UGH! Sorry guys I've taken so long! Don't worry… I'm still here. School's been so amazingly crazy. Thanks to all of you again for reviewing. The more reviews I have, the more it keeps me going for this story. Thanks a lot!
Here it is!
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Chapter 4
"BEEP BEEP BEEP!" Loreali rolled over in her bed and turned off her alarm. She grunted and laid in bed for a few seconds trying to wake up completely. She turned on her light, grabbed her towel, and hopped in the shower. Quickly she washed her hair and body, put in her contacts, and brushed her teeth. Then she quickly looked at her CD collection to decide what she was going to listen to that morning.
"Hmmmm," she said while scanning her CDs. Loreali was a musical junkie. "Ah, I'm in the Rent mood." She put the CD in her stereo and pressed play which started "Seasons of Love."
While looking through her dresser, she pulled out her necessary clothes including her favorite scrubs. While pulling her hair into a ponytail she sang along with the CD and then put on foundation, eyeliner, and mascara. Then quickly she fixed a bagel and some coffee, ate, and left to drive her BMW convertible to the hospital.
While walking into the hospital, Christy came in also to aide Loreali in the surgery. They both had a quick girl-chat while getting the equipment ready and walked to Charlie's room to give Charlie a prep-talk and reassure the family he'd be fine.
"Good morning," Loreali greeted the four men. "Charlie's surgery should only take about two hours. Once he's done we'll come in and talk to you and tell you how the surgery went. Charlie may be in the post-op room for a little bit. It depends on how quickly the patient wakes up."
Loreali noticed that Charlie's family looked worried and she gave them a smile. "Don't worry. I've performed this surgery many times." Larry, Alan, and Don all tried to make themselves not look so worried. "Charlie I suggest to take a couple minutes to talk to your family. Then they'll accompany you to the pre-op room and we'll give you anti-anxiety medicine and then we'll take you to the operating room."
Loreali and Christy walked out of the room to leave the men to talk. Sighing, Loreali washed her hands extremely well and put on all the necessary protective accessories. She walked to the pre-op room and found each of the men hugging Charlie. Walking to the operating room, she heard Alan tell Charlie that everything would be ok. She remembered her father in that moment. He hadn't been supportive of her choosing to be a doctor. While shaking the thought out of her head, she pushed the swinging doors open and entered the operating room. Making sure she had all of her equipment, Charlie was pushed into the operating room.
Loreali placed her hands underneath Charlie's back. "Ready guys? On my count, one, two, three." They lifted Charlie onto the operating table. He seemed to be in a daze and hadn't said a word. Loreali took the gas mask filled with anesthesia over Charlie's nose and mouth. "Charlie, you'll be going to sleep in about fifteen seconds. Just relax." As he nodded his head his eyes closed and she returned to her equipment. She brought a pad and the iodine solution over to Charlie's stomach. As she put it on, she prayed the surgery would go smoothly. This was a guy she was beginning to enjoy...
Two Hours Later
The men paced back and fourth in the waiting room. Larry had tried to rationalize their worrying. Alan and Don had blocked Larry's voice out a long time ago. Alan looked at his watch about every ten seconds now. She had promised only two hours for the surgery and it had gone over by ten minutes. Don looked to his father.
"Dad, don't worry. I bet Charlie's fine." Don gave his father a reassuring smile and Alan gave patted Don's back. Don stood up. "I'm going to the snack machines. Do you guys want anything?" Both replied water. He traveled to the snack machines quickly and put in the money and received the water bottles. One he returned he saw that Loreali was pushing her hair cover off. He stopped walking and turned toward Dr. Matthews. The other men left their seats and joined Don. Loreali gave them a large smile
"Charlie was great. I successfully put a rod in his leg and drilled three screws into the side of his leg. He's in the post-op room now. He should be waking up soon and then we'll wheel him to his room." Alan looked considerably relieved.
"Thank you so much doctor." Alan spoke while hugging Loreali which seemed to startle her at first, but then she hugged him back.
"No problem. Charlie's a great patient. I have some people here who're so incredibly high maintenance. You wouldn't believe some of their stories." Loreali and the men laughed. "I'm going to go finish up some paper work. The nurses will take him to his room once he receives the pain medicine and then I'll be in there to make sure he's doing fine." Loreali shook Don's and Larry's hand again and walked to the nurse's station. Ten minutes passed and she had finally completed the necessary paper work.
As she walked to the patient's room, she drank a little water at the water station and put on Chap Stick. She noticed her lips were considerably dry. She entered the room and the men all looked up with her. "How are you feeling, Charlie?" She asked as she walked to the side of the bed.
"Tired," he replied in a hoarse voice. "In pain." She smiled.
"That's typical. For now we only want you to have ice and water. Tonight I'll be in here to see if you're ok to start eating more complex liquids." Charlie nodded his head and she left the room. Returning to the nurse's station she contemplated what to do later that night. She spotted Christy and gave her a faint smile.
"So how's your boyfriend doing," she teased.
"Fine," Loreali replied in a monotone voice.
"He's really a nice guy you know. He's doesn't seem like Rob."
"Yeah. He's… different." She stared into Charlie's file and sighed.
Loreali had girl-chat with Christy for a few hours. For some reason today she was feeling depressed. The memories of her father and her ex-boyfriend kept reoccurring in her mind.
She said goodbye to Christy and decided to head to her favorite Mexican restaurant for lunch. She ordered the usual to go and returned to her apartment. Turning on the TV, she served herself dinner and turned to a VH1 countdown.
Three hours later she woke up and realized she should head back to the hospital to see how Charlie was. Quickly, she put on a jacket, cleaned up her food, and turned off the TV. On the way to the hospital, she decided to put in her Moulin Rouge soundtrack and turned to Come What May, her favorite song. The lyrics made her tear up at the thought of her relationship with Rob. If she did decide to date Charlie, it was going to be hard to tell him what happened. She parked her car in the usual spot and climbed the stairs to enter the hospital. Some of the secretaries and nurses said short hellos to her as she made her way to her destination. Finally she came to Charlie's room. She had noticed that all the men had left and probably to get some food.
"Hi," she greeted quietly as she walked in. His eyes seemed to light up at the sight of her.
"Hi! I'm starting to feel a lot better now. Not as groggy. I keep falling asleep though, almost uncontrollably. So, if I fall asleep on you, it's not your fault," Charlie said bashfully.
She giggled. "No problem. It's happens all the time." She pulled a chair to the same place she had spent with him for hours the previous night. The two were able to get into a conversation rapidly and Loreali for the first time that day seemed to enjoy herself.
Loreali looked down at her watch. "Oh my! Two hours has gone by already. This week's been really slow, though. You're lucky because usually I have an incredible amount of patients. So far, you're my only one."
He smiled and almost in a whisper said, "I'm glad I could spend this time with you." He looked up hopefully as though he thought those words would be poison to her hears.
She smiled back and looked down at the floor. He took her hand from the railing of the bed and held it. Although it was nice to have his family be there and hold his hand, holding a woman's hand was incredibly different.
"I'm really starting to like you Loreali," he looked at her seriously and blushed.
"Me too," she replied and smiled. They stared at each other for what seemed hours until her cell phone rang. She pulled her hand out of his regretfully and answered it.
Charlie was going crazy in his mind. This girl was everything he needed. She was strong, beautiful, and confident. He needed someone in his life. No one had known this, but he had been feeling increasingly lonely for the past few weeks. He was glad to find Loreali.
She snapped her phone shut and looked at Charlie. "I'm sorry, but I have to go. I have a case coming in for a cracked femur." She looked at him sadly. "I'll come back later tonight when I get off. I promise." She went to the side of his bed, leaned down, and kissed him lightly on the side of his cheek and then smiled at him. Then walking out of the room confidently, she made her way to the emergency doors.