POV Jess
When I enter Cole's room he's sitting upright with a displeased look on his face, lovely.
"I need water," he states frankly.
I internally grunt, "coming right up."
I leave to retrieve the water, and upon walking back to his room, there's a group of people at the nurses' station desk.
"Hi, how can I help you guys?" I ask the eccentric group.
"We're here to see Cole Carson," a man with dark shaggy shoulder-length hair states.
I'm quite perplexed, Cole has visitors? I know from what Charlotte said that his dad came by but I wasn't expecting friends.
"Okay, I'll have you sign in, there's only two visitors allowed at a time so you'll all have to take turns, there's a waiting room just down the hall and to the left." They look less than pleased that I won't let all six of them in the room.
"Fine," a bleached blonde girl rolls her eyes at me.
"Not my rules," I retort, "he's right here in room 312."
Retrieving a plastic Harborview Medical Center cup, I fill it with water as the group stares at me. I walk into Cole's room with the icy water in hand and two guys follow behind me, one being the shaggy-haired guy.
"No fuckin way!" Cole lights up at the sight of his friends.
"Holy shit man, you look rough," Shaggy guy says walking over to Cole.
I set the requested water down on the rolling table next to his bed and he looks up at me like I'm a waste of his visual space. Not even a thank you is given.
"Cole, dude, we're so glad you're okay," the other guy covered in tattoos says going to the other side of him.
"Uh so yeah we heard your memory is still a little wonky, what's the last thing you remember my man?" Shaggy asks and it strikes me as odd but I guess that doesn't really surprise me given their equally odd appearance.
Cole lets out a deep sigh, "Umm I don't know I guess the last thing I remember is being in California, I knew we had a trip planned here but I don't remember anything about it or how long we've been here."
The glance exchanged between the two visitors doesn't go unnoticed by me but I think it does by Cole. I don't like these guys' energy whatsoever but it's not my place to make them leave based on my feelings.
Cole locks his eyes on mine and my breath hitches for some strange reason, he's close enough now that I can see his eyes are hazel, greens, and browns litter the irises. They're bright, unique, and mysterious in the most beautiful of ways, "I'm good now, you can go."
Prick.
I regret admiring him in any way, "Okay I'll leave you guys to it, I'll be back in twenty minutes with your antibiotic."
I'm completely ignored by all of them so I go about my journey to the exit, when I grab the handle of the door I hear Shaggy giggle, "ey man at least you've got a nice piece of ass to look at while you're here."
My blood boils, how degrading. I've been told I'm pretty by patients and visitors but never once been called a "piece of ass".
Cole has the fucking audacity to speak at a high enough volume wanting me to hear, "it's not that great."
I turn my head to glare at him, I am one second away from ripping that metal rod out of his thigh and shoving it up his miserable ass. I hastily open the door and close it a wee bit more aggressively than I intend.
The remainder of Cole's group is no longer hanging out by the desk, thank god because I can't afford to lose another brain cell. I pull out my phone to text Charlotte, I need to rant.
Me: he's awful char I'm already losing my damn mind and it's only been a half an hour. He has a group of lowlifes visiting him and they're just as infuriating as him.
Char: Now you know what I went through
Me: At least he was unconscious for half of it
Char: At least he hasn't spit in your face yet
Me: touché
I see Roman walking down the hall and towards the nurses' station, he looks annoyed but I am significantly more so.
"Dr. Ridley," I say before he's even fully reached me.
"What?" He asks in a clipped tone.
"I can't do this, I change my mind, I can't care for Cole he's a grade A asshole."
"Jess…90% of our patients are assholes," he says while pulling out his phone and staring at his screen.
"Yeah well, this one is different."
"I can't deal with this right now! Cole is yours unless he has physically assaulted you so suck it up," he scolds and I give up. What is his fucking problem tonight? I can't deal with these men anymore. I'm only two hours into my twelve-hour shift and I feel like I've already worked a full seven days.
"Okay," I whisper and cower to Roman.
He rubs his hands down his face, "I'm sorry Jess, I'm just going through a lot right now."
"Do you want to talk about it?" I offer.
"No."
And that's where it's left, he leaves me sitting at the nurses' station with that and goes into room 304 without another word.
I mimic his last gesture and run my hands down my face as well forgetting I have a full face of makeup on. I plant my elbow on my desk and rest my chin on my fist feeling defeated.
Room 306's monitors are reading zero and the monitor is doing that annoying alert. The pulse oximeter must've disconnected which happens way too frequently for my liking. The call button goes red for room 306 confirming my suspicions. I get up and go to her room to fix it. Before opening her door I spot one of the girls of Cole's group peaking over the corner looking like she's spying or something. Ughh what a weird group.