A/N: This is being written shortly after the major flooding in Texas, so that's where the inspiration came from. I am not aware of the flood prevention systems in Charleston, SC, so I apologize in advance if the details of this story do not line up with real life.
The Other Side of Envy was the latest book released when this story was written. I try my best to keep the details of the canon consistent with my fan fiction, but future books by C.L. Stone will probably have the details of a certain someone's past completel different from what I am imagining and sharing here.
I do not have any claim to the character or intellectual property of The Academy: Ghost Bird series. This is fan fiction and there is no financial gain made, nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only.
The discordant wail sounded from my chest, startling me so my fork clattered onto the plate in front of me. The sound was sudden and loud, engineered to grab attention immediately. It did its job well.
The obnoxious tone came from everywhere inside the hospital cafeteria, including Dr. Green's lap under the table between us. We were just finishing up our lunch. Like choreographed performers, everyone in the facility, including myself, dug for their cellphones from where the electronics were stashed. Pavlov would have been proud. The phones came out of pockets, belt clips, purses, and in my case, my bra. Everyone's fingers simultaneously pushed buttons or tapped on glass screens to make the alarms stop before taking the time to read the message the noise was trying to bring to our attention.
Severe thunderstorm warning for this area til 3:45 PM EST. Check local media. –NWS
"Oh no. Not another one," Dr. Green groaned as he returned his purple-cased iPhone back to the pocket of his khakis. "We're waterlogged as it is. Were you jumping up and down on your bed in nothing but your underwear this morning for a rain dance?" the sandy blonde haired, green eyed man accused me.
"No, Dr. Sean. That ritual is to summon snow and is saved for school days. Today is Saturday," I managed to say in complete seriousness before taking a sip of water. The giggles overtook me when he was rendered speechless, but soon joined me with a full bout of laughter. I was sure we were both trying to imagine the reactions of North and Luke if I did indulge in such a silly superstition. Having spent the night in North's trailer with the Taylor Brothers, I was sure North would yell about falling off the bed and hurting myself, whereas Luke would probably strip and join me.
The entire state of South Carolina had been battered by strings of thunderstorms almost daily for the past week and a half in some freak weather phenomenon. The ground was already saturated and could absorb no more rain, so our area had been victim to flash flooding. As the boys drove me around, I noticed the abnormally high levels of the rivers and creeks. Even the ditch behind Nathan's back yard fence was full of muddy water.
Our laughter died out when Dr. Green's phone chimed, and he fished it back out to check the text message.
"Well, Pookie, looks like administration is letting all non-essential staff head home before the storm hits. Do you want to go home to ride this one out?" he asked as he set his phone on the table and opened up a weather app to check the latest radar maps.
"Are you essential staff?" I countered with another question.
"Today, I am. Even if I wasn't, I would still want to stay here. A lot of the nurses and office people have young kids to care for and would rather be home with them, which I don't blame them for. Being a bachelor myself, I don't have much to go home to right now, and I'm certainly more useful here when we're shorthanded," he explained. As lonely as it made him sound out to be, he made sense. It was a decision I could support. "But family first, and that means you, Pookie. If you want to get out of here, I'll take you out."
Before I could reply, his phone started vibrating, dancing on the tabletop, and singing 'One-eyed, one-horned, flying, purple people eater,' as a ringtone. A picture of Kota with his nose in a textbook and his glasses on the end of his nose illuminated the screen.
"Kota is calling you," I said with a grin.
"An astute observation!" he sarcastically praised as he answered my neighbor's call. "Talk to me."
"Hi, Kota!" I chirped.
Dr. Green beamed and relayed my message. "Kota says hello."
While he listened to the other end, I finished a few more bites of my chicken salad. Dr. Green scolded me about my eating habits (bordering on a lack thereof) just before the emergency alert, and I did not want him to worry about another thing if I could prevent it.
"Victor is in the area. Do you want a ride?" he asked me.
Every phone in the hospital screamed with another alert before I could answer. Sean winced and pulled his away from his head before he went deaf. We both checked the message sent out by the National Weather Service with a quick scan. Flash flooding warning this time.
"Or we can have Silas swing by in a canoe," Dr. Green offered with a smirk.
A woman in nursing scrubs caught the corner of my eye, drawing my attention for a moment. She quickly ended a call on her own cell phone and shoved it into her purse. Her belongings were gathered hurriedly before nearly sprinting out of the cafeteria and toward the elevators.
My imagination conjured up multiple scenarios to explain her behavior, from a child at home who was deathly afraid of thunder, to sheep in their pens that would drown in flood waters if she did not get them relocated in time.
I had nowhere to be. There was no one for me to rescue in a thunderstorm. As a matter of fact, I would probably be in the way. As adventurous as being rescued in a canoe sounded to be, it was unnecessary and selfish. Silas could use the canoe to save someone trapped by high waters, or deliver formula to a family with a hungry infant. I was not a trained professional, but I could certainly be of more use around the hospital with a skeleton crew. I could make sure the bathrooms were fully stocked with toilet paper and hand soap.
"Sang wants to stay here with me, Kota," Dr. Green answered on my behalf. "She wants to play nurse for a few more hours while half our staff clocks out." He must have read my thoughts on my face. I pushed my bottom lip against my teeth in embarrassment. Mr. Blackbourne said he wanted to focus on developing a poker face with me in our violin class. While being able to read practically every thought and emotion on my face like an open book helped me keep honest with the boys, he believed the habit could work to my disadvantage more often than not.
I mouthed a silent 'Thank you' to Dr. Green for understanding me and passing my wishes to the rest of the guys. He winked at me in response.
"Kota says to not float away, and he misses you," he said just after ending the call.
I blushed slightly; I could feel the heat in my cheeks. I missed Kota too.
Gathering the trash and tray, I asked, "What can I do to help out?" The Doctor checked the time on his phone before putting it away back in his hip pocket. "We still have some time for lunch. Your overnight bag is still in my car, right?"
I nodded as we stood and made our way to dispose of our garbage and stow our trays. Ever since Gabriel's birthday, I made a habit of always having a day's worth of clothing and toiletries available practically everywhere I went. My life beside these nine guys had become rather unpredictable, and the preparedness had already helped me out of a few binds.
"Let's race against the rain to my car and back inside. I want to see how capricious Mother Nature is feeling today."
We stood side by side in the entryway of the cafeteria, looking at each other. Dr. Green waggled his eyebrows at me with a goofy grin. I returned the smile with my bottom lip in my teeth. "Ready?" I giggled. Both of our postures shifted forward, one foot planting slightly in front of the other. "Set…" Our knees bent and we focused on the door to the stairwell; we did not have time in a race to wait for an elevator.
I sprinted at full speed, not bothering to yell, "Go!" over my shoulder until I was a few yards away from the door to the stairs. As I yanked on the handle, I heard Dr. Green yell, "Cheater!" Halfway down the first flight, I noticed he was already gaining on me despite his brown lace ups did not have the same traction as my tennis shoes on the linoleum. "We're racing the rain, Sang! Not each other!"
"Yes we are!" I called up to him. "You just didn't get the memo!"
He caught up to me when I reached the main floor of the building; I made sure to pay attention to the big signs by the doors to track which floor I was on so I did not wind up in another scary hospital basement. The last time I did that, Volto manipulated me into giving him sensitive information while Greg was on a manhunt to stick a knife into my gut. Best not to revisit those experiences.
My hand was on the handle to the door out of the stairwell when his covered mine. His other hand wrapped around my waist. "Caught you," he cooed into my ear as the tails of his white lab coat floated down to our legs.
If my heart rate wasn't already elevated from running down a couple flights of stairs, it would have been from the proximity and contact the Doctor was giving me right then. I attempted to cover up my flustered state with some giggling. "Dr. Sean! This is supposed to be a race, not a game of tag!"
"Sorry you didn't get the memo." His lips brushed against the strands of my hair that had escaped the clip at the back of my head. His breath blew across my earlobe, which made my side tickle and buckle in on itself. I contorted weirdly and blushed profusely, not understanding how that sensation worked as I wiggled out of Dr. Green's half embrace and slipped through the door.
Closing the door quickly, I cringed when it came across more as a slam. I leaned on the wood panel with the handle poking into my back as I gathered my composure back to myself.
Little taps sounded by my head, and I turned to see Dr. Green's green eyes sparkling with amusement through the rectangular peep window above the handle. "You okay, Miss Sang?" he asked with a chuckle.
"Look who's cheating now!" I accused while pressing my finger against the pane at the level of his nose.
"If we all cheat, that makes it fair in the end. Doesn't it?"
"Nuh uh. I'm the only one allowed to cheat. Ask Nathan. Or Luke," I argued through the door. Well, the guys usually tolerated my cheat tactics at fun and games instead of allowing it, but we all had a silent understanding that I needed a handicap at some of the more physical competitions. Besides, the boys always managed to counter my cheats well enough without resorting to cheating themselves. In the end, it was all fun and amusing, even if I did wind up losing nearly every game anyways.
Dr. Green chuckled more at me as I pulled open the door for him. We walked side by side, shoulders brushing as we made our way to the main entrance. Every few steps, one of us would rush ahead a step. The other would immediately catch up and try to gain more ground a few paces later to repeat the process. We were jogging and openly laughing with each other when we got to the automatic doors. The lady at the information desk watched us like we were children and snorted, amused at our antics.
We looked to the sky once outside. Edging to where the covered drop-off zone ended to reveal open sky, we saw the line of black clouds like wall closing in upon the city. The wind had already picked up, throwing the loose tresses of my hair and the Doctor's sandy blonde curls around. The rain had not yet started, but we only had minutes.
Dr. Green took my hand in his and intertwined our fingers together. "Run," he said excitedly, and we shot out into the parking lot as fast as our feet could carry us. His dark sedan was parked at the far end of the lot. We both agreed when we arrived earlier in the day that we were both healthy individuals and could survive the walk across the expanse of asphalt to leave the closer spots open for patients and the elderly. It made for our race to be all the more challenging.
Too challenging.
We were two rows away when the downpour came upon us as a curtain, drenching us before we reached the car. Within seconds, our hair hung limply in strings over our eyes and stuck to our faces. Our clothes soaked and clung to our skin, but we didn't care. We were having too much fun.
He motioned for us to go to opposite sides of the car, and I obeyed so we could open up both rear doors and lean our heads into the shelter of the cabin. Our eyes caught and reflected the ecstatic joy we shared. Words were not needed to know we were happy in each other's company.
"Put your phone in your bag, Pookie. There's less chance of water damage if it's bundled in your clothes and zipped up."
My hand slipped through the collar of my blouse and into the cup of my bra without reservation; Dr. Green already knew where I kept my cell phone, and I could not fish it out surreptitiously without turning back into the rain and chance ruining it. I had destroyed enough iPhones in the past six months alone, much to the dismay of Victor's wallet. A little propriety could be sacrificed in that moment.
My good intentions toward Victor's generosity did not stop Sean from watching, or his eyes from dilating, though. He had to clear his throat after I buried my pink-cased phone in the little gym bag and zipped it closed. "Ready to head back?" he asked.
I clutched my bag to my chest and nodded. My cheeks were aching from all the smiling.
He counted to three, and we slammed the doors shut to run through the deluge. When we arrived back at the covered drive, water was pouring off our eyebrows and noses in rivulets. His arm slipped around my shoulders and guided me not to the sliding glass doors, but one of the pillars supporting the overhang. After slipping his own bag to the ground at the base of the pillar, he took mine and dropped it too. His hands came up, threading under my soaked hair and cupped around the sides of my neck. The line of my jaw was feathered by his thumbs as he pulled and nudged me so my back was pressed up against the concrete column. Sandwiched between his dripping frame and the pillar, his lips crashed against mine before I could take a breath.
Our lips fought against each other's, vying for dominance. My hands clutched to the front of his white coat to further anchor myself to him as the rain drowned out all other sounds except for our labored breathing through our noses. I started off with Greek kisses, first having to concentrate to form my mouth properly. My mind quickly lost focus and surrendered to the passion blooming between us, and I discovered kissing was actually a lot more fun and fulfilling once I switched my brain off. There was no time to analyze, predict, or plan when submitting to this impulse, and I found a natural rhythm with Dr. Sean for our kiss to dance to.
He pulled away from me, and we stared into each other's eyes, panting like we stole each other's breaths away.
"Sang, I…"
Nope! This was not the time for talking, and I communicated this by yanking on his white doctor's coat until his mouth came right back to mine. Our lips did not align properly at first, so I found myself trapping his bottom lip lightly between my teeth and sucking on it. He grunted before tangling his fingers into my hair at the roots to tilt my head for better access. His tongue begged for entrance at the part of my lips, but I denied him by pushing my own out to meet his.
I was caressing his tongue with mine, his feet inched forward until his hips made contact with my hips, when we were interrupted by a shout.
"Hey! Help! I need some help here!"
