Heut Ist Dein Glückstag

Driving home Ash continued to gush over her embargo with Tom at the hospital her run away mouth smiling and joking making me laugh and cringe at the same time. ‘What if Bill had woken up while you were freaking dry humping his brother?’ Silence. Her eyes widened and she stared at me unblinking.

‘EWWWW!’ I shrugged at her. ‘Oh my God, what if he did?! Oh well. He can enjoy the view.’ Flicking her hair she winked at me. Now it was my turn to “Ewwww!” Laughing at me she poured herself a glass of wine and sat on the sofa while I joined her. ‘Why don’t you just admit it?’

‘Admit what?’

‘That you totally think Bill is hot!’

I snorted. ‘Because it’s not true?’

‘Oh come on, I saw you looking at him while we were there.’

‘You might not have noticed, but being a nurse, it’s kind of my job.’

‘I don’t mean like that.’

‘I don’t care what you meant. It’s not true either way. Even if it was I’m not interested. I don’t need that right now. Not after…’

‘Would you just forget him for fucks sake?! He was a waste of space and a piece of shit. He dragged you through hell and back and you could never see it. Now you finally got rid of him, you’re still letting him run your life!’ Ash’s face was serious and the glass of wine now sat on the table while she looked at me. This had now turned into a serious conversation. As it normally did when this topic arose. It was sort of a sensitive area for me, she didn’t quite see it the same way I did though. Most people didn’t.

‘I do not let him run my life.’

‘So flirt with Bill tomorrow at work.’

‘No.’

‘Running your life.’

‘Ash! It’s unprofessional! No one runs my life but me. And I want some me time, I don’t need anyone else right now. I have you that’s all I need.’ A grave face looked at me with a hidden smile at that last part. Unable to hide it any longer it broke through and she returned to her wine.

‘Yeah, but I want on Tom, so play nice.’ All I could do was shake my head at her and cuddle before heading off to bed.

The next morning Ash was unbelievably awake on the way to work. Was it possible for me to be dreading this day any more? I don’t think so. Signing in she could barely keep still bouncing on the soles of her feet and fidgeting. If you looked up restless in the dictionary, it would just be a picture of Ash right now. We were handed our charts for our patients and Ash riffled through them excitedly when her face dropped I realised someone else must be on call for that part of the ward. I shrugged my shoulders at her in sympathy looking down at my own list to gauge whether today was going to stay bad, or get even worse.

‘Oh dear.’

‘What?!’ Ash leapt at me stealing my chart away. ‘That’s not fair!’

‘Ash,’ I took my chart back, ‘they’re patients like everyone else. Look we have lives to save, you can see them at break or something.’ I spun on my heel and headed for the room they were moved to overnight. I opened the door quietly after knocking and smiled. ‘Hi, how’re you both feeling?’

‘In so much pain.’ Bill winced shifting a little to prove his point.

‘Well, I can increase your dosage but only a little bit and see if that makes it any better?’ I continued routine checks on both of them. ‘How did you sleep?’

‘We were in a car accident, how do you think we slept?’ Tom laughed as I returned a smile. ‘How come you’re being so nice?’

‘I’m nice most of the time. Plus, you’re patients I don’t have a choice.’ I kept smiling at them to show them I was joking. ‘Ash just knows how to wind me up that’s all.’

‘Really? We suffer from a similar problem.’ Bill gave Tom a look, to which he responded by smirking.

‘Well you’ve got another problem to suffer with. I need to change your dressings.’

‘Will it hurt?’

‘Can’t lie, yes it probably will.’ Bill looked crestfallen and winced again as he shifted. ‘I’ll be as gentle as I can be, I promise.’ We smiled at each other as Tom sat across in the other bed flicking through a magazine. ‘No more stage appearances for a while then?’

‘Doesn’t look like it. I can barely move without it hurting. And I look like a mess.’

‘You’ve been crushed by a car what do you expect to look like? It’s not as bad as you think trust me. We’ll have that pretty face fixed up in no time.’ I joked while removing the old dressings from the gash across his head and cleaning it out again before applying new ones. ‘You’ve made a good job of that, it’s pretty deep.’

‘Am I going to die?’ He whimpered. I couldn’t help laughing at him.

‘Are you always this dramatic?’ He just stared at me expectantly. ‘No Bill. You’re not going to die.’ He gave a visible sigh of relief as I rolled my eyes and moved on to fixing up Tom’s wounds. ‘Is he always that bad?’

‘That’s nothing. You should hear him when his hair gets out of place.’ I scrunched my face up in disbelief and he just nodded at me instantly regretting it. ‘Well that fucking hurt.’

‘You’ve probably got whiplash. Try and look to the side. And the other one.’ I continued checking up on the rest of his ailments and noting down his new one while he and Bill chatted away. ‘You’ll need this.’ I handed him a sheet. ‘It’s some exercises to do for your neck, I’ll be back in a bit I’ll do them with you. Buzz if you need me.’ I smiled and shut the door. As soon as it clicked I heard the buzzer. ‘Yes?’ I asked re-entering the room.

‘Just testing.’ I smiled and shut the door again. I moved about three paces before it went off again.

‘Yes?’ I huffed as I opened it again patience wearing thin.

‘I’m a bit uncomfortable.’ Tom moaned gesturing for his pillows to be adjusted to which I complied.

‘Better?’

‘Oh yeah.’ He said trying to get a good look down my top. I placed my hands on my hips and gave him a disapproving look. ‘Ash is a lot more fun than you.’

‘Well Ash isn’t looking after you today, I am. And I don’t do your kind of fun.’ This time I didn’t even get the door shut before the buzzer sounded. ‘What do you want?’ My voice came out a little angrier than intended.

‘Nothing, I just thought it would be funny.’ Tom laughed at me, Bill sitting awkwardly watching on.

‘And was it?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Well I’m glad I amuse you, but while I’m in here and you’re wasting my time there other patients in the hospital that need attending to. SO if they’re suffering I’ll just tell them who to come to. Okay?’ He nodded looking a lot more solemn.

I finished up with all my patients and went to find Ash for a lunch break. It didn’t take me long to spot her, she was staring at me clearly willing me to see her. ‘Tell me everything!’

‘Ash, I changed their dressings and evaluated their meds. Same as I do with everyone else.’

‘Oh come on something must have happened. Did they mention me?’

‘Tom said that you were a lot more fun than I was. If you know what I mean.’

Ash’s face lit up with delight tucking into her sandwiches. ‘And Bill, how did you get on with Bill?’

‘Drop it Ash.’ Now it was her turn to roll her eyes at me. ‘Look, Tom has whiplash I’m supposed to go through the exercises with him, if you want we can swap charts I’ll finish off your shift for the day. Besides, they’re going to need help bathing pretty soon, which I believe is more your department.’

‘Damn straight.’ She winked at me as I giggled at her. ‘Well guess who is going to be a happy bunny on the ride home. I don’t have many patients left, come find me when you’re done?’

‘Well I won’t exactly have to look very hard will I?’

‘That depends, me and Tom might occupy one of the store cupboards.’

‘With that cast on his leg and broken ribs? Good luck.’ She stuck her tongue out at me before disappearing off down the corridor to carry on her work. It wasn’t long before I was behind her picking up her chart and moving around the ward. I was checking through things at the nurses ward when I overheard one of the conversations passing between some of my work colleagues. Each and every one of them was gossiping about the twins. I was mentally shaking my head at them. What was the big deal about them anyway? So they’re in a band. Big deal. They’re not THAT attractive.