A Not-So-Hell-Week-Thursday

Thursdays have a bad rep in my third year book. Thursdays are when there is always a paper due at 8 a.m. And not just any paper, a clinical case a.k.a. imaginary patient that is always so difficult to analyze (read: misleading vague symptoms, multiple possible diagnoses that you can’t pinpoint which one is really the culprit) and make a clinical analysis, diagnostic plan, and management about, that the night before always tends to be an all-nighter just to produce a decent paper on time. (Fine, I procrastinate a lot, but that’s not the case here!)

Anyways, this Thursday is posed to be even worse because it’s in Hell Week (that’s the Thursday to Wednesday before the exams). We’re not supposed to have papers from this subject the week before exams, but the outstanding ER doctor who was supposed to discuss the case last week wasn’t available, did not send out the case on time, and the lecture had to be rescheduled. That’s right, we didn’t have the chance to make the paper in advance which was essentially nothing short of a violation of our human rights! In short, I was awake when Wednesday turned into Thursday, making a difficult paper decent enough to pass.

I was running on empty at the sleep department. I had enough time to shower after I finished, but not enough to chic myself up, and it was so freaking disappointing. Today was Dr. Anderson’s lecture, and I am so not prepared! I had time to run up the two blocks, though, which in retrospect could’ve been better spent applying some makeup instead. But I was trying to cut down on my other expenses since Hell Week and Exam Week really meant having to spend more time outside of my apartment and in more-expensive-than-usual 24-hour diners or cafes in an effort to keep myself from falling asleep. I had to redirect my cab fares.

I was able to arrive and pass my paper on time though, thank God. And by the second period (which had a lecturer who was boring as hell), I was close to entering coma. I survived the horrendous lecture though and instead spent lunch break eating a sandwich for 5 minutes then sleeping the remaining hour off. Needless to say, I was essentially out of it when Dr. Anderson came in and it was so not the way I had imagined it!

I was able to ogle at him though, and I was right about reading his lectures in advance because I could not absorb a thing he was saying. It all just sounded mashed up in my head (even now as I am writing about it). All I absorbed was how good his voice sounds, how cute he looks when he laughs and gestures with his hands, and how hot he looks when he walks around the podium. Anne looked at me several times during the lecture and I could just sigh in response.

By the end of the 2-hour lecture, I was in fantasyland while my classmates filed out of the room. “Ms. Miller?” I heard someone call me, and when I turned to look, I almost died. It was Dr. Anderson and he. Freaking. Knew. My name. There were eighty three students in my class and he knew my name! It was so awesome!

“Doctor?” I answered meekly. Is this really happening? I was fangirling inside! (Not to mention playing a thousand scenarios in my head.)

“I applaud the paper you turned in the last time. Brief, relevant, and to the point. Keep it up and I just might have to request you under my service on clerkship next year,” he smiled.

Oh. My. God. I’d give anything to see that crinkled-eyes-smile everyday for the rest of my life. “Thank you, Dr. Anderson. I am so honored.” I was so sure I was blushing as he turned to leave and my smile couldn’t get wiped off my face by anything.

“Oh my God. What was that?” I heard Anne and Carmen ask. They went off to the girls’ room right after class was dismissed and I was waiting for them. I didn’t realize they saw what happened, but I was almost sure they chose not to enter the room and eavesdrop on me instead while I was busy making a very special memory.

“He just said I wrote a good paper,” I mechanically answered, still shaken by the close encounter with a surgical god a.k.a. man of my dreams.

“Er, are you okay?” Carmen asked, playfully snapping fingers in front of me.

“Dr. Anderson talked to me and knew my freaking name!” I exclaimed with a stupidly wide smile. Damn, that was already something! My inner fangirl was doing a crazy dance.

“Calm down, Miller,” Anne smirked. “But just as promised, I looked. And there was no ring on that finger.”

“My day couldn’t possibly get any better than this!” I gushed. But I was wrong. The minute I got off the elevator with my girls, I saw Luke and he looked gorgeous. He never mentioned he was going to be there after my class and we were just texting earlier. Carmen and Anne mouthed a “we’re going ahead” to me as they walked past Luke and I couldn’t help but smile. These are the times when it just dawns on me how supportive my friends really were. (And I know you guys would totally think me shallow, but it stems on a deeper reason than I can fully explain with words.)

“Hey, you,” Luke greeted me. He wasn’t wearing his blue uniform and was looking good in dark washed jeans and a navy shirt.

“Hi,” I smiled back. “You look nice.”

He laughed shyly at the compliment. “Thanks. I hope you don’t mind me waiting for you here.”

“Uh… why were you?” I was so sure we had set our second date for after exams. Didn’t we?

“Just really wanted to give you this,” – he handed me a paper bag – “I saw it and I had to buy it.” He was smiling sheepishly, almost apologetically, and I found it immensely cute and flattering. What guy gives a girl a random gift in between the first and second dates just because he thought so?

“Gosh, thanks! What’s this?” I asked as I peeked into the bag. It was a huge wide-mouth coffee mug that said “Little Miss Doctor” on it in goofy colorful writing. “It’s so cute! Thank you!” I gushed before hugging him.

“I’ll walk you home, if you want. I mean, if you won’t be taking a cab,” he joked.

I laughed before saying “I’d like that” and going on our way. We talked about random things on the way to my apartment. He asked about my day at school and my exam review progress (he did seem too worried about the “study break” I had with him which was quite adorable), and I asked him how he was getting on at work. When we reached my building, I didn’t want the walk to be over. Something about Luke just made me want to spend time with him more.

“I’ll see you after exams, then,” he said, waiting for me to enter the building while I rummaged through my bag for my keys. I couldn’t help but think that we kissed the last time he walked me here and I was panicking whether he expected us to kiss again or should I kiss him or would he kiss me and all those sorts of things.

“Yeah, I’ll see you then.” I was inwardly cursing myself for suddenly being so awkward about everything. Why can’t I just find my damn keys? “Aha!” I exclaimed (quite embarrassingly), actually forgetting myself once I got a hold of the damn keys.

“You’re really cute when you rush,” Luke said and I had to look at him. He was smiling amusedly at me and I knew I was blushing ridiculously. And then he leaned in to kiss me as I had just looked up at him in utter embarrassment. The kiss was soft, unhurried, and almost surreal that I was at a loss for words when it ended.

“And I, uh, really hope I get to do that more often,” he said before I closed the building doors. My smile was practically glued to my face all evening despite studying ER trauma cases.