Epilogue
Aaron pushed open the doors of the student health building and rushed inside, afraid he might change his mind if he didn’t hurry.
It had taken him all day to get there, but that was only half the battle.
He still had the worst parts to go, and he wasn’t sure he was brave enough to go through with it.
He gave his name to the young woman sitting behind a folding table in the hallway, then took the paperwork she handed him and followed the arrows into the gym.
After almost turning around several times, he managed to make it to the next station in the gauntlet of terror and forced himself not to look around in case he saw something that spooked him.
Taking deep breaths got him through the next four stations, then he found himself sitting in a chair as a woman rolled up his sleeve, then started poking around at his veins with her finger.
“Ummm…I don’t…that is, I’m not…” he stammered, feeling like he was going to pass out. “Needles freak me out. I don’t know if I can do this.”
The woman stopped what she was doing and looked over at him, then backed away. “I’m sorry to hear that,” she said. “Tell you what, let me get Talia. She’s the best we’ve got; she’ll take good care of you.”
He let out the breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. “Okay, thanks, I appreciate it,” he said, closing his eyes, hoping they didn’t make him wait long. “I hate to be a bother.”
“It’s no bother,” a different voice said, and he opened his eyes to find a very pretty woman looking down at him. “I’m Talia. I hear you and needles don’t get along very well.”
“I…that is…I guess not…” he stammered, this time because something weird was happening to him. He was hot and cold at the same time, his entire body was tingling, and he couldn’t quite get enough air in his lungs. “No, not really.”
“Well, I’m going to try and make this as easy on you as I can,” Talia said, smiling at him and making what was happening even worse. “We’re just going to check really quickly here for a vein, then there will be a tiny poke and it will all be over.”
“Okay, that sounds great,” he said, not even sure what she’d said. “Anything you want.”
“Now, that’s what I like, a cooperative patient. You wouldn’t believe how many people volunteer to give blood, then make it hard on us,” she said, shaking her head. “Now, here we go, just keep looking at me. It will be over before you know it.”
He felt a small pinch on his arm, but nothing else. “See, I told you, all done, now you just have to sit here and let the bag fill up, shouldn’t take more than just a few minutes,” Talia said, giving him another one of her brilliant smiles. “I’ll just sit here with you until you’re done.”
He was so overcome by all the new feelings rushing through that he didn’t even consider talking to her, and much to his disappointment, it wasn’t very long before she was pulling the needle out of his arm.
“You probably have a rule about dating your patients,” he finally said. “I mean, that’s a thing, right?”
“Well, it is, but I’m not sure going out with you would be breaking the rules,” she said, a curious look on her face. “Why? Are you thinking about asking me out?”
“I was, but I don’t want to get you in trouble,” he said, getting up from the chair.
“I’m pretty sure no one would complain,” Talia said. “How about you give it a try?”
“Do you want to have coffee with me?” he asked.
“I would love to,” she said, then looked around. “I think we’re safe; the date police didn’t come.”
He stumbled away from the blood drive, sure that he was already half in love with the angel in a nurse’s uniform.