HEARTS I

QUEENS, NEW YORK... Jamie Slattery stepped into the living room of his new apartment in Queens, New York and closed the door behind him before he put down the last box of his belongings on the carpeted floor. He then took a deep breath and scanned the apartment. It was painted a vibrant mixture of red and green. On some spots on the paneled walls the paint started peeling off little by little. "Well it's not exactly Manhattan but it will do for now," he said to himself before he gave a nod. He walked over to the kitchen area that was small but still efficient enough for a bachelor like him. He opened the door of the wall cabinet and it almost fell off and almost hit him on the head. "Guess that needs some fixing before somebody gets hurt," he said to himself again. He took out a mug to make himself some coffee. As soon as the kettle boiled he poured some water into his mug and walked outside to the balcony. The platform vibrated slightly as he walked over to the chair in the corner by the kitchen window. He looked around concerned. "Oh boy. I hope this thing holds," he said before he carefully sat down with a slight sense of paranoia overcoming him. A while later he leaned back on the chair he was sitting on and gave a faint smile. "Well home sweet home." It was his first own place after he moved out from his parents' home in the Hamptons and a little closer to the hospital in downtown New York where he worked. He sat there for a moment watching the cars in the street drive by and the people walking back and forth down the sidewalks to their destinations. There was a a young couple in love holding hands. Two teenagers eating ice-cream and giggling. A young African American girl with dreadlocks and a baseball cap skateboarding down the sidewalk with headphones over her ears. A group of men just walking and talking. The following morning he took a shower and got dressed before he took his backpack on the bedroom floor and headed outside on his way to work. He walked up to his BMW standing outside in the parking in front of the block of apartments where he lived and got in before he drove off. Juliette Lloyd was a journalist in her early twenties. She worked as a blogger for a lifestyle magazine in downtown New York. She was writing an article about relationships and when men only preferred a certain type of woman over the other and paused for a moment pondering. Katy Murphy her colleague, a slightly plump and well-endowed brunette looked at her over the brim of her glasses. "What now?" she asked Juliette with a slight not again attitude. "Aren't blondes supposed to have more fun and attract all the successful men?" Katy snickered. "Yeah, the blonde bimbo types. The Barbie dolls with fake boobs and oversized silicone pouts. You're too natural." "What? Are you telling me I'm not pretty enough to marry a lawyer or a doctor or a business tycoon?" "No. You're pretty. You're just not their type. They are loaded with money and successful careers and they want girls to go with the image." "Great. I'm going to write that. Guess I'll be stuck with the hot dog salesmen and burger patty flippers for the rest of my life. How did you do it?" "Do what?" Katy asked confused. "End up engaged and getting married to a lawyer soon?" "I don't know. I guess he just wasn't a jerk and saw something in me he liked. I guess I was just lucky to run into a man like him. Are you telling me I'm not pretty enough?" "No," Juliette replied with a grimace. "Of course not. You're just not the fake silicone Barbie doll type. You're like me. The girl next door. The plain Jane." "Oh so now I'm plain?" "No silly. You know what I mean. You're a natural beauty. Some girls need plastic surgery for that." "I get it." Juliette's cell phone suddenly rang and she answered after a few rings. "Hello..." Her face dropped after a while and she looked at Katy worried. "Okay. I'll be there." She dropped the call and Katy could see Juliette was upset." "What's wrong?" "My mom called. My dad's in hospital. He had a heart attack." "Oh no Julie I'm so sorry." "Can you cover for me? I need to go and sew him?" "Sure." Jamie was standing in the E.R. lobby with a group of other interns being briefed by their chief of staff Dr. Henry Grimes about their board interviews they had a few weeks ago. "Now some of you will be glad to hear that the board selected you to continue in the departments of your choice to do your internships. And some of you will be disappointed to hear that the board decided to move you into more suitable fields based on your board interviews. He looked up at Kyle who was standing right next to Jamie. "Dr. Whittaker, congratulations. You have been selected for trauma surgery." Kyle balled his fists with excitement. "Yes!" "Dr. Slattery..." Kyle and Jamie looked at each other with anticipation. "Oh no," Jamie said with a slightly disappointed tone in his voice. "Relax Slats. You're probably staying in surgery too," Kyle reassured him. "The board has decided you were better suited for ob-gyn." Jamie's face immediately dropped with disappointment. "You've got to be kidding me," he said unimpressed. Kyle gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Way to go Slats. Some of us would kill to be in your position right now." "Not funny. Geez. Ob-gyn? What the hell?" "Why so gloomy about it Slats? Take it like this...you get to do things with your patients that would normally land the rest of us suspended or in jail for s****l misconduct." Kyle's sense of humor at the wrong place and time did not sit well with Jamie. He let out a frustrated sigh and shook his head. "Would you knock it off Kyle?" he replied annoyed. "Seriously Slats, are you gay or something?" "No, why? What the hell makes you think that? I need to talk with Dr. Grimes ASAP." The interns all left the briefing to got to their various departments while Jamie just stood there trying to take it all in. One of the female interns, Dr. Stacey Ford walked up to him and patted him on his arm. "Well I'm impressed Jamie. With your looks you'll be a hit with the ladies," she said with a smile. "Yeah rub it in Stacey." Jamie walked up to Dr. Grimes who walked towards the nurses' station. "Dr. Grimes. Can I have a word please?" "What is it Dr. Slattery?" "Sir, ob-gyn? There must be some mistake." "It was the boards decision. Not mine. You should take it up with them." "Sir, with all due respect. I did not become a doctor to..." "To what Dr. Slattery?" "Never mind," Jamie replied upset and left." Jamie walked up to the reception desk in ob-gyn where a gorgeous red-head sat behind the counter. He leaned on the counter with his hands to see what she was doing and she looked up at him starry eyed. "Hey handsome." How they never ran into each other with almost a year into his second year internship was a mystery. "Hey, I'm Dr. Jamie Slattery. Who's my resident?" "Oh you're the newbie from surgery." "Yeah. That's me." "It's Dr. Stanley Sawyer. Big man. Old, bald and grumpy. A little bit of an ogre. So don't piss him off." "Thanks. I'm already a nervous wreck as it is. It wasn't exactly my first choice to be here either." "Well good luck. You're gonna need it." "It's that bad?" Jamie asked worried. "Yup. And he's rarely in a good mood." Jamie turned to look at the row of women seated behind him nervously and then turned to look at the red head on the other side of the counter again. "What's your name?" "Vanessa." "Okay. Vanessa. Are these all my patients?" "Yup." "Would it help if I pretend to be sick and chicken out just for today?" "Highly unlikely," Vanessa replied with a shrug. "Oh God, how am I ever going to get through this?" Just then the door of Dr. Stanley Sawyer's consulting room opened and one of the patients left. Soon afterwards he came out dressed in a shirt, a tie, a pair of black pants and a lab coat. He looked more terrifying than Jamie imagined. "Next patient. Are you Dr. Jamie Slattery?" He wasn't too friendly at all. Jamie gulped. "Yes that's me." "I'll see you after this patient." Jamie took a deep breath and looked at Vanessa alarmed. "Is that him?" "That's him. The ogre." "Oh God help me." Jamie just left ob-gyn and walked along the gallery heading to the cafeteria to get something to eat. He walked behind a blonde dressed in a red silk top, a pair of navy blue skinny jeans and red stilettos. Her hair was down reaching the middle of her back. He followed her down the stairs when she suddenly miss-stepped halfway down and tumbled down the stairs before she ended up landing on her stomach at the bottom landing of the stairs. "Oh s**t! Are you okay?" His raspy baritone voice alerted her of his presence behind her but she did not look up or respond. Jamie rushed up to her and knelt down next to her. "Hey, are you okay?" She sat up bracing herself with her arms and winced. "Yeah...I think so. This is so embarrassing." Jamie gently put his hand on her shoulder. "What happened?" "I sprained my ankle." "Does it hurt?" "A little..." she swiped her hair out of her face to look at the beautiful creature of a man kneeling down next to her dressed in scrubs and a lab coat. "You're a doctor?" "Dr. Jamie Slattery. I'm a second year intern," Jamie introduced himself with a beaming smile. He was gorgeous. She could swear he stepped out of a centerfold from some modeling catalogue. His baby blue eyes played hide and seek behind a wisp of his blonde hair. His face was finely chiseled like that of a Greek god. This beautiful specimen next to her almost took her breath away again and she gasped slightly. "Juliette Lloyd." She had the bluest of blue eyes that almost looked right through him. "But you can call me Julie for short. Ouch." She winced again. "We need to have a look at that ankle of yours. Do you think you'll be able to stand up?" "I think so yes." Jamie stood up and carefully helped her up, but she winced again when she tried to put pressure on the ankle. "Okay, let's get you to E.R. Let me have a look at that ankle. Put your arm over my shoulder." She did as he said and Jamie threw his arm around her waist to try and support her while she limped to E.R. next to him. As soon as they reached E.R. one of the nurses rushed up to him. "Dr. Slattery. What happened?" "She fell down the stairs in the lobby. I've got this." He found the first open treatment bay and gently seated her on the bed before he drew the curtains closed. "That was one nasty fall you took there," he said worried as he took a syringe from the tray the nurse brought him and withdrew some of the fluid from the tiny bottle in the tray. "It's for the pain." "I hate freaking needles." "I'll try not to hurt you. You'll feel just a pinch." He first disinfected the area on her arm with a swab of alcohol before he took the syringe. She closed her eyes as Jamie brought the needle closer and gently inserted it into her arm. "There you go." "I didn't feel a thing. Talk about a gentle touch." "I told you so," Jamie snickered. "Now if you would lay down for me and let me have a look at that ankle." She did as he said and he gently pulled up her jeans to reveal a purple blue bruised ankle. "Ouch. That looks painful." "I'm usually nervous around doctors." Jamie smiled. "Don't worry. I don't bite." "I noticed. There's something else about you. You're really nice." "Thanks. It's called bedside manner," Jamie replied with a chuckle. "Has anybody ever told you that you have beautiful eyes? And you're really handsome." "Thank you," Jamie replied with a timid smile. "I'm going to out some slight pressure on your ankle with both hands. Tell me if it hurts." Jamie continued to put pressure on her ankle with his finger tips until he reached the bruised area." "Ouch, ouch, ouch, it hurts a lot," Juliette exclaimed. Jamie looked at her worried. "Do you mind if I have some x-rays taken of that ankle?" "You think it's broken?" "Probably not, but just want to make sure it isn't." "Is it really necessary?" "I won't be able to tell for sure if we don't." A while later Jamie returned to the E.R. bay with the x-rays in his hand. "I have bad news." "Oh no." "You fractured your ankle." "And now? Do I need surgery?" Juliette asked worried. "You won't need surgery. It's just a hairline fracture. But I'm going to prescribe some pain killers for the pain and you will need ice-packs to ease the swelling." "Will I be able to go to work?" "If you're not on your feet a lot I don't see why not. But I got you a nice set of crutches you can take home with you so that you don't put any pressure on that ankle. They're red to match your top." "You're so sweet," Juliette replied with a smile. "I'm just doing my job. How did you get here?" "I kind of drove here." "Did you park close? Do you need help to get to your car?" "Will I be able to drive?" she asked concerned. Jamie pondered. "Is it a manual or an automatic?" "It's an automatic." "Then you'll be able to drive." "I parked down the street. I didn't realize I was going to end up hopping out of the hospital on crutches when I came here." "Do you want someone to go and get your car and bring it closer?" Juliette chuckled. "Wow, yes. That would be great." She took her car keys out of her handbag that stood on the night stand and gave it to Jamie. "It's a white Volkswagen Bug." "Nice." Jamie gave an impressed smirk as he took the keys from Juliette. "I'll be back now." Jamie walked up to Juliette's car and got in before he started the car. Some Nickleback song came onto the radio and Jamie gave a surprised smile. "A Nickleback fan. My kind of girl." He pulled the car out of the parking and turned onto the hospital premises before he parked the car in a parking spot near the E.R. entrance. One of the interns stood by a lamp post on the sidewalk taking a smoke break when Jamie got out of the car and locked it. "Nice ride Slats. New car?" Jamie chuckled. "No, I'm just moving it closer for a patient of mine. She injured her ankle at the lobby stairs." Juliette was seated on the bed in the E.R. bay when Jamie stepped through the curtains. "I moved her closer for you." "You moved my car?" "Yup," he said while handing her keys to her. "Thanks." "I'm a Nickelback fan too," Jamie remarked. "You are? That's so cool." "Now let's get you to your car," Jamie said as he helped her off the bed and gave her crutches to her to support herself. She lost her balance and fell forwards into him bracing against him with her hands. "Sorry, I still need to get used to these." "Don't worry. Baby steps. I'll walk you to your car just to make sure you're okay." "That's really not..." "I insists," he interrupted. "Wow, I wish more doctors had your bedside manner. Thanks I appreciate your help." A while later they reached her car and he opened the door for her. "Ladies first." "Are you always such a gentleman?" "Always," Jamie replied smiling. "What's the catch?" "There is no catch. My parents taught me to respect a lady." He put her crutches in the car and she lost her balance again and fell against him pressing on his chest with one hand and grabbing hold of the door with the other. Their faces were just inches away from each other and for a moment their gazes met. "Sorry. I'm so clumsy today. I don't know what's going on with me." Jamie chuckled and took hold of her hand. "It's okay. Let go of the door." He gently helped her into the car and knelt down. "You're really beautiful. You know that?" "Thanks. Are you hitting on me?" she asked curiously. "It's just an observation. But what if I am? A lady as beautiful as you probably already has someone already, so not that it's going to be of any use." "Yeah. We've been together for a year. But none of that engagement and marriage stuff yet. And you probably have a hot girlfriend too." Jamie chuckled. "Believe it or not. I'm still flying solo." "You're lying," Juliette replied with a smile. "I wish I was. Good girls are hard to find these days. Anyway. It was nice meeting you. Take care." "Thanks. I will." She watched as he walked off and smiled before she started her car and drove off.