Mind the Bleep

12 | Consider It Done

"That was...incredible!" Caliana rambled along in the female locker room. The fiery sun had risen and settled on night three of her week-long string of night shifts.

And now, Caliana's back remained relaxed away from Dawn as she towed her teal-scrub top up and over her head; the adrenaline rush from the medical emergency of night one still snaking through her vessels.

"I still can't believe we did that...that I did that. I keep replaying it in my mind." Caliana hauled the matching teal scrub trousers up and over her knees, fastening the strap at her waist. "I keep thinking, yes, I am that bitch who single-handedly inserted a chest drain successfully on my first attempt. And did you see the look on Isaac's face?" She scooped the freshly damp waves of her washed hair into a low ponytail, swivelling around when no response arose from her colleague. Behind her resided a still butt-naked Dawn on the wooden bench, air pods wedged firmly into her ears.

Having now spent three nights with Dawn so far, Caliana had discovered that whilst she may have been gifted the nickname of a voyeur, Dawn was the certified nudist. But as the latter girl had once uttered, God had blessed her with this body for a reason, and it would have been nothing short of a cardinal sin to conceal it. "Dawn, are you even listening? I was talking to you ab—" She scooted forward to remove the foreign object from the girl's left ear.

"The patient with the pneumothorax. I know. We've only had this same conversation about two thousand times." Dawn droned in response, her wrist flailing down to her Louis Vuitton bag situated on the floor, clutching her scrubs, whilst feigning an audible yawn to stress her boredom.

"Sorry. Sorry." Caliana muttered, sinking down beside Dawn in silence. But it wasn't long before the gleam re-emerged in the mahogany-coloured irises of her eyes. "But how can I ever stop talking about it?! It was the most exhilarating experience of my career so far. And even Isaa—"

"Isaac, Isaac, Isaac." Dawn parroted the words of her colleague, boosting her voice up by a few decibels in a poor endeavour to imitate Caliana. She shuffled along the bench until her lips were a mere few centromeres away from her Caliana's ear. "Tell me, Callie, have you found any polyps up there yet?"

Caliana's eyebrows bunched up in confusion. "Polyps?" She repeated. "What are you talking about, Dawn?"

Dawn emitted a sigh, finally lugging the scrub top over her head. "These past few nights, you've been kissing that man's ass so much, you've practically performed a colonoscopy on him. So, go on then, how's his colon looking?"

"I have not!" Caliana's mouth plunged wide open before she permitted a shudder to dance through her body. "And ew. That is a vile thought."

Dawn entitled her lips to slant in objection. "Callie, I went to med school in Little Oaks. Doctor Rhys has known of my existence for nearly five years, and he still can't get my name right. He called me Doctor Swan out there." She flung both her hands up and outwards with frustration. "And here, you come along. Not even able to do chest compressions properly on your first day, and you're already on a first-name basis with him. Like, what exactly did you have to do to achieve that? You been sucking him off or something?" Dawn jested, but when Caliana didn't oppose immediately, she yelped. "Oh my god! I was kidding, but don't tell me you actually are?!"

"Shh." Caliana held her index finger against Dawn's lip, the remnants of Dawn's coral-pink lip stain forming a sharp line against the pulp of Caliana's finger. She curved her head from side to side confirming that none of the surgical team were eavesdropping. Caliana wavered for several moments, contemplating over Isaac and her earlier almost-kiss situation, and wondering whether it was wise to divulge such information to her new friend. She quickly decided against it. "Has the thought occurred to you that maybe, just maybe I'm a good doctor, and he's impressed with my skills?" She addended herself before Dawn could prematurely intersect. "And no, I am not referring to my oral skills."