three
"I've been working here for ten years!" Luke was trying not to yell at Ashton since, after all, Ashton was his boss, but he was angry. "Why does Michael get to hire the new nurse? He's never hired anyone!"
"I'm a responsible adult," Michael said, trying to hide the juice box he was drinking.
Luke turned to the twenty-eight-year-old, making sure Michael saw his eye roll. "You can't even remember to water the plants in your office!"
Michael held up his hand, trying to calm Luke's yelling voice. "You know what, that has nothing to do with being an adult. Maybe I like my plants dead."
"That's terrible."
Ashton moved files over to Michael, letting the younger man grab them. "Now that Luke is done, here are the files."
"Ashton, come on, he's a kid! He's just gonna hire more people like him!" Luke crossed his legs over one another, readjusting his back so he sat up straight. His parents always scolded him for his poor posture, he should be at his full 6'4" height.
"Michael is a great addition to this office," Ash flattered, smiling at the younger man.
"That's not even true and you know it. We had this conversation, like, two days ago."
Mike put a hand to his heart, "Aw, you guys talk about me? That's so cute."
Luke could physically feel his blood boiling. "All you do is talk, call people on your cell phone, and never take things seriously! What kind of Ob/Gyn are you?!"
Michael debated singing Hotline Bling after 'call people on your cell phone' left Luke's mouth, but he slowly realized that that was exactly what Luke was talking about.
There were things in Michael's life that he took seriously, there plenty of issues he had to take care of. When he got to work, his personal life slipped away. He was able to be the fun spirit in the office, he was able to joke around and make the best out of every moment he worked.
He never thought of that as unprofessional or unsophisticated.
"I'm a damn good Ob/Gyn and you know that, Blondie."
Luke formed his hands into a fist and tried to do the breathing exercises that his therapist recommended that Luke himself would never figure out. "I asked you not to call me that," he said, teeth clenched.
"Boys, boys, behave yourself," Ashton butted in. He didn't want a fist fight in his office, that was way too much paperwork he didn't want to do.
Ashton, a divorced man from Long Island, did not want to deal with more than he had to.
"Do you really want another Michael in the office, Sir?"
"Stop kissing his ass," Michael spat. The perky smile upon his lips was dropping with every sentence Luke spoke.
Michael worked way too hard and way too long on his career to be criticized by his coworker.
"Do we need to do another retreat to get you two to bond?" Ashton asked, moving his brown glasses from the tip of his nose down to his desk. He brought his hand up to his nose, rubbing at the bridge as if the two men in front of him gave him a headache. They did give him a headache.
"Please, no," Luke begged, quieting his voice. "I just don't think it's fair he's in charge of the new hires, he's a child."
"Wow, don't spare my feelings or anything. I love being in pain," Michael said, "I love suffering."
Luke took a quick glance over, making sure the black-haired man wasn't actually about to cry. He looked back at Ashton with pleading eyes.
"Fine. You two will team up and hire this new nurse together," Ashton said, believing he just solved world hunger.
"Ashton!" Luke complained, his original tone back in place. "That's worse! You know that's a bad idea!"
"You two work fine in big deliveries!"
Luke sat back in his seat sighing. "Delivering quadruplets and working together to hire a nurse are a lot different."
Michael couldn't process what was happening. Did Luke actually hate him or did he just want the nurse hire under his name?
Mike never wanted to hurt anyone, ever. He wanted to be a source of happiness in everyone's life. Seeing Luke so reluctant to work with him wasn't the best feeling in the world for a person like Michael, it was much the opposite.
"You can just give it to him," Michael said with crushed spirits, "it's whatever."
There was the tiniest pang of guilt on the edge of Luke's heart, but it wasn't enough to react.
"No, you're going to fucking work together and get me a fucking good nurse. Okay? Great. Leave my office before I fucking fire you both." Ashton voice was stern, he was never the one to mess around.
Both men stood up, their shoulders almost getting stuck as they tried to walk out at the same time.
They were idiots. Idiot 1 and Idiot 2, they somehow belonged together.
The hiring process was vague. Lots of bickering filled with "No, I'm the hot doctor," and "You can't listen to him, his degree is in being a douchebag."
Idiot 1 and 2 were beyond a lost cause.
I'll start asking my deep psychological questions around chapter five ;--)-)-)-)-)
