Cracked Hearts

Attitudes, Annoyance, and Awakenings

"BP is 70/30 and dropping."

"Alright ladies, time to work our magic." Doctor Leary exclaimed.

After a long, hard couple of hours the patient was finally declared out of the woods. Doctor Lauren Price collapsed onto an empty hospital bed. After a 24 hour shift of the emergency room, her eyes felt like popping out of her head and her limbs felt like they were slowly detaching from her body.

She heaved a sigh, Why did I choose this line of work again? She thought to herself.

She forced herself up, walked to her desk and picked up some patients charts. Having only recently graduated from medical school, she had landed a great residency in one of the top hospitals in the nation. Not to her surprise, this meant more workload then the average doctor, but she loved every minute.

She looked over at Doctor Leary's desk, it was piled high with patient charts, medical journals, and medical supplies. She smiled as she thought of her mentor. He was everything she wanted to become; smart, patient, confident, and energetic. He always seemed to know exactly what to do in any situation. In her eyes he was superman, he managed to have a wonderful career and a loving family.

It's not that she didn't have those things, it's only that she hadn't figured out how to balance the two.

She thought back to her last couple dates. One had been set up by a coworker, he had turned out to be a dentist with an ear fetish, go figure. Is it me? Do I just attract creeps? She thought to herself.

Just at that moment of deep thought, she heard a voice that made her jump. "Hey..."

Is this a dream? She thought to herself sarcastically. There is no way he's talking to me.

Ryan Pierce was spoken about by the women in the hospital in hushed tones. His stunning good looks and sexy Australian accent made women swoon and boy did he know it.

Great, how I'm I going to get out of this? She thought to herself. Unlike the rest of the women in the hospital, she found him self-absorbed and snotty, not to mention a serious player. She had stopped keeping track of how many times he had invited her over to have the "experience of a lifetime". She wasn't about to become the next notch on his already well-worn bed post.

"Hello, Doctor Pierce."

"May I say you look enchanting today."

"Humph." she scoffed. "I just came off a very long shift, the only thing I look is sleep deprived, now if you'll excuse me I think I'll go home and catch up on some sleep."

"You know you work too hard... You need someone to take care of you."

"I do have someone."

"Oh really?!" He raised his eyebrows, "I didn't realize you were involved with someone."

"Is that so hard to believe?"

"No, but I just..."

"Just what?"

"Well I just wonder how amazing he must be for you to turn me down for him." He said with a smirk on his face.

"This may come as a surprise to you but it doesn't take someone that amazing to be better than you."

"Oh." Doctor Pierce said stuttering a little. "I see how it is."

Lauren smirked, enjoying his discomfort.

"Have a nice evening, Doctor Pierce."

As she walked away, Lauren laughed silently. She enjoyed watching him squirm, he obviously didn't get rejected that often. In reality, she was as single as a person that wore scrubs 98% of the time is expected to be. She had no interest in a relationship either.