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Lila (Nala)
It was quiet.
Way too quiet.
Whenever the trauma center had light traffic, it always meant we were going to be flooded later. There was either a car accident, a shooting, or some type of disaster that would ruin an otherwise peaceful day. When it got like that, we mostly sat around charting or organizing something to keep us busy. It would be just my luck to hear that alarm go off right when it was time for me to leave.
I’d already charted on my patients and organized the supply closet. I had fifteen minutes left before it was time for me to clock out, so I wasn’t doing shit else. I wandered behind the nurses’ station and took a seat next to Latrice, one of my favorite charge nurses. She was one of the first people to befriend me when I moved here.
I met her while grocery shopping. My belly was big, and I was having a hard time reaching something on a top shelf, so her lanky ass got it for me. She walked around the entire grocery store helping me gather my things that day. We got to talking and I knew I liked her by the time we hit the checkout line.
We exchanged numbers and had been friends ever since. She was the reason I got the job here right out of nursing school.
“It’s so quiet—” I started but was silenced when she clamped her hand around my mouth.
“Do not say that word. What’s wrong with you?”
I slapped her hand away.
“First of all, I don’t know where your hands have been, especially when I saw you and Dr. Monroe sneak off together earlier.”
Dr. Victor Monroe was the head of cardiology and Latrice’s unofficial boo. They’d been seeing each other for about a year now and loved to pretend that nobody knew they were an unofficial item.
“Second, we already know how this is going to go today. I don’t know why you are acting superstitious.”
She rolled her eyes. “Okay, number one… Victor and I didn’t sneak off to do anything. This isn’t Grey Sloan Memorial, and we are not Derek and Meredith. We were just talking. And two… I’m not superstitious. It’s a well-known fact that as soon as you say that word, all hell breaks loose.”
“You’re being dramatic, Trice.”
“I’m being realistic, Lila. As a matter of fact, go do a good deed to counter the karma you just put out there. You can go change the dressing on the patient in room 203. You know he’s sweet on you.”
I rolled my eyes. Mr. Jenkins had been admitted for an infection that resulted in him losing his leg. He was a seasoned older man and quite handsome. Every time I made my rounds, he flirted with me relentlessly. I could admit, I was flattered.
He always told me that once he got out and got his prosthetic, he wanted to take me out on a date and show me a good time. The twinkle in his eye when he said that let me know that man wanted to fuck me. I hadn’t been with anybody in six years. I was almost tempted to take him up on his offer.
I stood from the chair. “You know you’re wrong for this, Latrice.”
“Go on in there and make that man’s day. Just bend over and shake that ass for him a little.”
She smacked my ass as I walked away. Her laughter rang in my ears while I smiled to hold mine in. After stopping by the supply closet to grab what I needed to change Mr. Jenkin’s dressing, I headed toward his room.
No sooner had I rounded the corner did I run smack into a hard body, spilling the contents from my hands and damn near knocking me over.
“My apologies.”
I looked up and came face to face with possibly the finest man I’d ever seen. If I had to guess, he stood well over six feet, making me feel like a shorty with my five-foot eight-inch height. My eyes trailed his muscular frame. He looked like he would have no problem picking my thick ass up.
His skin was the color of coffee with just a hint of cream… maybe a mocha latte. He wore a tapered haircut. Those deep brown eyes looked as though they carried something heavy behind them.
He stooped to pick up the items I dropped. I stood speechless as he handed them back to me. He eyed my name badge and smiled. Lord, what a smile he had. His teeth were white and perfectly straight. I was a sucker for a killer smile.
“Nurse Lila Peterson… I’m sorry I almost knocked you down, beautiful.”
Pulling myself together, I shrugged it off. “It’s okay. I guess we both should have been watching where we were going.”
“I guess you’re right. I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“No, no, I’m fine. I mean it’s not every day I run into a human wall, but I’m okay. I’m sorry, that was totally offensive.”
