Unrequited Lust and Fisticuffs: WWE* in the Parking Lot

This would be my luck.

For me personally, action is a bit slow because of the rate at which I am presently capable of moving and with my reduced work hours in order to allow the knee attached to my better leg to heal.  The action around me, on the other hand, is heating up ever so slightly. A cohort mate of mine -- one I had considered a friend though not necessarily a bosom buddy --  returned from a visiting clerkship to learn of my injury. I'm not sure why my cohort mate took my bad news so acutely, but when he met up with the careless resident  (there was more to the story that I wasn't and still am not  free to share), following a heated argument during which the resident threw the first punch, my cohort blocked the jab and responded with a knockdown punch (knockdown as opposed to knockout) at the resident. I'm told that the response was measured and that my cohort mate could have done far more damage than he chose to do.

It happened outside and wasn't witnessed by any of the brass or by any patients to the best of anyone's knowledge, so probably no one gets into trouble. My cohort mate walked away after one punch so that no one had to pull him off the resident. It could perhaps be argued that my cohort mate lacked the authority to speak to the resident in the manner in which he chose to speak, but my cohort mate presumably would have kept the disagreement within the verbal realm. It was the resident who chose to escalate the level of aggression.  

I really wish this meant that the cohort mate liked me as much as and in the manner that I would wish for him to like me, but such is not all that  likely. It's far more probable that my cohort mate's anger was fueled by a sense of protectiveness toward a young and defenseless colleague than by any amorous feelings toward me. Alas, that's the way the cookie crumbles. He's almost unbelievably good-looking.

*albeit not all that entertaining