Page 11 of Paging Dr. Douche

"Dr. Dracos is a certified asshole."

I throw my head back and laugh loud. That was obvious from the five seconds he was in my presence.

"No, I'm serious. He's the chief medical officer here at the hospital and basically all the decisions major or small have to go through him. If you put your head down and just work, he tends to leave you alone, but he's not a fan of holding his tongue. He's a talented, I'd say genius, physician, but his people skills are horrendous."

"Oh, girl, don't you worry about me. I've dealt with way worse than whatever he may think he has for me. I'm trained and ready to roll. Let me know where you need me and let's get to work." I put a hand on her shoulder, and she gives me a bright smile. The stark platinum silver hair accentuating the pretty redness in the apple of her cheeks.

I shadow behind Ardi for most of the morning, getting a speedy but thorough crash course on where things are in the hospital. I meet all the nurses on staff that are here, as well as the one other physician working. Every single one of them is courteous and sweet as sugar pie.

Grand River Community Hospital is one of the smaller hospitals that I've worked at, but the place definitely has a certain charm. All the patients seem to know one another. Which kind of makes the term patient confidentiality go up in smoke.

I take a trip with Ardi upstairs to check out the MRI and X-ray examination rooms, as well as to lay eyes on the few inpatient beds they have on site. With Grand River being home to only a few hundred people, this hospital usually is more than enough for the day-to-day ailments and injuries.

In no time, I'm able to jump in and help where I'm needed. The only drawback is since it's my first day, I don't have all the computer access I need yet. Ardi promises me that it'll all be ready by tomorrow.

Honestly, when I got the contract I was hoping that the place would be bigger, maybe something like the hospital in Wilmington. Since it is so small, there's going to be a lot of downtime in my future.

By the afternoon, the hospital had calmed down considerably, with only one or two patients coming in. There was one emergency case that I was able to observe and see how well the doctor and nurses worked together. Dr. Mason, that is. Dr. Dracos was busy with another patient.

A little boy, only six years old, tried to fly off his bed and landed awkwardly on his arm. His wrist was fractured, but Dr. Mason and the other nurses did their best to make the kid feel comfortable and soothe his worries. Exactly what medical care is about. After seeing that display, I have no doubt that I'll be able to get along just fine with the people here.

It's been almost thirty minutes since I was last in with a patient, and I can already feel myself getting antsy.

"So, where are you from? I don't think I could ever do the traveling nurse gig. I'd be too scared to have at it on my own." One of the other nurses, she said her name was Sara, asks me sipping on a glass of water.

"Originally, I grew up in a small town in Wisconsin. Nothing but cows and farmland for miles. It's literally the most boring place on the face of the earth." I laugh and so does everyone around me.

I feel like the new girl in school, except I'm already popular.

At that moment, a new patient walks in for her appointment and checks in with registration. The nurses get one look at her and all of them start to groan, though I'm not sure why. Maybe she's a problem patient.

Dr. Dracos comes out right away and takes the patient into one of the exam rooms.

"I did it last time." Sara says in a hushed tone, and one of the other nurses is quick to respond. "No way, I can't deal with that mess after the day we've had, someone else has to do it."

I watch in wonder as the four of them argue back and forth, and it's only midway through the argument that I realize they are not upset because of the patient, but because someone is going to have to go in there with Dr. Dracos for a chaperone. They're going to be doing a pap smear.

"Ladies, don't worry. I'll take this one." I say offering up my services. It's what I'm here for, right. A pap smear in Grand River, Delaware is the same pap smear done in Houston, Texas. I'm more than capable of assisting with this. Now that I know where all the materials are, I don't see any reason why this shouldn't be a breeze.

"Wait, are you sure?" Sara asks and looks over to Ardi. "Did you tell her about Dr. Dracos?"

I chuckle and shake my head at the atmosphere change, "Yes, she told me all about him. I'll be fine. I'm a big girl."

"Um, I don't know... He's made three nurses cry in the last few months alone. They were all big girls, too." Another nurse whose name I can't remember says, and I wave her off as I make my way to the room. "Ardi, I'll get everything ready to be transported to the lab, but you're going to have to enter it into the system."

"Yeah, sure." She says.

I take a deep breath and continue in the direction of the patient room. Just as I put my hand up to knock, the door swings open and Dr. Dracos is standing there.

He sees me, squints at me like I'm the shit on the bottom of his shoe, and has the nerve to roll his eyes. "I need someone who knows what they're doing. I don't have the time to teach you the correct way to do things right now."

I bite my cheek and take a moment before I respond.

"Good thing I'm trained and ready to go. After you." I put my hand out so he can go back into the room, and he huffs out a breath, going back to doing what he was before I came in.

"Ms. Merriweather, this isnurse, ah.."

I look over to him with a cock in my brow. He's just now realizing that he doesn't know my name. I guess he should have taken the time out to introduce himself when he had the chance.

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