Curiosity (bxb)

Chapter IV: Hello, It's Me (Part I)

TOBI

From the moment my alarm went off this morning, I knew it would be a great Friday. Why? Because to my utmost pleasure, the boss has blessed me with a day-off – as a recompense, per se, for busting my own ass to fill in last weekend. From an optimist's perspective, you could describe it as hard-work paying off. But in a realist's perspective, you could describe it as getting the job done: working hard gets you rewarded, it's how life seem works. Heck, working hard is what helped me through my pharmacology test earlier this Monday, with the aid of iced coffee and sacrificing precious sleep, of course. At the least I've gained a new confidence with my studying tactics, and now I won't have to worry about another damn test for a week and a half – for finals, that is. But that stress-bomb can be overlooked until it detonates a few days ahead. For now, I'll enjoy the short-lived freedom and continue humming to Rebecca Black's Friday as I pack away my belongings.

Typically I'd find the overproduced pop tune un-inspiring, ridiculous, bordering pathological, but for today – just for today – I'll tolerate it.

"Tobi, why the hell are you singing... that?" My lab partner looks at me incredulously. He's taken a cautious step from my direction, packing the rest of his belongings while staring at me with curious, brown eyes. I don't blame him.

"It's nothing, Sean," I laugh, "just having a really good day."

"Oh, I see. Finally got laid last night, huh?"

"Ha-ha, no way, man. What makes you think that?"

"Seriously? Dude," he deadpans, cocking his head, "nobody within the borders of Seattle seem to get your attention. I mean, you've abstained from sex for so long now – and sex is like the best thing ever! Don't you have blue balls yet?"

I blink. Oh. "Too much going on with life right now. I'll do you a favor and save the women for you, bro."

"Tobi, Tobi... my good man, Tobi! You gotta loosen up... and you gotta loosen it up. Catch my drift?"

The sexual innuendo slaps me upside the neck. Sean smirks at me knowingly, then shakes his head to laugh off the crude joke. Thankfully he goes off to a different tangent, disregarding his inner fuck-boyness for the time being. Instead, he tells me about his lack of excitement for finals prep week, hell week as we call it, before his customary 'See you next Monday!' farewell.

Great. With that out of the way, I can finally hightail it out of this confinement and its bleak classroom setting. For five days a week, staring at powerpoints about relapsed colons and things of the sort gets weird. One can only take so much of it, especially with the pungent smell of alcohol and disinfectant constantly invading your senses. It's all strange; it's vexing; it's hard to grasp. But it's something aspiring nurses must find comfort in, if you could even categorize needles and physical examinations in that category.

Right. The kids will just love me.

Yeah, anyway. It's time to go. These Barney-purple university scrubs are starting to itch against my skin; and these pants are riding so high up on my waist that – oh fuck, it's giving me a wedgie. Once I get home, I'm totally free-balling it in some sweatpants. My body is long overdue for some mental repose, and there are important matters for me to attend – things like binge-watching twelve seasons of Grey's Anatomy on Netflix for example, amongst other weekend endeavors in my long to-do list: my manly duties, if you must. I have errands to run, laundry to clean, running times to beat, a best friend to annoy, people to call...

People to call. Oh, fuck me.

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"Tobi, I'm so glad you called! How's my baby-boy doing? Is nursing school treating you well? How's Bellamy? What about your love life? Are you wrapping it before tapping it? I hope so. Son, please, I'm still too young to have grand babies."