Charlie

I grin as Olivia makes her way down the school steps. Her eyes slide across the parking lot until they find me. Her eyes light up and she smiles. As she gets closer I uncross my legs and push myself off my car. I may be the loser of the school but I can't resist doing the bad boy leaning against his car while waiting for a girl thing. I mean, is it not what every bad boy in a wattpad book does?

"Hey," she says when she stops in front of me.

"Hi." I cringe. I couldn't even stick with the bad boy personality and say hey too?

"So, this is your car?"

"It's my dad's, but he's letting us borrow it for our hunting." I really can't seem to come off as cool today.

She nods. "I like it."

I grin. "Well, should we get a move on then?"

She nods and goes to walk around the car, the backway. I go around the front and beat her to the passenger door. She raises an eyebrow before I can do anything. "What are you doing?" she asks.

I lean over and grab the door handle and pull it as my answer. "After you, m'lady," I say with a little bow.

Olivia glances around the parking lot, her face has a tinge of red to it on her cheeks. But she ducks her head and gets in.

"You settled?" I ask.

She nods and I close the door before making my way over to the driver's side. I hop in, close the door, settle in and start it. As I reverse out of the parking spot I gesture to the radio. "You can change it to whatever you'd like."

"Really?"

I nod.

Out of the corner of my eye I see her reach out for the button and start to click it. The radio goes from a guy talking about the weather to static to silence and snippets of songs and talking as she changes the station. I turn the corner as she stops pressing the button and sits back.

The song Enemy by Imagine Dragons blasts through the car.

I nod my head in approval. "You're a fan of Imagine Dragons?" I ask.

"Yep. They've got some pretty good songs."

"Which is your favorite?"

"As of right now? This one, but Believer is a close second."

"Some good choices."

"What's yours?"

"Radioactive."

She laughs. "Of course it is."

I raise an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

She laughs. "Nothing."

I hum. "Sure. If you say so."

She chuckles. "It is." She turns and looks out the window. A moment passes where it's just the radio making sound. "Where are we going, anyways?" She turns her head and faces me.

"Well, today we're going to be shadowing a nurse."

I bring the car to a stop as the light turns red.

"Really? They'll let us do that?"

I nod. "Yep. Some of it at least."

"Will we get to see some of the emergency rooms? Or a surgery?"

I chuckle. "We don't have that much clearance. Plus, they wouldn't show some of that to some random kids."

"Don't we have an appointment?"

I nod. "We do. It's just that those are things they don't show since it's more..." I trail off as I try to search for a word that describes why we can't see some of those things.

"Aren't high enough in power?" she suggests.

"Sure. Let's go with that. Basically they'll just be showing us through some patients' rooms and letting us help with small daily check-ups."

"Oh. But, what if that isn't really something that interests me? Wouldn't we want to see every aspect to figure out what I'd like doing in a hospital?"

"That would be ideal." I pull up to the parking garage outside the hospital. "But they still don't want us around some of the areas."

"That's so dumb." She throws her arms up. "Like, it's not dumb, it makes sense I just don't see how that'll help me."

I shrug. "At least you're still seeing into the hospital life? That little bit will show you the environment and whether you'll like it or not."

She shrugs. "I guess that's true."

"You'll see." I grin as I park.

We unbuckle and get out before making our way down the parking garage and into the hospital. I lead her through the main foyer where the cafeteria and the gift shops are and down towards a hall labeled visitors office. I count the doors on the left until I find the fifth one and give it a knock. None of the doors have names on them so dad could only tell me which number it would be.

Olivia sticks her hands into her sweater pockets while we wait.

I roll my eyes and go to knock again. But before I can the door swings open and a tall lady with red glass opens the door. Her white doctor coat hangs behind her as she takes her hands out of her pockets. She holds her hand out to me. "Charlie Masko, I presume?"

I nod and shake her hand. "Doctor Levu?"

She nods.

I turn and pull Olivia closer. "This is Olivia."

She reaches out and shakes Doctor Levu's hand. "It's nice to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine." She steps back and to the side of the door. "Come in. Come in. Let's talk before we make our rounds."

I let Olivia go in first before following behind and shutting the door behind us. Doctor Levu walks around and sits behind her desk while Olivia picks the left chair that's in front of the desk. Which leaves me the right one. I take a seat as Doctor Leuv clasps her hands together and sets them before her on the desk. "So, I hear that you're looking to tour our facility to see if this career fits you?" She looks at Olivia as she asks.

Olivia nods. "Yeah. I was hoping to see what it's like to be a doctor and if it'd be something I could see myself doing for the rest of my life."

Doctor Levu nods. "Do you have any interest in a certain field?"

Olivia shakes her head then shrugs. "Not really. I've never really looked into being a doctor before."

"So, what made you want to look around here now, then?" She tilts her head.

Olivia gestures to me. "Charlie offered to help me find a career that could work for me." She shrugs. "I thought it was worth a shot since I have no idea and we're just sampling some careers."

Doctor Leuv nods. "Well then, now that I have more information, shall we get started?"

"You're giving us the tour?"

She nods.

Olivia smiles. "Wow. I thought you were this big boss lady who would make someone else do it because you're super busy. Or, something." Olivia blushes and ducks her head.

Doctor Leuv laughs. "Of course not. Whether you're a patient or a visitor I always try my best to give you my attention."

"That's really sweet of you."

Doctor Leuv nods. "I try my best. Shall we start?"

Olivia nods. Her eyes glow like she's a child in a candy store as Doctor Levu shows us around the hospital. She takes us to visit different patients with different symptoms and illnesses. She shows Olivia how to help the ones who need it and how to do check-ups for others. During all of it I watch Olivia. She handles each person differently. Sometimes she seems to match their energy, or personality. Other times she's more quiet and reserved or loud and outgoing. Each patient seems to respond well to her and like she's their nurse. For the most part Olivia leaves each room with a smile and a conversation that her and Doctor Levu both talk animadtely about.

Then, as they talk, Doctor Levu takes us down to the Newborn Nursery. We stop in the hallway outside the room where a piece of glass separates us from the babies but still allows us to see them.

Olivia goes quiet as she lays her eyes on all the babies.

They each have their own little glass crib. Some lay quietly sucking their thumbs while others kick and scream. Nurses run back and forth throughout the room holding baby supplies as they attempt to take care of each of the little lives in their hands.

"There's so many," Olivia comments.

"It's a big city. Lots of women give birth."

Olivia just stares at the room. Her mouth opens and closes a few times but no sound comes out.

I turn to Doctor Levu. "Maybe we should move onto the next portion?" I suggest.

She eyes Olivia before nodding. "I think that's a good idea. Follow me and I'll show you how our x-ray machine works." She turns and starts down the hall.

I start to follow but stop and turn around when Olivia doesn't follow. "You coming?" I ask.

She spins around slowly and nods. "Yeah."

I wait for her to make it even with me before I continue to walk. We sit in silence for a minute as we catch up with Doctor Levu.

"Thank you."

I look down at her. Her red hair is the only thing I see as it covers her face like a curtain. "For what?"

"For getting us to move on. I don't know what got into me when I looked at the babies. Maybe it had something to do with seeing some people possibly being on their last breath and then seeing the babies who are on their first few and how much time they have unlike others. I think it just got to me."

I want to reach around her and hug her close to my side, but... I can't. "Hey, it's okay."

She shrugs and brings her arms up to hug herself. "It just makes me sad seeing how different it is and how death and life happen in one place."

"That's one way to look at it." I shrug. "But it can also be beautiful."

"Or scary."

I look over at Doctor Levu before bending down closer to Olivia's height. "I'm guessing this isn't for you then?"

She nods. "I tried my best to like it."

"And it's okay that you don't. But now we have one job knocked off the list."

She nods. "Let's just finish the tour."