Lay me Down to Sleep

Chapter 4

  At the end of the day, I grab a change of clothes from my locker and hop on my bike. I head off to Dr. Azur's clinic. I already know I'll have to explain my strange actions yesterday. I sigh thinking of ways to make my lie sound more believable. While it's not uncommon for my mother to need me for something I don't tend to sprint wordlessly from the building when she does.
  I slow to a fault in front of the clinic. I lock my bike up and head inside. The bell chimes overhead and Dr. Azur looks to at me from her desk. She looks concerned when she sees me.
  "Hi there Cassie", she greets forever polite.
  "Hello Dr. Azur", I say shifting around on my feet, "do you have anything for me to do today?".
  She watches me fidget with my fingers before asking the dreaded question, "what happened yesterday?".
  "I forgot my mother needed me for something", I say with a shrug. She raises an eyebrow at this.
  "You ran away because your mother needed you?", she says accusatory. I nod my head. She rises from her desk and walks to I stand by the door. She puts a reassuring hand on my shoulder.
  "If there's something going on you can tell me", she says, " I'll wait until your ready but, I would appreciate your honesty". I nod my head.
  Then drops her serious demeanor, "I have some good news, Yanis will now be joining us in the clinic". My heart skips a beat in her chest.
  Hearing her name she poked her head out from the hall with a dazzling smile. She looks even more beautiful than yesterday with her dimple out on display. I want to melt on to the floor at the sight of her.
  "Hello", she says with a soft voice. Now hearing her I notice she has an adorable English accent. I numbly lift a hand to wave at her. She steps out of the hall towards us with a broom in hand.
  "Is there anything else you needed me to do", she asks Dr. Azur. The doctor smiles at her.
  "Well now that Cassie is here she can you how to organize the cabinets", she says, "you girls have fun I have five appointments today". She goes back to her desk to wait. I start to walk down the hall to cabinets in the back that I know she was referring to. Yanis bounces along by my side and I try not to look at her.
  We get to the cabinets and I know I'm going to have to explain things. I look at her and she stares back at me expectantly.
  I clear my throat before I begin, "this is a new shipment of drugs that sort to be labeled and sorted to their prospective users so that Dr. Azur can distribute them when her patients come to pick them up. We have to go through this file which has the patient's names and the codes the medicine should have. Then we label the corresponding pill bottle with the person's name and dosage. After all of that, we have to put the bottles in the cabinets organized by alphabetical order".
  She listens to me patiently and gives me an 'Okie Dokie' before grabbing the label gun. She pushes a few buttons on it clearly trying to figure out how it works. She sticks her tongue slightly out the side of her mouth and her brows furrow in confusion. She's so cute I have to stop her before I profess my undying love to her.
  "Here let me", I say. I gently take it from her hands and a shiver runs up my sound when my hands brush hers. I show her which button to press to indicate you have a message and where the print button is. Her eyes sparkle at my explanation.
  She turns to me with eager eyes and says, "let me try". I hand it back to her and her about snatches it from my hands in her excitement. I watch as she presses buttons. Then she pushes to print and the mechanics whirl as it prints out a sticker. She doesn't show me and instead peels off the backing and sticks it to my shirt where a name tag would go. I push down the butterflies elicited by her sudden touch and look at what it says.
  The sticker on my chest reads, "WEIRD PRETTY GIRL", in neat bold lettering. I look up to see her chewing on her lips as she tries to swallow a laugh. I feel myself blush.
  Clearly thinking the rosiness is from embarrassment instead of endearment she explains herself, "sorry but, you do seem to be a bit of an oddball running out like that". I figured she would think I was strange considering our last meeting. I nod and start about the task. She follows along with me and my instructions. I do my best to not stare at her or otherwise indicate how I feel. Now that we're away from the exam room and with it the scent of antiseptic I'm more aware of her. She smells like candied oranges and honeysuckle.
  She glances through the file I handed her with that same tongue-out look as before. While she distracted I take the opportunity to really look at her. She has deep-toned skin and braids hanging down to the small of her back. She's a few inches taller than me and clearly athletic. She wears a sunflower patterned t-shirt, a well-loved pair of blue jeans, orange canvas shoes, and tiny silver studs in her ears. Her pouty lips and high cheeks are tinted with rouge. Her honey brown eyes are lined with coal and focused on the page before her. All in all, she was gorgeous.
  I wonder what we must think of me,  a fiery redhead in minimal small clothing. The sticker, which is still adhered to my chest, implies she thinks I'm pretty. What else does she think? I always like my clothes but, others looked down on me for them. Even before Hope left people would whisper about me being a harlot as I passed.
  It would probably be for the best if she thought poorly of me. I can't have her anyway so why should I try to impress her. I sigh and go about the task as she makes small talk with me.