Code Blue

~ Chapter 9 ~

Chapter 9
Tuesday August 22nd
Mallory's POV

"You're the only person I'd get up this early for" Veronica groaned, shutting the front door to her apartment behind me after I entered. It was currently 4 am and I felt awful for waking her up, but I just desperately wanted to be with my best friend.

"Not even Eli?" I questioned with a yawn.

"No, because his snoring drives me actually insane" She huffed, going over to the kitchen cabinet and taking out two coffee mugs. "So what's going on? Is Dr. Asshole giving you more trouble?"

Dr. Asshole was the term that Veronica coined for Harry the night that I told her he yelled at me in front of everybody for spilling coffee.

I sighed heavily, anxiously waiting for the hot liquid to fill up the coffee mug she had picked out for me. I took a seat down on the barstool, my fingers drumming nervously against the cold countertop. Not that I was nervous to be with Veronica, but nervous to go to work today. To have to see Harry again. He doesn't exactly make the hospital a place that someone would be excited to go to.

"If you only knew" I responded, leaning my cheek into the palm of my hand. "Sorry for making you get up so early...I know that I'm a bother and-"

"Hey" She cut me off, gently sliding the mug to me, looking at me with a serious expression on her face. "You're not a bother"

"It's way earlier than you need to be up" I countered.

"And my best friend needed me. You would do the same for me" She squeezed one of my cold hands and took her first sip. "Now, what are we feeling for breakfast? Bagels? Toast? Eggs?"

I knew that if I declined anything, she would be disappointed, so I responded. "Eggs and Toast sounds great"

"Okay" She took out a pan and some slices of bread from the packaging. "So what did he do this time?"

"Where should I start?" I rolled my eyes. My stomach rumbled quietly at the sight of food, honestly, I'm glad we're going to eat breakfast. "He basically insinuated that I slept with him at the bar because I was trying to get surgeries from him"

Veronica's back was turned towards me as she started to turn on the stove, but she turned back around with a jaw dropped. "Seriously?"

"Yep" I nodded, recalling the night we fought in the hospital parking lot and he threw that in my face. I'm just as shocked today as I was back then that he even thought that.

"Gross. What a egotistical prick"

"Exactly! And the way he speaks to his patients V is so insulting. These parents are going through rough times, and he basically told me he doesn't care what he says to them because the fact he saves their lives is more important" I rattled on. "He cuts them off, he ignores them, it's crazy to me"

"I would never treat my kid's parents like that" Veronica said disappointingly, referencing the fact that in a similar way she also has parents to talk to with children going through hard times.

"It's shocking. I'm sure the parents are grateful for it, but...he could be more respectful" I commented, knowing that my opinion would never change his mind anyways.

"Is he even that good of a surgeon to be acting like he's superior?" She asked.

I will admit. When I couldn't fall asleep, I went ahead and looked up the mortality rate of Harry's. It randomly came to my head and wouldn't leave, so much so that I just had to know.

"He has the lowest mortality rate in the state of New York and third in the entire country" I recalled the information that I read precisely at 2 am this morning. "He ended his surgical residency in 2025, and he's managed to become one of the most esteemed surgeons in less than 10 years. Somehow he managed to gain respect without giving it to anyone"