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Trinity’s older cousin has a partner. She’s sure of it. The only thing is… she doesn’t know who it is.
She had always looked up to you. A good few years older than her, you felt like the big sister she had never had. You played with her when her other cousins did not want to play with the baby of the family, sent her care packages throughout med school, and now went on holidays together. You were her best friend and were there for Trinity when she needed it. You had always been there.
It had been a week since Trinity saw your phone light up, revealing an unfamiliar nickname followed by a heart, and she felt doubt creep in.
She told you everything. Why had you not told her about this mystery partner?
It was Tuesday night, which meant movie-and-pasta night. You were in your kitchen, sauce simmering on the stove. It was your turn to pick the pasta and Trinity’s to pick the movie. It always took you both too long to pick out a movie if you had to do it together so, efficient as you both were, you divided the tasks.
Trinity held up her nose a bit when she saw the ravioli on the counter, waiting to be cooked. If it were up to her, it would have been mac and cheese.
“So…” Trinity leaned against the counter with her elbows, watching you stir in some basil into the sauce.
“So?”
“Can you tell me about your partner?”
“What partner?” You answered nonchalantly. Of course you would answer like you knew nothing and try to deflect the question.
“The one you’ve constantly been daydreaming about? I saw the nickname and heart on your phone. Must be serious if they have a nickname.”
Trinity knew you only gave nicknames to people you were very close to and serious about. It was as serious as a love declaration to you. You had given her her nickname ‘light bug’ after a lightning bug landed on her nose during a camping trip when she was five. She was still saved as light bug on your phone.
“Ah, that partner.” You kept your eyes on the pot and gave her a small, apologetic smile. “I would love to tell you more about them, but it’s a bit early to introduce them to family.”
“Can you at least tell me their name?” Trinity leaned closer, trying to get you to stop avoiding her eyes. She didn’t like it when you kept secrets from her and you were a horrible secret keeper.
You stopped stirring the sauce and looked at her.
“Why do you want to know?”
Something clicked. Trinity smiled. “Is it someone I know?”
A line formed between your eyebrows. “What hospital are you working at again?”
“PTMC.”
“Okay, maybe you know them already.” You shrugged, clearly trying to not make a big deal out of it. That was not going to work. Trinity would pull it out of you if she had to.
“Really?” She drawled.
“Probably.”
“It’s a large hospital. I might not even know them if the department they work in is different from mine.”
“What department are you working in?”
“The ED.” Your face slowly paled. Trinity could see she was winning.
“What shift?” She could hear the slight pleading in your voice to stop her questioning.
“Mostly day shifts, some nights. I basically know everyone.”
“Then you definitely know them.” Trinity let out a laugh and leaned forward.
“Tell me!”
“No, it’s still very new and I haven’t discussed this with them yet!” It was obvious you wanted to tell her, but didn’t want to cross a boundary with her partner. Unfortunately for you, her curiosity was winning.
“Tell me!” Trinity grabbed your arm.
“No!” You laughed.
“I’ll use my puppy eyes and I’ll do your dishes for a week.”
“That’s unnecessary. I have a dishwasher.” You peeled her hand off your arm. She kept looking at you with big eyes. It was kind of frightening how well it still worked after all these years.
“I’ll ask them if I can, okay?”
“Yes!” She held her hands up in victory.
You sighed and gave her the wooden spoon. “Here, take over.”
A little while later, you stepped into the kitchen. “They said I can tell you.”
“Fuck yes! Okay, spill.” Her eyes were wide and if she was clutching the wooden spoon any harder, it could break in half. She could feel the victory already.
“They actually suggested something different.” A conniving smirk grew on your face and Trinity knew she had lost.
“You know what would be more fun? You should start a betting board at work. Tell Ahmed. From what I’ve heard, I’m sure he’ll be thrilled.”
Trinity groaned. “Fine.”
“Hey, Ahmed!” Trinity pushed open the doors, still wearing her coat. There was something she needed to do before the chaos of the day started.
“Santos! Need anything? He was standing in his usual spot near the ambulance entrance.
“Not really, but I think I have something you might be interested in.”
“Go on.” Ahmed raised a casual eyebrow.
“I have a bet.”
A big smile grew on his face. ”Tell. Me. More.”
“Okay. So, saying goes that Santos’ cousin is dating someone from this department. Bets are on who, how long they’ve been dating and how they met. Starting at five dollars.” Ahmed was telling the group of medical assistants.
“Why do we want to know who her cousin is dating if we don’t know her cousin?” Antoine asked.
“ Yeah, why would we want to know?” Larry added.
“Why would you not want to win an insane amount of money?” Ahmed countered. Antoine and Larry looked at each other.
“Good point. Put me in for ten on Mohan, one year and coffee shop.”
“Fifteen on Jesse, two months and friends-to-lovers since university.
“You’ve met her, right?” Javadi asked Whitaker.
“Yes, she’s been around for movie nights sometimes. Why?”
“Can you tell me more about her?”
“You’re thinking about joining in on the bet?”
“Maybe.”
“Alright” Whitaker moved a little closer, Javadi leaned in.
“She’s a few years older than us, I’d say around Garcia’s age. Works around the corner as a professor and has a lot of embarrassing stories about Santos.”
“Really?” Javadi’s eyes stared to shine, the bet completely forgotten.
“Santos!” Princess called.
“Yeah?” Trinity looked up from her charting. It was boring and taking too long. She was grateful for the distraction.
“Show me a picture of your cousin.”
“Why would I show you a picture of my cousin?”
“For the bet! I need to know about her range.” Princess added with a few swaying shoulders.
“Her range?” Trinity lifted an eyebrow.
“Yeah. Like, would she be a person Dr King is dating or is she more like Dr Robby’s age?” Princess whispered behind her hand. Mel looked up, her mouth opening to protest, but quickly closing as she focused on her notes again.
“Good point.” Trinity pulled her phone out of her pocket and quickly looked up a recent photo of you. “There she is.”
“Oh, she’s cute! Way out of his range then. Got it!” Princess turned around, sprinted toward Ahmed and yelled a quick thank you over her shoulder. Trinity did not miss the look of offence on Dr Robby’s face. Princess slammed twenty dollars on the table.
“Put me up for Mateo, five months and elevator. That boy’s been too smiley lately.”
The bets were piling up and Trinity saw that the whiteboard was already filled with post-its. The night shift had not even come in yet.
She stood in front of the whiteboard.
Garcia, 9 months, gift shop for twenty. Prescott, 2 months, sports bar for ten. King, 4 months, bookstore for thirty. The list went on and on.
Mel had protested at that last one, which earned a groan from Langdon. He had no more cash to double the bet and change it and Ahmed did not accept promises of money.
She herself had fifty bucks riding on Dr Shen, three months and the Dunkin’ Donuts around the corner. The place was on your way to work and Shen was always sipping that coffee during handovers. Taking your blushing from the last few months into account, it was the perfect place, match and time.
A complete foolproof plan.
She could use the money to buy that new phone she had wanted.
An hour before the night shift started, Trinity looked up from her charting and saw Dr Abbot walking into the ED.
“Slow day?” He said as he dropped his stethoscope on the counter near Dr Robby and glanced at the board. Trinity was glad she hadn’t complained about charting that moment. She knew her attendings did not like her perfectly concise reports, calling them too short and without detail to follow her diagnosis.
“Kind of, you could say that.”
Abbot’s eyes squinted a little at Robby. “Something’s different. What happened?”
Robby nodded in the direction of the whiteboard.
“Ahmed started another bet. Apparently, one of us is dating Santos’ cousin.”
“What are they betting on?”
“Who, how long they’ve been dating and how they met. Everyone’s pretty hyped to find out. Apparently her cousin works right around the corner at the university. Everyone’s been offending each other and singing her praises all day.”
“Really?” Abbot smiled, amused by the remark. “And why would this be so interesting to warrant a bet?” He moved a little closer and looked at the post its.
Robby put his hands up in defence. “I don’t know, man. Slow day.”
Ahmed took that moment to make an announcement.
“Place your bets before the night shift’s over. Santos is going to call her cousin tomorrow morning during handover for the reveal!”
Trinity heard Abbot sigh. “Let’s hope the gossip is not a distraction.”
“Oh, it definitely will be. Good luck tonight, brother.” Robby laughed.
That night, after her shift, Trinity told you about the bet over the phone.
“There are so many people who want to know who it is. You have officially started at least three conspiracy theories.”
“Have I now?” Your voice sounded amused over the speaker while Trinity laid on top of her bed. Trinity could hear Huckleberry walking by and lowered the volume of her phone. There was still time for him to change his bet and with his new doctor’s salary he actually had the money to back it up.
“You have. Perlah believes you’re dating someone from the night shift, and Mel believes you’re dating someone who used to work at the ED.”
“Oh, he definitely still works there.”
“He! You said he! It’s a man!” She whisper-shouted, hoping Whitaker would not hear.
Trinity groaned. “Don’t tell me you’re fucking Huckleberry.”
“Who?”
“Whitaker.”
“What? No!” Her shoulders sagged with relief at your reaction. Whitaker and you knew each other from movie nights at their place, but you dating him would only make things awkward in the house. Besides, while she knew you deserved an actual nice guy like him, the match did not make sense at all. And you always seemed to attract handsome men.
Trinity blanched.
“Don’t tell me it’s Langdon.”
“Isn’t he married?” She could hear the slight laughter in your tone.
“True. Total wife and kids guy.” She let out a sigh. You dodged a bullet there.
“Is he a nurse?” She tried.
“Nope.”
“Guard?”
“Nope.”
“Medical assistant?”
“No.”
“Well, it’s either that or you’re fucking an attending.”
You stayed silent.
“Oh my god, you’re fucking an attending?!”
Your laughter rang through the room.
“Please tell me it’s Shen! I bet fifty on Shen.”
Trinity shivered. “Don’t say it’s Robby. That would be - No. Just no.” She could not sit through a Christmas dinner with that smug smile across her. She liked him as her boss. He was a good doctor and always in for a joke or a story. But it was a different thing to have him sit with them on movie nights.
You laughed even harder.
“Don’t worry, Trinity. You’ll find out tomorrow.” You managed between laughs.
“Fine.” She resigned, no closer to her goal, but still feeling confident about her bet. It was Shen, she knew it for sure.
“I should go. You’ll call me tomorrow morning?”
“I will, for the big reveal.”
“For the big reveal. ‘Night, light bug.” You drawled out the last syllables like you did when you tucked little Trinity into bed.
“‘Night, sunshine.” Trinity pressed the red button on her phone.
Her cousin was dating an attending in the ED.
There were only four options then.
Dr Robby, Al-Hashimi, Abbot or Shen.
It had to be Shen. She had bet fifty dollars on it.
Dr Robby was not your type. While you had a tendency to fall for noble people, you hated motorcycles. Lucky for her, he had become nearly insufferable about his after he came back from his sabbatical.
Al-Hashimi was too stubborn for you. While she thought it was a good quality to have in the ED, you deserved a bit of freedom in doing things your way.
Abbot - well, he was not it. Trinity had no particular reason, but she knew that with his crazy schedule between being a full time senior attending in the ED and volunteering as a doctor for a fucking SWAT team, he had no time left to meet people. Let alone date them. You would like his looks and the quiet but commanding presence, but you also liked to have a life outside of work that did not include scalpels and suture kits.
So it had to be Shen.
It just had to be.
The next morning everyone was gathered around the whiteboard. Ahmed had gotten it out of the dispatch room and put it in front of the hub.
“Alright, alright, everyone. We all know why we’re here.”
Trinity scoffed a little. Ahmed really was trying to make a show out of it.
In the corner of her eye, she saw Abbot looking at the whiteboard with a slight smile. Why was he standing so close to the front of the group? Yesterday, he wasn’t interested in the bet, calling it a distraction.
Shen was also near the whiteboard, coffee in hand. It would only make sense for her cousin’s partner to stand so close to the whiteboard. Trinity was already counting the bills in her head.
“We all want to know who of us here is dating Santos’ cousin.” Ahmed held out his hand to her in a dramatic gesture. “Santos, if you please.”
Trinity pressed the call button on her phone.
“Hello?” You answered.
“Hi there, it’s Trinity. Calling for the reveal. You’re on speaker by the way.”
“Indeed you are, no chance at foul play!” She heard Donnie yell from behind her.
You giggled a little. “Good to know. I’m just walking to work now.”
The other end of the line stayed silent for a while.
“Well? Tell us.” Trinity spoke into the mic of her phone. The suspense was killing her. She had been waiting more than a whole day just to hear a single name.
“Actually, I thought it might be fun to reveal it in reverse order.”
Abbot snorted lightly next to her, shaking his head.
“Okay, so first is the place we met. We met on the corner of the street near the hospital, in front of Dunkin’ Donuts. I ran into him and spilled coffee all over his scrubs.”
The answer was met with a lot of groans, but Trinity felt pride glowing in her chest. One step closer to victory.
Ahmed removed all answers that had nothing to do with street and coffee shop from the whiteboard.
“Second, we have been seeing each other for three months now. After I spilled coffee all over him, I tried to clean it up. He made a joke about wanting to take me out on a date first, and that was that.”
Ahmed removed the post its.
Trinity’s pride glowed brighter. Only one answer and she would have her new phone.
“And now that we’ve come to the final answer, I believe the person themselves could reveal it best.” Trinity locked eyes on Shen to her left. This was it, she could taste victory.
There was a shuffle on her right.
It couldn’t be.
Shit.
Abbot had stepped forward and held his hand up.
Trinity nearly dropped her phone.
“Hi love, did you have fun with the dramatics?” He had the audacity to sound amused.
“Oh, I sure did!” You replied. “My dearest gamblers, I am dating Dr. Jack Abbot.”
All around, Trinity heard applause.
She had lost. She was so sure of her answer, but she lost because of the last part of the question.
“Alright, thanks everyone. Back to your stations and handovers.” Dr. Abbot waved them off while receiving pats on his shoulders.
“Trinity? Could you give me Jack, please?” Your voice pulled her out of her daze.
“Yeah. Yeah, of course.” She turned the speaker off and handed her phone to Abbot.
“She wants to talk to you.” She said with her lips pressed together in a small awkward smile.
“Thanks.” Abbot took the phone with a small but bright smile and walked into one of the rooms.
Ahmed removed the last post its off the whiteboard.
“All this work,” he grumbled, “and no one even took the whole prize. Have to divide it like losers.”
Trinity turned toward the hub, starting her day with going through charts before discussing them with a second year resident from the night shift. From her stool, she could see Dr Abbot smiling and laughing.
He would make you happy. She knew that, just as she knew you were laughing and smiling just as much as the attending.
The more she thought about it, the more she could see it.
You had a tendency to get carried away in stressful moments and there was no one more steady in those moments than Abbot. She had seen him during the Pitt Fest chaos. It was impressive.
She also knew he was a very busy person due to his past and there was no one more understanding and warm than you. Trinity knew that firsthand. You might give him a chance to stop running and enjoy the world around him more.
Abbot hung up, walked to the hub and handed Trinity her phone.
“Thank you for letting me borrow it.”
“No problem, Dr Abbot. I can see she makes you happy.”
“That she does. I hope I do the same for her every day.” It sounded like he was making a promise. Abbot nodded at her and left in the direction of dr. Robby.
Trinity shot you a quick text.
Soooo… You into older veterans now? 😉
Shut up, light bug.
Not soon after, three dots appeared.
I’ll tell you the details of the meet cute tonight.
Trinity smiled at the text and put her phone in her pocket. It was time to see today’s first patient.