Page 10 of Stat: Love In Scrubs

T he sun had started to rise and was now filtering light through my curtains. An ache settled in my arm, reminding me of the night before. I shot upright in bed and immediately regretted the fast movement. It was all coming back to me.

The fact that I busted my ass in the bowling alley, then our ER stay, and finally him taking me back home, then tucking me in like I was the most important thing to him. Which had to be a figment of my imagination because I couldn’t hold that level of importance to him.

Especially not to a man who I fucked the first time I met him, then proceeded to be rude to him before finally giving in to a date, then finally going on the date and ruining it. All I had to do was put on those fucking bowling shoes.

To make it all even worse, I was practically out of it with him. Who knows what could have happened with a different man? I glanced down to notice I still had on the same clothes from the night before. My wrist was wrapped with a box of Tylenol that I was sure I was going to need immediately.

I groaned as I wrestled with the sheets to get out of bed.

I went to the bathroom to use it, then struggled to wash my face, and brushed my teeth with one hand.

Now that I was semi-fresh, because I definitely needed to hop my ass in the shower.

I grabbed my phone from the nightstand to see if I had any missed calls.

One, from my dad, then another from Maria, and finally Darby.

My stomach dropped as I looked between the three calls.

Not one was from him . I hadn’t had that thought for long before my phone vibrated within my hand with his name big and bright against the screen.

My heart seemed to race, and my palms began to moisten as if I hadn’t just dried them before I touched my phone.

I took a deep breath, then released it before answering. “Hello.”

“Good morning, I wanted to call and check in on you. How you feeling?” he asked.

He cleared his throat, letting me know he was just as in foreign territory as I was. The thought alone helped me to relax a bit more. I sat against the edge of my bed and looked down at my wrist.

“I can feel it, that’s for sure. I hope I wasn’t too much trouble to get back home.”

“Nah, of course not. Who knew going bowling would have us up in the damn ER? I probably should have taken your ass to dinner instead.”

I laughed.

“I am so damn embarrassed.”

“Don’t be, shit happens. Have you eaten yet?” he asked.

Wrist hurting and all, but all I wanted to do was be in this man’s presence.

“I haven’t.”

“Can I take you to breakfast? I promise to make sure you make it back in one piece,” he declared.

My cheeks were hurting, and I was smiling so much. If only he knew, no wasn’t an option for me. Especially after the way I ruined the date yesterday. I was going to take some of this Tylenol and remind myself to grab my prescription later.

“Absolutely, I can be ready within the hour.”

I answered a little too quickly, even to my ears.

“An hour it is.”

I nodded my head as if he could see me, then quickly said my goodbyes.

I placed my phone on the charger, then went back into my bathroom to take a shower.

Forty-five minutes later, I was dressed, showered, my hair was up in a neat ponytail, and I was ready to go.

I decided to use the last fifteen minutes to give my dad a call, and because I knew Maria would be right next to him, her as well.

“You must don’t know your dad anymore.”

I rolled my eyes with a smile.

“Old man, you’re so dramatic. You know I sleep in too.” I told him, already knowing what he was going to say.

“I don’t know who you think you’re fooling. You’re usually up before the Roosters, unless you aren’t feeling well?—”

“Are you coming down with something? I can bring you some soup.” Maria said, interrupting my dad.

I shook my head because these two were so worrisome, but I loved them.

“Actually—”

“Actually, what?” my dad cut in.

I told them in as short a story as I could muster about what happened on my date.

“Yara, don’t tell me you went on that damn date and busted yo’ ass, then ended up in the ER. How long has it been since you’ve been on a date?” My dad asked, making the situation worse.

“Honestly, I don’t think I need to be discussing my love life with you two. It was an accident?—”

“Maria, I told you this damn girl was clumsy as hell. When she was a kid, I had to make sure she wore a helmet in the house. If I had allowed her to walk around and do what she pleases, CPS would have been called on me in a heartbeat.”

“I was not that bad,” I interjected.

“Yeah, alright. I was there and I remember. Clearly, you still haven’t gotten your feet underneath you good enough. I knew I should have gotten your feet checked when you were a baby, but your grandmother said I was doing too much.”

I rolled my eyes as my dad and Maria began bickering amongst each other about me as if I wasn’t on the phone. I glanced over at my clock to see that the hour had run out, and Doc was now calling me.

“Hey, Dad, I’m going to call you back. I’m about to head out.”

“Alright, and you watch where the hell you’re going. I don’t want to hear about you ending up in the ER again.”

“Will do, next time I won’t tell you,” I whispered beneath my breath.

“What was that?” he asked.

“Nothing, gotta go. I’ll call y’all later. Love you!”

He responded with love, you, too. Then I quickly clicked over before Doc’s call went to voicemail.

“Are you outside?” I asked.

He released a breath, letting me know something was wrong.

“Sweetheart, I surely wouldn’t be calling if I was outside.

I would ring the doorbell like a man. But that’s not why I’m calling.

I’m going to need a rain check on breakfast. I know I’m the one who asked you, but I just got called into the hospital.

One of my patients is in labor, and things aren’t looking good. ”

My stomach dropped, and the smile I once had was no longer there.

I wanted to be upset because I had gotten dressed and excited about breakfast, only to be let down.

But this was also the reality check I needed.

I was getting too wrapped up in a man who wasn’t in the kind of job where his word meant a damn thing.

“I understand. I hope your patient is okay. My friend is calling, I’ll talk to you later.” I told him, not giving him a chance to say anything else.

I quickly hung up and walked over to the edge of my bed. I was fully dressed only to sit in the damn house. I clicked my screen to see a single text.

Doc: I’m sorry. I promise I’m going to make it up to you if you allow me to.

Me: It’s okay. You can’t control what happens with your job.

I went to my call log and clicked Darby’s name. I waited a moment as the phone rang before she finally answered in her usual upbeat tone.

“It’s nice of you to call me back. Good thing I called your dad, or I would have thought that doctor killed you. I saw Dexter!”

I couldn‘t help but laugh because this crazy ass girl didn’t have any sense.

“Well, first, hi to you too. Second, Dexter wasn’t a doctor hoe. That man was a vigilante serial killer who worked with the police.”

“Oh, please, they both work with blood, so it’s the same thing,” Darby responded.

“Yeah, no, it isn’t. But anyway, I have so many things to fill you in on. Tell me you’re in the mood for a girls’ day slash night?” I asked.

“Ohhh, it must be good. Day and night? I’m down, and it’s mainly because I don’t have any plans, so why not? As long as I get to pick the movie and dinner this time.”

I groaned because she always picked the craziest shit for us to watch, and the food was always left field.

But one thing I could say is, it would be good, so I didn’t have too many complaints there.

The thought of food caused my stomach to growl, reminding me of the fact that I was supposed to be on my way to eat.

But, Doc cancelled on me at the last minute.

“Fine.”

I gave in. I just needed to make sense of where my thoughts were headed when it came to Doc. I released a breath, then removed my jacket, laying it across my bed before removing my shoes, and jogging downstairs.

The doorbell chimed as soon as I passed it. My brow lifted because I didn’t think Darby had gotten here that fast. It wasn’t possible unless she was close by or on her way to the house as we spoke. I turned on the balls of my feet and made a beeline for the door.

I peeked through the peephole. A woman with flowers and a bag was standing there with a smile. Curious, I unlocked the door and pulled it open.

“Hi, can I help you? I didn’t order anything.” I told her, before she could say a word.

She smiled and nodded. “Are you Yara Sinclair?”

I opened the door wider and stepped out a little.

“Yes.”

“This is for you. I’m just the delivery driver, but Mr. Wilder placed this order for you. He ordered quite a bit of food, unsure of what you would like. Here are your flowers and the card.”

She said, holding out the flowers and card to me.

I took them from her outstretched hand, then stepped back to allow the woman inside with the many different bags of food I hadn’t noticed earlier.

Some had been at her feet since she couldn’t hold it all at once.

I helped her to place everything onto the tables and then led her back to the door.

“Let me at least grab you a tip. Can you give me a second?”

She waved me off. “No, ma’am. Mr. Wilder provided a very good tip. Enjoy your food and your day.”

“Thank you,” I told her with a smile.

Once she was inside her car, I closed and locked my door.

Then made my way back into the dining room to look over all the food.

Six different containers were in front of me.

I removed them from each bag and lined them up in front of me to see what was inside.

I could smell the bacon and many different things already.