Rose
“You filed the patient report in the wrong drawer again,” Riley says to me. “You’ve never done that and you’ve done it twice this morning already. Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” I say, but clearly I’m not okay.
I need to pull myself together before she figures out something’s going on. Too late.
“There’s a guy, isn’t there?”
“What guy? No. I mean, what are you talking about? I never leave the hospital. Just look at the bags under my eyes.”
“Girl, you don’t have bags under those eyes, but what you do have is a sparkle in them. And that’s the kind of sparkle only a man, or about twenty million bucks, can provide.”
“Well, I don’t have either,” I say.
“Uh huh,” she says as she raises her eyebrows. “I’m going to go clean out some bedpans, but the real poo poo is the one you’re in with me. I know there’s some info here you’re not giving up and I’ll wade through the poo to find it.”
“Could you think of an even grosser analogy?” I say shaking my head and closing my eyes as I very unfortunately picture it.
“Don’t even get me started. I’ve got ten more years experience doing this job than you. You have no idea what I’ve seen.”
“Nor do I want to know,” I say.
We both laugh and head in opposite directions.
I turn quickly with a clipboard in my hand to scurry down the hall to my next patient, but I run into a brick wall…again.
The same brick wall.
“Whaaa?” I ask not able to get the t out at the end of the word what because I’m so shocked.
“Cristiano,” he says as he pulls his elbow back and puts his hand near mine. I can’t really say he extended it because I’m still pretty much pressed up against him.
I take a quick step back and straighten out my uniform.
“Rose,” I say.
I place my palm in his and I can feel the electricity shoot through his hand and into mine. It runs up my arm and I can literally feel the goose bumps…on my head.
That. Never. Happens.
And neither does a big strong doctor walking into our hospital.
The joke amongst nurses is that most doctors are out of shape and laden with debt. Sure they have nice toys, but they’re usually financed to the hilt. Not to mention the stress of the job and the schmoozing leads to a lot of alcoholism. The reality of learning how doctors really are caused me to do a complete one eighty.
I don’t date doctors. No way. No how. They’re never what they’re cracked up to be, at least that’s what the other nurses tell me. Technically I’ve never tried to date a doctor. And even more accurately I’ve never dated…at all.
I’ve just been so focused on paying off my student loans that I’ve had my nose to the grindstone racking up those overtime hours to get out of debt before I get into my grave. At the rate I’m going it’s still a toss up which one will come first.
And moving to the big city doesn’t exactly help with expenses, but it does help with the salary although time will tell if it actually offsets the costs.
But what is offset right now is everything about me, including my balance. I feel dizzy looking up at this monster of a man.
Tall. Dark. Handsome. And he even has a slight accent? I think?
“Buuuu,” I start to say.
“I work here,” he says. “Just started.”
My head nods and my mouth remains open. Apparently I haven’t remembered to close it yet. And right now I’m not remembering much of anything. Just taking in the sight of him.
“Which also explains why we haven’t…bumped…into each other in the apartment building yet. Until last night,” he says.
“I thought that unit was empty,” I say. Really? That’s the best I can come up with?
I could be complimenting his terrific tan asking which Spanish island gave it to him. Or was it Greek or one of the ones in the Caribbean?
I could be asking him for fitness tips so I can get the female equivalent of the perfect body he has.
I could be asking him a lot of things, but instead… “But what are you doing here?”
“I’m a doctor, and I’ve been assigned to this wing.”
“My wing?” I ask.
“If you work in this wing then yes.”
“Doctor, we need you in the ER right away,” a nurse says loudly from down the hall.
“If you’ll excuse me,” he says. He hasn’t even turned to look at her, nor has he removed his eyes from mine. And our hands are still connected in what’s quickly turning into the world’s longest handshake. Not that I’m complaining one bit.
“Sorry to cut this introduction off so short, but I should be going,” he says. But his body language betrays him. He doesn’t move or turn at all.
“Uh huh,” I say.
“Doctor!” the nurse says even louder.
He glides to the side, keeping his eyes on me as my small hand slides through his. He’s a solid two to three steps down the hall, changing from a turn of the body to a jog before his head aligns with his body taking his eyes from mine.
“Can you feel that tension?” Riley asks as she puts both her hands on my shoulders.
“And how about the way he looked at you. That delicious doctor’s got it bad for you.”
“No chance,” I say. “And I don’t date doctors anyways.”
“How long have you been in the city?”
“Three months now.”
“And in those three months how many dates have you been on?”
“I’m focused on my work.”
“Uh huh. And by work you mean paying off your student loans. Don’t try and deny it. You already told me.”
“So.”
“So? You think that the new doctor they hired to take over this wing can’t help you with that?”
“I’m not that type of girl. Come on, Riley,” I say getting angry that she even suggested it.
“I’m not saying you’re that type of girl. What I am saying is that you’re his type of girl. That hot dish of a doctor was ready to serve himself up to you on a silver platter and girl when he does you best take a bite!”
Her words take a second for my brain to process as I follow his body down the hall before he quickly turns the corner, his uniform fanning out like some sort of superhero cape.
And that might just be exactly what he is.
But not mine. Oh no.
I don’t need a superhero. I can fend for myself.
But Riley’s one-liner was funny.
I laugh and make eye contact with her.
She’s the kind of girl who always gets the guy. She’s taller, fitter, and with legs for days. And she’s not afraid to show them, or her big boobies which she likes to keep pressed up so high they practically pop out of her tops. I’ve went out with her on exactly one occasion and the amount of attention she got was breathtaking. I felt like a stone in the middle of the river, guys just flowing right around me to get to her. And when they did all they could say was, “Damn!”
And I already know how this story will play out. Doctor Cristiano will catch a glimpse of her and realize she’s way more attractive, experienced, funny, and just about everything else he wants in a woman. I’m not feeling sorry for myself. I’m just being realistic. Reality is one of the reasons I chose to be a nurse. It’s practical and with an aging population nurses will be in high demand in the future.
I always think things through, but in this case there’s no need to think.
They’ll meet. Sparks will fly. And I’ll be, thankfully, forgotten by this time tomorrow. I’ll be free to focus my mind on my work and paying back the mountain of debt I owe.
Plus I don’t date doctors anyway.
I never have and I never… “Doctor Will needs you in the ER,” Nurse Mary says to me.
“I never will,” I say.
“Huh?” Nurse Mary says. “Doctor Will. ER. Better get your booty in there now.”
“Right. Doctor Will,” I correct myself.
I take off down the hall towards the ER.
Now I’m the one who feels like a superhero.
This is 2018. I’m just as capable as any man. And I certainly don’t need one.
And not a hot doctor either.
Nope. Not me.