Page 11 of Only You

“Hmph, I’m sure you could,” she said suggestively, looking my body over before walking off. This side of the hospital lacked the fresh barrage of young nurses that rotated in and out. The nurses over here were more seasoned. I still flirted with them, though. Nurse Newton’s fine cougar ass, especially. She might fuck around and find out.

Over here, the nurse’s station stayed empty. Instead of standing around gossiping, they were actually attending to their patients. After the computer let me in, I scanned the list of patients and then double-checked a familiar name.

Drue Haven?

I noted the room number and headed in that direction. Before entering the room, I gave several soft raps to the door. Devin was sitting beside the bed with little Drue entirely out of it. He’d drawn the curtains back, and all the bright light filtered into the usually dim room.

“Aww shit,” Devin said and smiled as I walked over to the sink to wash my hands.

“It still trips me out when I see you in all this shit. Look at you…Dr. Washington. I’m proud of you, man,” he said as he reached out to touch the name on my lab coat. Underneath, I’d switched from my typical solid-color scrub top to one covered in dinosaurs. I smiled as I let his words sink in. My parents would be proud, too. I could also hear the worry in his voice that he was trying desperately to hide.

“Ok, man, enough with the sappy shit. Tell me what’s going on with my main man, Drue.” I spoke.

“I got a call from the director of A Child’s Haven telling me he had a fever and needed to come to the hospital.”

“Your mother doesn’t work there anymore?” I asked as I checked his vitals. His temperature was still high, but his BP was normal.

“Nah, man, Ma was out the door the minute she saw that Tay could handle the shit.”

“Tay?”

“Yeah, that’s the woman my mother hired as the director. Why? Do you know her?” Devin had this strange look in his eyes as if he were privy to something I wasn’t aware of. I let the possibility that it could be my Tay filter into my mind before shaking it off. I checked Drue’s breathing with my stethoscope and noted the labored breathing. Then, I reached out to the wall behind me and took down the otoscope, placing a cone on top to check his ears.

“Does she have long locs the same color as mine hanging down her back?” I asked as I moved over to Drue’s other ear.

“Nah. She doesn’t. She is fine as hell, though. Drue is in love with her. This lil’ nigga grabbed her ass last week, then proceeded to tell her he learned that shit from me,” he said, shaking his head. I laughed hard.

“If she doesn’t have locs, it’s not my Tay.”

My Tay?

“Nah, man, I don’t know her. Ah! Here we go. He has a severe ear infection,” I said quickly, changing the conversation with my diagnosis. I glanced up at D, who gave me a questioning look. I hated when he did that shit, we all did. Devin always knew some shit that no one else did. I wanted to tell his ass to spit the shit out.

“He hasn’t had a cold, though. Do you know what the hell you’re talking about?” he asked and laughed.

“Don’t do that shit. I taught your ass. Mr., I’m going to stop my brother from bleeding out in the street and reinflate his collapsed lung. Wooo, look at that bow, I tied that, I tied that shit!” I said in a voice that mocked Samuel L. Jackson from the movie Coach Carter. About four years ago, his brother Dorien had been shot in downtown Cypress. Devin saved his life using the skills I’d taught them on combat wounds.

“All jokes aside. Drue doesn’t have to have a cold per se to have an ear infection. We are heading into spring, and the pollen count is high.” I opened his mouth to check his throat before I continued.

“Yeah, his throat is swollen and irritated and full of drainage, a post-nasal drip. I also heard some congestion in his breathing. For now, we’re going to get his fever down. Does he have any medical allergies?”

“No, not that I know of.”

“Good, I will have the nurse give him some Tylenol to decrease his temperature. Then, I’m going to prescribe him amoxicillin. He must take it twice daily for ten days to clear the ear infection. As for his allergies, I suggest you put him on a daily regimen of allergy meds until this pollen eases up,” I said. I could see the worry fade from Devin’s face.

“He’s good, man,” I said as I held my hand out to pull Devin into a brotherly embrace.

“When I leave out, don’t be in here crying like no bitch either. I heard that crack in your voice earlier,” I teased as I headed toward the door.

“Who’s gone be in here crying like a bitch?” Chanel, Devin’s wife, asked. She was coming in as I opened the door.

“Your big ass, crybaby ass man, child. You should have seen him a minute ago.” I said as I hugged and gave Chanel a tight hug meant to piss D further off. To further egg him on, I rubbed my hand up and down her back as far as I thought was appropriate, watching Devin’s face ball up in a grimace.

“Aye, I swear I will fuck you up, Brice,” he said. Chanel waved him off.

“Did you take care of my baby, Brice?”

“Of course, his lil’ bad ass will be down a day or two, but he’ll be right back terrorizing soon. He has an ear infection. I’m prescribing some meds to get it taken care of. It will all be in his discharge papers. He can leave when his temperature drops back to normal.”

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