T h i r s t

o n e

Check out the comments for the meanings of medical terms!

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So, it was going to be a shitty day after all.

I don't pride myself on making puns--especially not at the wrong time, but this time I couldn't help myself. It was turning out to be a shitty day.

"Relax, Mr. Montoya." I said through clenched teeth for the third time, palpating the mass of tissue.

"Are you kidding?" He grunted in pain.

"It'll hurt less if you relax. Trust me." I lulled and gave him a moment, before easing my finger back up his butthole.

Granted, I had to be more gentle. There's no point in misdirected anger. Not when a 70-year-old man's prostate was on the line.

I cursed in my mind again. Piece of crap. Making me do prostate exams like I was a fucking intern. I wish he had prostate cancer.

"All done." I tried to smile. Gave up. You don't smile after giving someone a per rectal. It's an unwritten rule because it makes you look like a pervert.

The only reason I wanted to smile was to overcompensate. For the shitty morning I've had.

"Well?" He gruffed, pulling his pants back on.

"All normal." I assured him, writing the same down on the clipboard.

"You sure? Because that's what a different kid said a month ago--"

"Mr. Montoya." I started off, arms raised up in reconciliation but oh was he about to blow. His head and probably an aneurysm.

"--And yet here I am, getting poked and prodded again!"

"We're just trying to help you." Ah. The classic.

"Doesn't feel a lot like help to me!"

"Trust me." Fan favorite.

He regarded me for a moment and then nodded slightly, turning back to his bed muttering something.

I sighed and went back to my clipboard and marked a small dot next to his name. I glanced over the already dotted names and clenched.

Here they are in line: Disgruntled old woman with femoral hernia, Bratty kid with food poisoning who aimed right at me while throwing up, hemorrhoids, debridement, rodent ulcer, hemorrhoids again and the cherry on top: Nasal myiasis. Yum.

It was like my own personal hell and he knew it. We knew back in med school the stuff we'd have to deal with, and I was fine with that. But not back to back on a 24 hour shift. Definitely not.

At least it was over now. He may have given me the grossest patient list, but at least it was short. And I was glad I didn't have him or the group of interns and other residents following us around. I'd have thought he'd like to watch me drown in my misery and other body fluids first hand but I guess he has other people to harass.

"Dr. Myers to OR2. Dr. Myers to OR2."

I couldn't believe my ears.

Had he finally let up? Was I welcome back into the OR again? Oh, and I thought I'd have to request for another Attending! Maybe I should have done that a week ago, but no matter how big a maggot he was, that son of a bitch was good. And of course, he had an ego the size of the hematoma I had to drain and that ego took a serious beating when I turned down his advances. Did he have to ask me out?

"Dr. Myers to OR2." I heard the nurse again and made my way to the elevators.

"Fifth floor."I heard an echo and then smiled at the man beside me. He was an Internal medicine resident I somehow saw a lot of, probably because we were both R3s and practically lived at the hospital. At least he'll be done this year. I'd still have 2 more years left. It seems longer now that I have my own Satanic supervisor.

"Wanna score some?" He whispered on my left, leaning towards me.

"Excuse me?" Drug abuse came as no surprise, but I didn't expect it from him. He was always so . . . Clean and cheerful.

One year since I've dated and those are the words I use to describe a potential companion.

Oh, God I'm gonna die alone.

I looked down to see him hand out something small and dark.

"An Awake bar?" I chuckled and accepted it.

"Caffeine and sucrose. You look like you're about to pass out."

"At least that means I'm doing my job right."

He chuckled and slipped his hands into his coat pockets from where I heard more rustling.

"More contraband?" I whispered, glancing at his pockets.

"Keep it on the low and I'll guarantee a regular hookup."

It made me laugh. And made some bald heads turn around. "You'd make a terrible drug trafficker."

"Ah, man. There goes Plan B."

I laughed again. That was impressive.

"You still have a Plan B in your final year?"

"Two words. Student loans."

"Amen to that." I sighed and lent back against the elevator's back wall. Just then, the doors opened with a ping and we maneuvered through the crowd and into the hallway. I purposefully slowed down my pace.

"You owe me, by the way." He said when the doors closed.

"Well, I'm just heading in there. Can I get you some skin grafts, transplanted organs? Blood?"

"Hm. Those sound very tempting--" He glanced at my breast pocket "--Dr. Myers MD, but I need some time to think."

"Of course. It's Lorina. Lori." I smiled again and grabbed the door handle. "Thanks for the candy bar, Dr. Gibson MD."

"Shh. It's Mitchell. Mitch." He hushed and then turned on his heel towards the Labs.

I lingered for a second more and then walked through the double doors. I was making my way to the changing rooms, when I saw him in the way. The devil incarnate.

"Where are you off to, Dr. Myers?"

So we're doing this again. I played along.

"To scrub in?"

"For what?"

I swallowed and shifted. "For the scheduled cholecystectomy."

He regarded me for a long time. I stared right back into his tired, spiteful eyes. I considered him my mentor. Funny how quickly that changed.

"We're at full capacity. What I need from you is to head down to the ER. Dr. Perez will tell you what to do."

"Again?" I breathed out heavily. Calm down.

"Trauma care is an essential part of training, Myers. I thought you knew that."

I shook my head and simpered, already feeling hot angry tears at the edges. I wouldn't let them fall. I would not give him that satisfaction.

"All because I said no, huh?"

His frown eased up and he was actually taken aback. I realized that I'd never said it aloud. Did he think I didn't know the reason?

"Dr. Kirby?" Came a voice from behind him, and I took the opportunity to huff away.

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So he enters the story in the next chapter :)