12. DIFFERENT
"HE LOOKS DIFFERENT, DOESN'T he?"
"Happier? Yeah."
"It's like he's glowing."
"I wonder whose bones he got to break?"
"It's a girl."
"You guys do know I can hear you, right?" Elijah scoffs as he turns to face his fellow Attendings. He closes the chart and hands it to Kali who's sat at the nurse's station.
Henley Marks, Jackson Carter, Paige Wilkins, Drew Lakeford, and Kendrick disperse from their little huddle and face the ortho surgeon.
"So, you gonna tell us about her?" Paige smirks at her coworker. She's the cardiothoracic attending.
Kendrick chuckles, "She was a patient's sister."
"Dude," Elijah huffs, "Shut up."
The neurosurgeon raises his arms in surrender before his pager beeps, "I gotta go."
When he walks away, the questions ensue.
"What's her name?" Henley props her chin up on the palm of her hand. She is the trauma surgeon.
Elijah shakes his head and opens another file.
"Elijah," Drew, the pediatrician, snickers, "This is probably the happiest I've ever seen you. And we've been working together for eight years."
"Aye, just leave him alone," Jackson defends his friend. Jackson is one of Elijah's residents but he's the only one that doesn't piss Elijah off to the max ━ hence why he was allowed to hang around the other attendings, "If he doesn't wanna tell us, he doesn't have to. It's his business."
The ortho surgeon checks his watch to see that it's time for Kyree's check-up. He'd been out of the hospital for a while so Elijah volunteered to check up on him after a week to track the healing process.
Elijah raises an eyebrow in agreement to his friend, "I'm needed elsewhere. Page me if you need me ━ not about my business though."
He sends the group of people a warning glare before he stalks off to the attached clinic.
The elevator couldn't move any slower.
Needless to say, Elijah is excited. The last time he saw Aliyah went great and they'd been texting since then but it would just take him a while to get used to having her as just a friend considering he's seen her naked.
After the ding sounds and the doors open, he steps off and finds himself at the reception of the clinic, asking for Kyree Pryce's chart and bed assignment.
He thanks the nurse behind the desk and makes his way to the room that's listed on the chart.
Elijah pushes the door open with a smile to see Kyree and Aliyah caught up in a conversation that has them both cackling like crazy people.
"Hey," Elijah greets them, drawing a wide smile from the chocolate-skinned woman, "Am I interrupting something?"
Aliyah's braids are piled on top of her head in a neat bun, and her face is clear of make up. He takes notice of her outfit ━ a black sweatshirt and matching biker shorts showing off her glowing legs. On her feet are a pair of clean royal blue Jordan Ones.
One leg is propped up in the air as Kyree holds onto her foot with his uninjured hand, tracing his finger over the creases.
"Do you see this?" Kyree questions, holding her foot up higher. He ignores the cries of protest from his sister.
Elijah chuckles as he gets closer to see what he's talking about. Then his smile falls as he takes her foot into his hold with interest, "Are those creases?"
Aliyah rolls her eyes, "It's not a big deal ━ Ow, you lil' asshole!"
Kyree had slapped her ankle at her words, "I got you these for Christmas."
"With whose money?" She tilts her head with sass, watching as he keeps his mouth closed, "That's what I thought. Can I have my foot back, please?" When she goes back to look at Elijah, she laughs. "Dude."
He finally releases her foot with a chuckle, sending her an immensely charming wink. She ignores the shock that is sent down her spine to lower places.
"So, Kyree, on a scale of one to ten, how's the pain in your right ankle?" Dr. West questions, getting to work on pulling the ankle braces off.
Kyree groans lightly, his hand reaching for Aliyah's, "Right now? Like a three."
"How about now?" He presses a finger to the bruising on his right foot and listens as Kyree hisses but doesn't pull his leg away.
"A five." He answers, fiddling with the rings on his sister's fingers.
"Okay," Elijah mumbles before grabbing the chart and jotting down some notes, "Well, the swelling has gone down so I'm assuming you've been icing."
Kyree nods.
Aliyah is listening. She promises she is ━ Elijah's blue eyes are just really distracting. She'd realized a while ago that his eyes change color depending on the time of day or the environment. So, she spent more time watching him than hearing him check the other foot.
She tunes back in right when Elijah finishes examining the ankles, "There's still bruising around the strains so you'll have to be off your feet for another week or so."
"Crap," Kyree curses, "That means another week of online school."
Elijah pouts with sympathy, "Sorry, Kyree."
"Call me Ky," He corrects, "I mean, if you and my sister are like one step from marriage, I guess it's cool."
Aliyah almost chokes on her own spit. She bursts out into a coughing fit while Elijah is so taken aback that he freezes before jumping up from his seat to get her a cup of water.
She takes it from him with teary eyes and inhales it, not even giving herself a second to breathe.
"Uh," Elijah tries to get out his words but Kyree just gives him an expectant look, "Your sister and I are just friends."
Kyree hums, skeptically, "Riiight."
For the rest of the time that the Pryce's were sat in the hospital room, Elijah and Aliyah would meet each other's eyes, sending amused smiles their way.
Yeah, this friend thing will definitely work out.
can somebody come tell my lil brother to GO TO SLEEP SO I CAN TAKE A NAP 😭