Forces of Nature

Mercy Hospital

Just when I was starting to wonder what would kill me first- boredom or blood loss, a pair of boots appeared directly in my line of sight.

I craned my head up and stared into a pair of bright blue eyes. Oh, my god. It was the guy I'd just been eyeballing in a way too obvious manner. My cheeks instantly burned red. Was he here to demand what I was looking at? Dear god, I hoped not. I was already mortified enough. He scowled down at me, an unlit cigarette hanging from his lips. I couldn't help but notice he'd put on his hoodie, which hugged his toned body nicely.

"How long have you been waiting here?" he asked. His voice was rich and deep, the low, even tone cascading over me.

"Too long." I muttered, more to myself than him. He arched an eyebrow at my response and yanked the cigarette out of his mouth, pocketing it.

"What happened?"

What happened? That was a very good question. See, my idiot boyfriend, ex-boyfriend as soon as I got myself out of the E.R. and let him have it, "accidentally" pushed me through a window because he was jealous of me talking to another guy. Then he oh, so kindly, drove me to the hospital, dumped my ass here and told me to call him when I needed a ride home.

A pity I couldn't repeat that heart warming tale to anyone else. No, I'd better give the abridged version.

"I cut myself on some glass."

Well, okay. That was more like an abridged version of the abridged version.

"Right." I could tell in that one word alone he didn't believe me for a second. Wow, this guy was astute.

"And that's the story you're sticking to?"

"Why wouldn't I?" I challenged. "That's what happened."

"Okay."

Grabbing me by my good arm he hauled me to my feet.

"Come on," he muttered, leading us to the reception desk. Dumbfounded, I found myself following without protest.

"Excuse me," he said to the nurse in charge of reception. She looked up from the pile of paperwork she'd been perusing, eyebrows raised.

"Can I help you?"

"I hope so. See, my girlfriend here cut herself pretty badly on some broken glass and we've been waiting well over half an hour to be seen. Is it going to happen any time soon? Or should we just wait until she bleeds to death?" My ears and cheeks turned a brilliant red at his mention of me being his girlfriend, and the colour only deepened as he boldly challenged this woman.

"It's fine," I mumbled, gently tugging at the hem of his sweatshirt. The last thing I wanted was to cause a scene.

"No, it's not fine. You're badly injured and no one's doing anything about it."

The nurse looked taken aback at first, but then her features settled into a scowl, one to match his own.

"Listen here young man," she started. My stomach churned as a wave of dizziness descended upon me, threatening to throw me off my feet. "What medical school have you been to that proclaims you educated enough to identify a bad injury? Hospitals have to follow procedure, and according to procedure the more severe cases get seen to first. I'm not putting your girlfriend at the top of the list because she's complaining about a mild cut."

I leaned heavily into this mysterious boy. It was either that or end up on the floor as my legs threatened to give out on me; the room had begun to spin in wide circles.

"A "mild cut", huh?" He gently held up my injured hand for the nurse to see. Personally, I thought the blood dripping from the soaked cloth gave it a bit of a dramatic touch, but the nurse's eyes almost bugged out of her head. It seemed she'd only just noticed me, the "girlfriend". Her wide eyed gasp had me starting to panic. So did the fact that she jumped up and called for a doctor. I mean, I knew it wasn't a mild cut, but was it really this serious? Before anyone could make another move she rushed out from behind the counter and ushered us towards the double doors.