"Help me
Figure out the difference
Between right and wrong
Weak and strong
Day and night
Where I belong and
Help me
Make the right decisions
Know which way to turn
Lessons to learn
And just what my purpose is here"
*
Ben waited nervously for the young man's answer
"I... well, yeah. Sure." James laughed.
"Just so you know I normally don't ask out patients, but I think you're darn cute."
"Well, thanks, I guess."
"So..." Ben encouraged.
"Yeah, I'm free on Friday actually."
"Cool. Well, I'll get some paper to write down your phone number at some point, but you can go back to sleep if you want. I'll bother you again in a couple hours." Ben turned and walked away to the triage desk. James shook his head. He never would have guessed that the short muscular man was gay. Course, his gaydar had never been great, so he stopped trying to guess anymore. Sleepy from the pain meds, he drifted off again.
Ben watched James fall back asleep after a few minutes. Suddenly, the phone rang. Cindy answered it.
"Ugh, multiple car accident heading our way, one critical, two stable. Sounds like they suspect the critical might be a drunk driver."
The next two hours flew by as they were able to stabilize the driver, and make sure the other two were comfortable.
Ben quickly stopped by James' bed.
"Hey... James, wake up dude."
James sleepily opened his eyes.
"Whoa, what did I sleep through? And how did I sleep through it?"
"Car accident." Ben said as he checked over James.
"Everybody okay?"
"Yeah. Well, go back to sleep, I'll let you go an extra hour this time I think, and then we might be able to get you home after that."
"Cool. Thanks. Hey, did you find a pen for me?"
Ben reached into his pocket, but the piece of paper was long gone.
James grabbed the pen, and pulled Ben's wrist over. He removed Ben's watch, and wrote his phone number onto his wrist, then replaced the watch.
"There. Just be careful washing your hands now." James said.
Ben laughed.
Ben called James later that week, and they set up a date for Friday night. As confident as he seemed, Ben was nervous for their date. It had been awhile since he'd been out on one, specifically since college because of his schedule. Not easy to go out and meet someone when your schedule changes and you mostly work nights. But he actually had Friday off, so he was going to make the most of it. And James was freaking cute with his scruffy facial hair. Without the facial hair, he would probably fall under the 'twink' category, because he was so lean and short. He made sure to dress in a dark green shirt to bring out the color of his eyes because he knew guys loved the green. He grabbed his keys and went to go pick up James.
James watched out the window waiting for Ben to arrive. He was really excited to go out with Ben, not just because he was hot, but because he was also very nice. Their conversations outside of the hospital solidified that thought too. He spotted a black mustang pull up outside his apartment. Ben stepped out of the driver's seat. James stepped outside, and locked the door to his place. He met Ben at the three steps at the start of the walkway up to the building.
"Hey, ready to go I take it?" Ben asked.
"Sure. Where are we heading?" James replied.
"Well, I wasn't sure, mostly because I'm a vegetarian, but I wasn't sure what you'd prefer to eat."
"Well, huh... you might be surprised at this, but I'm also a vegetarian."
"Cool. Good, then I know a small café downtown that has awesome coffee and great sandwiches."
"Sounds good. I love coffee..."
"Oh, that's good. I might not be able to date someone who doesn't like coffee." Ben laughed.
"I know how you feel," James said as he slid into the passenger seat of Ben's mustang. "I feel I must mention I love the car too."
"Hard not to like a mustang."
"True. At some point though, you'll have to let me drive it."