In Nina's comforting hands I found some hope.
We graduated from the classroom portion of ROP and were given our assignments. Nina went to the emergency room at one of the smaller hospitals as an ER tech. I went to the supply room in the basement of the regional trauma center and was put to work sterilizing and packaging medical supplies and instruments. Mike was assigned to Spokane Fire Station #3 near downtown.
It took me only a few days to be trained in the routine that I would be following. Central supply was a little more challenging than making pizzas, but not by much. My work mate was Julie Salinas, a cute Mexican girl that had been in my training class. I'd tried once to initiate some intimate conversation with her but she'd shot me down without a second glance, stating in no uncertain terms, that she was engaged to be married after graduation. I'd shrugged her off. That kind of thing happened from time to time and there were plenty of other targets in the class.
When I walked in and saw her there the first day I assumed it was not going to be pleasant. She had been a little snotty in her rejection of my advances. But I was surprised to find that she was friendly to me as we spent three hours together each day. With our bodies covered by baggie scrubs, our shoes covered by paper coverings, our hair covered by paper nets, we would chat easily as we went about the tasks of putting forceps and scalpels and syringes and little bottles of medicine into sterile packaging and then labeling them for the appropriate departments within the hospital. It was a fun relationship. She was pleasant to talk to and since I already knew that she wasn't interested in me I was releived of the sexual tension that usually went along with being next to someone like her. Or so I thought.
As the first few weeks went by I couldn't help but notice that Julie was always there when I got there. I knew she had her own car which allowed her to drive to the hospital instead of taking the bus but why in the name of God would she show up earlier than she had to? Finally, when our relationship matured to the point that I could ask such things, I asked her.
"Because." She told me. "I intend to get hired here at mid-semester. Can you imagine? It's a dream job. If they hire you, you get paid for your time here and still get the school credits. You also get another three hours on the clock at $6.00 an hour. So if I get noticed by showing up a half an hour earlier than everyone else, so much the better. They only hire three or four of us each year you know and there's more than twelve of us working down here."
"That's a pretty good idea." I said with complete honesty. After all, I was counting on getting hired also. To do so would nearly double my current income. "I wish I had a car so I could do it too."
I meant nothing by this statement. I was merely speculating out loud, wondering in my mind if I could break loose some of my portfolio to purchase a cheap car. If it helped me get a job it would be a sound investment, wouldn't it?
"If you want," Julie said, looking at me thoughtfully. "I could give you a ride. I have to drive right by your school to get here and right by it to get home. I'd rather work with you then some of the other losers they got around here."
"Really?" I asked, looking at her, trying to gauge her intentions. Usually when girls asked me something like that what they wanted was sex. I wasn't so sure about that with Julie though. After all, she'd already told me she was engaged. She in fact talked quite a bit about her fiance, who was in his second year of junior college where he was learning the finer points of drafting. She was also a practicing Catholic; a religion which most definitely frowned upon pre-marital and extra-marital sex.
Finally I decided it was a genuinely innocent offer that a friend makes to another friend. "I'll take you up on that." I told her. "Thanks."
"No problem." She assured me.
Nina and I had arranged our school schedules that year so that we shared the last two classes before lunch and ROP. We always sat together in the classroom during those classes and then walked together to the lunchroom where usually we would sit with Mike and eat lunch prior to heading off to our job sites. Mike had had the same idea as Julie. He drove his Bug to the fire station, getting there earlier than he was required. He also tended to stay a little later than was required. He talked repeatedly of his experience at the firehouse, continually and obviously inflating his stories of what they allowed him to do. For instance he told me once that they'd allowed him to don breathing gear and go into a burning building to help fight a fire, something that they would NEVER do. But I was gladdened by his exaggerations. It meant that I'd hit upon just the right thing when I'd suggested firefighting as a career.
After he took off from lunch break to head downtown Nina and I walked out to the bus area where the ROP buses picked up the students. As we walked I explained my new riding arrangements to her along with the theory that it would help me get hired at mid-semester.
"Julie?" Nina said, frowning. "You're going to be riding with her?"
"Yeah." I said. "That way I'll be able to…"
"But she's engaged!" Nina nearly yelled. A very un-Nina-like display of emotion.
"So?" I asked, looking at her. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"You're gonna…" A pause as she tried to formulate her words. "Get a RIDE from an engaged girl?"
"Well yes." I affirmed. "Is there something wrong with that?"
Her face was actually turning red as her eyes, once so soft and mellow, burned into me. What the hell was the matter with her?
"No." She said stiffly. She turned away from me and started heading for the bus stop.
I followed after her, grabbing her by the arm. "Nina?" I asked. "What's the matter?"
"Nothing." She said. "Nothing at all. I'll see you later."
Right then Julie, driving her Toyota Corolla pulled to the curb in the red zone. She saw me and smiled. "You ready?" She called.
"Just a sec." I told her, turning back to Nina. "What's the matter with you?"
"I'm fine." She said sadly. "I'll see you tomorrow. Do you still want to ride with me to school?"
"Of course." I said, "But aren't we going to get together and study today after school? We have to go over that calculus."
"Not today." She said coldly. "I've got things to do." She turned away from me once again and disappeared into the crowd of students waiting for the bus.
With a troubled mind, more troubled than I cared to admit, I went to Julie's car and got in.
By the time we arrived at the hospital I was suspicious about Julie's intentions. She was overly friendly and openly flirty with me; signs I'd learned long before to both recognize and take advantage of. Despite my troubling conversation with Nina I found myself responding to her banter.
All through our workday it went on. She stood closer to me than was really needed, always taking the opportunity to touch my hand or bump her hip against mine. A few times she even turned so that the swell of her breast rubbed across my shoulder. It happened a little too frequently to be accidental. By two o'clock thoughts of Nina were forgotten as I pondered the prospect of bagging Julie and started working the problem of how to get her back to my place through my mind.
That turned out to be much easier than I'd thought it would.
As she drove me towards home she asked, "So, are your parents home right now?"
"No." I told her. "My old man doesn't get home until a little after four."
"Really?" She said, a smile blooming on her face. "You know, some of the other girls said they went over to your house and studied with you."
"Did they?" I asked, familiar with this opening line.
"Uh huh. Susie, Lori, and Stacy all said you're a GREAT study partner." She looked over at me. "I need to study you know."