#(also yes it's got hockey in it-- freaking sue me lol)

[thewholeworldatyourfeet]

Crashing The Crease

So this is an original story I’ve been working on (note: it’s not done or even close and I haven’t edited it much at all) but I thought that once upon a time you sunflowers enjoyed my writing so maybe you could enjoy this? It’s a mess I know and if you want to find it’s blog it’s here. I never posted much but I’m thinking with the looming hurricane I might spend some much needed time working on it. Figured might as well share? So here is the little intro chapter if you’re interested.

The sound of the alarm blaring jostled Melody from her slumber and she grumbled as her hand shot out and felt around for the offending hunk of blue plastic. She pushed herself into a sitting position and allowed a yawn to escape her lips as she heaved herself off the bed, unable to keep from stumbling as her feet hit the moss colored carpet. Her hands pressed down over her eyes, blocking her sight from the offending morning sun, which bounced harshly off the too-white walls. The gesture offered her one last moment of peace before she could even begin to think about putting her room back to its normal order. She made a move towards the bathroom, leaving the light lavender sheets crumpled up at the foot of her bed and the matching pillow remained hanging haphazardly off the side of her twin extra-long mattress.

Her fingers deftly pulled her mahogany colored strands through the now familiar routine of her matching Dutch braids. She examined the product in the mirror and shrugged as she gave up on making them perfect; they never were- despite countless attempts they just never quite matched. She debated with her makeup bag before she tossed it aside, forgoing the time it would take to do it, so that she could prepare herself a cup of coffee instead. Her olive toned eyes stood out she mused to herself, as they seemed to be enhanced by the deep purple bags that had taken up resident underneath. She stared at her reflection for another beat before flicking off the light and moving back into her room.

She opened her wardrobe and stared into it, unseeingly. After a hesitation and a moment of debate, she shut the doors and pulled opened a drawer, grabbing a t-shirt from the haphazardly folded stack. She pulled it up to her nose and sniffed, pleased to find it still smelled of her clean meadow laundry detergent. She pushed the drawer closed with her hip as she pulled her pajama top off and tossed it into the almost bursting hamper. She looked at the mirror on her vanity before reaching for her trusty baseball cap, which she pulled down securely over her head. The bright blue stood out amongst the monotone of her outfit and she smiled at her reflection as her fingers brushed over the brim. Satisfied with her appearance, she slung her bag over her arm and made her way out of the bathroom, back past her unmade bed and into the kitchen where she discarded her bag into the first empty chair she came across.

She moved over to the island and after making sure there was a coffee cup and fresh pod of coffee in the machine, she leaned back against the counter with her phone secured in her hand. She scrolled through the app as she half-listened to the sound of the sacred elixir slowly being poured into her favorite mug. Her finger moved quickly over the glass of her phone as she searched for any new information before she gave up and shoved her phone deep down into her pocket. She chose instead to use her time to add cream to her mug and steal an extra moment to breathe in the robust aroma. With her cup in her hand and caffeine beginning to slowly work its way into her system, Melody figured she was as ready as she was ever going to be to face her day.

Her apartment door clicked shut behind her and she unconsciously reached to feel for her keys in the back pocket of her bag. She let out an unnecessary breath of relief at the familiar feeling her small wallet, which had her room key attached. She took another deep pull of her coffee before making her way down the sidewalk and out into the chaos that was college kids scrambling to get to class on time.

Melody made her way further onto campus, stopping momentarily to study the sky that was currently blue but had grey clouds looming in the distance, threatening to douse the young adults milling about the school as soon as it was given the opportunity. She shook her head with a smile, before taking one last deep breath and heading up the three short steps, which lead to Jackson Hall, her home away from home.

The lobby was large, but filled with seats and students standing around chatting, most of them decked out in their school’s midnight blue scrubs. Most of them had a styrofoam coffee cup in their hand and a stricken expression on their faces; she remembered those days. She smiled at them and nodded when she passed the small group, as if the simple gesture would let them know they could do it, that they could make it if they just kept trying. Melody made her way down the hallway, and began to feel the fluttering of nerves in her stomach as she neared the familiar room. She held her hand out and let her knuckles rasp on the dark colored wood. After a grunt of acknowledgement, she shook her head with a small smile and pushed her way into the small, cluttered office space.

His desk was cluttered with various papers, some yellow, some white, and some spilling out of the forgotten manila envelopes. On his walls were posters, some of which were curling in at the edges and some were even barely in one-piece still; their entire fate resting upon a small piece of plain tape that served as their only bond. Melody shook her head again as she moved a random conglomeration of files from the one extra chair in his room so she could sit down.

“You know, you should really think about organizing some of this. It would make life a lot easier,” Melody teased the man with a smile as her fingers ran gently over the leaves of his severely under watered and wilting fern. Her eyes met his kind grey ones and he flashed her a large smile.

“But then how would you start the conversation every time you came to see me?”

His voice was a warm timber, a slight southern twang emphasizing the feeling of comfort to Melody. The smile he still held showed off the various wrinkles that adorned his face, many of which Melody assumed came from just the expression he was giving her now. The man reminded her of her grandfather back home, and she believed that was where the soft spot for the old man truly formed. She couldn’t help but laugh when her eyes drifted downwards, landing on the bowtie proudly on display between the lapels of his brown tweed blazer.

“Stethoscopes? Really Gordon?” The man let out a loud guffaw after the words left her mouth, and his hand reached up to finger the soft fabric. He made an exaggerated motion of straightening it before making a clicking noise with his tongue. His arm straightened as he pointed his bony, and slightly crooked finger in her direction.

“Now listen here young lady, not everyone remembers what I store up here like you do,” he started while tapping his temple with the same finger he had just been pointing in her direction, “I wear this to remind people just why there is a Dr. in front of my name.”

“No, you wear it so that the receptionist has a reason to talk to you,” Melody told him while lifting her eyebrow as if to dare him to challenge her. That once again set him off and he leaned back in his chair and allowed his hands to move and cover his face as it turned a deep crimson shade.

“You don’t fool me for one second old timer. Now why don’t you tell me why you called your favorite student here on a day where she could have slept in? Unless of course it was just so I could admire the new bowtie.”

He huffed as he glanced back at her and flashed her a mock scowl. He flashed her his index finger to signal that he needed a moment as he began to dig through the papers on his desk. Melody leaned back in her seat and took in the room again, and had to resist the urge to laugh when her eyes landed on the pile of dirty coffee mugs leaning precariously against the coffee pot that still had some of the warm brew heating. Her eyes flickered back to him, taking in the way his grey hair seemed to soften his rather sharp features, and how had it not been for a very similar meeting she would have never known that beneath the always pressed to perfection shirts and slacks, was one of the biggest softies she had ever met. She couldn’t figure out why he was making her wait, she knew that whatever he wanted to tell her wasn’t within the confines of the countless papers strewn before him, he was stalling for some reason.

“You’re here about your internship. I’m sure you saw you didn’t make it onto any of the normal rotations and I must confess that I am mostly to blame for that,” he began as he continued to dig through the seemingly unending abyss of papers. He refused to meet her eyes, as he knew he would only find a questioning look in hers.

“You’re the reason I didn’t get any of the internships I applied for?” Melody asked unable to hid the slight crack in her voice as her mind tried to process her favorite professor standing in the way of her goals. At the tone of her question he paused what he was doing and finally looked at her, the air catching in his throat as he fumbled for words trying to explain. He pulled at the bowtie as if that would help the constricted feeling he suddenly felt in his throat. He had come to think of the young woman before him as the daughter he never had and couldn’t help the sickening feeling that came with the betrayed expression that was clearly displayed on her face or the way her arms wrapped around herself.

“Ms. O’Brien, Melody, I kept you out of those internships because an old colleague of mine was hoping to hire someone this year. He wanted someone who was a quick study and wouldn’t be a problem with these particular,” he paused as if deliberating over the last word of his statement before finally deciding- “patients. I told him that I knew someone who was just right for the job. You.”

Melody was thoroughly confused and her mouth opened and closed repeatedly and her eyes clenched shut as she floundered for just what she wanted to ask first.

“What is so special about this internship and these specific patients, Dr. Rhode?” She asked as she placed emphasis on the word patient, as that had seemed to be a qualifier for him before. She leaned on the armrest of the chair and placed her chin in her palm as she regarded the man before her who seemed almost more nervous than he had been before.

“It’s for my old friend, Stavros Mark. He coaches the school hockey team, and he was hoping that I could find him an intern to help with the team’s doctor and the team’s physical therapist.”

“The hockey team? You kept me from the other internships at some of the most prestigious hospitals in our city to patch up busted hockey players?” Melody’s voice rose with every word, her disbelief clear on her face as she stumbled to her feet and managed to knock over a stack of books in her hastiness.

“I’m just asking you to think about it. Give it a chance; I think you could learn more from this experience than you actually believe. Just go home and think about it, if you decide that you aren’t up to the challenge I can still get you into one of the other programs. Plus, it’s not like you don’t have an interest in the sport,” he offered with a small reassuring smile as he watched the storm brewing behind her green irises, and her mouth pull down into a deep frown. He tapped the top of his head too with the last statement as he watched her mimic the movement. His lips pulled into a crooked grin as he watched the realization dawn on her as she fingered the familiar brim of the blue hat, her Falconers hockey team hat.

“I’ll think about it, but I make no promises Gordon.” She breathed out between clenched teeth as she bent over and picked up her backpack and slung it over her shoulder. He knew what he was doing, offering up the internship as a challenge- appealing to her competitive nature; she still needed to do some serious thinking. This was her future after all.

“That is all I ask Melody. I look forward to hearing your answer.”