Fascinating Villains

{10} - Cool

I swallow a bite of my peanut butter flavored protein bar, fiddling with the top right corner of my tablet. I save the changes I made to my latest report, glancing over at Colin, who is sitting across me at the rounded table inside the EMT's break room. He is currently chugging the last drops of a bottle of fruit punch sports drink.

"Hey, Colin?"

My coworker puts the empty plastic container down, sighing with apparent satisfaction at his beverage. "Yeah?"

"Do you know when Dr. Russell's going to come by?"

"So you can run and hide before he gets here?"

I chuckle at his joke, automatically reviewing the room to make sure the only person who can hear us is still Leah, who is busy speaking on the phone in the furthest corner, huddled into one of the three armchairs at our disposition.

"I would never. Now, do you know or not?" My question was friendly and amused, just like my use of irony prior to it.

"Yeah. Luckily for us, Dr. Jenkins-Ferguson is assigned to us for the rest of the day and she'll be here in..." He looks down at the time on the screen of his own tablet to complete his answer, "40 minutes, tops."

As if her first name - Wrenley - was not a mouthful enough already, her parents combined both of their last names to give to her. She is the youngest doctor to have been my superior so far, at the age of 31. One of her best traits is that she respects us as medical technicians, unlike Dr. Russell. She is a curvaceous brunette, with an earnest smile most of the time on her freckled face.

"Good, I'll pop out for a minute, then. I should be back before she gets here."

I turn off my device, unzipping my backpack to slip it inside.

Colin eagerly inquires, nearly getting out of is chair: "Where are you going?"

"I just want to stretch my legs a little. I might see if I can find Maximilian, I want us to settle things."

My colleague jumps up with a guilty shadow suddenly veiling his face.

His grin becomes empathetic as he speaks in a slightly more serious tone than he usually does, "Do you mind if I tag along? He's really nervous about all this, I think, so I could ease the tension just by being there."

"Hm, sure. You can keep him from literally running away when he sees me." I roll my eyes, chuckling.

"I definitely will." His smile broadens, and he notes, "Hey, if we take a walk near the ambulance bay, I can just text him to meet me there and we're sure to bump into him."

I raise up, slinging my bag onto my shoulders and gratefully affirming: "That works for me, the sooner this is done, the better."

Maximilian has been avoiding me constantly for the past two days, to the point that I could not even confront him about it. Well, gently confront him, of course. We work the majority of our shifts together, but there is rarely time for futile conversation when we are on duty.

Colin and I are leaning against the brick structure of the hospital, outside the ambulance bay, waiting for the newest member of our team to arrive. My coworker crosses his arms tighter, pressing them against his muscular chest. His biceps are bulging, stretching the polyester fabric of his safety jacket as he attempts to casually support the right side of his body with the wall. I turn my head to the left, to face him, apologetically offering:

"We can go back inside if you'd like, I didn't realize how cold it would be outside..!" I laugh to punctuate my suggestion.

"No, this is fine. I get cold way too easily, it's honestly worrying. I should live closer to the equator." He glances down at my arms, smiling. "I don't know how you're not freezing right now, though, only with a shirt on."