The Emergency Room- Phan

There was once a time when Dan thought working at a bar would be cool. That time is not now. It’s 2am and Dan is starting to clean up the now empty bar area, after this he can finally go home. Just as he finishes wiping down the last table, a couple extremely drunk men walk in.

“Sorry, but the bar is closed, I’m gonna have to ask you to leave.” Dan tries to sound as polite as possible, but that’s difficult in the early hours of the morning.

“C’mon, just let us have a drink, yeah?” The bigger of the two men pleads, the other man doesn’t seem to be able to stand properly, let alone talk.

“No, this place is closed, it’s probably best you go home now anyway.” Dan states firmly. He really just wants these guys to leave so he can finally go home. He has never wanted his bed more than he does right now.

“Look, all I’m asking for is a couple of pints, just serve us and stop being difficult.”

“I said no, we’re closed.”

“I want two pints of beer now.”

“Okay, if you leave this bar, turn right, and walk for a couple hundred metres, you’ll find a main intersection. From there, turn left and walk 400 metres, turn left again and after a couple minutes you’ll come across a park. Go into that park and walk about 300 metres, and there you might just find somebody who gives a shit. Now go.”

***

In hindsight, Dan realises that antagonizing a very large, very drunk man probably wasn’t the best idea. He guesses that if he’d just given up and served the men their drinks, then he’d be in bed now, as opposed to sitting in A&E with a very broken and bloodied nose.
It’s been an hour since the guy punched him, and his nose has stopped bleeding, but it still hurts like a bitch. There’s also a lot of blood all over his work shirt, that’ll probably not wash out. He’ll need to get another one.

“Looks like someone beat you up.” Dan looks up to see who had just spoken to him. A man with black hair, pale skin, and blue eyes is standing close to where Dan is sitting.

“Yeah, some drunk guy got me pretty good.” Dan laughs and the man does too.
“So, what are you here for then?” Dan asks curiously.
The man responds by showing Dan his hand, which has a nail going straight through it.

“What the fuck, dude that’s gross, how are you not screaming in pain?” Dan looks worriedly at the man, his eyes scanning the mans face for any signs of pain.

“They gave me a lot of pain medication. I’m a lil bit high right now.” The man smiles happily. “They said I didn’t do any serious damage and I’m going to have it removed in a couple hour.” Dan looks at him amusedly, almost laughing out loud at how ridiculous this guy sounds.

“You’ve got a dimple!” The man squeals, poking Dan’s face. Dan just laughs.

“You don’t even know my name and you’re already poking my face.”

“I’m Phil.”

“I’m Dan.”

“Can I poke you now?”

“Sure, go ahead, just avoid my nose.” Dan laughs, and Phil pokes his dimple again. Dan finds this guy endearing. After about an hour of Dan talking to a very happy Phil, a nurse approaches them.

“Phil! There you are, you were supposed to stay in your room!” The woman scolds him.

“Sorry, can Dan come in with me?” the nurse looks at Dan and sighs.

“I’m so sorry, has he annoyed you?”

“No, no, it’s perfectly fine.” Dan assures her.

“Has a doctor come out to see you yet?”

“No.”

“If you come back to Phil’s room with us, we can get a doctor to take a look at your nose there.”

“Sounds great.” Dan follows the nurse to a little sanctioned off room, his arm draped around Phil’s waist as he keeps getting distracted by all the science-y looking things.

When the doctor comes into the room, she takes one look at Dan’s nose and says, “Yeah, that’s broken.”

“I figured.”

“I’m going to put it back into place, but first I suggest you take some pain relief.”
Dan swallows two pills. When he feels them starting to work 10 minutes later, he tells the doctor.

“Alright, just lie down and hold still.”

The crack of Dan’s nose is sickening, and Dan cries out in pain. Those pills did not help very much, but at least his nose is no longer a crooked mess. Phil starts to laugh in the corner he is sitting in, Dan tries to glare at him, but he just can’t help but smile at the very happy Phil.

“And now it’s your turn.” The doctor turns to Phil. She makes Phil lay down on the bed and puts a mask on his face. Phil slowly falls asleep. The doctor then looks at Dan.

“Phil’s going into surgery now, you can wait here if you want, or you can go home.”

“Uh, I don’t know, will he remember me when he wakes up?”

“Probably not, I’m afraid, people don’t tend to remember what they do when they’re on oxycodone morphine.”

“Oh, then I’ll go, otherwise he might be a bit weirded out.” The doctor nods her head and smiles, and then calls out for a few nurses to help wheel Phil’s bed into another room. Dan sighs. In the hour he’s known Phil, he’s really gotten to like him, even if he was a bit weird. It’s now 4am and Dan doesn’t think he’s thinking straight, but he doesn’t care. He finds a notepad lying near the bed, and with the pen he has tucked away in his work shirt, he writes down a quick message along with his number.

Hey Phil, hope your hand feels better without the nail in it. I know you probably won’t remember me, but we talked heaps while you were waiting for your surgery. Anyway, I know this might seem a bit weird, but do you maybe wanna hang out sometime? Don’t feel obligated to say yes, but just in case you do want to, here’s my number: 0611 230 447

-Dan
P.s. If you want to know what I look like, we took like 100 selfies on your phone

***

When Phil wakes up, he feels a dull ache in his hand and a headache coming on. He then remembers what had happened the previous night, and his stupid idea to use a nail gun to build an Ikea wardrobe instead of the proper equipment. He doesn’t remember anything after getting to the hospital though.
He looks down at his hand, which is now nail free and covered in gauze. This will be a pretty funny story to tell someone someday, he thinks.
Phil then sits up and looks around for the button he’d need to press to call for a nurse. This is when he notices a note on his bedside table.
Phil picks up his phone and goes through the photos, seeing selfie upon selfie of him with another guy, who looks very bloodied and ha a very crooked nose. Phil would like to hear the story behind that.
Phil adds Dan’s number to his contacts and then types him a quick text.

Looks like someone beat you up

Phil only has to wait a minute for the reply.

Yeah, some drunk guy got me pretty good

Phil feels a sense of déjà vu, but quickly shakes it off.

It’s a shame really, by the looks of it you had a really pretty face

My face is still very pretty, thank you very much

I’m not sure if I can take your word on that one

I’ll prove it, I’ll pick you up from the hospital then take you to Starbucks, just so you can see for yourself

It’s a date