For Keeps

4. Luke

She wants me to practice drawing her blood. I'm not afraid of sticking people, but I'm afraid of her. Hurting her, to be more specific. Also, she's distracting me. She smells amazing; like vanilla. Then there are her eyes. Her eyes are so beautiful it's hard to look away from her. Then, her lips. I keep looking at her lips. Her top lip is smaller than her bottom, but they are perfect and now all I'm thinking about is kissing them.
Stop Luke. Fuck. Pull yourself together.

I grab some gauze, alcohol pads, tape, the hubs for the butterflies and a tourniquet.
"Grab a couple tubes. And a syringe. Have you used one before?" She asks from the chair.
I shake my head.
"Okay good. I have a few goods hand veins, so practice all you want." She smiles reassuringly at me and I feel a little more at ease.
I stand in front of her and look at her hands. "Which one should I use?"
"You pick."
I pick her left one and tourniquet above her wrist. I hold her hand in mine for a moment. It's warm now. When  I first shook her hand it was so cold from being outside. "Your hands are warmer now." I say out loud not meaning to.
"Are they? I still feel freezing." She laughs.
"Me too. It's so cold here. I wasn't expecting it to get so cold so fast."
"Welcome to Montana." She laughs.
I pick a vein on her hand and wipe it with the alcohol.
"The trick with hands is to go more along them. Not angled like up in the AC. They are shallower. Oh and also, they usually like to roll more,  so make sure you anchor it good. Mine don't roll too bad, but older patients are notorious for rolling veins. Let's use the syringe first. I'll walk you through it. "
I wipe the excess alcohol off her skin and get the butterfly needle ready. I  anchor her vein and take a deep breath. "Sharp poke." I say and slide the needle into her hand. She doesn't even flinch.
"Good job." She says watching intently. "So you see the little flash of blood? That means you're in so just secure the syringe with your left hand and gently pull back on it. Not too fast or it could blow or collapse the vein. After awhile it will be easier to determine how hard to pull. Just fill up the whole 10 mils. You're doing great." I do as she says and fill up the syringe.
"Okay now place the gauze over the needle but don't put pressure on it until you pull the needle back. Retract it right away. If you don't it will be easier to get a dirty stick." I pop the tourniquet, place the gauze over, and retract the needle then put pressure on it.
"You did great, Luke. Always make sure to either hold pressure or tell the person to. Lack of pressure causes bruising."  I make sure to hold tight. I don't want to bruise her, but I also don't want to let go. I look down at her face and she is staring at me. She instantly blushes but we keep eye contact. My heart is beating out of my chest. My breathing has increased along with hers. Fuck. I just want to feel her lips on mine.
All too soon, however the spell is broken as Karianne and Brett return from break startling both of us.
"Well hell. What did we miss?" Karianne giggles.
"He is good with hands. Oh and syringes." She says getting up. Putting her hand over the gauze.
"Oh. Let me put some tape on." I say grabbing the tape. She puts her hand out and I press the tape over the gauze.
"Thanks." She says. Not making eye contact with me again. She turns and retreats out the door. Fuck. Maybe I misread her? No. No way. I saw the look in her eyes.
I need to get to know her, but I feel like it has to be slow. There is something broken in her and I don't want to scare her off.
I don't get too much time to over think because we get a few people in for blood work.
I like watching her interact with patients. The way she smiles and jokes. Brett takes me to a few draws in the doctor offices. I think I'm starting to get the hang of drawing blood. I seem to be missing a lot less.
After about an hour, I'm sitting on a stool in the drawing room when Scarlett pops around the corner. "Hey. Um. I-I was going to go on break... do you want to come with me?" I think I detect a hint of blushing on her. I stand and walk towards her.
"Lead the way." She smiles and walks out the sliding glass doors.
"I usually stay on this side. You can always walk to the cafeteria on the main side of the hospital, but it takes five minutes to walk there and five to walk back. They have good stuff here though." She says as she leads me to the little cafe. She goes and grabs a bottle of water and a yogurt. I grab water and a muffin and we walk to the register. She puts her stuff up and looks at me. "I'll buy." She says smiling.
"What if I want to buy?" I say with a smile.
"Well its your first day over here so I think I should buy." She says handing the cashier money.
"Thank you." I say as we walk out.
"No problem." She smiles.

We walk over to some chairs and she sits so I sit next to her.
"So..." She says.
"So..." I say back. "What's fun to do here?" I ask.
"Well there are some good skiing and snowboarding places. If you like the cold. There are bars basically on every block. Um... in the summer there are lots of camping places."
"Wow. That all sounds... fun." I shake my head and she laughs.
"I hate the cold and I'm insanely afraid of snakes. Also- I'm not really into the whole bar scene and I'm not a fan of drunk people."  She shrugs and smiles.
"I guess there is always Netflix." I laugh. 
"Exactly." She says and takes a drink of water.
"So how long have you lived here?" I ask then take a bite of my muffin.
"About two years. My parents were stationed here years ago."
"Where are they now? Your parents."
"Alaska. They are planning on retiring there."
"Do you have brothers or sisters?"
"Nope. It's just me." She answers. She looks almost sad. Like being her isn't enough. I wish I could make her see that she is more than enough. I want to make her feel like she is somebody's everything.
She clears her throat, clearly uncomfortable.
"Um- what about you? Brothers or sisters?"
"A sister. She lives in Germany with her husband and kids. He is military. They are stationed there."
"Oh wow. That is pretty cool. We were always stationed stateside. I always wanted to go overseas. What made you move to Montana?" She asks but then her eyes go wide. Like she asked the wrong question. "I'm sorry. Maybe that was too personal. You don't have to tell me." She looks embarrassed.
"It's fine. Really. Well after I was medically discharged from the Army, I found my girlfriend of three years had been seeing someone from my unit for the past year. I never had roots anywhere so I decided to move here. It's where my mom and step dad live. It works for now. It's cold as fuck, but I kind of like it here. Maybe it's the people." I say and look at her. Maybe a little to intensely because she starts to blush and looks down at her yogurt briefly before she looks up.
"I'm so sorry Luke." Her eyes are full of concern as she touches my hand. It's brief but before she pulls away, I feel a spark trigger through me. She pulls away and clears her throat. "And you probably think people here are nice because you haven't been to Walmart on a Sunday afternoon."
We both laugh.
"You're right.  I haven't."
"So what made you want to be a vampire." She smiles. I love when she smiles.
"Something new. It seemed like a good idea. Plus my mom works here. She knows Betty."
"Well that works." She say looking at her watch. "We should probably get back. It's been like twenty minutes."

The rest of the day drags on. We don't really talk much more, but I feel like I have sort of cracked a wall with Scarlett. There is still a lot I want to know,  but if she is as secretive as everyone says, I would say today is progress.
I end up staying until close with her even though she told me I could go.
"It's dark outside. I don't want you walking to your car alone. " I tell her.
"Well thank you. I really appreciate that." She smiles as we walk. "This is me." She says pointing to her car. She drives a black Ford Explorer. Maybe an 05.
"Her names Dora." She laughs. "I know it's not unique but I had to."
I laugh. "It fits. Do you like to explore?"
"One day. I'm not very adventurous." She shrugs.
"Maybe this summer we could go explore." I didn't mean to say that out loud.  My brain thought it and my mouth betrayed me.
"That sounds like fun. As long as you protect me from snakes."
"I laugh in the face of snakes... from far away, but if it's for you... I would."
"Thanks... uhh. Where did you park?" She looks around at the empty lot.
"By the main lab. It's okay I can walk." I say and take a step, but she grabs my hand.
"No way. I'll drive you. Get your ass in." She lets my hand go and I silently wish I could hold it again.
When I get into her car, it's already warm.
"It's remote start." She says reading my mind. "The best money I've ever spent."
"I think I'll have to put one in my truck."
"Good idea."
She drives around to the the parking lot I'm in. "It's right over there." I say pointing to my blue Chevy.
"You were awesome today by the way. I'm glad you're here. I think you are going to be a really great fit for us." She says as she pulls next to my truck.
"Thanks. I'm glad I got to meet you. Thanks for everything. I will see you tomorrow. Have a good night Scarlett."
"Night, Luke. See you tomorrow. Drive safe."

And then she is gone. The rest of the night I half watch Netflix and attempt to stalk her on facebook, which she doesn't have.
I fall asleep dreaming of honey brown eyes.