In Grease, there is a character known as Teen Angel who appears just once as Frenchy's guardian angel. Much as I like him (and his song), I've always felt this was quite random, so I've decided to use him for all the fantasy sequences in my version of Grease. Though he will be a proper character too, just to confuse you.
Bonnie Sveen Fan, thank you for your review. I think Cal might actually make quite a good husband now. Though hopefully he'll buy his own engagement ring next time. I can't make maths calculations at any speed even on paper, which is why I didn't include the result of Lily's calculation!
westlife4ver80, Cal really is better off not lying... he never gets away with it! Lily is a little bit obsessed with getting a husband - I think that whatever she sets her mind to, she takes it all very seriously and really focuses hard on it, but that's not the ideal approach for dating. Thank you for your review.
Tanith Panic, it is realistic for Lily to be frosty with David, unfortunately. I hope he knows she's like that with everyone she's not trying to marry. I'm glad you like the way I've written Dylan - he's not based on a Grease character, but I couldn't leave him out. Maybe you'll spot more characters in this chapter. Thank you for your review.
Ethan entered the staff room and nodded in satisfaction. He'd timed it well. He was all alone.
He started to dance.
He hadn't been learning salsa for very long, but he really thought he was improving. He hadn't told anyone else yet as he knew they would make fun of him, but he wanted to learn to dance and he had as much right to do that as anyone else.
He was practising the move known as the comb when the door opened and Cal, Max, Lofty, Iain and Jez walked in.
Cal burst out laughing. "Nibbles? Are you dancing?"
Ethan's face flamed, but he nodded. "I've enrolled for salsa classes. I'm now a student of the Latin beat." He'd thought that sounded quite impressive when his teacher had said it to him, but his colleagues collapsed laughing.
"Can you show us some more?" said Lofty, who was at least trying not to laugh at him.
"Um… yes, of course," said Ethan. "Could I borrow you for a moment?"
Cal laughed and shoved Lofty in the back. "You don't get an offer like that every day."
Lofty gave them a reproachful look and went to stand beside Ethan.
"Okay, this is a cross body lead," said Ethan.
"Yeah, I'd be cross if you did that to my body!" said Iain.
Jez smiled. "I wouldn't!"
"And this is a turn," said Ethan, trying to turn Lofty and stepping on his foot.
Lofty didn't even flinch.
"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry. Are you all right, Lofty?"
"Yeah, fine. Carry on, Ethan."
"This is a duck, and a check… and I've been working on a hand throw." Ethan picked up Lofty's hand and tried to throw it. Lofty's hand hit Ethan in the face and knocked his glasses off.
"Yeah… keep working on it," said Iain.
Lofty picked Ethan's glasses up. "I'm sorry, Ethan. I'm so clumsy."
"No, not at all. It was my fault," said Ethan. "I'll go and find my spare pair."
"Can you do an Argentine tango?" asked Max.
Ethan thought for a moment. "Has it got cross body leads?"
"Come on. Let's see some proper moves," said Cal, who never missed an opportunity to make fun of his little brother.
Ethan didn't see how he was going to get out of it. He closed his eyes and wished. I wish I was a good salsa dancer. I wish everyone would watch me and be impressed. I wish Honey would scream my name and want to dance with me.
The lights in the staff room seemed to go dimmer. The guys were all standing by the door, watching. The door opened and Jack walked in, dressed all in white and carrying a magic wand.
"I'm your guardian angel, Ethan, and your wish is my command," he said, waving his wand.
A fast Latin track began to play. A group of girls came to the door of the staff room and Honey pushed her way to the front.
Ethan walked towards her, aware his scrubs had disappeared and instead, he was wearing a pink shirt that was open to the waist and lime green trousers. He walked over to Honey and held out his hand.
Together, they danced, their movements wild. Ethan was almost completely focused on Honey, but he heard the gasps of admiration from their colleagues. As the song came to an end, he lifted Honey high into the air. The staff room erupted with cheers.
And then Ethan was back in the normal staff room, dressed in scrubs with no sign of Honey, as Cal, Max, Lofty, Iain, Jez and Jack (now dressed in his receptionist's uniform) stood there, laughing at him.
Robyn stood in the front of the mirror, looking at her reflection and sighing.
Why am I never the one who gets the guy?
She knew she could never be with someone like Cal and to be honest, she didn't really want him. He was very nice to look at, but the way he'd treated Alicia was disgusting and it wasn't the first time he'd done that to a girl. He'd done exactly the same to Lily, and possibly Connie – they'd gone to the pub together once and Cal hadn't gone near her for about a week after that, though Zoe thought it was far more likely Connie had rejected Cal.
But there were nice guys out there – really lovely guys Robyn knew could have made her happy if only she was pretty enough to get the chance. Lofty had told her more than once that she was beautiful and her size didn't matter, but it must have mattered a little bit because he'd never tried to be anything more than friends.
Robyn ran her fingers through her hair, trying to give it more volume, but it was no use. No matter how big her hair was, the rest of her was bigger still.
Lofty groaned aloud in frustration as the bar of soap shot out of his hand and skidded across the floor, coming to rest in a small puddle that was far too close to the urinals for Lofty's comfort.
Why am I so clumsy?
Lofty picked up the soap with a paper towel and threw it in the bin. He moved to another sink and used another bar of soap that was far more cooperative, but the first incident remained in his mind.
He'd always been clumsy. He was amazed he hadn't killed anyone yet. Today alone, he'd tripped over in Resus, dropped not one but two cannulae and knocked almost an entire suture kit on the floor.
All he wanted now was to go back to the house he shared with Max and Robyn and let Robyn cuddle him, but he knew that while the hug would comfort him at the time, it would only sadden him later on.
Robyn was so beautiful and sweet and kind, but why would anyone want a clumsy clod like him?
Rita was trying to make sure everyone had a good time, but it wasn't easy. Alicia looked ready to burst into tear;. Honey was sulking because they were going to a different pub from usual, which meant she wouldn't see Ethan; Zoe had made it clear she'd much rather be with Max; Louise was annoyed with Noel, who'd done absolutely nothing wrong as far as Rita had been able to discern; and Robyn was clearly upset about something, though she was trying to keep cheerful.
Still, they were nearly at the pub, Rita thought philosophically. After a drink or two, they'd probably all be feeling better.
Zoe stopped outside the pub. "Hang on. I need a cigarette."
"Okay. We'll see you inside," said Rita.
Zoe kept hold of her arm. "No way am I standing out here on my own!"
Louise, Robyn and Honey said they'd have a cigarette too and Alicia needed no persuasion so stay with them, so Rita cut her losses and decided she'd better stay too.
Besides, she had something to show her friends and the street was so quiet, it might be better to do it out here than in the pub.
Zoe pulled an empty cigarette packet out of her bag. "Damn. Have you got any spares, Honey?"
"Yes, of course," said Honey, opening a packet and handing several to Zoe. She looked round at the others. "Would you like one, Alicia?"
"Oh, no thanks," said Alicia. "I don't smoke."
"Go on: live a little," said Zoe. "It isn't going to kill you."
"Well… actually…" said Rita, but Alicia had clumsily taken a cigarette from Honey and placed it between her lips. Honey lit it for her. Alicia breathed in and immediately started to cough.
"Sorry. I should have said," said Zoe, rolling her eyes. "Don't inhale if you're not used to it."
Robyn patted Alicia's arm. "Don't worry, Alicia. You'll get better at it."
"Yeah, and then I'll show you how to French-inhale!" said Honey eagerly. "It's amazing. Look at this."
"That's the ugliest thing I've ever seen," said Zoe. "Including Dylan naked."
"Oh my God!" said Robyn. "You've seen Dylan naked?"
"We used to live together, remember?" said Zoe with a sigh. "One day, he forgot about me and Dervla was barking, so he walked out of his bedroom naked. He never did that again."
"I don't blame him!" said Rita. She decided to change the subject before Zoe gave them any details. She had a quick glance round to check there was no-one else around, then slipped her hand into her bag and pulled out a pair of purple panties.
"Oh my God!" gasped Robyn. "Where did you get those?"
"Look at those bows!" said Honey in awe. "I want a pair of them]]."
"This guy I know sent them to me," said Rita coyly, though she was delighted to have Robyn's approval. "His name's Freddy and he's really sweet."
"Where did you meet this guy?" said Zoe in a bored voice.
"I met him at the ice-skating rink when he was on leave," said Rita. "Charlie and Duffy went there on a date, but they were worried they'd get injured so they wanted another nurse on standby who was an experienced skater. I was skating on my own, giving Charlie and Duffy some space but kind of surreptitiously keeping an eye on him, which wasn't a lot of fun considering they were behaving like a pair of teenagers, and then Freddy showed up with a load of his mates. We really hit it off and he asked for my number, but the next thing I knew, he'd joined the army. And it's all that stupid twit Iain Dean's fault!"
"Oh no!" said Honey sympathetically.
"He promised he'd write though," said Rita. "And then he started sending me stuff. Like these panties. Oh, and look what else." Rita lifted her left hand. On her fourth finger was a sparkly ring.
Honey gasped. "Oh my God, Rita! Why didn't you tell us you were engaged?"
Rita wasn't sure Freddy had necessarily meant it to be an engagement ring, but she wasn't going to tell her friends that. "I was waiting for the right moment. I wanted to show you the panties too and I couldn't exactly whip those out in the nurses' station."
"Come on!" said Zoe, throwing her cigarette stub on the floor and squashing it with her heel. "Who's getting the first round?"
"I will if you like," offered Alicia at once.
"Don't be silly," said Rita. "You're our guest. This one's on me."