Don't Trust Me [BlkHeart- Gabriel and Jordan]

Nicotine gum didn't work for Gabriel. Sure it got him past the cravings during work, but he often needed an escape to a classic cigarette. Nothing was better than walking out the front door, yelling to to Celeste or Arden that he was taking a quick break, taking that short walk to his favorite bench, opening a pack, and taking a nice smoke. Which was what he was doing right now.

"Be back in five," he called out to whoever cared to hear his message. Both girls were diligently working as he slipped out the clinic. Immediately, his right hand shot for his pocket as soon as he was out the door to grab his case. Pulling out the stainless steal case, that was given to him as a gift when he first got married to his ex-wife, he grabbed a cigarette and popped it in his mouth.

It's was a nice day for a walk. It wasn't too cold or too icy or too hot or too rainy. It was clear and the sun was out. It was such a nice day that Jordan, who usually didn't enjoy the company of Mother Nature, took a nice little stroll. And when she meant little, it would be little. She would be done before her feet ever started to hurt and way before she could break a sweat. If she got sick or fatigued from being out too long, it would most likely be costly for a girl with no real source of income besides odd jobs.

"Huh. That's ironic." Jordan mumbled to herself. A man that looked like he was a doctor was sitting on a bench smoking. But it's not the first doctor to not take their own advice. There are a lot. But still. It was very odd. She couldn't help but keep on staring at the man. Maybe he wasn't a doctor at all? She thought. Maybe a scientist? No. It must be some sort of a working hazard.
Jordan knew she shouldn't say anything. It would be so rude, and he probably got it all the time. However, she felt a huge urge to say something. She felt herself walking up to the man she had never seen before in her life and asked "Are you a doctor?"

Nothing was better than sitting on a bench inhaling sweet bitter smoke. His eyes were closed as he felt the sun warm his face. Autumn was cold, but nothing like winter. The perfect season for people to get sick--which annoyed him. For once he wished there was a season that no one would break anything or get sick. Then he could live in peace. Being a doctor didn't allow him that luxury though.

Gabriel could have sat there for hours in his own thoughts, but a girl or so he thought disturbed him. His eyes blinked open and he lazily yawned. He looked up at the figure still confused by her gender, her facial features suggested she was female so Gabe would stick with that until he heard her voice again. The bewilderment on her face amused him as she asked the classic question.

"Hmmm..." he said rubbing his chin. Moving his hand to his name tag on his coat he looked down to read it out loud and slowly with sarcasm. "Big print: Dr. Gabe-riel Cunningham. Small print: Cunningham Medical Clinic. Hmmm... I wonder if I am a doctor?"

Jordan was taken aback by his answer. It was so... undoctorlike, but he confirmed that he was indeed a doctor. Sort of. It still sort of took a moment to compose herself. Usually doctors (Well, the one she's met) were health-nuts who always gave her and everyone advice such as "Make sure you eat your green vegetables" and random stuff like that, which she hated. So it was sort of hard to decide if she was relieved to at his cynical comment.

"Well there's no need to be snippy about it." Jordan humphed before realizing that he had a very good reason to be snippy about it. A strange girl walked up to him and then asked a question in a very straight forward manner! Suddenly, a wave of guilt for troubling a person just trying to relax flowed through her. She shouldn't have done that. "I- I mean, I didn't mean to be rude... but I just found your actions ironic... I'm sorry." She apologized.

Just as he thought he'd be, Gabriel was amused by the girl's reaction. This was just proof that he knew himself too well sometimes. A sly smile spread across his lips as he rolled the cigarette to the other side of his mouth. At first the girl was offended, but then she seemed to be guilt ridden and started to apologize. Gabriel nearly bent over holding back his laughter.

"No need to apologize," he chuckled at the girl's response. Even though he wasn't a fan of too much human interaction he appreciated moments like these. To be honest this happened quite a bit in his life, but oddly enough he enjoyed it every time. "I get that reaction often--would you rather have me hastily hide my habit and tell you all the boring doctor health crap?"

"No! Please don't!" Jordan hastily said, "If I hear another lecture on the perfect skin complexion that and what healthy skin looks like, I will never go to another doctor again!" She half-joked, but mostly she was serious. It was like that was all they cared about, milk and grass and doctoring people. She wondered if there were still people that started practicing medicine for the income anymore. Maybe that was why this doctor is a doctor? she thought to herself, but she wouldn't ask that. That would be far too rude. And what would she think if he said "yes"? What can you say to a person that admits that they don't become doctors to help people, but for a paycheck?
"Umm..." Jordan stated, "I'm not sure if I'm supposed to introduce myself or not... would it be rude if I introduced myself?" she asked the doctor.

Just has Gabriel predicted the girl reacted as he thought. She may have a tomboyish exterior, but he could tell she wasn't a complete one on the inside with the way she worded her sentences. Observing people was part of his profession--it'd only be natural for him to be good at it. For all he knew, the girl was probably wondering why he was a doctor. Part of him was disappointed that she didn't bother to ask why. Instead he went along with her joke. "You know you should watch your health," he said taking a long smoke from his cigarette to exaggerate his sarcasm. He began rubbing the small buds of hair on his chin that made him look lazy. "Can't you see I worry about my complexion as well."

"Feel free to do whatever you want," Gabriel pointed out. "To be honest not everybody introduces themselves to me--sometimes I take things to far and get kicked in the shin. Ah~. Good times, good times."

Jordan knew it was bad to laugh, but she couldn't hold it all back. Laughing at someone else's expense is immoral and wrong, but he did have a good sense of humor. And for some reason, she felt as if she could ask anything. But she shouldn't, it wouldn't be polite for her curiosity to come out. Curiosity killed the cat, she and many others always say.
"I'm Jordan Summerfield. Pleased to meet your acquaintance. Dr. Cunningham, right?" She said as brightly as she could before it would be annoying and a bother.
"Oh! Please excuse me for asking, but why did you become a doctor?" Jordan asked, "umm... you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, though"

The girl seemed to become more relaxed around him, which made Gabriel feel a sense of pride. He non-nonchalantly rested his arms on the back of the bench. He nodded when she introduced herself for no apparent reason. "Call me Gabe," he promptly requested. "Dr. Cunningham is boringly formal if you ask me."

Gabriel couldn't help but chuckle to himself when she asked the question. "So you finally decided to ask it," he commented. "Because I was a good kid and did what my parents wanted me to do. Otherwise I'd be a bartender."

"A bartender, huh?" She commented. She could see that, somehow. It is a pretty laid back job, and Jordan thought Dr. Cunning-...Gabe, seemed pretty laid back. It still didn't really help her like alcohol any better, though. She'd tried it before, and the combination of her lightweight composition and the bitter taste made her shudder at the memories.

"If I may comment, you don't seem like a kid who would do what he's told." She stated boldly before realizing how horribly rude she'd been, "That's not what I meant to say! I just thought that you would be the kind of kid who would colour on the walls and refuse to eat their broccoli!" Jordan rambled, "Wait! That isn't what I meant! Oh I'm so sorry! I'm so rude!" Jordan covered her mouth before she could let any other insults out. She is such a horrid person, not to mention rude!

Somehow Jordan seemed to accept the idea of him being a bartender, not that Gabe could blame her. The part seemed to fit him really well, but he was too intelligent for a job. He was the perfect example of the student with perfect grades that didn't have to work for them. It was a shame that he was gifted with such a mind and not someone who cared about humanity. To him it could burn away and he'd still not care.

"Well I did what I was told till I was eighteen," he admitted. That was when he had enough with his family and a few incidents happened making him a young father and leading to his divorce that happened just a couple of years ago. "Around that time I just finished medical school and secured a job at a fancy hospital called Resurgum in Massachusetts. Then I picked up smoking and turned bad. Still followed the profession--good money. Honestly, ask away and don't worry about it. I don't care."

Jordan didn't know what to say. Ever since she was a little girl, she was told to hold her tongue, and not try to be a bother to anyone, but when she got here, it is the opposite. Everything that usually bothered people she used to speak to, doesn't bother Gabe or anyone here, really.
"So you're telling me that I can ask you any question and you wouldn't be bothered?" She asked skeptically. Everybody had questions they wouldn't answer. Well, at least all the people she used to know--including herself. But there is a first for everything.

It was easy to tell that Jordan was flummoxed by Gabe's sudden remark. Things had taken an interesting turn in development as he saw from her skepticism of the subject. As of now there were some questions that he wouldn't directly answer, but he was smart enough to know how word his sentences. Thinking was what he was good at, that's why he's a diagnostician. To think out of the box was part of his job, and another of his addictions. "Yeah," he said taking his cigarette bud out of his mouth and held it his right hand between his middle and index finger. Flicking the small but to the ground he promptly stepped it out since there wasn't an ash tray nearby. The squirrels would come in an hour and eat it anyway.

"Now the question is: Can you ask the questions that really would bother me?" he asked perking up an eyebrow. Part of him was curious how far the girl could go. From what he could tell she seemed so innocent. Crossing his legs he looked up towards the girl as if he were expecting a question right then and there. His hands were folded on top of his right knee as he waited for her response.

Jordan was taken aback by the comment. It reminded her of when she was little, the boys always double dog dared each other. Was that what this was? was this a double dog dare to see if she could ask a question that most people avoid answering? If it was, she couldn't think of awkward questions. The only thing that immediately came to mind was "Where do babies come from?" and unfortunately, she already knew the answer.
"I can ask questions like that!" She bluffed.
She pondered a question that wouldn't cross the line entirely. But that was the point, to cross the line. To be truthful, Jordan was almost positive that she couldn't cross the line. That would be so humiliating. Why couldn't Gabe just tell her that it is proper to hold your tongue, don't ask too many questions, etc? It would be so much simpler.
Just think of something! she told herself. Think of one quick!
"Where do--I mean...What does love mean to you?" She quickly thought up. Yeah... that was as awkward as she could physically get.

One thing was certain, when Jordan made up her mind about something she had guts. Gabriel started laughing hard when she asked the one question that parents hated to hear the most. Never had he heard it from his own son back in the city, but he was never home so it was expected. It was easy to tell she was bluffing with that question, but Gabriel still played along. "If you don't know by now, well it's just sad. But I bet you already know," he commented.

It was interesting to talk to Jordan for Gabriel. She was the kind of person who thought a lot, it was easy to tell with her facial expressions as she pondered his challenge. Gabriel was no psychic or psychologist, but as a doctor he began to pick up on differences of human behavior. Understanding it was part of his job that made it easier. She spat a question out, changing it mid-sentence, yet Gabe smiled with the result.

"Ah, asking a divorced man," he chuckled as he quickly formulated his answer. "Definitely not my previous marriage, but I guess if I was actually in love it'd fit this scenario. I'd actually want to go home to see my wife instead of staying at the office."

"I-I know the answer already!" Jordan confirmed with embarrassment. It isn't as if she believed in the magical cabbage patch filled with babies. And even if she did, it wouldn't be sad. Ignorance is bliss.

So Gabe was divorced. Jordan couldn't really say she expected that, but it wasn't shocking. A lot of people got divorced now-a-days. Jordan thought of it as ironic, when they people get married, they vow to cherish each other for better or worse, until death. Then, after a little while, the "worse" comes in and they don't want to cherish each-others presence anymore. They leave after that. Now there are reasons for divorce besides that, but that is mostly the case. It saddened Jordan. "If you didn't love her, then why did you marry her?" Jordan asked with no care towards the fact that, in her opinion, it wasn't a question to ask anyone. Ever.

It was probably time for Gabe to return to the clinic, but he didn't care. Not every time he interacted with someone like this he enjoyed it. Besides, business was slow and it wouldn't hurt for him to spend more time out here. Celeste and Arden could handle the small clinic themselves. So he popped out another cigarette and lit it.

"Good question," commented Gabriel admiring how far she took it already. He was expecting more so of an 'Ohh... sorry.' Instead he got this which he preferred. He liked it more when people were direct with him instead of beating around the bush.

"It's a long story," he first said to start off. "I'm going to cut it down a bit. I was eighteen--in my third year of medical school at the time. I was well acquainted with this girl for awhile. In a chain of events we did a foolish thing resulting in our parents pushing for marriage. So basically, I was forced into marriage. Her parents didn't mind so much, since I was being offered jobs at many hospitals as an intern. She had the kid after a few months. I was never home, practically living at work. We got divorced after a few years. And that's it in a nutshell."

"That's the short version," admitted Gabriel shrugging his shoulders. "The longer version is a bit more complicated, but that'd take way too long to tell right now. Now it's your turn to answer the question: What is love to you?"

That was the short version? It was quite long in Jordan's opinion. But it did answer a lot of questions that she didn't have to ask. It sort of surprised Jordan to hear that he already had a kid, he was so young. Usually Jordan's mom used to read stories like that, but they always made it sound like it was so terrible and that you are a terrible person if you have a kid before a certain age. That wasn't the case with Gabe, he didn't seem terrible.

Jordan was taken aback by the question. She didn't really have much experience with "love". Jordan couldn't even remember the last time someone said "I love you" to her. So what was love to her? Was it running away together and living happily ever after, or was it something more? Jordan has always been a romantic, so she could go on and on about true love. But there is more than just that kind of love, however. There is family love, friendship love, object love, and of course, unconditional love. "I'm don't actually think I can define it," Jordan confessed sheepishly, "But I will know it when I see it!"

Clearly Jordan was bewildered by the question, never suspecting to be asked it. She couldn't come up with a definitive answer, even though she probably had a little idea how to define it in her head from watching her friends and family or even reading a book. Yet she remained reserved with her answer and said that she would know it when she saw it. "Are you sure?" he questioned her just for the heck of it. "How can one really know?"

How would Jordan see it when it came? How would anyone? Jordan thought about it long and hard. It made her brain hurt. How could she describe how she would know? "I think that everyone is born knowing what love is." She tried to explain, "Their hearts will just tell their brain when they love something."

Maybe that made no sense. Now that Jordan said it, it made no sense to her. Wait, suddenly it all made sense! A wave of realization hit her brain and it was flowing with the definition of love "Wait, your heart doesn't tell anything to your brain. That's why it is so hard to describe. It has no logic, it makes no sense! So I think that love is..." She started, only to stop mid sentence. That wave of realization has passed, "love is... love is... umm...I don't know."

Gabriel might have taken things a little to far. Jordan was caught in a conundrum, trying to figure out the answer in the kludge of her mind. Anyway she answered the question would technically be correct, but she ended up changing her mind only adding to her confusion. Her first answer was something he expected, but then she realized that it wasn't logical--even though it could be. If you view heart as the emotional part of the cranium, then she was correct. Instead of confusing her more, he'd just drop it and enjoy the cigarette.

"I'm fine with that response," he said as exhaled a puff of smoke for the fun of it. "Just don't hurt yourself trying to answer it. Forget it."

Jordan let out a sigh of relief. She no longer had to think so hard. It reminded her of a test question, she disliked opinion question with no right or wrong answer. These questions usually gave her a headache and, if she thought hard enough, a fever. Right now her head was throbbing and she started shivering all over. She should go home and rest.

"I should go, I think I overworked my brain..." She explained, rubbing her temples, "It was really nice meeting you!" Jordan said extending her hand out for the customary handshake.

"I got to head back to my boring job anyways," replied Gabriel taking a hold of her hand and shaking it. His hand seemed so big compared to hers, but that is what he expected since she was younger than him. From his predictions she probably had yet to still hit her twenties, while he was at twenty-three. He got up the bench and stretched lazily. "It was nice meeting you too. See ya a round."