The Right Girl 20
Johnny was texting on his phone – probably with the insipid Boo-Hoo Spencer – when she walked in, and Claudia rapped her knuckles on the threshold of his bedchambers to get his attention.
"Hey, you." She tilted her head to the side and gave him a small smile. "How you feeling today?"
"Much better, but still a little under the weather," he admitted. "Fever's gone, but my throat hurts and I'm still stuffed up and tired. And my back hurts."
"Old man," she muttered under her breath, flashing him a smile when he glared at her. "You want some more tea or something?"
"Nah. It makes me have to get up to take a leak every twenty minutes." His thumbs moved rapidly over the keypad on his phone, and he barely looked at her. "What've you got under your arm?"
"This?" Claudia lifted the small package so that it was in full view and twirled it around in her hands, making whatever was inside clatter around. "A package for you."
She wanted to laugh at how quickly his head snapped up, but knew that he'd get all pissy and defensive if she did that.
"Really?"
"Right here. You get it if you put your phone down."
He didn't need as much coaxing and wheedling as she thought he might, and Claudia was mildly surprised when her brother texted a quick line – probably gotta go, talk to you later – and dropped his phone onto the bed. "Give it here."
She walked over and handed it to him, then awkwardly deliberated over whether or not to leave. She always gave him his privacy when the packages arrived, partially to irritate him because that privacy insinuated that the packages were intimate and meaningful in ways that they probably weren't, and she had never once read the little notes that came with them or anything. But at the same time, she was always curious.
"Can I see what it is?"
Johnny was already cutting through the tape with his army knife. "Yeah, sure. Here, drop this back in my drawer."
She put away his knife as he tore open the box, then peered over his shoulder. "…That's it?"
Johnny stared at her. "What are you talking about?"
"That," she replied, tipping her chin toward the contents of the box. "That's it? I thought it'd be, like, I don't know, something…cool."
"It is," he insisted, pulling the things out. "Check this out. A bag of cough drops and-"
"A book." Claudia threw up her hands. "A freaking book."
"Not just any book – In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway." He inspected the back cover as his sister shook her head. "Nice. I haven't read this one yet."
"Read the note."
"What?"
"The note," she repeated. "There's always a note, right? Read the note. Let's find out what Vacuum Girl was thinking."
He glared at her, debating for a second whether or not he should actually do what she asked. Reading the note would open him up to her teasing, but not reading the note in front of her would make it feel like the notes were private and…secret and special or something, which they weren't.
"Fine." He pulled out the scrap of paper and unfolded it. "Sorry I kept you up so late last night."
"Dirty," Claudia grinned, walking around his bed toward his desk. "I like it. There's hope for that little milkmaid yet. Keep going."
"So glad I have your permission," he murmured dryly. "I should have known better. Neither one of us gets enough sleep as it is. Here are some cough drops. I know you hate the honey kind so they're wintergreen. And I also added something that puts me to sleep every time I pick it up. Ha ha!"
"Are you kidding?" Claudia, who was leaning against his chair, arched a brow mockingly at him. "She actually wrote 'ha-ha'? Like, spelled it out? How old is she, twelve?"
He silenced her with a look and resumed reading the note. "I kid. I'm actually sending it to you not based on its soporific qualities, but because boys seem to dig this kind of stuff."
His sister snorted. "Boys don't dig books, boys dig-"
"Anyway," Johnny interrupted far more loudly than was necessary. "God forbid you ever pick up a Jane Austen historical romance, right? Get better soon. NC."
"NC?"
"Nadine Crowell."
Her sister snapped her fingers. "Ah, so that's her name."
Johnny rolled his eyes and set the card down to his phone, which was buzzing. He glanced at it, flipped it open to receive the message so it would stop making noise, and then turned it off. "I don't know why you care – it's not like you'd ever use her real name anyway."
Claudia, who had seen all this with his phone, only smiled. "I'm like that weirdo Spinelli kid you like so much – I have fun nicknames for all."
"There's one big difference between you and Spinelli."
"My balls have dropped and his haven't?"
He was more than used to her outrageous remarks and Johnny didn't even bat a lash as he picked up his new book. "I…yeah, Claudie, that's it exactly."
She smirked and twirled a lock of raven hair around her finger. "…How's your book, John? Feel any smarter yet?"
He glanced up from behind the Hemingway and scowled. "…Shut up."
--
"And I was trying to give Jake his cough medicine but he wouldn't take it," Elizabeth was saying as she and Nadine sorted patient charts at the hub. "He was getting really fussy, right? So Cameron comes up and says to me, 'Momma, why don't you get Hello Ducky like Nurse Nadie?'"
Nadine let out a laugh. "Yes! I have another fan!"
"Your cute little toys have two fans," her co-worker remarked with a smile. "Especially that little Goofy hat of yours. Cam adores it. I think it scares Jake a little, with the roly-poly eyes, but at least it holds his interest."
"I love it, too," Nadine admitted. "It's just the cutest thing. One hat to rule them all."
"Clearly."
"Excuse me."
Both women looked up to see a tall man dressed in a black overcoat with a white parcel in his hand. Elizabeth and Nadine exchanged looks, but Nadine didn't know that the reason her colleague appeared nervous was because she recognized the look the man was sporting and had already guessed at his profession.
"Um, can I help you with something?"
He shook his head at the brunette nurse and set the box down in front of Nadine. "No, thank you. This is for you. Have a good day."
And then he turned and left.
Elizabeth gaped after him as Nadine stared down at the box. "That was…weird. What is it?"
"A box," Nadine replied, hefting it easily and looking surprised at the weight. "Would you excuse me for just a minute?"
"Yeah, sure."
The walk – okay, trot – to the locker room was a quick one, and before long Nadine was alone in the room. She sat down on the little bench in front of her locker, safely hidden from view should anyone come in through the door, and pulled the box open. Inside she found a thick black hardcover book with the title embroidered on with silver thread, and, of course, the customary note.
Couldn't get to the bookstore in my condition, so I picked this off my shelf. It's The Count of Monte Cristo, my favorite romance story. And for your information, I have read Jane Austen. Sometimes, I quote her in everyday conversation. Like, just this morning I told Cook that my sore throats are always worse than anyone's. She didn't get the joke, but I was quoting Austen nevertheless. It's very embarrassing and at times emasculating.
JZ
She snickered to herself and gently tucked the card inside her new book. Thankfully, no one had entered the locker room during her little break and she was able to place it in her locker and leave without anyone being the wiser.
--
"Hey." Nikolas Cassidine poked his head into the staff lounge when he saw Nadine curled up on one of the overstuffed sofas with something in her lap. "I didn't think I'd find you here. No, no, don't get up."
She waited as he crossed the room and then shifted, making room for him to sit next to her. "How are you feeling? How's today going so far?"
"Better than most," he admitted. "I'm not as tired as I usually am, and my infection is virtually gone. I had a bad reaction to one of the medications Ian put me on, but he said I responded very well to the next round of antibiotics, so…that's good."
"That's very good," Nadine smiled back.
"So, I, uh, noticed you were reading." He tipped his chin at her book. "I've never seen you do that."
"Read?" She placed her finger on the page, marking it, and closed the book. "That's insulting. But if you must know, I can read. Hooked on Phonics worked for me."
Nikolas laughed and shook his head. "No, no, I meant, I've never really seen you sit down and relax and just take a minute for yourself. You're always running around all over the place, you just never seem to sit still. It's good."
"Well, I pulled a double shift today-"
He snapped his fingers. "There it is."
"-and it starts in an hour so I figured there was no point in going home and that I'd just relax here with a book," she finished with a smile. "I even went down to the caf and got myself one of their chicken wrap things."
"Take advantage of that meal plan," he agreed. "So how is it?"
"The chicken wrap? Pretty good once I added mustard and hot sauce to it."
"I meant the book," he smirked. "What, you find it in the Pediatrics wing or something?"
Nadine blinked. "Why would you ask that?"
"Because it's the only wing of the hospital that offers fairly decent reading material," Nikolas grinned.
She smiled back and shook her head. "No, no, not from Pedes. It was actually…it was a gift from a friend of mine."
The Cassidine Prince smirked and nodded, thumping his cane twice on the carpet. "Good for you."