‘Bit harsh, babes. Just giving the girls what they want. Right, Ladies?’
‘You’ve got to admit, Dyl,’ I said carefully, ‘sleeping with half the ward staff is a bit gross. If you’re not careful they’ll put you on one of those posters advertising the sexual health clinic.’
Dylan snorted, totally unashamed. ‘Anyway, Ladies,’ he said, changing the subject from his slutty ways, ‘we’re not here for a referee, we’re here to help.’
My brows drew together in confusion. ‘What do you mean?’
‘We mean,’ Lou said, ‘that since man-whore left the meeting and did all our jobs for the day, we’re free to help you finish yours. I’m not having you coming home at some godforsaken hour again tonight when you’re not even on call. Where is Weasel Gankface anyway?’ (Lou had, by and large, left ‘gank’ back in her student days, but made an exception for Tom).
‘Lou, come on,’ Dylan said, looking uncomfortable. ‘Don’t be a bitch about him, okay. He’s a decent guy.’
‘Look, Welshboy, we were all there when he was a twat to Frankie at uni, and he works her to the bone now,’ Lou retorted. ‘You’re not on the rugby team now you know, you don’t have to keep sucking up to the older boys so they don’t bum you in the showers.’
Dylan always looked uncomfortable when we trashed Tom, and he always defended him. He’d never cared what anyone, including rugby boys, thought of him at uni though. So I didn’t agree with Lou’s theory. Dylan ignored her and turned to me.
‘I just think you should give him a chance is all,’ he said. ‘Maybe he’s a bit uptight with you, but in general he’s pretty laid back.’ What Dylan didn’t understand was that the fact that Tom seemed to be perfectly friendly to everyonebutme hadn’t escaped my notice. In fact it made his dismissive attitude all the more hurtful.
Dylan started waving a hand in front of my face. ‘Hello … Ladies? You with us? Want to tell us what we can do so that we can get out of this hellhole before I go insane?’
‘I’ve got to consent a fair few, there’s probably going to be a groin to press on in a sec, and I’ve got loads of bloods to take.’ To reach the coronary arteries you sometimes had to go through the femoral artery in the groin. After the procedure the artery occasionally bled and needed pressure for about fifteen minutes, which was provided by ward monkeys (e.g. me).
‘I’ll take the bloods,’ Dylan said quickly. ‘Lou’s more experienced with male groins. Ow!’ He jumped away from Lou who had stood up and kicked him in the shin with the pointed toe of her boot.
We had everything done and wrapped up by five, and for once I could go home on time. Dylan and I had been waiting for Lou for a good ten minutes, so I bleeped her from the ward desk and heard the beeping coming towards me down the corridor. I smiled and looked up, happy to know that the beep meant Lou had finished and we could finally go home; but my smile died when I saw that she wasn’t alone.
Tom was striding ahead of her and she was clicking along after him making her ‘oh shit’ face at me (big eyes with bared teeth). He came to a stop in front of us and my eyes briefly met his before travelling to the far safer territory of his chin. I’d developed this strategy over the last two weeks of working for him. I found that looking into his eyes was like looking into the sun: I would sink into in a lust-induced stupor, and I had no doubt that it would eventually burn out my retinas.
‘I found this one pressing on Mr Roberts’s groin,’ Tom said tersely. ‘I was checking him because I had just performed a complicated stenting procedure. What he needs is rest and carefully monitoring. What he doesnotneed is a busty blonde leaning over him bearing cleavage and making small talk liberally peppered with swear words.’
‘Jesus, Tom,’ Lou spat at him, not in the least scared of direct eye contact. ‘I said that without some pressure his wound site could bleed like a bugger; it’s not like I used the c-word or anything. And I was not showing my tits!’
‘Yes, Lou, you were,’ he returned. ‘You were leaning forward with your arms pushing your breasts practically out of your dress.’ He turned to me. ‘What I want to know is why Lou was pressing on one of my patients’ groins when firstly, she doesn’t work for me, and secondly, there’s a bloody machine with an inflatable cuff to put pressure on the groinspost angio.’
‘Um … I didn’t know that,’ I said quietly to his shoulder. Tom ran both hands through his hair in a gesture of frustration.
‘Of course you didn’t know, ’cause you never bloody ask me anything. You’d avoid speaking to me at all if you could.’ At this I was confused: he’d made it abundantly clear that he did not, in fact, like me. Surely me avoiding speaking to him was a positive thing? ‘And please, please look at me.’
‘I am looking at you,’ I told his ear.
‘No,’ he said, his tone softening. ‘Frankie, please.’ Shockingly his hand came out and lightly gripped my chin, and he dipped his head to look into my eyes. ‘See, that’s not so hard, is it?’
I had of course fallen into a Tom-induced stupor and was beyond forming a coherent reply. We stood staring at each other for what seemed like an eternity before I came to my senses and stepped back out of his grip. Lou and Dylan were both looking at us, and I felt my face heat.
‘Come on, Longley,’ Dylan said, a little nervously. ‘Get that stick out your arse and come to the pub, mate.’ Tom sighed and transferred his gaze to Dylan.
‘Later, boyo, got paperwork still left to do. See you tomorrow, Frankie.’
‘’Kay,’ I told his chest, and I swear I heard him growl before he stalked away. As soon as he was out of earshot Lou dramatically collapsed against the wall.
‘Bloody hell,’ she breathed. ‘I think I just came.’
‘Shut up, Lou,’ I muttered, grabbing her hand and attempting to drag her down the corridor. She relented and the three of us moved along.
‘That was intense,’ she continued. ‘You two were so hot you nearly melted my eyeballs. You could’ve cut the sexual tension with a knife.’
‘What are you talking about?’ I stopped and turned to her in disbelief. ‘He can’t stand me.’
‘He is totally into you. The wholesoft-voice-look-into-my-eyesthing? Wowzers, that was hot. I couldn’t breath for the pheromones in that corridor.’
