Mary walked up the steps to Brooklyn general hospital. The sun was still rising giving how early it was and the front of the hospital was quiet. She smiled at one of the nurses stood outside, chatting quietly on her phone. This had been the first hospital she worked at as a qualified nurse and the memories she made here were ones she would cherish for the rest of her life. She made some good friends here as well. Anya, her best friend worked here as well, a girl who was in the same year as her in university. They became the best of friends and were glad to both get a post of Brooklyn general hospital. To keep up with the bills, Mary took on a few shifts here and there. She used to work full time at the hospital, but she rarely found time to herself and felt she was working constantly which gave her the motivation to enter a field job alongside.
As she reached the opening of the hospital, she felt an arm swing around and fold over her shoulders, yanking her into a bony body. She yelped in surprised but quickly smiled as she realised who it was.
"Hey Mare" Peter greeted happily, smiling wide down at her. He was dressed in his dark blue scrubs and his dirty trainers on his feet.
"Peter! You scared me" she breathed, holding a hand to her heart, and catching her breath. The doors automatically opened as they walked to the entrance and entered the clean and fresh halls of the hospital. The smell of sterile and disinfectant had become too immune to the pair, having worked in the same environment for years. To a newcomer, the place lingered with a strange cleanliness that you'd get use to within a week.
"Good that's what I was aiming for" he grinned, and Mary shook her head with a smile, rolling her eyes. Peter was another best friend of hers. They met at Brooklyn hospital. Peter was a nurse as well but specialised as a radiographer. He spent most of his day taking x-rays, CT scans, MRI's and any other tests needed or requested by staff and then when needed he'd help with shifts. Funnily enough they graduated the same year and ended up working at the same hospital. There was always a stereotype that nurses could only be females and any man working that job was seen as feminim or gay. But not Peter. He defiantly wasn't feminim and certainly not gay. He liked woman like any other guy did. He was a sweet guy, very caring and he and Mary got on like a house on fire.
"You seem very cheerful today?" she asked with a raise brow. Peter was always cheerful but today he seemed a bit extra.
"Well, I get to see one of my best friends and… I brought that apartment on Pennsylvania Avenue" he smiled, and Mary turned to him suddenly, a face full of delight.
"Peter that's amazing" she hugged him tightly and he chuckled, shrugging his shoulders. He was saving his money for so long to buy a place of his own. There was nothing like having your own home to come home to and places around here weren't cheap.
"Thanks, finally saved enough for it and now it's all mine" he said as they walked to the nurse's station. Anya was already there, sitting at one of the desks on a high stool, clipboard in her hand and writing some notes.
"Hey" she greeted as the two walked inside.
"Hey, An" Mary said, dumping her bag on the floor and giving her friend a hug. She was the opposite to Mary. Shorter brown hair, dark brown eyes, a tattoo on her wrist. Unlike Mary, Anya was a wild ride. Every week she had a story about this guy and that guy and how she ended up in a fight at the club. Mary sometimes couldn't keep up with her. Mary wasn't the biggest drinker, but she wasn't opposed to alcohol. A small glass of wine was fine in the bible, but she was nothing like Anya who would start off with Jager bombs.
"Thanks for replying to me" Anya said sarcastically, bumping up her eyebrows and Mary narrowed her eyes in response.
"What do you mean?" she asked softly.
"I text you this morning" Anya replied, and Mary realised.
"Oh, yeah my phone is broken, I can't use it at the minute" she said.
"How did you break it?" Peter asked.
Mary thought for a second before answering.
"Oh, I bumped into someone and dropped it, I'm going to get a new one I just keep forgetting" she brushed it off quickly. She wasn't sure to bring up meeting James. The mention of any guy and Anya would be begging her to go out with him. She was always trying to set Mary up with people. When it came to men, Mary wasn't sure what she wanted or what she liked. Having only been on a couple dates in her entire life, she had no idea how to act around them. She'd always end up getting too nervous and shy. James was already intimidating to begin with, it might be a disaster if she went out with him. Mary decided to leave out the part that he was buying her a new phone. The bible teaches not to lie but God would just have to be angry with her for this one time.
"Good, you can finally get an upgrade from that brick you use, I don't know how you can use something like that" Anya said, and Mary laughed softly.
"It's not a brick and all I use it for is texting and the phone. You know I'm not all about posting my life for a million people to see" she teased, aiming it straight at Anya who as Mary said was obsessed with social media.
"Oh, shut up" Anya huffed playfully.
"Did you tell Anya" Mary looked to Peter.
"Tell me what?" Anya said intrigued.
"I brought an apartment" he smiled, and Anya jumped from her seat, squeezing Peter into a tight hug.
"That's amazing Peter, when's the party" she wiggled her brows and Peter laughed.
"I knew you were going to say that" Peter rolled his eyes.
"Okay let's call it a housewarming".
"Well, I'm moving my stuff in tomorrow so if you want you guys can come over on Saturday" he offered.
"Damn I can't to Saturday-OWW" Mary gave her a shark kick to the shin.
"What was that for?" she whined.
"Your mouth" Mary pointed out. her friends were normally quite good at not swearing in front of her, but a few slip ups were here and there. Mary didn't mind too much but she enjoyed her little punishment. Anya respected her beliefs despite her being the complete opposite to Mary.
"Come on, I haven't sworn in front of you for ages, I'll say a prayer tonight how's that" Mary laughed, giving her another playful kick and Anya kicked her back, their feet wrestling with each other.
"Anyway, I better go, I'll see you guys later" Anya grabbed her clipboard, heading out the nurse's station to attend to her patients.
"Is Saturday okay for you?" Peter asked sitting in the empty stool and Mary nodded.
"Thanks Peter, if you need help moving your stuff let me know" Mary offered. She'd decided to get him a housewarming present as well. Perhaps a nice plant or decorative piece to hang up.
"Aw thanks Mare" he patted her back kindly, looking at her sweetly.
"What phone are you going to get then?" he asked, and Mary shrugged. flipping through her paperwork for today.
"Umm, I don't know, anything cheap, I guess. I don't need anything fancy" she'd have to wait and see what James brought her. She was praying it wasn't anything to high tech. She could just about work her old phone and she didn't need anything fancy like his. Like she said, she'd only use it for calls and texts and taking a photo here and there. But there was a small feeling inside her that made her believe that her new phone was going to be anything but simple or cheap.
She finished her shift around six o'clock, exhaustion kicking in around the last few hours and she was happy to head home. The drive took longer than expected due to typical New York traffic and after finally getting out of the congestion, she pulled up to her apartment block. It was a tall building with five floors of apartments, each hold eight rooms. It wasn't anything fancy, but it held a warm roof over her head. Inside was a reception desk along with mailboxes with each numbered apartment. The lift was situated to the side and stairs opposite on the other side. Mary lived on the top floor, so she always took the lift. no way was she treading up that flight of stairs after working a twelve-hour shift. Luckily the maintenance was good at keeping things up to date and it rarely broke down.
She reached her floor, the doors of the lift pinging open and leading her to the bright hallway. The carpet was cream with white walls and doors with gold handles and a gold number on each door. Her feet scuffed the carpet as she walked down to her door and as she reached closer, she noticed the cardboard box on the floor outside her door. A butterfly set off in her stomach as she reached for it. it was a small box which could only mean it was one thing.
'That was quick' she thought as she pushed herself inside, slamming the door with her elbow and throwing her keys into the small bowl on the side. Her apartment was spick and span, everything in its place and nothing out. She was expecting the phone to take a few days to come but the next day, she wasn't expecting at all. This man was really going above and beyond for her. Mary set the box on the kitchen counter, struggling to open it until she finally ripped it open, pulling out the packing material and pulling a smaller box out.
Her eyes widened at the logo on the front. An apple iPhone. That small part of her was right. He had only gone and brought her an iPhone. Mary carefully unwrapped the box, pulling out a sleek black phone, bigger than her entire hand. It was so thin she thought she was going to drop it. It was so shiny and smooth and on the back were three small cameras. It didn't feel heavy to her surprise and having been so used to the chunky little phone she used before, she had to hold it in both hands.
She dared to know how much it cost and inside was a small invoice. Plucking it from the box, she opened it up and her eyes widened in shock.
$800
Surely not. This couldn't be true. Eight hundred dollars for a phone. Her old one cost around sixty. It was quite overwhelming. He didn't need to buy her the most expensive phone on the planet. But then again, he wouldn't take no for an answer. There was no stopping him. Mary knew she'd have to thank James in some way. Diving deeper into the box, it also came with a screen protector and a phone case. She was definitely going to be needing that. the last thing she wanted to do was scratch it or drop it and waste his money. From now on she'd only look at her phone when stationary. Also in the box was a small sim card.
It was fairly easy to set up and Mary wasn't used to the big screen. Her old phone was a touch screen as well but the graphics on the screen weren't as clear as her new phone. Finally, she was in, and she spent the evening putting in her contacts and sending a quick message to those to let them know it was her and that she had a new number. The only problem was she didn't have James's number. She'd have liked to send him a message thanking him, but she had no contact. She didn't know where he lived either so she couldn't rock up at his house and thank him. She'd have to wait for another bump in. Perhaps he'd be visiting at the retirement home again and she could thank him then.
After a quick dinner, she decided to head to bed. Pulling on her grey pyjamas and setting her glass of water down on her bedside table, she knelt on the floor, placing her hands together for her nightly prayer.
"Dear Lord, bless us with rest tonight and a good night's sleep. Thank you for everything you do to guide me every day and thank you for not judging me harshly on receiving this material good for my mistake. I promise to repay the favour to James… if he accepts. Amen" she smiled to herself as she finished her prayer. She never went to bed without saying a prayer and tonight she made sure to make it clear she wasn't taking advantage of James by accepting this phone. She flicked back the covers of her bed, curling up under them and her head falling into the soft pillow as sleep took over her quickly.
Hey so I hope you like this chapter, let me know what you think in the comments