groceries."

"Oh, do we?"

"Yeah, we do."

I lay my head back over the arm of the couch, looking to Rudy, "since when did you start living here?"

"Since I started staying on your couch and you didn't kick me out."

"This is true. But I don't remember asking you to move in."

"You're right, I'm sorry."

"So, in that case, Rudy Vincent, would you like to be my roommate?"

Rudy laughs, "sure, but I think that means I have to stop being your doctor."

"Were you ever my doctor?"

"I was getting paid to be."

"And now you're getting free room and board."

"Wasn't I before though?"

"Yeah, but now I'm not gonna tell you to get lost."

"True," Rudy nods and gestures with his beer.

"No one has to know, you can keep getting paid to be my doctor. I really don't care."

"But I do," Rudy looks down.

I sit up and look over to him confused, "why?"

Rudy takes a deep breath, "because I love you. I have fallen completely, head over heels in love with you." He shakes his head, "which was going to happen, I mean, look at you, you're gorgeous, you're smart, you're funny."

"I'm loaded," I laugh, thinking he's joking.

"I'm serious, Laura, you are more than I could have ever dream of." I chuckle and shake my head, before Rudy walks over to me, leaving his beer on the counter. He walks over to me, cups my cheeks in his hands, leans down and kisses me.

From that night on Rudy and I didn't change, we were already acting like a couple, so why would we? Rudy moved some of his clothes into the apartment and we started sharing a bed, but everything else was the same. Two months fly by before it's time for my next scans. Rudy takes the day off to go with me, even though we have to wait for the results to come back. He also takes off the day we are supposed to go get the scans read.

While we sit in Dr. Stevens' office I tap my foot, nervous about what they found on the scans. Rudy places his hand on my knee, "hey, it'll be alright. Even if you have to go for another round of chemo. You'll be okay," I nod and smile over to him.

We don't have to wait long before Dr. Stevens arrives back at her office and smiles as she walks around to her desk, "hi, guys, I'm sorry that took so long."

"It's alright," I smile and nod.

Dr. Stevens smiles to me, "this must be the Doctor my interns told me about," she smiles over to Rudy.

Rudy nods and smiles as well, "Rudy Vincent. It's very nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you as well, although it's a bit odd for the psychologist to come to a scan reading."

"It would be, yes. But I am not the psychologist anymore."

"No?"

"No, I'm the uh..." Rudy looks over to me, "I'm the boyfriend."

"Very nice," Dr. Stevens looks over to me, "you snagged yourself a nice one, Laura. Even from within the cancer ward." She laughs a bit, "alright now, onto your scans, I'm sure you're losing your mind." She places her hands on her desk, her fingers intertwined. "Laura, your last scan shows no signs of the cancer. You're cured."

"What?" I gasp, "that's like a one in five." I take a few deep breaths. "I'm never the one."

"Well, you are today. Now we will want to have you back in every few months for scans to make sure that we don't have a relapse, but I'm confident that you are cancer free."

That night Rudy and I go out to celebrate, but I am still in disbelief. "I can't believe it. I just can't," I shake my head.

"I can," Rudy smiles at me over the table, "and we have something else to celebrate tonight. I have decided that I am going to open my own practice."

"Vic, that's amazing," I smiled at him.

"And there is something I wanted to ask you. Um... I put a down payment on a house in the suburb, it's nothing too big, nothing too fancy, but I want you to move in with me. And when you graduate, I want you to join me in my practice, as Dr. Laura Anderson."

I smile, choking back tears as Rudy kneels before me and nod, "yes, yes."