Falling For A Soccer Star

Special task

Everything was returning back to normal, Gerald and his team mates were all flying back to New York City that morning. Most of the players had a hangover so the plane ride was so quiet and most of the players had one hand wrapped around their head and the other one with a cup of coconut water.

Gerald had finally checked his phone and saw two missed calls from their coach Belhamin. He wanted to quickly send a text telling him they were about to board the plane , he was about to add the fact that the day’s practice might not work out as most of the team members were completely wasted. He quickly erased it, Belhamin would just have to see for himself he was the only one fit for training and he wouldn’t miss it for the world.

“Hey captain” Daniel walked up to him.

“You still reek of alcohol, did you shower at all?” Gerald asked as he gently pushed him away from his personal space.

“There is no need to shower, it’s a private plane” Daniel replied.

“Get away from me and join your no shower buddies” Gerald said

“Where did you spend the night?, you left us at the bar as I recall” Daniel asked

“I doubt if you can recall anything with the amount of alcohol you had. Spent the night in my hotel room” Gerald said.

“With the lady you picked up at the bar right?” Daniel said trying to tease Gerald as he was known to refuse even the finest of ladies. Daniel kept on smiling and trying hard to poke Gerald to get juicy gist off him.

“If you must know you nosy thing, I spent the night alone” Gerald replied.

“I told you to get out of your head, try to live a little” Daniel said .

“Try to stop living a little and think of consequences you” Gerald said to Daniel.

Gerald could not stop thinking about Andrea, she filled his thoughts completely since the moment he had met her. But it was all done, he was leaving the city and they gave absolutely no ties or any means of them meeting ever again. Their chapter was closed.

No phone number exchange or details about work, basically nothing that can be used to track either of them was disclosed He made that decision before he said hi to her at the bar, why did he feel like he made the wrong decision.

The day was bright and cold and Andrea tried to put as much of what happened two days ago behind her. She had spent a full day with a full bag of thoughts thinking of the various possible ways that she would have given him the impression that she was a hooker. The stench of embarrassment was what she had tried to wash off this morning with extra time in the shower and a lot of hot water but still nothing felt different.

But there came Penny making sure she resonates every detail of the information back to Andrea so she could really ruin her day.

“Two thousand dollars?” Penny exclaimed not holding back on her tune at all.

Penny was Andrea’s best friend and colleague at work. They had work today for 3 years now after they graduated from school. They shared everything with each other but not so much detail with the external circle which they were also a part of.

“Yes Penny” Andrea said

“He just dropped it on the bed like I am some hooker” Andrea said rolling her eyes at the thought of that incident.

“This is so funny, you were trying hard not to meet male hookers at the bar and see how tables got flipped and you were mistaken for a hooker”. Penny said laughing so hard she ran almost ran out of breathe.

“Stay away from me” Andrea said to Penny still a little in shock and depressed from the incident.

“So would you buy me dinner tonight?” Penny asked

“Why would I?” Andrea replied.

“You are two thousand dollars richer which you did not have to work shifts for and free money needs to be spent immediately” Penny said.

“I did work for it, my p***y did all the work”Andrea said

“I thought you said it didn’t last long?” Penny asked.

“Penny, get away from me” Andrea said

“Get to work you are almost late” Andrea added

“So are you” Penny said.

“Dinner by 8?” Penny asked.

“Go away you freebies lover” Andrea said.

“I am just saving you from the curse of the free money” Penny said as she hurried along to her department.

Andrea and Penny walked to different departments but with smiles on their faces. Andrea was so happy that Penny was able to cheer her up after the terrible incident that happened rot her. She knew she could always count on her.

“Good morning Nurse Andrea” one of the receptionist said

“Good morning Betty” Andrea said as she got on the elevator and tapped the button that to floor, her shift was just about to start.

Belhamin was very anxious that day, you could clearly see it from his facial expression’s and the way his palm was sweating. His boys were going to face DC united that afternoon and according to what he told the press they were born ready. He had gained this shocking amount of self confidence since Gerald had joined the club and it wasn’t just bluff, their record could show that they had become better. Gerald was definitely the glue that held them together. It was pretty obvious.

Gerald always played two specific positions, he was either a striker or a midfielder. He never played a defender. He had the built for it so his opponent naturally expected him to play a defender. But as the coach felt, he was the glue, keeping all the players in check.

It felt as tho Belhamin’s world rumbled when the referee blew the whistle to halt the match to be able to move Gerald off the pitch. He was attacked by a fellow defender of the opposition team, DC united. It was a targeted attack, it was obvious as Gerald was no where near the ball at that moment. The opposition player was given a red card, but the deal had already been done, Gerald was laying helpless on the pitch.

Gerald urged his team to keep playing as he was carried on a stretcher out of the pitch. The rest of New York City soccer team played with anger, ruthless and no mercy after that incident.

“You know you shouldn’t be watching that, you could get your blood pressure up” Andrea said

“You regulate all I eat and do, you want to regulate what I watch too?” Mr Paul asked with his slow and slurry tune he used to speak.

He was a patient of Andrea who she nursed with a case of high blood pressure which was slowly sliding into a heart failure.

“You know all I do is out of love” Andrea said as she wrote the readings off the patient monitor into a hand held chat.

“If it was out of love you would let me have my last stick of cigarette. I had just ordered them from Italy ” Mr Paul said.

“You don’t need those things mr Paul” Andrea replied.

“I actually need it to calm myself down, this players want to give me a heart attack faster than any pack of cigarette would give me” Mr Paul replied.

“They have taken out the best player of New York united and yet they can’t manage to score a single goal” Mr Paul said.

“ I suggest you listen to some calming music, it might help” Andrea said as she glanced at the television for a brief moment before returning her eyes to the chat she held in her hand. She was never a lover of soccer or any sports in general, the only way she would see the inside of a gym was if there was a party with a lot of booze.

“I need cigarettes not calming music Andrea. I can call you that right?” Mr Paul asked.

“Sure you can” Andrea replied.

She was done with what she had come to do in his room but decided to indulge him a little. He was a craver of attention and she knew it. He was one of those patients who always loved it when you spent extra time with them. They asked questions they already knew the answers to just so you could take time to explain the whole process again. Andrea was always cautions about indulging those kind of patients as it usually gets to a point when they begin to develop delusions that the relationship was more than just a therapeutic relationship. Sometimes they go as far as resisting discharge from the hospital. She had always been extra careful with Mr Paul but today she had a soft spot as she hadn’t seen a family member come to ask about him in about two days. He was indeed lonely. She wanted to stay back and continue the conversation but she was paged to the manger’s office.

You got paged to the manger’s office for three major reasons, one was the fact that you needed to take up a few more shifts or a few less shifts. Another was the fact that she needed you to take up some home care patients. Thirdly and most likely, you were in terrible trouble.

“You need to calm down ” the doctor said as he tried immobilizing the hand to prevent future complications.

“What I need you to do is give me some ice and pain killers” Gerald said as his face was blood red in pain and the veins on his forehead looked as tho they would burst Ani second.

“You need to listen to me, this is a fracture, not a sprain not a strain” the doctor said in a much more authoritative tune that forced him to listen.

The fall the had caused a fracture of his humerus, the bone of his arm. This was very dangerous as the complications that could arise as a result of improperly managed fracture was a lot which also included paralysis of that arm.

The doctor had tried to explain all these to him but all he could hear was that he had to pull out of the league. He was almost certain that if he kept up with the pace he was going, he would be aiming for the position of the highest goal scorer of the season. The doctor was saying things that could end the career that was climbing at an admirable speed.

“You need to stay in the hospital for a while Gerald” the doctor said.

Gerald was mute for a while, he heard his team was still able to defeat DC united but that did not even strike a nerve in him or distract him from the problem at hand. They needed him to pull out of the league to receive treatment.

Andrea was walking into the manager’s office, confused as she had no idea why she was being called. She tried to reminisce the three most popular reasons why people were called to the managers office. Firstly they were either getting their roster twigged to fit the hospital needs , or they were in trouble and lastly to pick up extra home care hours for certain patients mostly palliative patients. She was almost certain that she was in trouble. She had been giving very silly excuses why she was unable to take up certain home care duties. She had no problem with nursing palliative clients to a peaceful death, but she had a problem with others who requested for home care just due to the fact that their fat pockets could take such blow.

Most a times she used distance as her reason for canceling a home care appointment, another time she wrote she wasn’t qualified enough in the description box which was a lie as she had the highest level of education than her pairs who also worked in the hospital. The truth was that she hated home care, it didn’t ever feel right to her. And the boundaries of her job description was never really clear, that was one of the major problems.

Andrea took deep breath and walked into the mangers office.

Another a few minutes of conversation Andrea came out of the office a little bit relived. It was neither of the reason she had thought. It was something else, she was asked to take up a VIP patient in the amenity suite of the hospital. The manger had said something about her being the right person for the job as she trust that she would maintain confidentiality all through the period of care. She had also mentioned that she was not allowed to talk to the press at all throughout his stay in the hospital.

Apparently, the patient seems to be soccer star and news about sport injuries spread like wild fire, that was the reason why she had specially asked her for his nursing care. It was always such a big deal that the person’s hospital record is sealed from the rest of the hospital only the personal doctors and nurses had direct access to such, she was now one of the few.

The patient she had just being asked to take over his care was in suite seven as much as she could remember and with slight knock on the door she opened it up and was definitely not ready for what she had seen, her mystery lover who thought she was a hooker laying on the bed staring back at her. She could really use her little niece’s disappearing rod as this seemed to definitely not be real.