"Hey Denny," Lucia smiled. "So, what's the experiment?"

"We're exploding a watermelon!" Denny smiled brightly in excitement.

"Oh, dear," Lucia chuckled. "Sounds only slightly dangerous."

"I watched videos. This needs to work."

"Okay, I'm down," Lucia nodded. "Where do we start?"

"We need to cut a hole in the watermelon for the bottle of liquid nitrogen."

"Well, I have no forearm strength whatsoever, so you may do the honors," Lucia chuckled.

Denny nodded and got the knife before beginning to cut into the watermelon.

"Please don't hurt yourself," Lucia sighed as she set aside the liquid nitrogen.

Denny nodded again and kept cutting. He hit one hard spot and began to jerk the knife back and forth.

"Careful," Lucia frowned as she watched him closely.

"I'll be fine, Luci."

Lucia shrugged and knelt down, sifting through the cabinet to find a proper bottle for the liquid nitrogen.

Denny kept jerking the knife until it finally broke free, the knife slicing through the rest of the watermelon and right in his hand. "Ow!" Denny exclaimed in pain, dropping the knife and clutching his hand.

Lucia jumped up. "What did you- oh dear." She grabbed a clean towel and pressed it firmly to the heavily bleeding wound. "Are you alright?"

Denny's hand throbbed with pain. "Does it look like it, Luci?"

"I'll take that as a no," Lucia sighed. "Here, keep steady pressure on it. I'll drive you to Urgent Care."

Denny nodded and they got in the car.

Lucia drove quickly to Urgent Care and pulled into a parking space before hopping out of the car. "Do you think you'll need stitches?" She asked as she wrapped an arm around her friend.

Denny looked at her worriedly. "I hope not."

"I know," Lucia frowned, leading him inside and approaching the woman at the front desk. "Hi. My friend Denny here cut himself, and-"

"Dennis Joseph?" The woman frowned, putting up a hand. "Say no more. Go right in."

"Thank you," Lucia nodded, leading him down the hall. "I guess they know you."

"That's not a good thing."

"No, certainly not," Lucia sighed, opening the door.

"Dennis?" The doctor frowned. "What'd you do this time?"

"I cut myself."

"Oh dear," the doctor sighed. "Take a seat on the table and we'll have a look."

Denny let go of the bloodied towel and set it aside.

The doctor's eyes widened. "How did you manage this?"

"Um...trying to blow up a watermelon."

"He was trying to cut it open to fit the bottle of liquid nitrogen inside and then knife slipped and here we are," Lucia sighed, putting a hand on Denny's shoulder.

"I'm afraid you'll need stitches," the doctor nodded. "A tetanus shot as well."

Denny's eyes grew wide.

"You okay?" Lucia chuckled.

"No needles."

"It can't be avoided, Hon," Lucia sighed. "Sorry."

"No," Denny whimpered, looking at her with scared eyes.

"Do you want to hold my hand?"

"N-no."

The doctor rolled up Denny's sleeve and cleansed his skin with a sterile wipe. "Ready?"

Denny closed his eyes and took Lucia's hand tightly in his own.

Lucia kissed his cheek. "Take a deep breath, alright? It'll be real quick."

The doctor gave him the shot placed a bandage over the injection sight.

Denny sighed.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Lucia said softly.

"N-no."

"Alright. I'm just going to stitch you up and then you can leave, okay?" The doctor sighed.

"Ooh," Denny wailed quietly.

Lucia wrapped her arms around him. "It's alright."

"I don't want them. Then they have to get pulled out."

"I can take them out when it's time. I've done it a bunch. Let's just say I fell a lot riding my bike as a kid."

"Will it hurt?"

"Not at all, Honey."

"Really?"

"Really," Lucia assured.

"Okay."

The doctor gathered the supplies and began to stitch Denny's wound. "How are you doing, kid?"

Denny didn't respond, his eyes closed tightly.

"Are you okay?" Lucia asked softly, rubbing his back gently with one hand.

"Yeah."

"Hang in there, Hon. He's almost finished."

"Okay."

The doctor quickly finished closing the wound. "Alright. Now, I'm going to wrap that hand and I don't want you to get it wet while you have the stitches in, okay? Lucia, you can take the stitches out in about a week."

"Okay, thank you," Lucia nodded.

"This is gonna cost me loads," Denny whined.

"We'll just put it on your tab," the doctor shrugged.

"Your...tab?" Lucia said slowly. "Gosh, how many times a week do you come here?"

"Too many," Denny sighed.

"Oh dear," Lucia frowned, wrapping an arm around him. "Let's get you home."

They hopped in the car and Lucia drove back to Denny's place.

"Oh, it hurts," Denny sighed.

"Do you want me to get you something for the pain?" Lucia frowned.

"No...I'll sit and complain some more. You know, wallow in self pity."

"Denny, don't get upset about it. Accidents happen," Lucia said softly.

"No! I am done experimenting!" Denny said firmly.

"Denny," Lucia frowned, "come on."

"No," Denny huffed.

"You can't give up just because of a few accidents. This didn't even have to do with the experiment. This had to do with the fact that you're clumsy," Lucia chuckled.

"No. Every time I try, I have something go wrong."

"Nothing's going wrong. The result is just simply different than what you expected."

Denny looked at her sternly.

"Look," Lucia said softly, "Denny, you are the smartest person I know. Too smart to give up because of a few accidents."

"I'm sick of getting hurt."

"Well, this was technically my fault since I should have known better than to turn my back on you with a knife in your hand," Lucia chuckled.

Denny sighed. "They have a tab for me."

"That...that...I can't spin that," Lucia sighed. "Listen, Honey, you are insanely smart and good at what you do, regardless of your accidents. Don't give up yet, alright?"

Denny sighed again as they arrived back at his apartment. "I'll just let myself in. I'll be fine."

"You sure? We could go get ice cream or something."

"No. I'm fine."

Then Lucia remembered Monica's date going over to their house. She thought for a moment before asking, "Are you...okay? With the whole Monica dating thing?"

"What? Oh, yeah."

"You know, if you are upset...I wouldn't blame you."

"I'm not terribly upset. We don't know him, though."

"Yeah. Well, I suppose we'll get to meet him soon."

—————

"This thing already itches," Jonah complained, scratching around his cast.

"Jonah, stop it," Monica directed.

"It's itchy," Jonah moaned.

"No. You can fight it."

Jonah pouted.

Monica sighed and sat next to him.

"It was really nice of you to do this, Mon."

"Of course."

"So...um, you have a date tonight?"

"How did you know?"

"I assumed because you looked even prettier than normal," Jonah smiled.

"Oh," Monica blushed. "Uh...yeah. I met a guy. He's a bartender at Alex's Grill and Bar."

"Oh. I see," Jonah nodded.

"Yeah. He's, um, really nice."

"That's wonderful. Good for you."

"Thanks," Monica smiled.

—————

Kyle knocked on the door and adjusted his blazer while he waited.

"Hi," Lucia smiled, opening the door.

"Hi. I'm looking for Monica."

"All in time, kid. Come in."

Kyle bit the inside of his cheek and walked into the small house.

"Now," Lucia sighed, clapping her hands together, "have a seat. I'd like to...chat."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Oh. Sit."

Kyle sat down at the dinner table, looking a bit uncomfortable.

"So, your name is Kyle. Why?" Lucia asked sharply.

"What? Because my mom named me that?" Kyle answered in more of a question than a statement.

"A likely story," Lucia frowned distrustingly. "I happened upon your Instagram earlier and noticed this girl named 'CatLife1234' who keeps commenting on your posts. Who is she?"

"My sister?"

"Is that a question or a statement?"

"A statement. Sorry. All this is odd."

"Don't give me lip, kid," Lucia sneered. "When was your last relationship?"

"Um...three years ago."

"Yeah?" Lucia frowned. "Why'd it end?"

"She cheated."

"How convenient," Lucia smirked. "What do you like about Monica?"

"She's beautiful. Really sweet. A nice girl all around," Kyle smiled.

"What do you do for a living?"

"I'm a paralegal."

"Monica said you were a bartender," Lucia frowned as her eyes narrowed.

"I do it every so often as a favor for a friend. I did it in law school."

"I see...What do you do for fun?"

"I play pool, and I like to eat and cook. I also like to go dancing."

"What are your friends like?"

"They're fun too. And they're good people."

"Care to elaborate?"

"On what? I'd like more specific questions."

"You're being vague. What are your friends' careers? What are their personalities?"

"They are really fun. My friends work in the food industry as chefs. Very hard workers."

"What's your family like?"

"Mom and Dad live out of the city. They live in Minnesota."

"And their personalities? Professions? Criminal records?"

"Listen, you're obviously not Monica's mother. Why am I telling you this?" Kyle asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm worse than her mom. I'm her best friend. That means that, if you hurt her or I find one wrong thing about you, I will kill you without an ounce of hesitation."

Kyle sighed. "I think you're going a bit far. It is her choice."

"Don't second guess the power of my opinion," Lucia said threateningly.

"Where is Monica, anyway?"

"Not here."

"I went through all this and I don't get to see her?" Kyle sighed, running a hand through his blonde, spiked hair. "Fine. I'll just let myself out."

"The fact that you're doing that without my permission says a lot about your character, just so you know."

Kyle looked at her. "Listen, I don't mean to seem have any attitude. But you're making me uncomfortable."

"Monica has dated a few jerks. I'm just making sure you aren't another one of them," Lucia sighed. "The jury's still out. Get lost."

Kyle got up and hastily left.

Lucia huffed and pulled out a piece of paper, writing:

Dear Potato Guy,

Boy, have I got a lot to tell you. First of all, Denny got hurt AGAIN. We were going to do an exploding watermelon experiment, and when he tried to cut off the top, he cut his hand. Got nine stitches and a tetanus shot. Needless to say that he freaked out a little. Anyway, what really irks me is that Monica met this guy (whose name is Kyle) and I totally interrogated him and he gives me a bad feeling. He was rude and arrogant, and did I mention that I hate him? Because I do. I don't want her with him. Anyway, I'm going to go come up with a list of ways I can off him and blame it on my dog. Actually...I'd probably need a dog first. I'm thinking something that looks menacing like a Rottweiler or Pitt bull. Or maybe just a really mean cat. Thoughts?

Can't wait to hear from you!

Lydia

A white envelope arrived at her house later that week. It read:

Dear Lydia,

I am a little nervous for you. Why did you interrogate him? Don't you trust Monica? I guess there is some girl code I don't know about that, because I am a guy, I don't understand. I guess what I'm saying is, let Monica try. She'll have to learn.

And did you need to blow up a watermelon? Isn't that dangerous? And for someone who's always getting hurt, why would you give him a chance to hurt himself more? But I am sure you're caring for him as if he was your brother. I know that's what you do.

I hope everything with Monica works out. Just don't hate Kyle. Hate is a very strong word.

My mother has begun taking a turn for the worse. Pardon me if my letters become few and far between. I'll be busy keeping my mother happy. Montana is lonely when the only person you're around is dying.

Sadly but truthfully,
Potato Guy

"Oh, dear," Lucia whispered. "Dying?"