I went on that date with the Shaved Ice Girl, and it turned out to be a unique date. For one, she would not stop talking. I had barely gotten two words in before she would cut in with some anecdote. I had a ton of questions that had me bursting at the seams, like was there an art to putting the flavorful syrup in the shaved ice? I just seemed to sit there enjoying my meal, rather than enjoying the date collectively. Afterwards I took her back to her place and kissed her at the door wondering what else might happen.
"Sleep tight." Was all she said to me. I went home and started to think about Molly again. I had looked for her all over the hospital but didn't seem to have luck. When I did see her, she was mostly in her office during a session with someone. I shrugged it off, after all Turk was helping me through yet another "dry period". I parked my scooter, Sasha, and walked into the hospital. I immediately went to get some coffee. As I went up to the register, I saw Molly's little intern beside me. If I followed her, maybe she'd lead me to Molly.
"Hey, aren't you Molly's intern?" I asked, hooking her in. It was time to sprinkle some of that ol' Dorian charm. I was going to flirt a little, I couldn't help myself. She looked up as if she snapped out of a deep thought. She smiled and nodded her head.
"Yeah, I'm Layla... who are you, again?" she cocked her head to the side and swept her long bangs to the side. It was obvious that she was trying to recognize me, even though we had never met. I held out my hand.
"I'm J.D. and I'm a resident." I widened my smile and grabbed my coffee. She ordered as I grabbed a cardboard glove for my hot cup. I waited for her to get her cup, so I could invite her to sit with us. If Molly saw her, she would probably join along.
"That's pretty awesome, I've always thought that being a doctor of internal medicine would be so exciting." She mentioned as she reached for the cardboard gloves as well, and I took a deep breath as she complimented me. It's always nice to have girls swoon over me, but I must remain professional.
"Oh, trust me, I have my fair share of excitement." Admittedly I was going along with her in pumping up my job, but it was all going to be worth it. I saw Carla and Elliot sitting at the usual table. Layla and I seemed to be going in the same direction, so I stopped by the table and grabbed her arm,
"Hey, you should come sit with us!" I nodded my head in Carla and Elliot's direction. Layla stopped and looked like she didn't know what to say. Then, Molly showed up.
"Hey, Layla, it's good to see that you're getting to know some people around here." She praised. She brightened and nodded in agreement, and I swooped in to take my chance.
"Molly! It's been a while, we definitely need to catch up!" I waited for her reaction and she looked down as if she was flattered but couldn't find the words to say what she was thinking. She grabbed Layla's arms, and kept her smile.
"Look, Johnny, maybe we can discuss this a little bit later, I have to show Layla a patient of mine right now." And with that she walked off and started chatting away with Layla. I found a seat across from Carla and sat down and took a few sips. Elliot and Carla immediately started staring at me.
"What?" I shrugged. Elliot laughed.
"You're still into Molly, aren't you?" she snickered and Carla laughed along.
"What? No. I just wanted to catch up and…see how she was…" I trailed off knowing it was hopeless to lie to Elliot and Carla. Elliot always knew what I was thinking, and once they formed an opinion about something, you couldn't really do much to change that. Elliot sipped her coffee and shifted her eyebrows into an expression that told me that she didn't believe me.
"You're a liar." Carla mentioned with a smirk as she glanced back at Elliot. Turk then sat down and entered the conversation.
"Hey Baby, what's going on?" he said looking between the glares of me and Elliot. I leaned over and whispered everything into his ear. He shook his head at all of us, and that's when my phone rang.
"Oh my God, its Shaved Ice Girl. Is this what you call flirting with Molly?" I said as I flipped the phone open. Elliot and Carla's mouth fell open and they looked at each other. Elliot shrugged and Carla drank the rest of her coffee.
"I still think that he's into Molly. He was all over her a minute ago." Carla stated.
"I think so, too. He was all over her intern, even." Elliot agreed and then they both looked at Turk. He caught their stares.
"I'm not telling you two anything, and Baby you know that's none of our business!" He pointed his finger at the pair. Elliot leaned over to Carla.
"Is Shaved Ice Girl even real?" Elliot inquired.
"Yeah, she's real. Turk set those two up two days ago so we could spend quality time together!" she squealed.
--
After a few sessions, Molly led Layla down to the hospital cafeteria. They had seen a schizophrenic and a trichtotillomaniac among other patients. Layla just quietly took notes, and Molly was getting more and more curious about her protégé.
"So, tell me about yourself, we've spent a day and a half together and I feel like I know nothing about you!" she sat down with her tray. Layla sat across from her, and took a deep breath.
--
I took a deep breath because although I had a lot to say, nothing was coming to mind. What did she want me say? Where I grew up, my first pet, my favorite color? Where to begin. She looked at me with confusion, like she was wondering why I hadn't started pouring my heart out yet.
"Tell me what your favorite food is, anything at all!" she giggled and took a bite from her chicken salad sandwich. I took yet another deep breath, and thought about what I wanted to say.
"Well, to start out, I love cupcakes." I said just naming something random, although I was actually craving a cupcake.
"You and Dr. Kelso," she nodded her head in his direction. He was sitting among three doctors and Ted. He nodded to Ted who spilled water on a sleeping doctor's pants. The sleeping doctor immediately woke up, and yelped about needing to go to the restroom. Kelso then took his cupcake, and took a hearty bite.
" Anyway, You know, there's a store downtown called Penny Annie's, which basically is a dessert restaurant. Best cupcakes in town. Lets go chill there after work." She offered and took a sip of her coffee. I was getting all giddy inside because I could open up to someone.
"I'd love to!" I squealed.
"Great, we can talk more there." She mentioned right when Elliot sat next to her. They started acting like schoolgirls and laughing and telling inside jokes. A part of me felt left out. Then Carla sat next Elliot, JD and Turk sat next to me. There was so much chatter going on around me, I didn't think I could say anything. Carla spotted me and reached out.
"So, how are you liking it at Sacred Heart?" she grinned. It was like a Domino effect, as Turk then looked at me and then JD did. Molly glanced, and looked appeased that I was talking to someone other than her.
"Oh, it's definitely interesting." I stated and took a bite of my sandwich.
"Honey, that's an understatement. With Beavis and Butthead roaming the halls, it's bound to get interesting." she joked. Turk crossed his arms.
"Don't listen to her, she just likes to tell people what to do!" He then turned and faced JD's direction. Carla grinned helplessly.
"Turk, don't be like that, I was just trying to make a harmless joke." She rested her hand on his, and she started to pucker up. He gave her a double take and couldn't help but grin.
"That's what's up." he leaned over and kissed her back. She then looked around to hear what everyone else was talking about.
--
"HEY NANCY DREW!" that familiar voice rang through the halls. I turned around and tried to hide my enthusiasm.
"Guess who got to give Room 201 a diagnosis," he smiled and looked off waiting for me to say something, "Go on, take a wild guess, Carol."
"You." I said hoping that he'd make his point already and leave; I had so many charts in my hand that my arm was getting sore. His smile reached ear to ear.
"That's right, I did it because you were wondering if you and Dr. Clock could exchange halter tops instead of researching your patient's diagnosis. You better get your head out of the clouds and back into the game." He growled and marched away. I went to the nearest Nurse's station and set down my charts, and refilled my coffee cup. As I turned around I bumped into Molly's intern, Layla.
"Oh I'm sorry..." I reached out to see of she needed help. She was perfectly fine except for those coffee stains that were now on her scrubs. She smiled and set her coffee cup down to examine them.
"Oh I'm fine, it's just a little mess." She grabbed a few napkins from the coffee station and dabbed the coffee stains. I knew those weren't little stains, she was just being nice.
"Hey, I know where the extra scrubs are, follow me." I said half-wishing for Molly to show up. It was almost annoying, how much I thought about her. I know Turk and Carla were tired of hearing about Molly. I led Layla down to the supply closet and grabbed a pair from the top of a stack. She smiled, and grabbed them from me.
"Thank you! I know this might sound silly, but a lot of times I just want to get away, even for fifteen minutes..." she bit her lip and looked down with a small grin on her face. I actually felt a connection towards her. She reminded me of myself, back when I first started at Sacred Heart.
"Oh, are you kidding? When I first started here I felt the same way. Every intern that starts here feels the same way. As a bonus you don't have to deal with Dr. Cox on a daily basis." I said as I closed the door behind me. She furrowed her brow.
"Don't you call him your mentor?" she asked. Damn, she catches on fast.
"Well...yes...but how would you like it if you were called various girls' names on a daily basis?" I joked. She was actually really nice, albeit quiet but it gave her an air of mystery. Surprisingly, Molly came and saw me talking to Layla.
--
"Okay, you want me to open up? Fine, I'll give it to you. My father was a drunk, I married a girl that I eventually learned to hate, and although I work a good 140 hours per week, Jordan pushes our 2 kids on me anytime there's an inkling of free time in my day. Newbie constantly annoys me with his daydreams, his hugs, and with his girlfriend who doubles as a surgeon here. You writing all of this down because I don't repeat myself." I said as Clock took her sweet time noting everything. In all honesty, I think this program is a waste of money and Bob has completely gone senile if he thinks this is an accurate evaluation of our hospital's staff. She looked up at me with her big, baby blues and placed her hand over mine.
"I think that we have something to work with here. There are definitely some things you need to talk more about." she smiled. I looked at her and growled. There was no way in Hell.
