#jamie bower

[ariamoon714]

Chapter 259 of The Signature

-Okay. I probably deserved that.-

Another bubble appeared before either of us could say anything.

-I’m really sorry I haven’t texted you the last few weeks. I’ve been doing a clinic rotation and getting ready for a big exam, and I kind of just blocked everyone and everything out while I studied. I definitely should’ve at least told you that, and I’m sorry I didn’t. But it…kind of looks like you’ve already moved on with another doctor, so I’ll just see myself out.-

“Omg Riley I didn’t even think about the fact Alex was trying to become a doctor and now you have the hots for an actual doctor! Look at you leveling up!” Aria blurts out.

I was still laughing at the way she said it when the door clicked behind me. I only half turned, eyes on my phone, thumbs hovering over Alex’s name, and then I heard it—“Hi, Aria, I’m Dr. Cross, I just wanted to come in and check your vitals and your drain”—and my whole body went hot. No. Way. That was the bench guy voice.

I looked up too fast and my stupid sweaty hand slipped; my phone bounced off the bedrail and landed in Aria’s blanket. Smooth, Parker. His head snapped up at the noise and he did this tiny double take when he saw me. “Oh. Riley. Hey,” he said, and then, like it was nothing, “So this is the friend you were worried about.”

If my face got any hotter I was going to spontaneously combust. Aria’s eyes flicked between us like she was at a tennis match, and Jamie’s eyebrows were halfway to his hairline. I tried to play it cool, like dropping my phone in front of a very attractive human man in scrubs was just a normal Friday, but my heartbeat was in my ears and I could still feel where his arm had been around my shoulders on that stupid bench.

“Uh yea, yes this is my friend Aria.” Smooth Riley. That’s the best you could come up with?

“Well Aria, I’m here to collect some vitals and check that drain and I’ve been given instructions to sign the release form so you can get out of the ICU as long as everything goes well with my check today.”

“Your gonna break me out of this ICU? Heck yea! Are the beds more comfortable in the regular rooms at least?” Aria says clearly giving him eyes.

“Well the bed may be different but also, well have to transfer you over to the new bed. They need this one to stay here. Alright Aria I’m just going to slip this under your tounge. Gonna clip this to your finger.” The way he switched from logistics back to doctor brain was…impressive. Every time he opened his mouth, I found something else about him I liked. He’s perfect. But maybe he’s too perfect?

“Temp is perfect Aria, 98.6. And looks like your oxygen is starting to improve. Your at 93 now which is much better then where you were. How is your pain? Is anything hurting you right now?” He says and rests a hand over hers like he really cares about her answer. Of course he’s good at his job on top of being gorgeous.

“I’m feeling good. No pain.” Aria tells him

He looks down to the collection chamber that the fluid had been draining into. “And no new drainage in this canister so that’s extremely good news! I think we’re safe to remove the drain and move you to a regular room!”

“What!? No way! I’m getting better?” Aria asks almost like she doesn’t believe it!

“Yes Aria. It would seem that you are improving. I just need to listen to your chest alright? Can you lean forward so I can take a listen to your back?” Ethan says as he blows hot air on the end of the stethoscope. “It gets cold hanging around my neck.” He explains. Aria leans forward as gently as she can. He presses the stethoscope to her bare back. She is so lucky she gets to have his hands on her right now!

“Alright Aria, take a deep breath for me. Deep as you can alright?” He says looking at her with so much concern. Where has he been all this time?

“Good ok another deep breath for me sweetie.” Ethan says as he listens to Arias chest. He randomly looks up and we lock eyes for a second. I instantly look away. He’s working Riley! Get it together!

“Alright Aria, your lungs are sounding better. They’re still sounding a bit gunky but they’re improving for sure! Alright, that settles it. You’re moving out of this room Aria! I’m gonna go round up your nurse and gather some supplies and I will come back in and remove that drain alright?” He says patting the rail.

“Is it going to hurt when you pull that out? Will you be putting me back to sleep?” Aria asks sort of freaking out.

“Hey Ari, it’s ok we’re going to be right here and I will hold your hand ok?” I say going for supportive best friend.

“Well I can’t lie to you and say you will feel nothing. But I will do everything I can to make it hurt less. My job is to make you better, not hurt you.” Ethan so calmly says to her. He is the absolute sweetest doctor I have ever met and I have got to get to know him better! He gives Jamie and Sam a nod and looks at me with this longing gaze that lights me up!

“Riley, nice seeing you again. Try not to be a stranger ok?” He says before walking out of the room.

The door had barely shut before Aria twisted toward me. “Riley, he likes you,” she said. “That ‘don’t be a stranger’ thing? That was him telling you to text him. You have to text him.”

“Or,” I said, “hear me out, I could not do that and avoid dying of humiliation.”

Jamie snorted from the chair. “I’m with Aria on this one,” he said. “That was not ‘thanks for being a supportive friend’ energy. That man was looking at you like he already has your contact saved with a little heart next to it.”

Sam let out a low whistle. “Yeah, the way he kept looking at you, Riley? That’s not just a normal doctor checking his surroundings.”

Heat crawled up my neck again. Great. I could handle court dates and restraining orders and my best friend almost getting killed, but apparently one hot doctor with kind eyes and decent hair was my complete undoing. My brain kept replaying the way he’d said don’t be a stranger…

All of a sudden it was quiet.

“FUCK!” Aria yelled.

[ariamoon714]

Chapter 258 of The Signature

Sam was mid–story, hands flying like he was narrating some action movie instead of his own stupidity.

“I’m telling you, I had the whole thing planned,” he said. “Perfect playlist, perfect lighting, I even cleaned my room, which you know is a once-in-a-decade event. I was gonna do this smooth little backflip off the dorm bed, land, bow, impress the hell out of her…”

He paused for effect, eyes wide. “Except I forgot the ceiling fan existed. So instead of landing like a ninja, I smashed my head into a spinning blade, screamed, and then bled all over my ‘smooth’ white shirt.”

David actually snorted, Anne pressed her fingers over her mouth like she was trying not to laugh, and something in my chest finally cracked. A surprised little laugh slipped out of me before I could stop it, and Sam’s face lit up like he’d just won something.

Sam’s hands were up again, recreating the arc of his doomed backflip, when a little flicker of movement over his shoulder caught my eye. I glanced past him and saw Riley slip back into the room, the door clicking shut soft behind her. She didn’t say anything, just went straight for the chair by the window and sank into it like she’d never left.

It took me a second to notice the way her mouth was doing this barely-contained smile thing. I watched her for a second, that weird little almost-smile still stuck on her face. “Hey,” I said finally. “I’m… sorry I snapped at you. About my mom. I’m just really hurt that she couldn’t be bothered to stay, and that it took you paying for her ticket to even get her here in the first place.”

Riley’s eyes flicked up to mine and she shook her head fast. “Hey, no, it’s fine,” she said. “I’m fine. Everything’s fine. I just needed some air, that’s all.” The smile tugged a little wider, like there was a secret sitting just behind it.

Riley’s eyes flicked back down to her hands, but that little almost-smile didn’t go anywhere. “It’s really okay,” she said. “I promise. We’re good.”

I let it go, but I couldn’t stop watching her. She’d left the room tight and brittle, like she was carrying my hurt on top of her own. Now there was this quiet, glowy thing about her, like she was trying very hard not to bounce in her chair.

“I’m really okay,” she said again, a little too quickly. That almost-smile was still there.

“Will came in while you were gone,” I said, picking at the edge of my blanket. “He said he changed my antibiotic. Apparently that first one and my dreams weren’t friends.” I tried to keep it light, but even saying it out loud made my chest loosen a little, like I’d been waiting for someone to officially fix it. “Oh and I got to eat while you were gone. It was chicken broth and pudding but food is food at this point.”

Riley’s face softened. “Good. Maybe you’ll actually sleep tonight if you’re not running on fumes. I’m really glad you ate.”

Anne made a little pleased sound from the chair. “I’m glad too, honey.”

Before I could answer, David’s phone buzzed loud in the quiet room. He frowned at the screen. “That’s my lawyer, I need to take this,” he said, already standing. “I’ll be right back.”

He slipped out into the hallway, door falling almost shut behind him. Anne watched it swing, then pushed herself up with a small sigh.

“I’m gonna run down and grab some coffee before it gets cold in the pot,” she said, smoothing my hair back. “You need anything while I’m out?”

“I’m okay,” I said. “Thanks.”

“Text me if you change your mind.” She gave Jamie’s shoulder a squeeze on the way past and followed David out. This time the door clicked all the way closed.

Suddenly it was just me, Jamie, Riley, and Sam. The room felt different without his parents in it, like the volume had dialed down one notch.

Riley had gone a little too quiet…

Not the worn‑out kind of quiet she’d had earlier, when she was running on no sleep and hospital coffee. This was different. Ever since she’d come back in from disappearing into the hallway, there was this charged little hum under her skin, like she was stuck between bursting into giggles and pretending everything was normal. Her eyes kept doing this quick flick between me and Jamie, then dropping to her hands like she was afraid I’d catch her doing something.

If I hadn’t known her this long, I probably would’ve missed it. But this was Riley’s I‑have‑a‑secret face.

“Okay,” I said, because my brain would not let it go, “what happened when you left? Because you are not the same Riley who walked out of here.”

Her head snapped up like I’d physically poked her. “What? Nothing, I just…needed air.”

“Liar,” I said, but it came out soft, almost amused. Even talking made my abdomen tug, but it was worth it. “You’ve been weird since you came back in. Spill.”

Jamie’s mouth did this tiny, knowing curve at the corner, and even Sam looked over from whatever he was scrolling on his phone, suddenly interested.

Riley groaned, dropping her head back against the chair. “I hate you,” she muttered at me, which was how I knew I was right. She lasted maybe two seconds before it all burst out in one breath. “Okay, fine, I met a doctor in the hallway and he was stupid hot and I sort of maybe have his number.”

Sam choked. Jamie’s eyebrows shot up.

I blinked at her. “I’m sorry, you what?”

Riley flushed, already talking faster. “I went outside just to get some fresh air, okay? And there was this doctor off to the side smoking, and the cigarette smelled really good, so I asked if I could bum one, and then we just…started talking, and I told him I have this guy who’s been ghosting me and he finally reached out, and then he asked if I wanted to make him jealous, so he took this picture with his arm around me, and I haven’t even sent it to Alex yet, and I’m freaking out, should I send it to Alex, what do I do?” By the time she ran out of words, she was practically out of breath.

I stared at her. My brain was still stuck back on stupid hot doctor. “Wow,” I said finally. “Okay, first of all, let me see the picture.”

Riley made a strangled noise and clutched her phone to her chest like I’d asked for a kidney. “It’s not— it’s probably not even that good, I look like I’ve been up for three days in a hospital, because I have, and he’s just—” She broke off, squeezing her eyes shut for a second, then huffed and unlocked her phone anyway. “Fine. But if you make fun of my face I’m unplugging something important.”

She scooted her chair closer so she could hold the screen where I could see without me having to sit up.

The picture was…yeah. He had his arm around her shoulders, pulled in just close enough that it read more than friendly, his scrub top a little wrinkled, dark hair a mess like he’d been running his hands through it between patients. He was looking at the camera with this easy, crooked half‑smile that said he knew exactly what he was doing. Riley was tucked against him in her hoodie, eyes a little wide but laughing, like she’d been caught mid‑protest.

“Oh my God,” I said, because there was really only one reaction. “You have to send this to Alex. He is fucking hot.”

Jamie made a fake‑offended noise beside me, and I turned my head toward him. “No offense, I still love you and I think you’re gorgeous,” I added, because priorities, “but he is fucking hot, Riley.

Oh my God, you have to send this to Alex. Make him see what he’s missing!”

Jamie did an exaggerated gasp. Before he could say anything, Sam leaned forward, squinting at us. “Okay, I’m sorry, what is actually going on right now? Last I checked we were talking about hospital Jell‑O and now there’s, like, a hot doctor and revenge selfies?”

Jamie snorted. “It’s complicated and it’s girl talk, Sam. We’ll explain later.”

“Sam,” I said, because fine, fair question. “Riley met this dude named Alex when we were in Illinois for court with Austin. They shared a very…passionate night, and he made it seem like he wanted to keep in touch and maybe do something long‑distance. As soon as Riley was back home in L.A., he never messaged her again. Until this morning.”

“Okay, but what did his text even say to start with?” I asked, looking back at Riley. “Because that kind of decides how dramatic we’re allowed to be here.”

Riley huffed out a breath. “Literally just, ‘Hey, how have you been?’ Like he didn’t fall off the face of the earth for weeks.”

“Great. Perfect,” I said. “You’re absolutely sending this picture and replying, ‘Pretty good.’”

Before Riley could protest, I reached out and snagged her phone. “Aria!” she yelped, scrambling for it as I thumbed open the text thread. She managed to grab at my wrist, so I only got as far as attaching the photo and typing, Pretty good—

—and then Jamie’s hand came in from the side, annoyingly fast, plucking the phone right out of my fingers. “Whoops,” he said, way too cheerful as his thumb moved. “Looks like it sent.”

Riley’s jaw dropped. “You did not just—Aria, give it back, oh my God, no, absolutely not,” she sputtered, reaching for Jamie’s hand now instead since he was the one holding it hostage.

Before either of us could cave, her eyes flicked down to the screen and froze. “Oh my God,” she whispered, all the color draining out of her face. She turned the phone so I could see the little typing bubbles pulsing at the bottom of the thread.

[janewarfield]

did jamie not post anything anywhere about his sober anniv or did i just miss it? :(

He didn’t post anything! Second year in a row.

TBH with how people have been behaving, I don’t know how much content he’ll post outside of being directly related to work. People have lost their goddamned minds and he was already barely posting before now.

He didn’t post last year either, but he has talked about being sober at cons recently. I think that’s the closest we will get to him saying anything.

[allaboutjcb]

Expedia posted a partnership video with Elena. Comments are going viral, LOL.

😳😳😳. Just saw the comments. They are hilarious.

I hope Expedia do something about it.... delete the post, as Vinted did once.

[allaboutjcb]

Taber Influencer is stimulating her followers to reach Annie's facebook about Elena and the whole Reddit story.

At this point, as long as there is not insult or aggressive words, I don't see any problem.

I saw some similar comments on Reddit, and I don't think it's a big deal.

People are trying to criticize it, playing the political correct, but in fact, I don't think things can be worse than they actually are.

Jamie and Elena are already putting their families on fire.

Trying to alert Annie isn't a bad thing.

[janewarfield]

The more y’all harass Elena and Jamie’s friends, family, co-workers, and companies they work with, the more you make them look like victims of targeted harassment. You just give validity to Elena’s “hell on earth” comment and make her look like she is being bullied, stalked, and harassed.

It is beyond ironic to want to drag her down for being a bully when you come off as even bigger bullies and unhinged, boundary less, weirdos.

I hope y’all learn this at some point and that you’re pushing her content even more by constantly bringing her up and engaging with everyone and their mother (literally) to try to ruin her. You’re helping her in the end because most of these people actually know her, the situation, and what happened as a result.

It’s insane to witness how people are acting and think it’s okay to treat anyone like that and think they’re in the right and most people would side with them. Pure psychological damage.

[allaboutjcb]

Jamie didn't post anything about his sober/sober anniversary today.

And he deleted all Tumblr posts about it.

I honestly don't believe he is still sober.

I shared my opinion before and I'm not afraid to say that I don't believe he is still sober.

So many evidences, most of them sourced by Elena.

Not only one time, but at least 3 times.

The fact that he deleted all his Tumblr posts, proves that he doesn't give a f* about the impact of his actions towards his fandom. Totally irresponsible.

He rather gosthing, as he usually does when he is afraid or insecure about something.