The Last Chicane

Jet Lag

I pulled my suitcase into my hotel room. Shutting the door behind me, I left my suitcase by the door and collapsed onto the bed from exhaustion. I knew I was going to be jet lagged so it's a good thing that I had no plans for the rest of the day besides having a date with my bed. Before taking a nap I decided to shower and wash off the plane ride. I quickly showered, washing my hair and face. After doing my skincare routine and drying my hair, my natural waves now showing since I usually straighten with a flat iron. I threw on an oversized pale blue t-shirt and a pair of black leggings to sleep in.

After climbing back into bed and pulling the covers over me, I decided I should send a quick text to Tessa and Tatum to let them know that I had made it and that I wasn't kidnapped or anything. They both text back immediately saying how relieved they were.

It didn't take me long to fall asleep due to how exhausted I was. But that last shift at work was haunting me in my sleep. I tossed and turned. I finally gave up and grabbed my phone to see how long I slept for. 4pm. I had barely slept for an hour. Fantastic.

My stomach started growling. The last time I had eaten was on the plane, and that was a long time ago. Deciding I should go out, grab something to eat, and become more familiar with my surroundings, I got dressed.

It was a little chilly today. 58 degrees Fahrenheit. I'm glad I packed on the warmer side. I threw on a pair of blue jeans and a cream long sleeve shirt. For shoes I decided on a pair of black sneakers since I was going to be walking quite a bit today.

Stepping out of the hotel building, I started walking down the streets of Monte Carlo. It was beautiful, every part of it.

As I was walking, I passed by a book store. I decided it would be good to get a book to read while I was here. I mean, I didn't have any set plans while I was here anyway.

Stepping into the small bookstore, it took my breath away. Floor to ceiling shelves filled with books. This was my dream. I could spend the rest of the day in here.

The worker behind me smiles and nods his head at me in greeting, which I returned the gesture.

I started walking down one of the isles, not having any idea what kind of book I wanted to buy yet.

After walking the isles for a while, I decided that I wanted a poetry book. Those were my favorite. I was having trouble finding the poetry section so I went to find the worker to ask for help.

As I approached him, he smiled at me again.

"Hello, where are your poetry books?" I asked.

The man's eyebrows drew together to form a puzzled look.

Fuck. Does he not speak English? I really should've learned some French before I came here.

I started reaching for my phone out of my back pocket-

"Où sont les livres de poésie? (Where are the poetry books?)" a deep voice came from behind me.

Recognition swept across the man's face. "Ah, bonjour Charles. Les livres de poésie sont sur l'étagère du haut de la deuxième île. (Ah, hello Charles. The poetry books are on the top shelf of the second isle.)"

I turned around to thank the stranger that was helping me but I froze as soon as I saw him. He was beautiful. Brown hair that swept across his forehead, piercing green eyes that captivated my grey blue ones. He was taller than me, probably close to 6 feet tall. Which wasn't saying much considering I was only 5 foot 4 inches. Broad shoulders with a athletic/muscular build. He was wearing an oversized black hoodie, blue jeans and white sneakers.

"The poetry books are on the top shelf of the second isle." Mystery man translated for me what the worker had told him, his French accent coming through.

"Thanks, I really should've thought ahead about not knowing any French before coming here on vacation." I make a mental note to start learning French. I should've at least learned some French. I knew that most countries knew English as well, but I shouldn't have assumed that everyone knew English.

"You're here on vacation?" he questioned.

I nod my head in response as I start to make my way to the second isle. He follows me. "Yeah. I just landed a couple of hours ago. I tried to take a nap, but I was too excited so I figured I should explore a little bit. Then I saw this bookstore and thought it would be a good idea to buy a book to read while I'm here."

He looks at me intently. Then I realized I should probably ask him what his name is so I can properly thank him. "So, what's your name?"

He's hesitant for a second, looking at me oddly. "My name is Charles, and your name is?"

"Well, Charles, thank you for being my translator back there. And it's Blake. Blake Rivers. And do you have a last name, Charles?" I replied.

Charles smirked. "Blake. That's a beautiful name." Dodging my question about his last name altogether.

I laughed. "Thanks." I hated receiving compliments. They always made me uncomfortable. "So are you going to tell me your last na-"

I was stopped mid sentence as my phone started ringing. Glancing down at the screen I saw that it was Tessa. She was working today, which only meant one thing-

"Uh excuse me, I need to answer this." I said as I picked my phone up to my ear.

"-pressures are dropping, heart rate is in the 170s, I think he's bleeding internally but he's no where near stable enough to transfer to get him a CT." Tessa is practically yelling at me through the phone.

"Tessa. Slow down. What all drips are running right now? And who's the doctor? Is it Thompson?" She starts telling me what all IV drips the patient is on and what was going on. I couldn't see the patient but it did sound like he was bleeding out. She tells me his vitals again while I'm thinking, I finally speak. "Okay. Do not go up any more on the vasopressors until you talk to Dr. Thompson, okay? Going up on the pressers will make him bleed more. Get some labs, you need a stat H&H so you can see his blood levels. He needs more volume until you can get him some blood products. Can you see him bleeding anywhere? What do his lungs sound like?"

She takes a second before she replied "His left lung sound extremely wet but I can't hear anything in his right lung at all."

"Shit. He's probably developing a hemothorax. Go ahead and get a stat chest X-ray too. No, Tessa, Dr Thompson won't care if you get that now before calling him. Do all of those things and call Thompson, he will be able to give you orders for some fluids and blood. He's probably going to tell you to give him some albumin while you're waiting on the blood. Keep me updated, and call me back if you need me. Remember Tessa, you can do this. Okay?" I reassured her. I said that because it's true. She can do this.

She said her thanks and hung up quickly. I turned back around fully expecting Charles No-Last-Name to be gone considering I was on the phone for a couple of minutes. But to my surprise he was still there. Watching me as he was leaning against the book shelf with his arms crossed over his chest, his head tilted slightly. He looked fascinated, like he had never seen someone on the phone before.

Making my way back to the book shelf, I stated "Sorry about that. That was my friend at work, it was an emergency."

"Sounded like it," Charles before adding, "What is it that you do?"

I hesitated. Typically after I told men what my job was, they ran for the hills. My job either intimidated them, they couldn't handle my work hours, or what I did grossed them out. Yet here he was asking what my job was 10 minutes after meeting him. What if he found out what I did and he walked away?

"I uh. I'm a nurse. I work in the Intensive Care Unit at a Level 1 Trauma Center in Houston, Texas."