Standing By

Decoding and Creating

"Don't you five have anything better to do than convene in halls?" she demanded. "If you even have any business to do in this hospital, attend to it; otherwise, I will ask you to leave."

"Do you know where Avi Kaplan is?" Austin asked, then added a polite, "Ma'am?"

"No. Not familiar with the name," Carolyn said briskly. "Now move along."

I wasn't entirely sure how she expected us to do that when we didn't know where to move to. I did have the sense to keep my smart mouth shut though.

Chance's elbow dug into my side and he nodded to the right. I shifted my gaze in the direction he was pointing to and saw Diana's blonde head poking out the door a couple of rooms down the hall. Guess she managed to get Adam situated. She extended first four pink-tipped fingers, followed by three, then another four. She then pointed directly to her right. 434. Avi was in 434.

"Move!" Carolyn barked at us.

"434, guys," Chance whispered, and we all took off down the hall past her.

"38...36... 34," Rob counted as we rounded a corner and ducked into the room.

"What're you running for?" Kevin asked, perched on Avi's bed.

"Or from?" Avi wadded up a taco wrapper and tossed it in the trash can.

Kirstie smirked at us. "Get in trouble?"

"Trouble?" Adam asked, mouth full of taco.

"Eh... just a bit," Austin admitted, laying the last bag of food down and starting to go through it.

"What'd you do?" Kevin wanted to know.

"I told you, I fell in the mop bucket," Adam half-explained.

"That don't tell us nothing," Avi grumbled. "Unless the mop bucket is chasing you."

"Who's your nurse?" I asked him eagerly, wondering if we'd get to see Diana or Linzi again.

"I don't know. Why?" he asked as Kevin peered around Chance.

"Ah, Christina the RN and Lizzie the LPN," he read off a nearby whiteboard, then blinked twice. "Excuse me, Linzi."

"Yes!" Chance and Austin shouted, Rob, Adam, Scott, and I a second behind their cheer.

"Oh my God," Kirstie groaned, shoving our tacos in our faces. "You guys are pathetic."

"Don't call us pathetic," Chance requested. "Yes, she's a very attractive woman; yes, we're attracted to her. Not one of us, though, has made a move on either her or Diana. We did enjoy what we were looking at—"

"Yeah, we were sorta falling over ourselves like fools," Rob said, looking guilty.

"I still say there is nothing wrong with a guy looking at a girl," I said pointedly, finding my taco combo number three and starting to dig in. "It's the way the world works."

Avi giggled. "Linzi? That the brunette? Yeah, she's cute."

"She's hot," Austin was quick to correct him, giving his taco a long look. "Beyond cute and into hotness overload."

"Well, get your damn brains out of your pants! God, what are you, horny teenagers?" Kirstie demanded.

"Drop it, Kirstie. It's not that deep," Mitch advised her, patting her arm to get her to calm down. "The girls were eye candy, they looked, and everyone moved on."

"Now I kinda wanna see this Linzi nurse," Kevin said sheepishly only to get elbowed and winked at by Scott.

"Well, you were making me uncomfortable!" she shouted, standing up and stomping into the bathroom.