Falling For A Soccer Star

The panic

It had been a while Andrea had gone out for drinks after the incident a few weeks ago when she met Gerald at the bar. Going to the bar for drinks was a ritual for her and the girls on Friday nights. That was where they got to drink and spill about how their life in the city was going. They got to talk mostly about the men in their lives no matter how hard they tried to insist their lives did not revolve around that. Their decision still had one main topic of interest, love and relationships.

Joining this group of girls gave Andrea the great feeling of being welcomed in America after her family had moved from Greece. That was when she had meet a few of them in high school and some in nursing school. High school girls were so mean but not this three girls she met. She finally felt welcomed.

But as the saying goes, ten adults can’t be friends for 10 years but this was more like 4 girls who could not get their schedules to align every week. They still desperately longed to share in the details of each other’s lives . Even though the every Friday rule had been reduced to her and Penny as it was easier to align their schedules as they worked in the same hospital.

Another Friday was here, Andrea and Penny went out for drinks as they both desperately needed it. As it had been just the two of them it was almost impossible not to talk about work.

“How is your soccer star” Penny asked sipping her margarita from a tall wine glass she picked from the bar counter.

“Please don’t call him that he is just a patient of mine” Andrea replied taking her drink from the counter and starting her first drink of the night.

“One who is smoking hot” Penny said as she bit her lips

“Don’t do that, it is so awkward talking about a patient” Andrea said as she took a bite from her cheeseburger and cleaned the side of her mouth with a napkin as the mustard left a stain.

“What is inappropriate? he is actually your patient not mine and he was your s*x client before he became a patient” Penny said in her defense.

“Vicariously he is your patient too as he is a patient of the hospital” Andrea said.

“How do you know that he has a hot body?” Andrea asked.

“That’s not news baby girl, everyone knows what his body looks like” Penny said.

“Have you heard of something called internet Andrea?” She added.

“I always try to wonder how celebrities do that? I can literally not imagine my life being out there for people to look at and criticize like they have any given right” Andrea said

“Girl your life is boring as hell, I don’t think anyone would be interested in digging dirts on you” Penny said laughing so loud that her eyes began to tear up.

“That’s very funny Penny, really funny” Andrea said trying to act unaffected by her friend’s words.

“But look on the bright side you made two thousand dollars two weeks ago as a hooker, that’s a nice content that would have made the head line news of you were a celebrity. Thankfully you are not one”Penny said.

“I never knew I would say this, but there are actually some perks to being unpopular” Penny said as she shook her head taking another sip of her margarita.

“Yeah but the good thing about my ordeal is that the person paying for my s*x was a hot shot. Either ways if the news did go viral it would be more focused on him as the celebrity no him” Andrea said.

“Valid point, so either ways you still remain irrelevant” Penny said again.

Penny was one of those friends that believed only them had the right to make fun of you and if another person does it would be a different story. But they could tease you and it would count for a whole village. She was Andrea’s ride or die buddy. Always ready to render a helping hand to her. Regardless of how much fun Penny made of her, she still knew that Penny was still undoubtedly in love with her and that was never going to change.

“So how is he doing?” Penny asked trying to drag the question back to Gerald.

“We agreed no work conversation over drinks” Andrea said.

“This is much more personal that work, I am not asking the diagnosis of the patients you saw today” Penny said.

“His vitals was stable, his medications were administered and there was no side effects”.

“What about the laboratory investigations?”

“ Well I did not check the results yet” Andrea responded.

“Look at you slacking on your duties. I was actually of the opinion that you take extra care of the patients you are in love with” Penny said.

“I am definitely not in love with this one ” Andrea said trying to convince Penny.

How could she convince penny when she was having a hard time convincing herself.

“After the weekend, when I get to work on Monday he would have been discharged. I will never have to endure seeing his face again”Andrea said.

“Endure? Yeah right” Penny said

“That guy is one of the most handsome soccer players that has walked the earth. He literally tops every chart online of handsome soccer players” Penny added.

“The same way I do not want to know what goes on inside your head, I definitely don’t want to know your google search history” Andrea said and the conversation drifted away from Gerald for the night.

There was a lot of noise coming out from room number 7 of the Amenity wing of the hospital as visiting hours was always extended during the weekends . Not like they could stop the whole team of the New York soccer club from coming into the hospital whenever they wanted to after the large donation the soccer club had given to the hospital.

The donation as they called It was definitely a bribe given to the hospital to wipe off Gerald’s medical records from the hospital as though he was never there. In soccer after recovery from an accident, they definitely don’t think you can perform at the same level as before the accident.

The donation was going to fund the hospital’s free pediatric clinic and surgery for all children born with cleft lip and palette. With the money they had released into the project, If the club had requested the hospital to change its name it would have been most definitely been granted.

Belhamin and the team had been working and training really hard to stay in the league and with their good luck charm on the hospital bed they had to work twice as hard in every game just to beat their opponent.

Today was different, Belhamin had declared the day training free as they were to see their captain in the hospital. They flew all the way from New York City to visit him at the hospital in DC.

The smile on Gerald’s face had come back on and that was the reaction that Belhamin was hoping for.

“How are you enjoying your stay” Daniel asked as she bounced on the bed nearly causing another fall for Gerald to sustain another fracture.

“Oh man, it must be bliss not having to train and being surrounded by sexy nurses all day long”

“Hope you have gotten a bed bath from a hot nurse?” Daniel asked

“You are such a ……….” Gerald paused as he had no words, his friend was a chronic flirt it wasn’t new.

“You remember two weeks ago when we came to Washington to have fun after the gave against Atlanta united ?” Gerald asked Daniel

“How can I forget, that was the first time you even mildly had fun. You want a repeat of the event? We are all here all we need is to leave the hospital ” Daniel said

“Not that!” Gerald said.

“The lady I went out with from the bar works here too” Gerald said.

“THE HOOKER!” Daniel exclaimed.

They had been talking in low tunes and their conversations were lost in the rest of the murmurs from the crowd but that word stood out and made everyone else stop and the focus was driven to Gerald and Daniel’s conversation. Daniel gave a slight giggle looked away and in split seconds the room was back to how rowdy it was.

“Did you have to shout that? She was actually not a hooker” Gerald said.

“So you did not sleep with her that night?” Daniel asked.

“I did” Gerald said.

“I knew it” Daniel replied.

“Keep your voice down” Gerald said.

“And I paid too, which makes it worse” he added.

“She took the money but yet she is not a hooker?”

“I actually just assumed she was, so I dropped the money on the bed as soon as we were done and I left while she was still in the bathroom”

“Oh boy, you are so screwed” Daniel said

“That must have been so embarrassing for her, if I were you I would watch my back surely she is coming for a revenge” Daniel said

“What do you mean?” Gerald asked.

“Didn’t you say she was your nurse, she clearly has complete access to you”Daniel said

“You don’t think she would hurt me do you?” Gerald asked.

“I don’t know man, hell hart no fury like a woman scorned” Daniel said

“It’s no surprise you know that quote” Gerald said

“What?” Daniel asked

“Nothing at all” Gerald said.

The team flew back to New York City the same day without Gerald as he had convinced them that he was receiving the best care here and there was no need for a transfer to another hospital in New York City. He knew deep down that the only reason he was at the hospital was Andrea as she had possessed every atom of his being.

The deep breaths were becoming a routine whenever Andrea was going in to see Gerald in his hospital room . She always reminded herself it was no big deal and he was just a patient like any other in the hospital. The shock she had received as she resumed her shift and still saw him on her patient list. She had expected him to be discharged or transferred to another hospital. Why did he decide to stay here? Was it to punish her by making her uncomfortable?

Over the past few days she saw herself wearing her favorite scrubs to work and her crocs were always too clean to look at. Anytime the little voice in her head was to draw attention to her recent actions, she spoke back at it saying it was just her picking up a new habit and nothing more.

Gerald wasn’t left out of the discomfort as he felt palpitations as soon as he heard her knock on the door, he needed no confirmation, it was her he could feel it. Gerald had not seen Andrea all weekend and even though he knew she had made up her mind to not be friends with him and only came in to see him out of obligation, her presence still had the same effect on him, he felt awkwardly free around her.

“Good morning, how are you doing this morning?

“I am doing okay I just really don’t like the smell of hospitals it gives me the chills. Do you have any idea when I would be discharged?”

“Trust me, I will be more excited about your discharge than you would”

“Still holding a grudge? I already apologized”

“ yeah right” Andrea said in a really sarcastic tune as her hands tapped the screen of her patient’s e-chart.

“What is happening?” Andrea asked rhetorically. She was the health professional, she was to know what was wrong.

She had noticed Gerald’s fingers shaking almost immediately. His wrist remained still but the fingers were moving very quickly and it was clearly involuntary.

“Something is definitely wrong here” Andrea said.