Friendly Distance

Author’s Note: To be honest I wasn’t sold on Dr. Lahela right away, and apparently my MC Blake wasn’t either. But after a few chapters and a heart-to-heart, it seems we are both smitten with this beautiful scalpel jockey.  I hope you enjoy my first attempt at bringing this wonderful pair to life.

~~~~~~~~~~

Blake exited room 551, her head down reviewing the patient’s chart as she walked towards the nurses’ station.  Based on the symptoms and patient’s medical history, she had determined IV antibiotics and a low-dose steroid should do the trick to clear up the mild staph infection that she’d observed during the exam.  Smiling proudly to herself, she was about to pass the orders along to the assigned nurse when-

BAM! “Hey!  Watch where you’re going Reyes!”  She felt two hands gripping her by the shoulders as the files in her grip fell to the floor.

Shaking her head, Blake lifted her gaze to find herself face to face with one Dr. Bryce Lahela.  Wearing his usual cocky grin, his silky hair falling down over his dark eyes, she had to fight her natural instinct to return a flirtatious smile.  

Bryce was not the type of guy she normally dated with his confident swagger and smooth pickup lines, yet she found herself immediately drawn to him when she had met him on day one at Edenbrook.  So much so that she’d ending up kissing him over a bet one night at Donahue’s, a mistake she had immediately chalked up to new job jitters and too many tequila shots. Reflecting on it the next morning, Blake had decided that she and Bryce were much better off as friends and coworkers … and that is how things had to be from now on.  This was her job, her lifelong dream of becoming a doctor at stake here; she was not about to let herself get distracted from her goals by some charming surfer-boy who would probably end up breaking her heart.

“Oh, hi Dr. Lahela.”  She kept her voice flat and her face blank as she swooped down to the floor to retrieve the papers.  Bryce was right there with her, handing her the last document with a smug smirk. Blake mumbled a quick ‘thanks’ as she rose, then proceeded to avert her attention to the nurse behind the counter waiting on 551’s orders.  

After thoroughly filling in the nurse and grabbing another stack of charts, she was surprised to find him still standing nearby when she turned around.  Leaning coolly against the wall and chatting with another surgical intern, she noticed him perk up as soon as she turned. Blake pretended not to notice him as she started reviewing her next patient’s chart and walked towards their room, but soon enough he was hovering at her left side.  

“You really should look around every so often, Reyes.  Stop and smell the roses, per se.” Blake could hear the smirk on his lips before she raised her eyes to witness it firsthand.  

“Thanks for the tip, Lahela.  Can I help you with something?”  She flashed him a soft smile, trying her best to keep a friendly distance between their bodies.  Friendly distance … totally friendly.

“Have you eaten yet?  I was going to go grab something in the cafeteria and I was-“

“I really can’t, Bryce.”  Blake cut him off, knowing exactly where this was leading.  “I have so many patients to see, I really can’t take a break right now.”  She gestured to the charts in her hand with a shrug.

“Fine, your loss.”  He flashed her another million-dollar smile, seemingly unfazed by her casual dismissal.  “See you around, Reyes.” He gave her a sly wink before he pivoted back towards the intern he’d been chatting with earlier.

Blake found her eyes lingering on his departing frame as he walked away, definitely a little too closely to be considered friendly.  The buzz of her pager brought her back to reality, calling her back to her charts and rounds. Just as she was about to enter room 553 to assess what she suspected to be a case of pneumonia-

“Hey Reyes!”  

Blake gripped the doorway, glancing back over her shoulder to find Bryce watching her with a mischievous look on his beautiful tanned face.  

“Don’t forget about the roses.”  He murmured, this time his cocky grin hitting his target spot on.

Blake couldn’t fight the genuine smile that tugged at the corners of her lips.  With an amused shake of her head, she gave him one final nod before entering room 553.

~~~

“I’ll need a full blood panel on room 574 and an MRI for room 580.  And make sure Mrs. Harmon in 568 doesn’t order anything with dairy in it.”  Blake handed over a stack of charts and orders, feeling as if she was finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.  Or the day at least … only three more rooms to see before she could clock out.

“Sure thing, Dr. Reyes!”  The chipper nurse responded with a cheerful grin before bounding away to complete her tasks.

Grabbing the last three charts, Blake took a step back-

BAM!  Blake felt the warm liquid running down her lower back and over the curve of her rear end down her legs.  She closed her eyes for a moment, saying a silent prayer that that hadn’t been someone’s fresh urine sample that was now residing along her backside and dripping in a puddle on the floor at her feet.  She inhaled deeply to calm herself, the stale aroma of breakroom coffee instantly easing her initial worry. She exhaled slowly as she turned to find her roommate Sienna, a now-empty cup of coffee in hand, with an uneasy expression on her face.

“Umm, hey roomie … I brought you some coffee?”  Sienna’s voice trilled playfully at the end of her sentence as she tried to hand her the empty cup, a cheesy grin spread across her face.

Blake laughed in response, staring down at the pool of dark caffeinated juice at her feet.  “While I appreciate the thought, I’m just thankful it wasn’t fresh. Otherwise you’d be treating me for second degree burns right now.”  

Sienna giggled, grabbing a few towels off the laundry cart and dropping them to the floor to soak up the liquid.  “I’m so sorry, Blake … here let me look at the damage.” She twirled Blake in place, raking her eyes up and down the back of her scrubs.  “So yeah, it kinda of looks like you may have a case of E Coli or Colitis …”

Blake gave her an annoyed sideways glance.  “Fabulous, you’re telling me I look like I shit myself.”

Sienna gave her an apologetic smile, shrugging her shoulders in agreement.  “Look, I tell you what … you go down and change, and I’ll take these charts while you’re gone.”

Blake opened her mouth to disagree, the thought of handing off her patients an extremely unappealing idea, before Sienna butted in to stop her.  “Uh unh! You can trust me, Blake. But your patients are gonna have a hard time trusting you with dookie pants. Now stop worrying and just go!”

Blake gave a frustrated grunt, but begrudgingly handed over the charts to her friend.  “Oh fine! Just … start with 585, that’s an easy one.” She started walking towards the staff elevator, subtly clasping her hands behind her back in a vain attempt to cover the stains.  “I should be back in time for Mr. Dominguez in 582!” She called over her shoulder as she slipped inside the elevator and made her way to the staff locker room in the basement.

~~~

Blake slipped inside the quiet locker room, making a beeline toward her assigned locker.  She opened the latch and retrieved a clean set of scrubs, and was just about to tug her dirty top over her head when she heard a rustling somewhere in the room behind her.  “Hello, is someone there?” She called out nervously, pulling her shirt back down to cover herself. So much for a few minutes of privacy.

Walking timidly past the rows of lockers and searching for the source of the noise, it did not take her long to find the culprit.  “Bryce?” Blake found the other intern hunched over on a bench in a desolate corner of the room, head in his hands and his fingers twined through his shaggy hair.  

Lifting his gaze to meet hers, Bryce put on his best attempt at a smile.  “Hey Reyes. I guess you found me.” He shot her his trademark wink, but Blake could see the uncharacteristic melancholy behind the empty gesture.

“Bryce, are you okay?”  Her voice was soft, unsure of what to say to him in his current state.  She had never witnessed this man as anything other than his usual frisky and fun-loving self … something was up.

Bryce looked away with a scoff and a nonchalant gesture, avoiding eye contact as he focused on the lockers lining the far wall.  “I’m fine!” The words came out as if a struggle, caught in the tightness of his throat.

Gradually making her way towards him, Blake settled in on the bench beside him.  She slowly placed a hand on his broad shoulder, the warmth of his skin radiating through his scrubs against her palm.  “Bryce …” she whispered, running her thumb along the fabric of his shirt. “Bryce, talk to me.”

His shoulders fell with a huff, and he lifted a hand to rub his forehead and down his face.  Finally he raked his fingers through his hair as he turned towards her, leaving his locks in a pile on top of his head.  His lips rested in a defeated line, not quite a smile nor a frown. “I really didn’t want to see anyone like this.”

Blake tilted her head, peering up at him through her lashes with a reassuring smile.  “It’s just me, Bryce. Now what happened.”

He exhaled a long sigh, his eyes focused on the floor in front of him as he recounted the events of his afternoon.  He’d sat in on several surgeries, the last one being a common appendectomy. “The head surgeon was so confident in me that he let me do the entire thing while he watched over my shoulder.”  The statement came out almost apologetically.

“That’s great, Bryce!”  Blake squeezed his shoulder in affirmation.

“Yeah … I guess so.”  He paused, a stoic expression on his face.  “Until he wouldn’t wake up. Apparently he had been under anesthesia for too long, when they tried to get him out his heart rate went through the roof and …”  He stopped mid-sentence dropping his head again to sulk for a brief moment before he straightened up on the bench, placing his hands on his knees and meeting her eyes again with a lackluster smile.  “I’m just thankful that the experts were there to take care of him.”

Blake instinctively reached over and grasped Bryce’s hand between her own, cupping it protectively as she peered into his eyes.  “Bryce, it’s not your fault. That could happen to anyone, no matter how much experience they have.”

Bryce shook his head and looked away.  “It took me too long, I was trying to show off and do it perfectly and I put the patient at risk.”

“If that had been a concern, the overseeing surgeon would have stepped in.”  Blake argued, placing a finger on his chin to turn his face back to hers. When his eyes met hers she saw a vulnerability she’d never noticed  before … an emotion so raw and honest and human. Not the easygoing fun-loving facade she’d seen thus far but the real Bryce, scared and unsure like the rest of them, that she hadn’t known was in there.

Realizing she was staring, Blake dropped her hand to her lap and cleared her throat.  “Besides, I think anyone would agree that the fact that you were trying to do it perfectly is a highly admirable trait in a surgical intern.  Or at least I would if I were the one under the knife.” She gave him a weak smile, relieved to find he returned it with a soft chuckle.

“I guess you’re right, Reyes.”  He shrugged, his body visibly relaxing as he kept talking.  “It was just eye-opening, you know. No matter how hard we try, some things are out of our control.  That’s going to take some getting used to.”

Blake’s eyebrow quirked as she listened to his confession, an amused smirk on her face.  “That doesn’t sound like the Bryce Lahela I’ve come to know. What happened to that carefree guy I met at orientation?”  

Bryce chuckled and shook his head.  “Hey, maybe there’s more to me than I let on.”  He gave her a challenging stare, his eyes sparkling mischievously.

“Well, maybe there is …” Blake replied, the nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach causing her to hope it might be true.  

“So are you going to explain why you smell like day-old coffee grounds, or do I have to guess?”  He inquired in a teasing tone.

Blake laughed out loud, relieved to hear the playfulness back in his voice.  “You’ll never guess.” She quipped sarcastically.

“I’m going to go with … “ Bryce peered at the ceiling with a pensive look on his face, tapping his index finger on his chin dramatically.  He then turned and met her gaze straight on, arching an eyebrow as he spoke. “You weren’t watching where you were going and you ran into someone with a cup of coffee.”

Blake pressed her hand over her face to hide the embarrassed flush of her cheeks, barely nodding her head in agreement.  “Well, she kind of ran into me, but …”

“Reyes, what did I tell you earlier!  You’ve got to take time to look around and enjoy life!  Or at least stop bumping into people before the hospital has to up its liability insurance.”  His eyes lit up joyfully and a wide grin spread upon his face, one she found impossible not to return with a laugh.

“I know, I know … stop and smell the roses.”  She was surprised at how light she felt in the moment, the laughter dying down and leaving a sense of contentment in its place.  Perhaps she should give more consideration to the Bryce Lahela school of thought … she could get used to this feeling.

“You better.”  His grin faded slowly, his eyes darkening with sincerity.  “Hey, um … can we keep this conversation between us? I’ve got a reputation to uphold and-“

“Your secret is safe with me, Bryce.”  She cut him off, placing a hand over his reassuringly.  Such a small action, yet it scared her how natural it felt.

A look of relief washed across his features.  “Thanks, Blake.” The sound of her real name rolling off his tongue caught her off guard, the seemingly innocent gesture somehow so intimate.  Still dazed in her thoughts she barely felt him shift on the bench toward her, not realizing his close proximity until she felt his warm breath swirl across her jaw.  “You’re the best.” He whispered softly, pressing a light kiss to her cheek that lingered long after he moved away.

“See you later, Reyes.”  She heard him mutter with a lighthearted wink as he departed, unable to do anything but smile as she found herself drowning in his dark eyes.  Her gaze followed him as he slipped around the corner, remaining focused on the empty space he’d left behind until she heard the sound of the door close behind him.

Sitting alone in the now-quiet room, Blake lifted her hand to cup the cheek where his lips had been just moments before, still tingling from the slight touch.  She grinned at the memory, allowing herself one last opportunity for sentimentality before she dragged herself off the bench to get cleaned up and back to her rounds.  Maybe she had been wrong about Bryce and keeping a friendly distance, but for now she had work to do.

END