Doctor's Order

~~~~~~~

I had been working here, at the Pepsi Center for a few years now and to be honest- my job sucked, although it had gone from worse to bad. I was still cleaning up after people- but now I cleaned the Colorado Avalanche's locker room, it sucked. They would always leave behind things that only they should touch, well maybe not everything they left behind should BE touched...at all. They always had to leave a mess and if they ever left anything behind I either had to wait an extra hour or run after them- which I never did. I had a life too. I had another job and a ten year old sister to look after; I wouldn't exactly say I had all the time in the world.

One night I was cleaning up after they had won a game. Those were the worst nights to clean. I thought that everyone had left and when I walked in and started to clean I noticed one guy sitting on the other side of the room, looking at his hand. I ignored him thinking he would leave soon and then I felt like somebody was watching me.

"Excuse me miss, do you have any stuff in there that would clean a cut?" I finally heard a voice ask behind me.

I jumped ten feet, "Uhm, well not in here. But I have something in this one." I said. I always carried a little- well it wasn't that little- bag with me. In college I had majored in a Sports Medical Doctor and always had something with me for cuts and almost everything under the sun. I dug through the bag and then found what I was looking for. I handed it to him, and then I noticed how big the cut was. "Holy shit! You should've gotten that checked out by Mr. Ward."

"It's just a little cut." the guy said. I got a good look at him. He was tall (well everyone was tall compared to me), had almost blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Just a little cut? I've seen little cuts- and that is not little. It’s really deep!" I exclaimed.

"You're just afraid I won't be able to play and win the game." he said.

"Psht. Like I even give a damn about hockey," I mumbled, but I knew he heard me, "Fine, whatever. Keep the bottle." I told him and went back to cleaning. I didn't give a shit, even though I did. It was just the fact that I was taught to always help out with bad cuts and whatnot; I was a good doctor. The guy stared at me for a little bit then walked back over to his stall. The whole time I was cleaning I was muttering mean things under my breath and yelling at myself. I needed to leave soon and pick Carly up.

I looked at the clock above me. "Fuck! You've got to be kidding me! I'm an hour late! Shit." I quickly got out my cell phone and called Carly up.

After three rings she answered. "Carly- I'm sorry I'm gonna be at least two hours late at the latest." I told her. I heard her groan and I felt so bad. This is my life. Go to work from 6A.M. to 5P.M. and that was just on days where the guys didn't have to play a game at night.

"Look, honey. I'm extremely sorry, but look at it this way. We can go out to dinner- your choice."

"Fine." she said, and hung up. I closed my phone and then I went out to get the vacuum. When I came back in the guy was still in there putting on a shirt. His hand wasn't covered and it pained me to see it like that. He saw me looking at it and quickly covered it with his jacket. I rolled my eyes- why did guys have to act so tough? He started to talk to me, but I just turned on the vacuum and ignored him. Before I sucked up a key I turned it off and then picked it up, placing it on a bench that was closest to it.

"Most girls would've taken that and went to every players house till they found out whose it belonged to." the guy said, trying to lighten the air.

I glared at him, "I'm not like most girls. Hockey players are a waste of space." I told him, and then went back to vacuuming. I saw him walk out the door and didn't stop vacuuming until I was finished.

***
"I would just like a chicken sandwich." I told the waitress. She wrote something down on her pad, smiled, and walked away. I sighed and looked at Carly. She was sitting there in her school uniform and colouring.

"So how was school today?" I asked her.

"It was OK. Matt was being a weirdo today again. I'm so glad he's back to normal- it was a little creepy watching him sit there like a boring person." she told me. Matt and she had been best friends since they were in kindergarten together.

"That's good. How do you think you did on your science test?"

"It was really easy; although there was this one question that I wasn't so sure about," she told me, "So, how was work?"

I put on a smile. She thought I loved my job- although I never told her what I did, "It was alright; very busy today."

She laughed at me and then went back to colouring. I watched her until the waitress came back with our food. I thanked her and ate half my sandwich, and didn't get any dessert; at least I would have an actual lunch tomorrow.

We pulled into the driveway of our little house and Carly went running inside after I unlocked the door. I walked to the phone to see if there was any messages and like always there was one from Grandpop. I smiled and called Carly back down. As soon as she knew who it was that called she called him back and they must've been on the phone for an hour before she told him she had to go. I was in the kitchen cleaning, and making her lunch for tomorrow.

"Are you getting ready for bed?" I asked.

"Yea!" she yelled down the steps and then I heard the bathroom door slam shout and shortly afterwards heard the water running. I walked into my office and opened up the bills. After the first bill I was a little surprised to see it wasn't all that expensive. After I opened all my bills I was a little startled that none of my bills were expensive- they were fairly cheap- well cheap for what it normally was.

I went upstairs after Carly told me good night and went to get some sleep myself. I had a long day tomorrow too. And I still had to find a friend to watch Carly after school. I felt bad for the fact that on nights the Colorado Avalanche's had games she had to stay with her aunt. She always had to sit for an hour and practice her piano and then she had to have tea and then she had to go out and have horse-back riding lessons and on most days it was just to clean or feed them. Our aunt was from England and paid for most of Carly's things. For one- the school she went too (I couldn't afford that even if I had three extra jobs), her clothes, and a lot of other stuff. I sighed, I really didn't need to be worrying about this stuff right now. I closed my eyes, cleared my head, and soon I was off to a dreamless sleep.

About six hours later I heard my alarm clock going off. I rolled over and hit the off button. I laid in bed for another five minutes before I finally got up and went to take a shower. The warm water hit my back and I could've stayed there forever. I washed my hair and used my good smelling body wash. I got out and dried my body and then wrapped my hair up in the towel. I got dressed in a pair of washed out jeans- with holes artistically placed and threw on a teal shirt. I didn't have to wear a uniform for some reason (I guess one of my few advantages- I was the only one) and brushed my hair. I didn't feel like blow drying it, so I just put it up in a messy bun. I put on very little makeup today and walked out. I went into the kitchen and saw Carly already sitting there, eating a bowel of Lucky Charms. I smiled at her and grabbed an apple. I cleaned it off and took a bite while I went to go get my purse and put the few necessities in it.

When I walked back into the kitchen I threw away the seed of my apple and saw that Carly had finished, and was probably putting her hair up or brushing her teeth. Which reminded me that I had to brush my teeth. I went upstairs and saw Carly in her pink room, putting her hair up in a messy bun- just like mine. A small smile found its way onto my lips as I went in the hall bathroom to brush my teeth. When I was done I looked in the mirror and saw that I didn't look half bad.

"Are you ready Carly?" I yelled, keys in my hand and ready to walk out the door.

"Yea." she said, grabbing her backpack and putting on her shoes as we walked to my little Volvo.

I had dropped off Carly and was running five minutes early, which was surprising. A little bit later I found myself in the employees parking lot and parked in my usual spot. I got out and headed towards the lounge.

***
"Aimée, hey, do you mind taking over Lisa's shift at the snack bar? Apparently the guys have an open practice or whatever." a guy named Ryan asked me.

"Sure. That's fine." I told him.

"Thanks. You are a life saver!" he told me and walked away.

"Sure, whatever." I muttered and started to head to the snack bar. I wasn't watching were I was going and ran into something- well more like someone.

"Watch where you're going." I said, and when I saw it was the guy from yesterday I felt kind of bad for yelling at him.

"I was looking for you!" he said, pretty loudly too. Before I could say anything he grabbed my wrist and dragged me off to a little room. He closed the door and locked it. I looked around me and saw that we were in some sort of supply room for the sports doctors.

"You seem to know a lot about cuts- and I was wondering if you could do anything about mine." he told me. I gave him a weird look and then pointed at my wrist.

"Oh, right-ha sorry about that." he said and let go of me. I took his other hand and looked at it. The cut looked like it had gotten infected. I took my finger and traced it, trying to get an idea of how bad it hurt. I watched his expression, and when I applied a lot of pressure to it he winced. I sighed, if he shot left handed he would be in big trouble.

"How bad did that hurt?" I asked, "And be honest."

"It wasn't too bad."

I turned around and searched the shelves for something that would help him out a little bit. When I cleaned it again- I saw the little white bubbles, which meant it was infected. I sighed, and then proceeded to wrap it up. "That should help, but I'm not sure how well you will able to hold your stick or whatever."

"Thanks. I'm John-Michael, you are..."

"Aimée. You better go practice or whatever you have to do, but you should not play tonight. Tell your Coach that you shouldn't practice either, it'll just make your cut worse." I told him, walking out of the door and then no less than 15 feet away was a whole bunch of people with tape recorders and whatnot.

I shrugged and started to walk towards them to get to the snack place. I kept walking and as I was almost pass them, someone yelled and they all went running, pushing and shoving. I found myself on the floor a few seconds later and was cussing under my breath. I sat there for a few more seconds before I finally got back up and made my way to the snack bar. I went behind the counter and put my bag down and then stood there.

***
I heard my phone going off almost an hour later and answered it. Nobody was buying anything so I figured I could answer it and see what was going on.

"Hello."

"Aimée, it's fine if Carly wants to come over tonight. I know you've been super busy and I have nothing better to do anyways." my friend, Julie told me.

"Oh my gosh, thanks! You are such a great friend!" I told her.

"She gets out of school at 3 right?"

"Yea, but then she has to go to her aunts for two hours. Do you know where Aunt Jackie lives?"

"Yup. I remember that one birthday party and then when you fell and got horse shit all over you. Best. Thing. Ever!" she said, cracking up.

"Crap! I gotta go now, call you later and thanks!" I said as five people came up to buy some food and hung up.

***

(Three hours later)

"Aimée, they need you down in the locker room for some reason." Ryan yelled at me. I was sleeping on the floor- since the whole four hours I was there I only had two more costumers.

I stood up and started to make my way to the locker room. Why would they want to see me? I mean I don't have to clean until afterwards.

"Aimée, did you do this?" Mr. Ward asked me, showing me the guy's hand that I had wrapped.

Crap, "Uh, yea..." I said, and then quickly added, "I told him to go see you, but he didn't listen and then he came to me and I had to help. I can't just watch someone not do anything about it."

Mr. Ward gave me a weird look, "I'm not gonna yell at you. I just wanted to know. Did you study to be a sports doctor?" he asked.

Mr. Ward was like my father, he was friendly and always asked how Carly was and what was going on, "Yea, that's what I majored in." I told him.

"Really? Now how come-"

"Could we please not talk about that?" I asked him. He just smiled and told me I did a good job and just like that I was told to wait in his little office. I sat there for awhile looking at all the pictures on his desk. I didn't hear anyone come in, but then I felt someone sigh.

"That was my daughter. She passed away in a car crash." Mr. Ward told me. I frowned. He went on telling me who all the people were in his pictures. Most of them were of his wife and family, but then he had a picture of a little baby.

"This was my friends' baby. I was her godfather, but then she passed away. It was a sad day for everyone." he said. I felt really bad- I knew how it felt. I had lost many family members- it was a horrible period to go through.

"So, Aimée- why don't you work as a sports doctor or do what you love?" he asked.

"Well...right before I was going to graduate, maybe three days before or some short time- my dad and mom ran off a road and into a lake. So I had to find a job right away, because mom always said if for some reason her and dad passed away I was to take care of Carly. So I got the first job I could, that paid decently and it was cleaning," I shrugged, "That was about, uhh, five years ago?"

Mr. Ward was silent for awhile, before somebody burst into the room.

"Sir, we need you out on the ice." a guy said.

"The game already started?" he asked, the guy nodded his head, "Which player?"

"John- Michael."

Mr. Ward looked a little hurt. I wonder why that would be.

"I told Coach to keep him off the ice for awhile. What happened?" he said and started to walk towards the ice. I stayed sitting when I heard him calling me. I followed him out on the ice looking around a little shocked. Mr. Ward had grabbed his bag and was told what had happened. Apparently, John had been hit into the boards in a weird way and the guy came down on him. They were both hurt and I wasn't sure who was hurt worse, John or the other dude.

"Aimée, could you check on the other guy?" Mr. Ward asked me. When John-Michael heard my name he opened his eyes and looked around until he found my eyes. I nodded my head and went over to the other guy. When I got there I slipped and fell on my ass. I cussed and then went to see what was wrong with the guy.

"What hurts?" I asked him. He told me and I proceeded to make sure it wasn't a serious injury- which of course it was. I sighed. And crawled over to Mr. Ward- who was only about two feet away from me. I told him what was wrong with the other guy and his injury must've been worse because then he told me to look after John. I looked down and saw him looking at me with a small smirk on his face.

In a few minutes they were both in the back, Mr. Ward looking at the other hockey player- who's name I still hadn't learned and I was "looking after" Liles.

I gave him a weird look when he whispered something, I couldn't hear him so I asked him to repeat it, but again he whispered it again. I leaned closer and closer until I actually heard what he had said. I was shocked and looked at him, that's when his lips made contact with mine. I was shocked at first and tried to push him away, but he put his one arm around me. I soon started to kiss back and not really feeling bad about it. But then I remembered that Mr. Ward and the other hockey player were right there and I broke the kiss.

I looked over at Mr. Ward and the hockey player when I heard clapping. The hockey dude was smiling, they all were. I had a confused look on my face.

"Thanks a lot dude. I owe you big time now. I didn't think you would get hurt in the process." John said.

"No problem Liles, anything for an old friend. And you got that right- you owe me big time."

"What the hell is going on?" I yelled. Mr. Ward was still smiling.

"Go ahead and tell her John." he finally said.

"Well you see... I've being keeping my eye on you for awhile and then I got this genius idea in my head and had to follow through with it. I asked my buddy to help me out with it, after I found out that you were a doctor," when he saw the look on my face he added, "I looked at the resume you handed in. And well it worked out, but I didn't mean for anyone to get really hurt."

I stared at him in disbelief, "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Nope." he said with a straight face on and then smiled at my confused state, "I thought that maybe it wouldn't work out when you told me that hockey players are a waste of space."

"Well they are." I told him.

He got a sad look on his face and looked away, standing up. He was about ready to leave, when I grabbed the front of his jersey and stood on my tippy-toes, "I never said that they shouldn't play the sport they love." I told him before kissing him. He deepened the kiss and I started to run my fingers through his soft hair.

I heard someone clear their throat and John broke the kiss, "Mr. Ward, can you tell Coach that I don't think I'll be able to finish the game. Doctor's order." John said.

I smirked, knowing that I told him he shouldn't have practiced or played tonight. Mr. Ward nodded and went to tell Coach. John gave me another short kiss, before asking me to go out with him tonight. I smiled and told him I would, knowing that Julie had Carly.

He gave me another mind-blowing kiss before running into the locker room to change and clean up. I saw the other hockey player and walked over to him.

"Thank you," I paused.

"It's Alex." he said. I smiled at him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Well thank you a lot. Sorry that you got hurt though. You should be better in just a week or two." I said sincerely. Alex smiled.

"I would always help out my friends. And if you ever need any help. Just give me a call. Liles should have my number." he said. Mr. Ward came back in and gave me another smile.

"Looks like you have a new job here." he said.

"What would that be?" I asked.

"Helping me out."

I smiled as a pair of arms wrapped around my waist. Today was not as bad as the others. I think I could learn to like working here.