Page 138 of The Enforcer's Revenge
She started hyperventilating and fighting to keep from completely falling apart. The tears streamed down her face. There was no way to stop them as she tried not to look insane when the nurse came running in.
“Oh no, what happened?” the older nurse asked. “Why’d you do that?”
“It was an accident, um…” She dug her fingernails into her arm harder, sick to death of bleeding. “I, uh?—”
“I did it,” Carina said quickly. “I tripped while I was hugging her and pulled it out without meaning to.” She grabbed Brianna and hugged her tightly. “I’m sorry.” She started sobbing, too, her entire body shaking. “I’m really sorry. I’m so sorry, Bri.”
Brianna lost it then and just completely fell apart.
“This is not that big of a drama,” the nurse told both of them as they sat there, clinging to each other and crying like theirworld was ending. “Is this about those boys I saw walking out of here?”
Brianna just nodded because there was no way she could deny it. “Yes,” she whispered and sobbed harder. “I-I think my boyfriend just broke up with me.”
“Awww, sweetie. I hate to see you young girls always getting so worked up and hurt over these boys. You just hand your heart over and let them stomp all over it.” She touched the top of Brianna’s head. “There’s plenty of other fish in the sea.”
Brianna shook her head, and the entire room was blurry as she tried to see through the tears. “No.”
“One day, you’ll understand. None of them are worth all these tears.” The nurse sighed and went to get some medical supplies from a cabinet over the sink. “You’ve got yourself a nice friend there crying with you.” She pulled on some plastic gloves. “That’s what you can count on. At the end of the day, that’s all we women have, each other.” The nurse started grabbing things out of the cabinet and setting them by the sink. “I’ve lived a long time, and that’s the one thing I can tell you for sure. Your kids, your boyfriends, your husbands, they’ll all let you down eventually, but your girlfriends, they’ll be the ones to stand by you. Real friends will hang around a lot longer than some boy will, that’s for sure.”
“It’s true,” Carina whispered and hugged Brianna tighter. “I love you. I will always love you. Until the end of time, okay?”
Brianna nodded, tears still streaming down her face, but she took a shuddering breath and tried to talk herself down. “It’s going to be okay. He’ll get some rest, and he’ll get over his shit. He’s just being like this cause of what’s happened, and?—”
“Let me see your arm,” the nurse coaxed as she walked over with her supplies to start another IV line. Brianna lifted her hand where she’d been clutching at the bleeding wound. She saw that she left bloody half-moon prints from her fingernails on thesides, and the nurse shook her head. “You’re all wound up. Look at what you did here.”
“I know, I’m sorry,” Brianna whispered and looked at her bloody hand. She couldn’t even wipe her face. “I’m not usually like this. We had a close friend who died earlier this week, and it’s been really upsetting. Now this.”
“That’s a lot,” the nurse agreed and started cleaning Brianna’s bloody arm with alcohol wipes. “Who’s your guy? The tall one or the other one in the leather jacket.”
“The one in the leather jacket.”
“I was afraid of that. I noticed him when he walked in. I noticed both of them, but him especially.” The nurse sighed, still wiping up Brianna’s arm. “You found yourself a tough one, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” Brianna admitted. “But he’s really sweet, too. And funny. He loves me. He just has a lot going on right now.”
“I know, I was young once. It’s all exciting and fun until it isn’t.” She turned away from Brianna’s arm and started opening up the package that held a fresh IV needle. “I’ll give you some free advice. You want to hear it?”
Brianna shrugged and tried to turn her head to wipe her face on her hospital gown sleeve. “Okay.”
“You’re getting yourself all worked up over that chocolate sundae in a leather jacket, but you know, in the long run, no matter how good it tastes, a guy like that will just hurt you,” the nurse explained as she tied a tourniquet around Brianna’s arm. “What you need is broccoli.”
“What?” Carina asked from behind her as she watched the nurse fix Brianna’s arm.
“Help your friend find herself a good piece of broccoli. She’s a pretty girl. She’ll have no problem getting a nice, low-key man with a dependable job that has good benefits.” She smiled at Brianna and patted her arm. “Don’t get caught up in looks andexcitement. Just find an average, hard-working guy who will worship the ground you walk on and treat you right when you end up hurt and in the hospital. You understand, sweetie?”
“I don’t even know any broccoli,” Brianna whispered and hissed when the nurse stabbed her with the needle. “And I wouldn’t know what to do with one if I found it. They’re all chocolate sundaes.”
The nurse looked back to Carina.
“It’s true,” Carina confirmed and wiped at her cheeks again. “We got a real chocolate sundae problem going on in our social circle. There’s no broccoli anywhere.”
“Well, sounds like it’s time to get you a new social circle.” The nurse finished with the IV and started gathering all her discarded supplies. “Until then, Dr. Acciai wrote you a prescription for something that should let you sleep a little. At the very least, it’ll help you calm down while you work on getting over the chocolate sundae in the leather jacket. Sound good?”
Brianna just nodded. “I guess so.”
“I’ll go get it,” the nurse offered as she walked to the door.
“He called that,” Carina whispered under her breath when the nurse left.
