Unexpected Love Story (Love 2)

By the time the afternoon finishes, the headache I had at the beginning of the day is still lingering, so I sit down to check my emails and find an email from Bethany. I just forward it to my father, explaining what happened this morning. I also CC Debra on it so she knows not to transfer her to me. I get up to get some coffee, and I see that Crystal is still here, soft music coming from her phone. She remained professional all day, calling me Dr. Walker and never once slipping. Now I watch her as she turns, walking out and leaving me with the charts she just handed me. I check her notes, and I’m not surprised to find I don’t have to add anything in. Everything is point form and perfect.

“Fuck,” I say to myself, leaving right after her to go home.

Getting to the clinic the next day, I see Crystal sitting behind the desk with Ava, Olivia, Emma, Mia, and Corrine. “I can’t believe you guys never did team building.” She looks around.

“What are we discussing?” I ask them.

“Crystal’s emergency team used to do team building exercises,” Olivia fills me in.

“It just helps the team to work together,” Crystal points out. “Know your weaknesses and your strengths and it helps your co-workers to jump in to make it better.”

“That sounds like so much fun,” Emma says. “I would totally do it.”

“What about this weekend?” I suggest, not expecting them to accept. “We could go camping. In the wild.”

Corrine looks at Ava. “Tent or cabin?” they ask at the same time.

“Cabin,” I say, definitely cabin.

“Are we really going to do this?” Corrine asks.

“I mean, I’m game if you guys are.” Crystal looks at me. “I mean, Dr. Walker doesn’t look that much like a camping kind of guy.” She smiles big as the other nurses look at me, almost like she’s baiting me.

“I camp.” I throw down and hope to fuck my father doesn’t come in right now and tell them that they had to pick me up when they sent me away to sleep-away camp. I was fucking nine, and it had rained nonstop.

“Do you?” Crystal says, getting up from the chair. “I’d like to see that,” she murmurs under her breath, and I don’t have time to counter because an emergency comes in. Mrs. Peterson fell in the shower and is now being transported to the hospital with a fractured hip. Once she came in, Crystal was there front and center, putting on gloves, and was one step in front. But when Mr. Murphy came in, that is when it started.

“What seems to be the problem?” I ask him.

He looks down at his lap and then up again as Crystal finishes taking his blood pressure. “All good,” she says.

“Well, you see,” he starts saying, “it burns when I …” He lowers his eyes and then back up again, and I sit on the stool in front of him, waiting. “When I pee, it burns.”

I grab his chart and see he’s just turned thirty. “UTIs are very uncommon in young men,” I tell him while he looks down at his hands.

“Well.”

“Have you had anal sex lately?” Crystal asks as my eyes pop almost out of my head.

“Um,” I try to say.

“It’s not uncommon to get a UTI when you have anal sex and the cavity isn’t clean.” Crystal looks at Mr. Murphy.

“We tried it last week,” he whispers. I sit here shocked while Crystal hands him a cup for a urine sample.

“Totally normal,” she says, and he looks up with a sigh of relief. “All we need is a little sample and you can be on your way.”

She smiles at him when he gets up and goes to the bathroom.

I wait for the door to close. “How in the fuck did you know that?”

She shrugs her shoulders. “It was common in the city.” She leans over. “If you ever try it,” she whispers, “use a condom.”

Her hair falls a little on the side, her face free of makeup, her scrubs molding her … who the fuck knew that scrubs could be so sexy?

Mr. Murphy comes in carrying his sample, and Crystal puts on gloves when she takes the sample from him. “I’ll be right back,” she says, walking out.

“Besides the burning, is there anything that seems to be bothering you?”

“That was it,” he says when the door opens.

“So it’s positive,” Crystal says, coming in, smiling.

“I’ll prescribe you something.” I nod at him, take out my pad, and write the prescription. “There you go. It’s an antibiotic for ten days.”

“Thank you so much.” He smiles, grabbing it. “And for not making it awkward.” He looks over at Crystal.

“Anytime.” Crystal smiles, watching him walk out. “That was fun.”

“You like this, don’t you?” I cross my arms over my chest. “One-upping me?” I walk closer to her, and her smile turns into a smirk.