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“OK people, show’s over.” Dr McNally, the head orthopaedic surgeon, claps, snapping everyone back into reality. “There are patients to treat, labs to run, things to do. Move!”
Everyone scatters at this reminder that there are patients to treat other than Matthew Barkly, the star of the Australian Soccer League and all-around stud-muffin. I take this as my cue to escape, racing in the opposite direction to where my past crush is currently sitting.
“Oh, no you don’t!” Amy pulls me into a storage closet and I have a flashback to that first encounter with Matthew, when Bianca had done something similar. Oh Bianca, she’s going to love hearing about this!
“How do you know Matt Barkly?” Amy demands, her face taking on a starry look at the mention of his name.
“I don’t.”
She shakes me. “He called you by name. What’s the story?”
In the six years since high school, I’d played our story over in my head a thousand times, and though the pain of that heartbreak has faded, every time I’d felt the same flood of embarrassment at letting myself be played like that.
“We went to school together. I was two years younger than him; we weren’t friends. Our paths barely crossed.”
She frowns. “But he recognised you on sight after six years? He’s a famous soccer player who meets thousands of people every year and yet he instantly knew you. And you weren’t even friends?”
I think back to our hours spent studying together, laughing together, the flirty looks that floated between us. But none of it was real.
“I don’t know what to tell you?” I shrug. “Maybe he’s great with faces?”
She remains sceptical. “What’s with calling you ‘New Girl’?”
My heart skips a beat at this reminder. When he’d called me that just a minute ago, it was like no time had passed. I was sixteen again and crushing hard on the most popular boy in school. Who hadn’t known I existed until he agreed to befriend me as part of a dare.
“Who knows?” I open the door to the cupboard to escape this inquisition. “It was just a stupid nickname from high school. Really, this is all just a whole lot of nothing.”
Amy follows me out of our hidey-hole, the two of us stuttering to a halt when we find Stacey waiting for us. Glaring at us.
This will not be good.
CHAPTER 5
“Natalie, please follow me.” Stacey looks annoyed and I shoot Amy a worried glance. What have I done?
“Is everything OK?” I ask Stacey’s back, following as close on her heels as possible. Stacey seems nice enough, but there’s an element of drill sergeant about her, and I don’t want to get on her bad side.
“The patient has requested you.” Her tone is clipped with disapproval and my heart sinks. I know exactly who has made this request and that his celebrity status would mean that it’s obeyed.
Still, I try to get out of it. “I’m just a student nurse. Surely there’s something more menial I can do to be helpful.”
She spears me with a look that tells me she agrees. “This is a VIP patient, so if he asks for you to help him, then you he shall get.”
This silences me, and I meekly follow behind her. It’s only a dozen steps between me and Matthew, and each one takes me closer to the firing squad. Am I being dramatic? Yes. Do I care? Also, yes. I wish I were completely unaffected by the appearance of Matthew back in my life, but clearly, I haven’t grown beyond any of it.
Damn it.
“There you are!” Matthew’s handsome face lights up when he sees me and a begrudging smile blooms over mine. He’s hard to resist, up close like this.
“Hey, Matthew.” I step closer to him, taking stock of his injuries. His arm is tucked up close to his side at an uncomfortable angle, and he’s got the beginning of a bruise forming on his left cheekbone. Oh, and he’s still delectable to look at.
Double damn it.
“You work here?” His attention is fixed on me, ignoring the people fluttering around him.
I look around at the curious glances of my co-workers and give a small nod. “I’m a student nurse. I’m just here for a few weeks as part of my training.”
This information appears to delight him and he inches closer to me, almost falling off the bed.
