Page 5 of Egotistical Jerk
Chapter 3
MIA
"Seriously?"
I scanned the floor by the elevators, searching for my discarded bag, and came up empty handed, yet again. When I'd seen the man in distress, the last thing I thought when I dropped my bag was that someone would take it.
Could this day get any worse? I knew better than to tempt Murphy, so I pushed those thoughts to the very back of my mind. My finger gently pressed the elevator button when I really wanted to stab it repeatedly. But I figured it wasn't the button's fault that my mood had gone from happy to pissed off.
Ugh!
With my hands planted on my hips, I glared at the ceiling as if it was something offensive. Would it have killed the man to be even the teeniest bit friendly? Judging by his behavior, I'd been idolizing a freaking jerk all these years.
Guess what they said about never meeting your heroes was true. I blew out a breath and turned my attention to the numbers above the door slowly ticking down.
"Hey!" I heard someone yell, but I was too caught up with my own musings to pay attention.
"Hey, you… with the red hair."
My head whipped from side to side and when I didn't see anyone else with red hair, I spun around and started scanning the crowd. A petite little thing dressed in light blue scrubs came hurrying toward me with what looked a lot like my bag clutched to her chest as if it was something valuable. Taking pity on the poor woman, I started heading toward her.
"Phew," she huffed out. Her index finger flew skyward, indicating she needed a minute to catch her breath. When her lungs were replenished to her satisfaction, her mouth stretched into a big smile. "I've been looking for you."
Chewing on the inside of my cheek, I stole a glance at the bag still pressed tightly against her. It was definitely mine.
Meeting her gaze again, I said, "You found me."
I didn't think it was physically possible, but her smile stretched even wider.
"What you did back there," her blond head jerked in the direction of the waiting room. "Was so freaking badass." She leaned forward as if she was about to divulge a juicy secret. "And then you got to talk to Dr. Hottie and Dr. Stormy too."
My nose wrinkled in confusion. "I'm sorry, I'm not following." Flicking my wrist, I barely kept the curses from spilling over my lips when I saw the time. I'd gone from being early to being late. Sighing, I gave the woman an apologetic smile. "You seem really nice, and as much as I would love to talk some more about hot and stormy doctors, I just can't." Her face fell a little. "It's my first day, and I had to check in with Gillian five minutes ago, but I got held up doing that," I explained, pointing my chin toward the waiting room. "And looking for my bag."
Realization dawned, and her arms shot out, shoving said bag into my hands. A deep red stained her cheeks. "I'm not a thief, I swear. I saw you throw it to the ground and figured it best I picked it up before a real thief laid eyes on it."
Poor thing needed to catch her breath again after all those words.
"Thank you." I peeked over my shoulder and watched the elevator doors slide together again. It seriously was not my day. "I have to go."
I barely took a step when her voice sounded. "You're not taking the stairs, are you?"
"Why?" I asked cautiously.
"The staff elevator is so much closer. Come with me. I'll take you."
Without waiting for an answer, she spun around and started weaving through the throng of people. My long legs had no trouble keeping up with her short, quick steps.
"Your first day, huh?" She glanced at me before greeting a guy rushing past us. "What department?"
"Diagnostics."
She made an excited sound before aiming her too-wide-smile my way once more. "We'll be seeing a lot of each other, then. I transferred there from the ER about five months ago. I'm Ginny, by the way."
Swaying my body sideways, I avoided shouldering someone. "Mia. Nice to meet you, and thanks for rescuing my bag."
Her eyes lit up. "You're very welcome." We came to a stop in front of an elevator situated at the very end of the hall. "Well, here we are." Ginny poked the button, and the doors parted with a whoosh. "I'll see you up there in a bit. Good luck." Then she was off again.
After stepping inside, I pushed the number four button. Hands on my hips, I dropped my chin to my chest and released a long breath when the car started its slow climb. What a way to start my first shift.
