Eleven

 

I agreed to meet him by the front desk at the end of my shift, before heading back to my ward. The ED was empty of patients and I was only a phone call across the hospital, after all.

The remainder of my shift passed without incident, so it seemed a very short time later that I collected my things and made my way back to ED.

Rob, the orderly, manned the desk as I approached it. He looked surprised.

"Is the intern around?" I asked him.

Rob's hands tightened on the edge of the desk, his knuckles paling to bone white. "I haven't seen him for a bit," he replied with difficulty.

My eyes darted around, looking for either the intern or anyone else I could ask. Movement in the reflective office window caught my attention.

I heard Rob make a choking noise, but I paid him no heed as I squinted at the window. Beneath the desk, reflected in the glass, little Lin was on her knees with her mouth inside Rob's unzipped work pants. Against the rear of Rob's pants, Lin's hand splayed like a sea-star, over the green rectangle I recognised as a hundred dollar bill.

Busy night for the nursing student, I thought acidly, turning away to peer out into the car park. Perhaps he thought I would meet him outside? Or at the restaurant?

"Perfect timing, Belinda." Aidan entered from the corridor, his hair damp as if he'd just stepped from a shower. He'd changed his clothes, too, making me feel uncomfortable in my work clothes.

"Should I go home and get changed, too?" I asked uncertainly.

"You look lovely already. I just wanted to look good enough to be seen with you, is all," he replied with a wide smile.

Behind us, Rob choked again, though it seemed like Lin had no issue with swallowing silently.

I shrugged and walked outside with Aidan. The students were now no longer my problem, nor his. Dr Tan had started his shift, as had the night shift nurse.

We parted to enter our own cars, then drove in convoy the few kilometres to the brewery.

The restaurant was half empty this late on a weeknight, so it seemed no time at all before my steaming plate of battered shark landed before me.

Aidan slurped his way through some ribbony pasta as I savoured every bite of hot shark. I considered ordering another.

"Hell, that was quick." Aidan laughed, nodding at my plate. "I've never seen a girl enjoy her food so much before."

I returned my raised hand to my lap, deciding not to signal the waitress for another serving if it made me appear strange. I'd return tomorrow to satisfy my craving instead.

Without the observant intern.

I excused myself, telling him I was tired, before paying for my meal and heading home.