One•Shots

crew + jaden

c r e w *

I'm a Freshman in college studying medicine, particularly to be an RN-ER nurse. While I'm in school, however, I'm working at the hospital as a student nurse in the pediatric ward. I do many things: check people in, do their weight, height, and vitals, take them to their ER rooms, take them to their floor rooms, help do x-rays, update the patient and their family. I do a lot, basically. I also sometimes go around and have the parents fill out paperwork.

"Crew, we have a new patient checking in. 8-year-old female, high fever, sore throat, and vomiting." One of my co-workers, Julie, says to me as I come from giving a three-year-old her IV.
"Okay, what's her name?" I ask.
Julie looks down at the sign-in clipboard. "Mackenzie Daniels,"
I must get a look on my face because Julie looks at me worriedly.
"What? What's wrong?"
"I-I think I know them. Her brother and I were best friends."
"Were? What happened?"
"College happened. I kept trying to reach out but was almost always met with radio silence, the couple times we did try to meet up, something always came up."
"Oh, honey. I'm so sorry! I can get another nurse to help them if you think it'll be too hard for you?"
"N-no, I'll be alright, I think,"
"Okay, well you let me know if you're not."
I nod and she smiles at me. "I'll get Piper to get them checked in and back in their room, and then you can take over."
"Sounds good,"

"Crew, they're ready for you," Julie says.
I nod. I grab the clipboard with the paperwork on it.
"Bailey, I need your help. IV, antiemetic medication, Zofran should be fine, and bloodwork." I say as I pass by another nurse. She looks up and nods at me.
I wait for her to grab the IV stuff and her cart with her IV/bloodwork stuff and then we walk to Mackenzie's 'room' (it's a curtain pulled around a section of the room) together.
I pull the curtain open and Mackenzie looks up immediately.
"Crew!" she squeals.
"Hi!" I say gently.
"We're going to have Mom and Dad fill out some paperwork, then we're going to take your temperature and blood pressure, and take a look at your throat. Dr. Michaels will be in shortly to speak with you as well," I say, adding the last part for her parents. "My friend, Bailey, is going to give you an IV and take some bloodwork to make sure all of your cells are working well and that you don't have any infections, okay?"
She nods. I hand Mrs. Daniels the clipboard and tell her what to fill out, then I go to Mackenzie and take her blood pressure and temperature. Her blood pressure is 97/76 (that's good for an eight-year-old, I believe) but her temperature is 103.4.

"Have you given her any medicine for a fever?" I ask Mr. Daniels.
Mrs. Daniels looks up. "Yes, I gave it to her about four and a half hours ago." She says.
"Okay, so it's time for some more medicine, I'll be right back."
I come back within three minutes with some Children's Tylenol.
"Do you have any pain?" I ask her as I feel around her throat/neck.
"Yeah, my throat hurts really bad! And when I have to throw up it hurts really badly, too! I cry when I throw up because it hurts!" Mackenzie says.
I nod, turning to Mr. and Mrs. Daniels.
"So what it sounds like to me, and Dr. Michaels will confirm this, is tonsilitis. If it is, there is a ninety-nine percent chance that Dr. Michaels will suggest taking the tonsils out. He can do that here, within the next three days or less. Probably sooner as she will be considered an emergency surgery."
Mr. and Mrs. Daniels nod in agreement. Bailey finishes up with the IV and bloodwork.
"I'll be back in a little bit to check up on you all," I say and turn around, walking out of the curtained area. Yes, I did notice Jaden, her brother, sitting in the corner. No, I did not speak to him. He looked up several times and looked at me.
"Crew, you can go on break," Julie says when I come back. "20 minutes,"
I nod and then hear a voice call out my name.
"Crew!" It calls.
I whirl around and find Jaden running towards me.
I sigh and bite my jaw.
"I know you probably don't want to listen to me-" he begins.
"I don't," I snap, cutting him off.
"But please, let me explain."
"Fine, you have five minutes."
"Can we go somewhere more...private?"
"Yes."
I scan my badge and we take the stairs that lead to the roof area. It's empty and I lead him over to the corner by the benches.
As soon as we stop, however, Jaden doesn't start talking--he starts kissing me. He cups my face in his hands, hauling me closer to him. I push him back--at least, I try. He grabs my hands with his and pushes me against the brick wall, threading his fingers through mine and pinning them against the wall. You might think that because I tried to push him, I don't like it. You would be wrong, I'm just confused and I want an explanation to what in the heck is going on!
"I know, I know, I promised you an explanation," he says, his voice barely audible over a whisper. He drops my hands and I walk forward, pulling him against me, walking us backward, cupping his face and kissing him again. He freezes briefly against my touch again but kisses me back softly. His lips are as soft as they always looked, and to actually kiss him is better than wishing it would happen. I grab his waist and lift his right leg. He pulls back reluctantly.
"I'm sorry," he says softly. "I stopped answering you and canceled our plans because I liked you. I still do, but I couldn't take it anymore. I doubted, still do, that you liked me back, so I distanced myself so neither of us would get hurt. I couldn't take the thought of us meeting up and you telling me about this really pretty girl you saw on campus when all I wanted was you. I knew it was going to happen, but I thought maybe if I just...left, it wouldn't hurt as bad." He looks at me. "Please say something."
I look at my watch. "My break is up. Bye, Jade." I say softly, even though my break still has ten minutes left, feeling my heart rip apart and turning around to walk away.
"Bye, Crew," he says. I can hear in his voice that his heart is broken. I turn back around. He's sitting on the low brick wall. I walk back to him slowly. My heart is pounding inside my chest.
I grab his hands, squatting down in front of him. He looks at me.
"What?" he asks me softly, not rudely.
"I like you too, Jade. I think I've liked you for longer than I'd like to admit. I refused to admit my feelings until just a few minutes ago. Jaden, can we try again? Can we try this? As a couple--or whatever you want to be?" I say softly, standing up and pulling him to his feet. I brush a tear falling down his face away with my thumb.
He nods. "I-I would like that,"
"Do-do you want to m-maybe spend the night? I get off at 6:30..."
"I would like that too,"

Mackenzie does in fact have tonsilitis and is being admitted. She's scheduled for a tonsillectomy tomorrow morning at 10:30 and has been moved up to her own private room. Jaden and I leave the hospital together at 7:00 after spending a few minutes with his parents and sister. We didn't tell them about whatever we are yet, although I'm ninety percent sure they already know, maybe not Mackenzie, but his parents for sure.

We pull into my driveway at 8:30, having stopped at a local diner for dinner before stopping by his house so he could grab some clothes and a phone charger, and then coming to my house.
"It's not much, but it's home," I say as I open the front door.
"I love it," he says. "You looking for a roommate?"
"Well...maybe...as long as he doesn't mind sharing a bed."
He laughs and pulls me into him, kissing my lips. We grab some drinks and snacks and then head upstairs to my--our?-- bedroom to cuddle and watch movies. Eventually, at some point, we both fall asleep tangled up together.

1 + 2) This is his office/laundry room.
3 + 4) His bedroom, also peep his covers! I'm OBSESSED with them cause I love foxes!!
5) When you come up the stairs, this is what you see. Door A: bathroom; Door B: bedroom; Door C: office/laundry room.
6) The bathroom. I honestly think this is the smallest full bathroom I've had to design yet, and I'm not gonna lie, it was definitely a little bit hard.
7) These are obviously the stairs.
8) The living room! That door leads to a half bathroom (toilet & sink) but I didn't take screenshots of that!
9) The kitchen/dining room.
10) The front of the house and his car.
11) The front porch. This is also the first porch I've designed, and I really think it turned out cute!

1/22/20