"YOU HAVE A DATE!?" Rebecca Scott yelped.
Jen Madison made a hasty shushing gesture, "Say it a little louder. I think there are some coma patients who didn't hear you." Jen and Rebecca, a fellow nurse and close friend, were currently in the hospital cafeteria eating lunch between shifts. That morning had been a rough one; whooping cough had been tearing through the Lakeview community, so the hospital was a bit more full than usual. Jen was the senior nurse in her ward on the morning shift and had been in charge of distributing her fellow nurses and liaising with the chief of internal medicine. Dr. Stewart was a bit full of himself, but he was competent at least; he wasn't nearly as bad as when she'd done a rotation last week with Dr. Pendleton, a man she was surprised ever made it through his residency. (The fact that she never had done a rotation with Dr. Pendleton, and had in fact been sitting in highschool last week before the stone rewrote history was yet another odd factor of her double memory.)
"I'm sorry, Jen" Rebecca said in a quieter tone, "I'm just surprised. I've been trying to set you up with my cousin for YEARS and you always shoot me down." Rebecca was a tall blonde woman of Swedish descent, standing 6 foot even, with her long hair held back in a braid. Rebecca and Jen had been close friends since shortly after Jen started at the hospital; they began their careers at the same time and quickly grew from work friends to real friends. Both women were clad in scrubs, black for Jen and pink with polka dots for Rebecca.
"I know," Jen replied, "I kind of surprised myself. Something about us just kind of, clicked you know? Like I really just wanted to get to know her better. I mean, Zoe's in highschool now, maybe it's time to put myself back out there." Jen was undeniably nervous, considering her less than stellar romantic history. The thing was, due to her Jon memories, she felt she knew Alyssa at least somewhat, at least enough to trust she wasn't going to get hurt again.
Rebecca snorted, "Please, Zoe's wanted you to get a girlfriend or boyfriend since she was like eight."
Jen nervously bit her bottom lip, "You think she's self conscious about having a single parent?"
"No, not at all," Rebecca declared putting a hand on Jen's shoulder, "You're an incredible mother and your kid loves you to death. That's why she wants you to have a partner. She wants you to be happy."
Jen smiled. As much as she was nervous about the date, she was also a little giddy about it. Her excitement for it had given her a lift through her shift, and she kept picturing Alyssa's entrancing green eyes staring back at her across a cafe table. She couldn't wait for that weekend.
