This Is Your Song | 11
.: General Hospital, Hub :.
"So?" Elizabeth eased closer to her as she organized her charts. "Did you make up with that guy of yours?"
"Yeah, are things better?" Leyla wanted to know.
"Do you all get paid to actually help people, or just stand around and gossip?"
Nadine rolled her eyes as Epiphany barked. One day, she'd just let that stupid goat have it. It would not be pretty, but boy, would she enjoy it. If she said just one more thing, one more damn thing, she was going to bite her oversized head off and spit it out in Dr. Ford's office…
"Hi, guys!"
Oh, great. This time, Nadine couldn't resist the urge to roll her eyes as Lulu Spencer, the most inept candystriper at General Hospital, came bouncing up into the hub. She had no idea why the girl even bothered anymore: she showed up for about two shifts a week when she had four, and always screwed up more than she helped out.
"Hi, Lulu."
She could hear the exasperation in everyone else's voices, too, as they responded to her greeting. She had to figure that Elizabeth had it the worst. Lulu was her sister-in-law, after all, and she had to at least pretend to like her.
"Sorry I'm so late. I had a date last night." She looked around to see if anyone was interested. No one was. "With Dillon."
"Isn't that your stepbrother?" Leyla asked, her tone letting everyone know she already knew the answer.
Lulu made a face as the elevator doors buzzed. "Yeah, but we're totally not related, so it's fine."
She looked over just as Johnny Zacchara stepped out onto the hub and saw him glance at Nadine a little longer than was necessary for two people that didn't know each other. Nadine barely looked up, instead frowning at a patient chart that just didn't look right.
"Hey, Nadine?"
Lulu kept one eye on Johnny. She'd heard that Nadine was involved with someone for the past few months and maybe it was about time that Mister Zacchara knew that so he wouldn't be so tempted to eyeball her that way. "Don't you have a boyfriend?"
"What?" Nadine looked up just then and caught Johnny's gaze as he passed by smoothly. "No. No, I don't. Why do you ask?"
Lulu's lips settled into a peevish line. Damn it. "No reason. I just…thought you were involved with someone."
"Well, I'm not," Nadine muttered, looking back to her files. "Why don't you order those charts over there and then go make sure the supply closet is stocked?"
"Yeah, I knew it was just a dumb rumor," Lulu replied with a catty little shrug. "I had a feeling there wasn't anyone."
Johnny heard this and rolled his eyes, and Lulu, satisfied with her work, flounced off to check the supply closet first instead of ordering the charts like Nadine told her.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Head down, girls," Elizabeth muttered, walking quickly into the hub. "The board meeting just let out, so look busy."
"Why do we have to look busy?" Lulu asked, making them all roll their eyes.
"Because the board members are idiots," Leyla stated simply. "And they like to pretend that they own this place even though they're just here a couple times a month to talk about the business end of things."
"And when they pass the nurses' station and we're not looking properly busy," Regina picked up, "they throw a fit and talk to Doctor Ford and he gets mad and everyone suffers. So just pretend you're busy."
"Just ruffle through the same charts over and over," Elizabeth suggested dryly. "They're not very smart. They're administration, after all. Intelligence is not a job requirement."
Nadine smirked at that, wondering what Johnny would do if she casually snipped that at him, and went back to signing insurance reports as the board members filed into the hub dressed in their fancy suits, looking completely out of place in the hospital.
They waited by the elevators, apparently pleased with how busy the nurses looked, and had to wait before climbing on because a delivery man with a large bouquet was waiting to get out onto their floor.
He walked right over to the hub and looked at them expectantly. "I have a delivery for Nadine Crowell?"
"That's me," Nadine barely managed to croak out as Johnny stepped into the hub of the hospital, lagging behind his colleagues. "Are you sure you want Nadine Crowell?"
"Well, I don't, personally, but it looks like someone does," he smirked, setting the bouquet down in front of her. "Have a nice day."
"Oh, my gosh." Nadine fingered the beautiful flowers, a massive arrangement of yellow tulips and blue irises, her two favorite flowers in the world when put together this way. She loved them because she'd held a bouquet of yellow tulips and blue irises when she was five, at her late Uncle Lorin's wedding to Aunt Rayleen, and everyone said that the flowers suited her and Jolene perfectly, since they were blonde haired and blue eyed.
"They're so beautiful."
"They're gorgeous," Leyla agreed, looking closer. "Is there any card?"
Nadine shook her head as Johnny smirked, taking his time to get to the elevator. "Nope, no card."
Regina looked confused. "Then how do you know who it's from?"
She looked at him as he walked by, but Johnny was very pointedly looking at his watch. "Oh, I know."
Lulu didn't look pleased at all and half-glared at the senior nurse. "I thought you said you weren't seeing anyone."
Nadine ignored her, as did the rest of them, and Elizabeth moved forward and placed a hand on her shoulder, admiring the beautiful flowers.
"Well, you know what I say?" She paused to play with a tulip.
Nadine looked at Johnny, who had punched the button for the elevator and was waiting patiently. He caught her gaze and smirked, and she kept herself composed so as not to give anything away. "What?"
"I'd say you found a really great guy who knows you very well and cares a lot about you," Elizabeth smiled.
Nadine and Lulu both scoffed, but the younger blonde remained silent. "Why'd you say that?"
Elizabeth shrugged coyly. "Because unless he knows otherwise, it's always roses."
Nadine laughed it off but Johnny, who was climbing into the elevator, looked particularly disturbed.
