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The bodies of the other new resident nurses crushed me from each side, which was annoying because I wanted to make an impression on this hospital, my first ever medical job, right away, but it was also kind of comforting. I guess it was nice to know that I wasn’t alone in all of this.
“Oh my God, this is so exciting!” Nancy, one of the more immature girls from nursing school squealed to me. “Violet, aren’t you so thrilled to be here.”
Of course I was, but I didn’t want to be seen as a sillier person, so I nodded sharply and kept my head fixed forwards. I’d always wanted to work in a hospital, the idea of helping other people drove me forwards, and now I would actually get a chance to do that. I was utterly thrilled, but consumed by anxiety at the same time.
“Right, newbies,” one of the older nurses looked down on us, which instantly had my heart racing faster. “You’ve all been to nursing school, and you’ve all had your training, but today you start work for real. It isn’t going to be as easy as I’m sure a lot of you are expecting and you might not all be able to hack it, but that is something that we’ll soon find out.”
I shot Nancy a nervous look, which she returned, but I was determined. I hadn’t gone through all those years of education for nothing. I would use my education in the right way, and I couldn’t wait.
After that very...motivating speech, we were separated into groups and sent off to shadow other members of staff for the day. I was keen to jump in and to take over, which the nurse, Miranda, I’d been assigned to work with took gratefully. She actually let me insert IV drips and take blood. Okay, so it wasn’t necessarily life-saving stuff, not like they’d have in accident and emergency, but it was a good start. Probably better than some of the others.
“Violet, is it?” Miranda asked me gruffly at one point as the day was coming to a close. I nodded unsure of why she suddenly sounded so grouchy with me. “Yeah, you’re gonna do well here. Most people fuck up on their first day.” I blanched at the use of an expletive, but since no one else in the room seemed bothered I couldn’t see any need to mention it either. “The fact that you haven’t speaks volumes. I’ll recommend you to Dr. Turner.”
Dr. Turner, the one name in the world that had the potential to turn me into jelly. Of course, I wasn’t expecting this to be the same Dr. Turner, but I couldn’t stop my mind travelling back in time all the same.
During my training, there were a lot of visits from working doctors to teach us specific classes, and Dr. Turner was just one of them. He was utterly stunning, with his dark hair, his chocolaty eyes, his high cheek bones, and his broad shoulders. I really paid attention in his class! Everyone liked him, but I liked him more than I had liked anyone else before. I dreamt about him, fantasized about him, thought about him all the time. The only thing that stopped me taking any sort of action on that, was the fact that he was my teacher and it’d be so incredibly wrong.
It wasn’t just his looks that got to me either, there was something special about him. He had a charisma, a magnetism that drew me in. Urgh, he was just so wonderful. I didn’t think I would ever be able to find anyone that compared.
“Right, thank you very much.” My chest swelled with pride. I knew I could do well here, but the fact that I was and that I’d been given a compliment made me really proud of myself. “That’s wonderful news.”
“In fact...” she grabbed onto my arm and dragged me along with her. I couldn’t resist even if I wanted to, which admittedly I didn’t because I was so intrigued, “let’s go and see him right now.”
I hopped anxiously from foot to foot as we stood outside an office with Dr. Turner’s name on a plaque on the door. I wasn’t sure how appropriate this recommendation was, and I certainly didn’t want the first impression that I made to be a bad one.
“Come in!” a muffled voice called through the wooden door.
Miranda shoved the door open and stood in my way, blocking my view. I was happy to hide behind her for a moment, just until I worked out how mad we were making this doctor.
“Dr. Turner,” Miranda’s voice was warm now. “I have a great newbie here that I wanted to recommend to you. She’s probably come from one of the schools you’ve taught at, so you may already know her.”
Wait...did she just say teach?
My face heated up, my whole body began to tremble, I started to really freak out. There was no way...that would be too much of a coincidence. Then again, he did work at some hospital and I wasn’t sure which one.
Then Miranda stepped to one side, and my heart dropped to my shoes as I lay eyes on him once more.
“Ah yes, Violet Green. I remember you.”
He remembers me? Out of all the people he’s taught...why me?
He stepped forward to shake my hand, which I allowed him to do...with a very open mouth. I really wanted to find something to say, anything to make me look slightly less like a dumbass, but I couldn’t seem to find the words anyway.
Dr. Turner had me speechless.
“So, you’re doing well are you?” he continued, ignoring my sheer awkwardness. “That’s wonderful to hear.”
“Y...yes, thank you.” Urgh, did I have to sound like such an idiot? “Miranda has been great.”
“Yeah well, Miranda is great. I’m more interested in how you’re doing...”
With that, much to my relief, Miranda took over the explanation leaving me to wallow in shock.