Dillon

 

I walk out of the room needing to collect myself. When I looked up and saw the most beautiful creature sitting in front of me I nearly hit my knees. I had a huge crush on Ariel Masters when I was younger, but I knew back then that I wasn’t anywhere near good enough to do anything about those feelings. Don’t get me wrong, all three of the sisters are stunning in their own right, but there was something about Ariel that called to me—then and apparently now. She is covered in art from head to toe from what I could see. I want to rip her clothing off and trace the patterns with my tongue and fingers from where the pattern begins to where it ends.

Some men don’t like their women covered in ink—me however, find it extremely hot. Her startling blue eyes, her dyed bleach blonde and black hair framing her face made me want to grab her cheeks and pull her to me for a mouthwatering kiss. I can’t tell how tall she is since she was sitting, but I did notice she has legs that go on for days. The type of length that is perfect and I would love to wrap around my waist as I bury myself deeply inside of her tight, wet heat. Her lips, mmm…don’t even get me started on those. They are thick, heart-shaped and begging to be permanently attached to my own.

Knowing that she is Mrs. Masters’ daughter has done nothing to deter my want, and desire to get to know her, and claim her as my own. I’m not sure if that’s fucked up or not, considering her mom is the only one close enough to me that I’d consider my one and only reliable female role model. The kind of woman I long to be with and have been looking for my entire adult life. I may be completely and utterly screwed. I shake myself from my thoughts of this luscious lady and get back to work. I still have four-hours on my shift and many things left to get done. First things first is checking on the progress of Mrs. Masters’ room, these ladies need to see their mom settled and being cared for. I pick up the phone and call ICU.

“ICU, Jackie speaking.” I mentally cringe. Jackie and I had a thing that recently ended—badly, from her not me. We weren’t together long, and I wasn’t as into her as she was me. I knew I needed to end things before they became too serious on her end. I liked her as a person and didn’t want to disrespect her to see her get hurt because I couldn’t reciprocate the same level of feelings that she was experiencing.

“Jackie, it’s Dr. Connelly, I wanted to check the status of the room for Mrs. Masters,” I say being as professional as I can.

“Dr. Connelly,” she sneers out, “her room is nearly ready, and we will be sending someone down to get her in the next fifteen-minutes or so, anything else?” she asks me hastily and rudely, causing my hackles to rise. If anything, we should be professional with each other at work and not be disrespectful in tone or attitude.

“I think that’s all you can help me with,” I reply attempting not to be just as nasty with her as she was being with me. Trust me, it’s easier said than done with the tone of voice she’s used with me during this short conversation.

“Very well, Doctor,” she says and proceeds to hang up before I can get another word in edgewise. Yep, I’ll be avoiding her at all costs here at work. Maybe I am better off being single, or should at least consider not shitting where I eat so to speak. Even saying that in my head sounds disgusting, but it’s the truth. No dating where you work, lesson learned—moving on. My mind once again drifts off to Ariel, I can’t believe just seeing her again has me wanting to forget everyone else and see what could be possible between the two of us. I saw interest in her eyes when she looked up at me earlier, letting me know this attraction isn’t one-sided.

 

 

Later as my day starts winding down, I can’t help but think of Mrs. Masters and her daughters—yet again. Every single time I’ve had a moment to myself, or a second of down time…it seems my thoughts stray that way. Ariel.

Why this one woman is consuming all of my thoughts is anyone’s guess. I’ve had one single encounter with her—one! Even though I’ve always crushed on her, we never ran in the same circles, so we’ve never had a single conversation before today, and I’m not even sure it could be considered as such. What is it about her? I’m consumed with daydreaming about how to make this enigma of a woman mine. As I clock out, I decide to head on up to the ICU and come face to face with the one woman who has become the bane of my existence. When I initially broke things off with her, I thought we would be amicable, but she’s shown me how petty of a woman she can truly be since she didn’t get what she wanted, and in her case—that was me. I thought I was doing the right thing by her when I decided to end things with her, I gave her the freedom to find a man who can love her and want her the way all women deserve. I don’t want to be with someone because I feel like it’s the right thing to do. I want the passion, the excitement and most of all I want to feel sparks fly when we’re in the same room.

A woman who I haven’t found yet, but if my reaction to Ariel is something to go by, it will be happening sometime soon—with her. I’m tired of the one-night stands, the fly-by relationships, I desire something real, something lasting. I’ve met a lot of women who’d like to claim me as theirs, but none of them have held my interest past a month or two—tops.

“Can I help you, Doctor?” Jackie snidely calls out at me. At me mind you, not to me. Can she be any pettier?

“Yes, you can allow me to pass by, so I can check on one of my patients,” I tell her as I attempt to walk around her. She stands purposefully in my way, hands on hips and glaring at me, being the adult in this situation—I simply go around her. As I get to Mrs. Masters’ door, I notice Ariel has her head buried in her phone. I walk over next to her as quietly as I can, so I don’t disturb her sisters who are currently passed out in chairs on the opposite side of the room from where Ariel has taken up residence. I lean over her shoulder to check and see what has her undivided attention. I notice she is searching google for smoke inhalation and the effects if can have on an individual’s lungs.

“Don’t do that,” I say causing her to jump.

“Fuck! You scared the shit outta me,” she says causing me to laugh.

“Sorry, I was trying to be quiet, so I don’t wake your sisters up.”

“Why shouldn’t I research my mother’s condition on google, isn’t the internet supposed to be a wealth of information?”

“It also has misconceptions and worse case scenarios. Neither of those things will help you out under these circumstances.”

“I feel like we’re living in the dark waiting for a sliver of light to enter. I mean, why isn’t she waking up, and why isn’t she breathing on her own?”

“We have no way of knowing how long your mother laid unconscious in her home breathing in the smoke. Without that knowledge, we have no idea the extent of smoke she actually inhaled. We know it wasn’t enough to ‘fry her lungs’ as a matter of speaking, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t any long-term effects. The most we can hope for is that she’ll wake up soon—on her own.”

“And if she doesn’t?”

“That’s a bridge I’d rather not cross until it becomes a necessity.”

“I’m not very good at being patient, and this is ten-times worse because I could lose my mom. That’s not something I’m willing or prepared to deal with.”

“I can understand that,” I say meaning every word.

“Are you still on shift?”

“No, I just got off, but I wanted to come and check on your mother and see if there’s been any progress.”

“Not so far, as you can see she’s still sleeping, and they haven’t lowered her oxygen levels.”

“The doctor on duty tomorrow will most likely start weaning her down slowly from the oxygen to see how her body responds. They’ll lower it in small doses in the beginning, if she holds her own they’ll continue that pattern until she hopefully no longer needs any.”

“My fingers are crossed.” Mine too, Ariel, I think to myself.

I feel bad leaving her not too long after our conversation ended and heading home—but I need a good night’s sleep and some desirable food in my stomach, and I won’t get that here in the hospital’s cafeteria.