Demi
I was just finishing up with a patient when Cindy, my assistant, walked over to tell me that my next appointment was waiting over in one of the consultation room. I collected the folder from her and briefly looked over it. Once I read over the patient's name, I let out a deep sigh, causing Cindy to look over at me with a creased forehead.
"Everything okay, Demi?" She asked me.
"Yeah, it's the fighter," I said as I wiggled the file in front of me, and rolled my eyes. "You know how I feel about fighters," I said again, causing Cindy to let out a soft laugh.
"Yeah, I know," Cindy said over her shoulder as she turned and started to walk away. I put the file down to my side and started to make my way over to the consultation room. Once I approached the door, I stopped just short of it, and took a deep breath. I stopped and allowed my thoughts to run its course for a minute. I was always hesitant about taking on fighters, as patients, because of my past experience with my father, but I want to help all people, and I certainly wanted to get this fighter back to his normal routine and his full capacity. I am really hoping that we can skip all the small talk, and all of the fighting stories during our time together. I took another deep breath, and got my thoughts in order. I wasn't too sure what to expect with this one, and I was hoping that our sessions would be quick and to the point. I gathered my thoughts, I placed my hand on the door handle, and gently pushed it opened.
As the door opened, I walked in a little further and got a better look at my patient. I was taken back at how easy on the eyes he was. He sat there a little slouched down in his wheelchair. I watched as he sat up a little straighter once I made myself deeper into the room. I noticed his mouth was hanging open a little, and it made me want to laugh. "Hi. I'm Demi," I said as I extended my arm to shake his hand. As soon as our hands touched, I jumped a little, when I felt a spark. I looked back up at him. "You must be, Mr. Jonas," I said as I let go of his hand and made my way around to my chair that sat behind my desks. I sat down and observed Mr. Jonas very closely. He was tall, lean, but still very muscular. He looked like a good clean cut guy. He was wearing a form fitting, black hoodie that still showed off his arm muscles. They looked very strong. I looked back up to his eyes, and noticed how perfect they were. He was definitely a good site to see. Not to mention, his smile made me ogo weak in the knees.
"Um yah. Nick. Call me, Nick," he stammered out.
I gave him a quick smile when I noticed how nervous he was. I didn't want to draw attention to it, because to be honest, he was making me nervous, too. "Okay, Nick. Let's get started," I said as I opened up his file to review with him. I looked it over, while he sat there, leaning back in his chair. "You got pretty messed up," I said under my breath, speaking to myself. I pointed my pen down on a section of the file, and looked up at Nick. "I see in the notes from your doctor that you need to get started on working the "good" limbs because you're a fighter," I said as I leaned my head on my chin. "Ever thought about switching careers?" I said with a side smirk, hopefully not offending him.
Nick let out a chuckle, "You sound like my mom. Did she tell you to say that?"
"No, but when this kind of damage happens..." I said as I waved my finger around Nick to emphasize how badly damaged his body was right now. I went to continue, but he cut in.
"I didn't get injured in the cage, or in a fight," he quickly chimed in. I leaned back a little in my chair and was a little surprised to hear that these injuries did not come from a fight. It was evident that he was pretty banged up, why else would he have these kind of injuries?
"You didn't? Then what happened to you?" I asked him curiously.
"I got jumped over in an alley between the gym that I work out at and the bar my brother works at," he calmly said as he watched me.
I sat up a little straighter, even more surprised. "Oh, I am sorry to hear that," I said as I jotted down some notes in the file for our future sessions. I could feel Nick staring heavily at me. I paused, and looked up at him. I crossed my arms in front of me, and went to speak, but stopped when I saw the look that he had on his face. "I am sorry, is there something wrong? You have a weird look on your face," I said to him.
"I'm sorry.. I just.. I mean.. I gotta be honest. You weren't exactly what I expected," He stammered out again, showing his nervous tactics.
"What were you expecting?" I asked with a wrinkled forehead, unsure if this was a good or bad thing. I watched as he shrugged his shoulders and looked down. I waited for him to explain what he was thinking.
"I was expecting someone older. I also wasn't expecting you to be so hot," He bluntly, blurted out. I watched as he grew wide eyed at what he had just said. I think he caught both of us off guard because I was not expecting that either.
When I heard Nick say how hot I was I could feel my cheeks turning red. I tried to move us past this awkward situation as we sat there for a minute in silence. I let out a quick little laugh. "Um, thanks," I said as I let out another small laugh. "Let's keep this professional, okay?" I said in one of my warning tones, trying to remind Nick of where we were right now.
Nick nodded his head and smiled, " I am sorry. That was inappropriate, but I am not sorry I said it because you are hot. Woman should be told that once in a while," he said.
I quickly looked up at Nick, and shook my head, smiling. He was right, we do deserve to be told we are hot every once in a while, and quite frankly, I can't remember the last time I have been told that. I have been so preoccupied with NovaCare and working as much as I can, that I haven't allowed myself to have much of a social life lately. After my fiancé, Carter and I decided to call it quits, I kind of just buried myself in work. So, it is refreshing to hear someone compliment me. I had dated one guy, after Carter, recently, but he wasn't good with the compliments.
I snapped my head out of my thoughts and looked back at the file, trying to focus. "Okay, Nick, so here is what I am wanting to do. After extensively looking through your file and all of x-rays, I would like to start physical therapy sooner rather than later." I said as I looked at Nick who was now leaning forward, watching me.
"Yes, sooner the better," he said.
"Okay, so I think that we should go ahead and start our first session on Friday, May 15. We can go ahead and go through the general idea of how things are going to go while you are in here. I think that we can start out with a walk through of your exercises. Right now, since your leg is still healing, and you can't put any pressure on it for about 6-8 weeks, we are going to just focus on those other "good limbs" and make sure that we are getting them back to their full potential. The goal is, while that leg is healing, we are continuously building up that muscle strength, and initially getting you stronger," I said to him. I watched as Nick took in everything I was saying. His hand came up to his mouth. He looked stressed out. "Listen, Nick. I am sure this is very overwhelming for you, but I promise we will get you back to where you were." I said, trying to reassure him.
He let out a deep sigh, and just nodded his head, "I know. I just have to remember that this is going to take some time," he said. "So, uh, how many sessions are we looking at? I have to be at the gym to help out, so I want to make sure that this is not going to take too much time away from that," he said which took me back a little. I would think that his main concern would be to focus on himself.
"Well, I think with the extent of your injuries, we need to have a pretty rigorous plan intact. As I said before, the first week will be primarily focused on a walkthrough of everything. After that, I would like to see you three times a week and then every other week I want to throw in an additional day on top of that," I said as I watched his eyes grow wide.
"Wow, so, we are going to be spending a lot of time together then, won't we?" He asked, as he let out a dorky smile.
I just shook my head, "Yeah, I guess we will be spending a lot of time, getting you back to normal!" I said the end of the sentence a little louder, trying to make sure he understood that this was going to be professional, and that there would no funny business. Nick let out a laugh. "I would like to take a quick look at your shoulder right now, if that is okay with you," I said to him.
Nick just looked over at me. "Um, yeah, sure," he said. I stood up, and started to make my way over to him. Just as I positioned myself to the side of his body, and reached out to touch his shoulder, there was a light knock on the door, causing us both to look over. I paused, and started to make me way over to the door to see who it was. I opened the door and saw a blonde, big boobed, woman standing on the otherside. I was quite confused. "Uh, hi, may I help you?" I asked her.
"Uh, yeah, Nick? We need to get going. Are you almost done?" The woman looked around me and asked Nick.
"Oh, shit, sorry, Harley, I totally forgot. Hey, Demi, if it is okay with you, can you just go ahead and examine my shoulder on Friday when I come in for my first appointment?" He asked.
"Yeah, sure, thats fine, " I said as I watched Nick back his wheelchair out, and around the room, and head out the door, towards the woman.
"Here, let me help you," she said as she put her out on Nick's wheelchair.
"Harley, I got it, it's fine," he said as he grabbed hold of the wheel, and then looked over closely at her. She just smiled and held her hands up.
"Okay, okay. You got it," she said to him. "Always have to be a tough guy," she said back to me. I just gave a nod and watched the two of them make their way down the hall. I realized that I hadn't set an actual time yet for Nick, so I followed closely behind.
"So, Friday, May 15, at ten o'clock will be your first appointment, is that okay?" I asked Nick as they came around the reception table.
"That works out great for him, right, Hot Stuff?" Harley said to Nick, who just looked up at her and rolled his eyes.
"Sounds perfect, Demi. I will see you Friday," he said before him and his girl left NovaCare.
I stood there, and watched as they headed outside and made their way down the sidewalk. What an interesting couple, I thought to myself. That has to be his girlfriend, right? Hmm, interesting, I thought to myself as I placed Nick's file off to the side, so that Cindy could put it away.
I finished the rest of the day at the office, taking care of a number of my regular patients. It was always refreshing when I got to spend time with those I was familiar with. It made the day go by quicker because we had plenty to talk about. We skipped the awkward stages of getting to know each other. Once I closed up the office, I headed home, poured a glass of wine and then relaxed. As I sat there I thought about some of my upcoming obligations and the things that I was going to have to be taking care of in the next couple of days. One that really stuck out in my mind was my patient, Nick. As much as I despised fighters, I couldn't seem to clear him from my mind. I was anxious to see him again. Most of all anxious to work with him. I found myself wondering if I was only anxious to see him because of how much he caught me off guard or because of how quickly I wanted to help him get better so that he was on his way and out of my Physical Therapy Center for good. I let out a deep breath, took the last gulp of my wine, and then made my way to get some sleep.
When I woke up the next day, I gathered my belongings, and headed straight for work pretty early. I wanted to get in there at a decent time and get started on some of my preparation for future patients. I found it to be useful to go through the charts, the day of, or the day before, to have an idea of which patients I will be working with. I like being prepared, so that I am able to have the best exercises already fresh in my mind.
Most of the day consisted of research, and working with a few, several patients. We had a bit of a slow day at the office, but that was okay. It allowed me to get done some of my other duties such as returning phone calls, checking in with doctors, or getting paperwork done. Even if we were not working specifically with a patient, there was still always something that could be done. That was definitely the beauty of this job. There was never a time to sit around and be bored. I was always on my toes, and I loved every second of it. The day went by quickly and before I knew I was already heading back home to repeat my ritual nightly routine of a glass of wine and relaxation. I liked finishing my nights off with a glass of wine because it always eased me and helped me unwind. After I finished my glass, I went to my room and instantly fell asleep.
The next morning I woke up relatively early. As I was getting ready there was a knock on the door. I made my way to the door, and looked through the peep hole. I leaned my head back when I saw Wilmer on the other side of the door. I put on my best fake smile, and opened the door. "Wilmer, what a surprise. What's up?" I asked as I leaned on the door.
"Not much, just wanted to bring you over some coffee to start your day off," he said as he handed me the warm, venti, starbucks cup.
"Thank you," I said with a smile. "I was just about to head out to work, I am running a little behind," I said as I walked back and grabbed my keys, and purse that sat over on the side table, next to the door.
"Oh, here, I can walk you out. I had something I wanted to ask you anyways," he said as he stepped back, then walked with me to my car.
I looked back around, curious, "Oh, yeah? What did you want to ask me?" I asked him.
"I wanted to see if you wanted to go see the new Fifty Shades of Grey movie with me sometime when you're free?" he asked, causing me to give him a sour look.
"Uh, with you? No, that's weird," I said as I turned back around and continued to walk to my car.
"Geez, Demi, you act like we're related by blood or something. We're not ya know?" he said as he continued to follow close behind.
"Wilmer, you are my step brother. No matter how you look at it, we are technically related. Now, I really need to get going," I said as I started to get frustrated.
"Whatever, are you going to at least come to my next fight? I want you to come," he said, which started to piss me off. He knew how I felt about the fighting world, and he knew damn well that I do not attend any fights.
"Do I ever?" I snapped around and said harshly.
"Well, no, but you could start," he said with a smile as he opened my door.
I narrowed my eyes in on him as I got into the car. "Yeah, that's not going to happen. Have a nice day, Wilmer," I said as I shut the door, and started the car to drive off. As I was driving down to work I glanced at the clock and realized how late I was. I had an appointment with Nick at ten o'clock, and I was going to be at least ten minutes late. I called Cindy and let her know that I was running behind, but that I would be in shortly.
As soon as I pulled into my parking spot outside of NovaCare, I hurriedly made my way into the practice. Once I walked through the entrance I could see Nick sitting there waiting. I saw him turn and let out a big laugh, and it made me smile. I couldn't see what he was laughing at though. Once I entered more into the practice, I could see Nick sitting next to his blonde haired, girlfriend. She was leaning towards him, and showing him something on her phone. They both were laughing hysterically. As soon as I saw that I rolled my eyes, and let out a huff. For some reason, it made me incredibly jealous. I made my way through the door, set my stuff down in my office, and then grabbed Nicks file.
Once I grabbed his file, I had Cindy call Nick back to room, so that we could start on his physical therapy. As he approached I didn't even bother to look up. I grabbed a form and filled out the date, Friday, May 15. I could feel him watching me intensely.
"Hey, Demi," he said excitedly as he rolled in and made his way out of the chair.
"Okay, so I want to start out by working on your shoulder, I see that in your assault, your rotator cuff tore. So, I want our first couple of sessions to focus predominantly on exercises that will allow you to focus on that shoulder," I told him straightforward.
"Okay, sounds good to me. How are you?" He asked me. I wasn't really in the mood to make small talk right now so I just ignored him.
"Before we get started, your girlfriend isn't going to be interrupting us today now, is she?" I asked him harshly. Nick just looked up at me and stared for a minute.
"My girl.. Oh, Harley? She shouldn't. I can go tell her what time we will be finished if you'd like?" He said with a smile on his face which made me even more annoyed. I let out a deep sigh.
"Okay, please hurry up. We are already wasting time. I would actually like to get started today. Tell her that you will be done at around fifteen after eleven. She is more than welcome to leave and then come back," I said as I watched Nick sit down in his wheelchair and roll out to go tell his girlfriend.
As I waited for Nick to come back I sat there and thought for a minute. I was not too sure what was going on with me right now. I was not sure why I was acting this way. Was it because I was jealous of Nick and his girlfriend? Was it because of how I can't seem to get Wilmer off my back? Ever since Carter and I broke up, Wilmer has been trying to hang out with me whenever he can. I can't tell if it is just to keep me company, if he is bored, or if he is trying to hit on me, but its just flat out weird. I saw Nick making his way back towards me. I let out a deep breath and counted to ten.
Once Nick was in my office, I let out another breath. "Okay, lets get started."