7. Ally
7
ALLY
I walk into the locker room at the hospital Friday to find Val changing into a pair of scrubs. “Hey, you came back.”
I laugh and drop my bag onto the wooden bench in the center of the aisle. “Yep, I’m ready to give it another go. I’m more prepared this time.”
She smiles and takes off her jewelry. “Good.”
“Did I miss anything yesterday?” I ask, pulling my sweatshirt over my head.
Her brows lift and her eyes double in size. “You missed Dr. Cole freaking out on one of the new externs.”
“What? Who? Why?” I ask, more interested in the answer than changing my clothes for my shift.
“It’s the only guy. What’s his name? Trevor? Travis?”
“Tray?”
She snaps her fingers and points at me. “That’s it.”
“Oh my gosh. Tray is my friend. What happened?”
“Dr. Cole was in an awful mood. There weren’t many people here that he didn’t snap at. Someone told me he cut in front of like a dozen people at the coffee shop and then paid for all their coffee to make up for it.” She giggles.
I roll my eyes because even if he was in a bad mood, he must have felt guilty about it if he paid for everyone.
“Anyway, we were short-staffed yesterday. So Travis?—”
“Tray,” I correct.
“Whatever,” she says, shaking her head. “He was with Taylor for most of the day. But when she went on break, he was with me. I went on break when she came back, and I guess that’s when all this went down. At some point while I was gone, Taylor ran to use the restroom and left Tray alone, which is a huge no-no. I guess this mom gave her kid some fruit snacks, and the kid ended up choking. Tray ran in there, but he froze. Luckily, Dr. Cole came in, gave the girl abdominal thrusts, and saved her life. But then he went off on Tray. Told him that if he can’t do something so simple, he shouldn’t be here. He laid into Taylor, too. It was all a big mess that could’ve been avoided if only she had waited ten minutes to use the restroom.”
“Poor Tray.” I pull on my scrub top and push down my jeans. “That’s so weird that Dr. Cole said that to him. When I froze up, he told me it was okay and that it happens to everyone.”
“Just be glad that you froze up on Wednesday and not Thursday.”
“I guess,” I reply, pulling up my scrub pants.
Val locks her locker. “See you out there.”
I give her a tight smile before sitting on the bench to put on my tennis shoes. I feel so bad for Tray, but I had warned him about Dr. Cole the same way the others warned me. Still, it’s not like freezing up in a stressful moment could be avoided. I did the same thing. Only I got a much nicer version of Dr. Cole. I can’t wait to see Tray this afternoon to hear his side.
I finish changing, clock in, and head to the nurse’s station. Val must feel like I can’t handle anything stressful after my last shift, so she has me working with the patients she deems safe. I do the usual checks, take temperatures and blood pressure, and hand out meds. I get some patients water or snacks, and do a bit of chart work.
After lunch, I’m approaching the nurse’s station when Tray steps into view. I smile wide, happy that we get to work together and that we get to catch up about what I missed yesterday. Then, several alarms sound, and nurses are running from one room to the next. Val stops at the nurse’s station.
“Ally? Things are a little crazy here right now, and we don’t have time to keep an eye on you two. Why don’t you take Tray and work on those inventory checks like we were doing yesterday?”
I nod. “Okay, sure thing.”
Val goes rushing off and I nod in the direction of the supply closet. “This way.”
Tray follows me down the hall and into a large closet full of rows and rows of metal shelving, every inch full. When we walk in, I grab the clipboard to see where the count has been left off, then walk through until I find where we need to start.
Tray follows me. “I guess you heard about yesterday, huh?”
“Some. What happened?”
He shakes his head and shrugs. “I have no idea. Everything was fine, and then suddenly, it wasn’t. I was the only one around, and there was this little girl that couldn’t breathe. I panicked.” His eyes are wide and glazed over like he’s reliving the memory.
It sounds like the door to the storage closet opens and closes, but I don’t hear anything else. “Hello?” I call out.
Tray shrugs. “Anyway, that Dr. Cole guy is a total asshole. It was my first day.”
“I just find that so strange. I did the same thing the day before, and I was ready to quit, but he told me it happens to everyone and that I shouldn’t let it stop me because he knows I have what it takes to be a good nurse.” I meet Tray’s dark eyes. “Maybe you just caught him in a bad mood or something. Either way, I wouldn’t take it personally.”
He frowns at me. “It seems like you like the guy.”
I shrug. “I don’t have any reason not to. He’s been kind to me.”
“Oh hey,” Tray says. “A bunch of us are getting together tonight to have a few drinks. You want to go?”
“I don’t know. Where are you going?” I ask, skimming down the list on the clipboard.
“That new club on the south side,” he answers.
“Oh, you know what? I read this wrong. We should be over here,” I say, turning to walk to the other side of the shelf. I turning the corner and stop dead because we’re not alone. The sound of the door opening and closing was because Dr. Cole walked in.
Tray is so surprised that he walks into me, forcing me forward a step. I look up at Dr. Cole and feel how still Tray has become behind me. Dr. Cole doesn’t pull his eyes from mine as a second turns into an eternity. My heart pounds in my chest and I get goosebumps, every hair standing on end. Dr. Cole’s eyes are darker than usual, more intense, and I’m unable to move a muscle or say a word.
Out of nowhere, he snaps out of the daze. He turns his attention to the shelf, grabs a box of something, then turns and walks out of the storage closet without a word.
The door closes, and the air in the room immediately loses its charge.
“I don’t know how you can like that guy,” Tray says, walking around me.
I force myself to get to work, but I can’t shake the feeling of unease. The way Dr. Cole looked at me had me makes me wonder if things would’ve been different if it was only the two of us in this closet. Would he have said something? Would I? What did I want to be different?
If I let my imagination run away, my thoughts always return to the way my body responds to him. I’ve never felt this way about anyone. I’ve never had a problem keeping the opposite sex off my mind or keeping myself on task. Since I met him, I haven’t been able to focus on anything but thoughts of him. Will I see him today? Will we talk? Will he get close enough that I can feel his heat sink into me? Does he feel this too, or am I delusional?
“Come on. Let’s get to work before Dr. Dick comes back in here,” Tray says, taking the clipboard from my hand.
***
“Hey, how’d it go today?” Grace asks when I walk into our apartment.
I shrug out of my jacket. “Great. No problems today.”
“Did you see Dr. Cole?”
“Briefly, but we didn’t speak,” I tell her. I don’t mention how I ran into him several times throughout the day, and how each time, he just stared. Of course, I stared right back. “You look cute. Where are you going?” I look her up and down as she stands and smooths down her dress.
“A bunch of us are going to that new club on the south side. You want to go?”
“Tray said something about that today. Who else is going?”
“Not sure,” she says, stepping up to the mirror on the wall to put in some earrings. “Why don’t you go get changed and come with? You’re always so focused on work and school. You never have fun anymore.” She spins to face me, grabbing my hands and holding them. “Come on. We can dance and have a few drinks. It’ll be fun.”
I roll my eyes. “Alright, but I’m not staying out all night. I’m so tired after the week I’ve had.”
She giggles and jumps up and down in excitement. “Go get dressed. Hurry!” She swats me on the butt.
I laugh and shake my head, but I move down the hallway to my bedroom and pull open the closet doors. I’m not big on partying, but I did buy a black dress last year that I’ve only worn once. I dig through my closet until I find it shoved in the back.
I hang it on my closet door and strip to my bra and panties. Taking the dress off the hanger, I step into it and pull it on. It’s stretchy and covered in glitter, with tiny spaghetti straps and a built-in bra. The dress is form-fitting, and the skirt ends a little higher on my thigh than I’d like, but it’s the only thing I have unless I want to go out in jeans. I pull out my favorite pair of black heels that are sexy and give my legs a killer shape.
I pull my braid over my shoulder and rake my fingers through it until my hair falls in waves around me. I pull the top half back and clip it into place, leaving a few strands to frame my face. Once I’m dressed and my hair is done, I quickly apply a smoky eye shadow, liner, and lashes. I sweep bronzer across my cheekbones, add a touch of highlighter, and then lip gloss. Grabbing my handbag, I rush out to where Grace is waiting.
“Holy hell! What did you do with my mousey little roommate?” she teases.
“Ha ha,” I deadpan.
“Ready to go?”
She grins. “Tray is going to lose his mind,” she says, walking past.
My nose wrinkles. “Why on earth would you say that?” I ask, following behind her.
She stops at the door and turns to face me. “You’re kidding, right?”
I shrug, confused.
“You know Tray has a thing for you, right?”
I can’t hold back my laughter. “What? No way!”
She grins and rolls her eyes. “For a smart person, you can be really dumb sometimes.”
I lock the door and follow her out into the hallway. We stop at the elevator, and she pushes the button.
“Tray and I are just friends. He knows this.”
She nods. “Yep, and he’s just waiting for the day you let him out of the friend zone.”
The doors open and we step inside. “Then he’s going to be waiting for a long time, because I’m not interested in anyone.”
I look over at her and she’s grinning. “But you’re interested in Dr. Cole, right?”
I feel embarrassment heat my cheeks. Is it that obvious? “What? No! Of course not,” I lie.
“Girl, you’d have to be blind to not be attracted to Dr. Cole. There’s nothing wrong with liking an older guy.”
“But there is something wrong with getting involved with your boss,” I remind her. Especially when I’m a virgin and my boss is twice my age.