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Valentines day, flowers rising, the sun in the sky, happy couples dancing and holding hands, pink and red things everywhere! Some sexy underwear getting sold out because that’s what Valentine's day is for right? Money, love, money..and money.
Well, the sun wasn’t up yet, but Owen was, Valentine’s day or not, birthday or not, he had to go to work. Because many people were getting hurt on that day, for various reasons, some more disgusting than others. He was on duty for most of the day, not the night, and he was glad about it because this night would be a mess at the hospital. It only took a married couple with a (little too) big imagination, or too much will to bring some spice in their relationship, to end up in the hospital, in a surgery room for some - hilarious - medical reason.
Owen was just a junior, but he knew that already, his dad once made him celebrate his birthday in a resting room of the clinic. He had seen some things behind those large windows that night, some things he would’ve rather saved for later.
He now had taken the habit of coming to work early, after being late for all his classes in med school, it was time to finally be responsible, be an adult. What a lovely idea. After all, he just turned twenty-two, he was getting older. He wasn’t that stupid teenager who lived in an overly small flat…oh nevermind that, he still lived there. He was broke, not as much as before but he still was.
The hospital was running full speed, as always, he had to rush even though he was early. He put on the scrubs, the bleach scented scrubs he had to put on every morning, and he quickly went for the morning round.
He started following the team of all the other junior doctors, they weren’t the friendliest people, some of them had that tinge of competition in their blood. Doing anything to get praised by the senior who was supervising, which was understandable, they just wanted the best posts for their future, who could blame them.
As he followed through, his eyes met one of the only friends he had here. It was Katie, another junior, she was late at least twice a week because of how far she lived from the hospital, but she somehow always managed to not get caught, probably because the senior didn’t even remember their names.
On their first day, she missed her bus, and had to run a marathon to try and get there in time. The round had already started, that’s when Owen met her, breathless, desperately trying to get her scrubs on as she ran towards the little group.
“Hi! Would ya mind tying those for me ?” She asked, out of the blue, not even knowing who she was talking to, showing the little strings of the scrubs.
Owen had been a bit caught off guard, but he nodded before stuffing his notebook in his pocket. “Uh yeah sure?”
He tied the strings as she was tying her blond hair. He didn’t really look at her much while doing so, because the little group was moving way faster than them, and who would wait for the two in the back? No one, it was like sharks, or…just like humans, most of the students weren’t here to joke. They both quickly followed for their first day.
During the past few months, they had become friends, or at least study buddies. Owen couldn’t totally tell the difference, since they mostly talked about organs at first. In the cafeteria he always sat at her table, on the first day it was only the two of them, but more people sat there too. They were all colleagues of some sorts, no one had the exact same goal, some wanted to get specialised in pulmonary surgeries, neuro surgeries, while Owen..wanted to do a bit of everything.
This morning, Katie wasn’t here, maybe her shift had been moved, that happened a lot. He didn’t think much of it, since some others were missing too. The rounds could last some time, usually until lunch, and he couldn’t move on to do all the work without eating first. It was one of the major rules, for any courses of medical studies, at least in hospitals.
He moved down to the cafeteria, to grab something to eat, anything, he didn’t get a breakfast and his stomach had been growling since 8am. Owen pushed the doors and contained himself from rushing to the self, he saw there a little sign stating “Valentine’s meal!”, the writing was unreadable, so it was probably from one of the doctors of the hospital, a nurse would’ve done way better writing this. Owen shrugged and got his meal, who didn’t look tasty apart from the desert, a little heart cake with some cream. It felt a bit silly, a heart cake, he was twenty two, double two, funny. He stayed there enough time for someone to take that little cake right in front of him. He turned, almost offended even though he wouldn’t have taken it anyway. But he stayed quiet, it was only Katie. She was smiling, as she put down her tray right next to his.
“What?” She asked after a few seconds, he had probably stared at her for a bit too long.
“What? Oh uh nothing, hey Katie”
“Are your feet glued to the floor?”
“My feet?”
“You’ve been staring in front of you for at least three minutes, I figured someone had glued your feet on the floor” She joked, in a slight sarcastic manner.
He felt a bit stupid, he was usually the cynic and sarcastic one, but with Katie it was slightly different for some reasons. He shook his head before finally moving to grab a plate of…spaghetti, why did the hospital even do a valentine’s menu, who would care anyway? He sighed and took it anyway, while Katie did the same, she glanced at him, seeing his face of contemplation towards those pastas.
“...Oh! I got it! You don’t like Valentine’s day!”
He glanced at her while he picked up his tray, frowning slightly.
“Wh- how could you possibly know that?” He had no idea how obvious it was on his face.
“I just know” She shrugged as she walked to the table they always sat at.
“Well, as a matter of fact you’re wrong, I couldn’t care less about this day!”
She looked at him, squinting her eyes, she almost asked something, but she stopped herself. They both sat across from each other. The rest of the juniors weren’t there yet, probably stuck with that one annoying senior who adored bullying them. Katie waited for a few minutes, but Owen didn’t speak again, that was odd, usually he would already be complaining or bitching about something.
“So..did you find someone to take over my shift?” She finally asked.
Owen got dragged out of his trail of thoughts. It took him a few seconds to get what she was talking about. A few days ago she had asked him if he could help her find someone to switch shifts with, she had plans for the night. Although…he didn’t find anyone that accepted the night shift, since almost all the juniors had their dates, partners and other dirty stuff to do.
“Uhh yeah! You’re all good for the night…and for your valentine I assume” He smirked, lifting his glass to his lips to take a sip of water.
She rolled her eyes while letting out a small sigh “Right, my valentine!” She looked down to her plate, her desert hadn’t been touched yet. “Thanks Owen”
He gave her his usual slight smile, meaning “no problem”, she had done the same for him a few times. He didn’t miss too many shifts, but some days, complicated times, she was okay with covering for him. That’s why he did the same for her, everytime she was late. He wouldn’t admit it, but he really appreciated her, as a friend of course, a work buddy. The junior knew damn well that he had zero chances with her.
He didn’t know what he’d do though, probably take her shift himself. It’d be easier that way, screw Valentine’s day, screw birthdays. He’d have to fix people trying their new love experiences that ended in a bad way, bad breakups, bar fights..and the other usual injuries in the emergency room.
“D’you want a piece of that ? I kind of stole it away from you earlier didn’t I?” Katie dragged him out of his thoughts again, showing her desert.
Owen shook his head, he wasn’t eating any cake today. He still smiled though, no reason to be rude.
—-------------------------
Owen and Katie got back to work shortly after that, they had a few patient’s vitals to check. Some lasers to order, MRIs, the usual things. Owen was quite focused, chasing every thought unrelated to organs, vitals and radiology, out of his mind. Some parts of the hospital had been decorated, like the kid’s area, for some reasons, a bit weird he thought. He went through some rooms, broken leg, surgery incoming, heart attack, every vitals were good.
Owen finally reached his favourite room, his favourite patient, she was just an old lady, who had fallen down the stairs. She had been here for almost two weeks now because of her broken bones. Surgery was hard for her, so they had to keep her in for observation. He gently pushed the door, with a smile already on his lips, his eyes met the eyes of an old man, standing beside the bed, with a little box in his hand. Was he interrupting ?
“Oop- sorry should I come back later?”
The old lady stared directly at him, a warm smile almost illuminating the room, she really was like a ray of sunshine.
“Oh there you are! Come in! This is my friend Eddie, Eddie, this is one of my doctors..” She didn’t look sure about his name.
“Harper, or..Owen, you can call me Owen” He came in, and walked towards the end of the bed, scribbling on his notebook for the vitals.
Eddie waved, he was quite tall for an old man, Owen was used to elderly people who somewhat shrunken down with age, losing their height, but Eddie was tall and very slim. His cheeks were sunken, his eyes holded many years of life, yet the guy still looked very expressive. As if you could read what his exact thoughts were. His dad was like that too, he had an expressive face, even when he wasn’t smiling at all, his eyes were smiley.
Owen got closer to the monitors to write down the numbers, he couldn’t hear them talk though, he really felt like an intruder here. His eyes wandered on the graphs, everything was normal, she seemed in complete health, she would probably get discharged soon. She laughed, suddenly, surprisingly because they weren’t talking at all from the moment he stepped in the room. Owen looked at the two of them, Eddie was moving his hands all over the place, his face distorted in plenty of facial expression as he mouthed words.
The man was probably mute, or deaf, although he had no hearing aids, maybe he could read lips. Owen wasn’t going to ask, he quickly walked to the door, waving goodbye, he didn’t want to bother them any longer, after all, maybe Eddie was telling her a poem, or some other kind of romantic crap. Secretly, Owen found it sweet, and old love, or friendship, whatever it was.
—--------------------
The rest of the day went smoothly, Owen was ready for the night shift, he had taken a quick nap between 3 and 5pm, had grabbed the same meal in the cafeteria, the same disgusting -actually edible- spaghetti. Now was the time, the time he had hoped would, and would not happen. He had mixed feelings about Valentine's emergencies of the night.
The first hour went good, usual injuries to treat, nothing spectacular yet..although around 9pm, things were going to start. But for now, nothing big, he was even given a little break. He decided to go get a coffee to stay awake, most machines were dysfunctional, but he knew one that worked quite well, and he knew some short cuts through the hospital. As he walked, he couldn’t help but wonder what Katie was up to now, maybe she was on a date with someone she didn’t know for long, he knew that she wasn’t in a serious relationship. Otherwise she would have a ring on her finger, or maybe he was wrong, all he hoped was that her boyfriend was decent, and that he treated her better than anyone else could. Maybe if he had the guts he would’ve asked her on a date, he almost did once, but he held back. She’d never like him that way, he was too…or not enough…just not enough for her. He had some pride, but not enough to be confident about her liking him.
He chased her out of his thoughts, he was finally in front of the coffee machine, he pressed the buttons to get a coffee with two sugars in it. He looked around silently, a few nurses were close to a door, peeking like teenagers. He wondered what was happening there, it seemed like one of them had received a valentine card, he could tell by seeing it, bright pink, with red hearts, everything he hated, or at least pretended to hate.
The junior sighed as he took his paper cup of coffee, but when he took the first sip, he almost choked on it. There was no bloody sugar in it. Nothing, it tasted bitter, way too bitter, just like…his dad’s coffee .
His eyes widened slightly at this thought. He could remember it like it was yesterday, except it was exactly thirteen years ago on this day, he was spending his birthday at the hospital with his dad. He didn’t want to stay home, not after his eighth birthday and how it went with his mum. He had spent the day there, while his dad was treating patients he waited in a resting room, looking through some files like an adult would, except he drew on them, some creepy cats and rats in a big van, he probably imagined them as a new scooby doo crew. And whenever his dad had a break, he’d go check on his son, nurses took turns to look after him as well. And at 6pm, he’d get a cupcake from the cafeteria, with a match instead of a candle. One of the last nice birthdays he had, he didn’t like to think about this often. About his dad, how he’d look with white hair, how wrinkles would look on him, would he have gotten different glasses at some point?
His eyes were glued to the floor now, the thoughts he tried to avoid all day coming onto him like a wave of old buried feelings. He was twenty two now, and no one even knew about it, his mom probably did, but why would she call him? She was ashamed of him, she never had time to spare for him, never. A voice snapped him out of it.
“Owen?? Why are you still here?!”
He looked up, it was Katie, she was dressed nicely, he had never seen her dressed in her regular clothes, or maybe he did, but it would've been on a late study night.
“Katie? Aren’t you supposed to be with your..”
“Wait..don’t tell me you’re the one taking over my shift?” She looked surprised, and somewhat disappointed.
“Huh?”
Katie sighed and grabbed Owen by the arm, dragging him to an empty room, a newly discharged patient’s room probably. He looked at her, confused, what was the matter with her? She wasn’t supposed to be there, did she break up or did she get a heartbreak? Her make-up looked fine, if she even had any.
“I..crap I should’ve just told you..” She sighed, looking away for a few seconds.
“Should’ve told me what?”
The blonde was trying to find her words, while Owen just stood there, clueless about the whole situation.
“I was hoping to surprise you when your shift ended, maybe..I don’t know..eating together! God that’s so stupid..forget about it..”
What now? What? Katie was going to..ask him on a date? Or..something like that? Was that even supposed to be a date? Or maybe it was a last minute plan. He couldn’t tell, he didn’t really care though, her surprise wasn’t well planned. That was a bit funny.
“Stupid..yeah..but not that stupid, it’s..I…uh..”
“I’m so sorry..I’m interrupting your..well, my work really….it’s just…I didn’t think you’d cover for me on your birthday..” She looked a bit embarrassed, and somewhat ashamed he was robbing his own birthday just for her.
Owen blinked a few times, still confused. He wanted to speak but the only word who slipped remained:
“Birthday?”
Katie frowned, a tinge of panic passed through her eyes. “Is it not today? Well that’s even worse if I can’t remember you birthd-”
She got cut off out of surprise by her colleague hugging her. He didn’t know why he did that, he should’ve..said something instead, but he wasn’t the type to say much, sometimes he acted, just like that. But now he felt a bit weird about hugging her like that out of the blue. Katie hugged him back, she was the one confused now, but she didn’t mind the hug.
Owen could feel her perfume, she smelled nice, like lavender, or lemon, maybe a mix of it, he liked that. He closed his eyes just for a second, so he could calm himself a bit, so that the tears and the rock in his throat would go away. And then, only then, he spoke again.
“I didn’t think anyone would remember…thanks Katie”
Katie heard a little crack in Owen’s voice, she never saw him that way, vulnerable, maybe this was the inside of his shell. She smiled, as her hand stroked his upper back.
“Happy Birthday Owen”