I'll Be Fine

I'll Be Fine
Someone eventually came to get her for her CT scan. She remarked on Irene’s uniform and she suffered through another recount of her ‘trip down the stairs.’
“I’m clumsy, too,” the nurse said as if finding solace in discovering a kindred spirit. “I’m the only person I know who can trip while walking across a flat surface.”
Irene’s face was throbbing, but she ignored it, lying perfectly still during her scan. The same girl took Irene back to the ER, parked the stretcher, and told her the doctor would be with her shortly. The putrid smell in the room was even worse, and the patient’s wife was complaining to him that they would have put him in a private room. She was not the only one who thought so.
Surprisingly, the doctor didn’t take long.
“The scan is negative,” he announced cheerfully. Irene didn’t recognize him from her brief shift in the ER. “You’ll just have a little bruise, but that’s it. I’d just recommend resting today, then you’ll be good as new. I’ll have the nurse write up your papers.” He shook her arm, wished her luck, and then he was gone as quickly as he came.
The doctor might have been productive, but the nurse took forever. She lay back on the stretcher, her arm draped across her face to block the overhead lights. She had gotten used to the smell by then.
She was not dozing, but she was so zoned out that she didn’t pay attention to anything going on around her. That was until a deep voice near her ear startled her. “Fancy meeting you here, Miss Nagel.”
She quickly moved her arm, blinking in the harsh light. Brenden was standing over her, one corner of his mouth lifted into a smile. He was wearing his usual scrubs and lab coat. And glasses, again, because apparently the contacts had been hurting his eyes. She loved it when he wore them, the final accessory in her geeky doctor fantasy, and he looked absolutely adorable.
Irene reached out for him, smiling. He clasped her hand firmly in his. “What are you doing here?” she asked. “Aren’t you working?”
“I should ask you that question,” he said. “But Talia texted me.”
“Oh.” Irene could feel the color rising in her face as she imagined her regaling him with tales of her sailing face-first down the stairwell. “She told you what happened, then?”
“She not only told me what happened, she also sent me this.” He pulled out his cell phone and scrolled through it for a moment. Then he held it out to her, suppressing a smile.
She didn’t understand what she was seeing at first. Everything was white except a distinct smudge in the center of the picture. Then, she began seeing the outline of the large brick.
“Oh no!” she exclaimed. “Is that my makeup?”
Brenden laughed loudly at her reaction. He didn’t move quickly enough to prevent her smacking him in the stomach, though he was undeterred by her attack.
“It’s not funny,” she said with a scowl. Did she wear that much makeup? She hadn’t looked into the mirror since the fall and now she was scared to.
“It’s either your makeup or the first five layers of skin,” he said, gently touching her burning cheek with his thumb.
“I can’t believe Talia sent that to you. No, I can’t believe she went back and took a picture of it! She must have a death wish,” she grumbled.
The nurse entered with the papers, her eyes immediately falling on Brenden. Her expression passed from surprise to confusion and then forced nonchalance as she regarded their close proximity. Brenden stopped touching her, but otherwise didn’t step away.
“Hey, Dr. Warren,” she said easily. She was carrying a medicine cup with two pills and a cup of water. “Done with your shift?” Her tone was conversational.
“Almost,” he replied with a polite smile.
She turned to Irene. “Do you need anything for pain before you go?” she asked. “The doctor said we should give you some…”
Irene eyed the pills with some alarm, then quickly shook her head. “No. I’ll be fine.” She didn’t want narcotics anywhere near her. If she were to be drug tested again, how hard would it be to prove that she had received a single dose in the ER? Her face was only hurting a little.
“Okay,” the nurse said, obviously not caring either way. She went over Irene’s instructions quickly and instructed her to sign the bottom of the paper.
Brenden waited silently until she left, then said, “I should be off in about twenty minutes. Do you want me to drive you home?”
“I’m okay to go back to work,” Irene protested. She felt obligated to suggest this, although she wanted nothing more in the world than to take him up on his offer.
“The doctor told you to rest today,” he informed, his tone leaving no room for argument. And how did he know that?
“Were you eavesdropping on me behind the curtain?” she asked, eyeing him suspiciously. “That’s a breach of patient confidentiality, you know,” she chastised.
“I know everything,” he answered smugly. “And don’t forget it. Besides, they’ve already covered you upstairs. You returning to work would just complicate things.”
“Well, we definitely don’t want to complicate things,” she replied. What could she do? He made a convincing argument.
Irene called Haley, confirmed this, and took Brenden up on his offer to watch television in the on-call room while she waited.
Behind closed doors, he kissed her sweetly, his lips grazing the non-tender skin of her forehead before he sighed and turned to leave. He seemed resigned, as if, at times, parting was almost painful.

I know exactly how she felt.