As the alarm beat out a military tattoo, Lucy stumbled out of bed, her blonde hair falling out of her pony tail. She rubbed her bleary eyes and picked her way across the bedroom which was littered with clothes. She looked critically at herself in the mirror.
"Rough," she said finally, after searching long and hard for the exact word to describe her appearance. To qualify matters further, she added, "Heading towards really rough." She pulled her hair band out and wondered if she could get away without washing her hair. After all, it was only work and it wasn't really greasy as such, just a bit shiny at the roots and… she looked at the photo stuck to the mirror. Jamie smiled down at her, his blue eyes mocking her gently,
"Oh okay!" She stomped to the bathroom. She really would have to hurry though, seeing as she'd woken up so late. It was all Jamie's fault, if he…
The cold water hit her and she snapped back to reality. Jamie was gone. She couldn't blame him for her refusing to sleep alone.
"Lucy, you're late," Charlie Fairhead noted as she walked in the door. "Again." The emphasis on the last word wasn't lost on anyone listening.
"I know, I'm sorry, Charlie," she said instantaneously, her tongue working without her even really thinking.
"This has got to stop you know," Charlie continued. "I need you here, not tucked up in bed. I know it's cold…"
"I know." Lucy forced herself not to snap at him. She was getting fed up with being treated like some child who was reluctant to leave her bed in the morning. It wasn't the cold it was… "It won't happen again, Charlie," she said slowly and deliberately, before turning on her heel and marching into the staffroom.
Charlie watched her go. She was such a pretty girl really, it was a shame she always looked so… sulky was probably the wrong word, she wasn't exactly some little two-year-old. But she did. And she was always so short-tempered.
"Penny for them," Chloe Hill remarked cheerfully in her Welsh lilt as she bounced past him, carrying a patient's notes.
They're not worth that much," Charlie replied, shaking himself out of his reverie. "Chloe, what do you know about Lucy?" If anyone could explain her strange behaviour it would be the bright and sparky staff nurse. Chloe wasn't exactly a gossip, but if there was anything to know she'd know. Though even she'd been acting cagey lately, something to do with Anna's "accident"…
"Not much," Chloe shrugged. "Keeps herself to herself. Bit of a stroppy cow really."
Charlie winced at her phraseology, but nodded. "Okay, thanks anyway." He was about to go when he remembered something else, and he turned back round to where she was filling in some forms. "Have you spoken to Anna again about what happened?"
Chloe's face shut down and she put on a fake happy smile. "Ah she doesn't want to talk about it!" she said shrugging again. "I've got to go, I've got a patient waiting." She hurried off, and Charlie resigned himself to the fact that he wouldn't get anything more out of her today. Even so, he couldn't help wondering exactly what was wrong with the nurses of Holby A and E department.
