Chapter 18

My ears rang when I woke. A sweetish taste of iodoform in the air flooded my senses.

My whole body was revolting.

Memories before I passed-out slowly assembled in my head bit by bit like a jigsaw puzzle until one single image appeared as bright as the daylight-- Larry.

He was wearing his white lab coat sitting abreast with Ms. Sanchez, the school nurse, in the far corner of the room. Ms. Sanchez gestured with her hands as if she was giving some sort of instructions. She pulled out something from the cupboard and handed it over to Larry.

He ran his hands through his hair and fixed it into a man bun. Everything was clear to me now; Larry was in a platonic relationship with his hair.

"How are you?" He asked, feeling my forehead with his knuckles. I felt a volt of electricity coursed through my system when our skin touched.

"I'm good but I gotta go, I still have an exam at 1:00 pm today..." said I, avoiding an eye contact.

"You're not going anywhere...your fever hasn't been abated yet. Ms. Sanchez already phoned the Social Sciences Department to let your teachers know of your condition." He asserted.

"And...?"

"Of course they've agreed to set you a schedule for special exams." He grabbed my hand and examined the IV dextrose which had patches of blood climbing up on its translucent tube. A thousand megawatts of electricity flowed through my gut when our hands touched. I can almost smell my skin burning right there and then. Larry would be the end of me.

"You moved a lot, I need to redo it. There's a lot of blood mixing with the IV fluid." He said with an air of confidence and expertise.

"Can Ms. Sanchez do it?" I inquired doubtfully.

"She's gonna go to the hospital any minute now, a junior student needs to be admitted due to excessive vomiting. She'd left you under my care," he said looking at me with his peripheral vision.

"So you're a nurse now?" I scoffed. My patience was on the roof. I was angry to myself for ever causing this meeting. I was resolved to not see him again. And now that he's here, standing gorgeously in front of me like a hollywood hearthrob all that resolve went to the drain.

"Don't worry, I've done this many times. My dad is a volunteer doctor in a rural community. He is often short-handed with staff, so he'd taught me the basic things." He replied calmly.

"You're not plotting to kill me aren't you?" I huffed.

He did not answer.

He grabbed my wrist where the IV dextrose was mounted and carefully removed the needle and replaced it with an alcohol-dabbed cotton ball. The needle-punctured skin felt itchy for a moment.

'Ball your hand into a fist...I need to find a good spot," I did as he told and felt the dry scabs on my knuckles broke.

"What have you done here?" he sighed.

"Hold still..." he continued not wanting any response from me. His eyebrows creased in concentration. With one swift move, he expertly injected the IV needle to one of the veins on my wrist. It was flawlessly executed that I almost feel nothing at all. He examined the IV fluid and grabbed the IV Drip Stand closer. It made a screeching sound on the floor.

"So you wanna be a doctor like your dad someday?" I asked.

Still no answer.

"Larry look it, I'm really sorry..." my voice broke. I did not know what that apology was for but I felt the need to say it.

"You talk a lot more now, don't you?" He said nonchalantly.

'It's cos I miss you..." The words just flew out of my mouth. Kill me now.

He held back his smile and it sent tiny ripples on his cheeks.

There was silence between us for a while but it was shattered by a resounding growl of my stomach.

He looked at me and smiled. I smiled back bashfully feeling my ears burned. Then he laughed. And so I laughed and then we were laughing so hard that my lungs could burst.

"Let me grab a bite...don't go anywhere..."

"I'm not going anywhere..."