The second week began with a small feud between the 'married couple.' Sage woke up earlier than Rowan whose hangover was still crushing down on him. He looked completely out of it. How much did he drink!? It wasn't Sage's first time dealing with someone being drunk and the aftermath of it, but it was the first time he had to do it for someone he had only known for a week. If they weren't traveling together, he would have called him a cab and ditched him.
Rowan laid on his stomach on the sofa, half hanging of off it with one arm draped over the side and the other trapped underneath him. Sage scoffed quietly and was tempted to kick him as he passed, but he decided against it in the end and headed to the bathroom of the inn room. After cleaning up his appearance a bit, Sage retrieved his belongings from the car.
He did not even glance at Rowan's things in the trunk beside his own. The doctor was a little petty and still irritated that Rowan got so drunk he passed out the entire ride to the next location. His back hurt from all the driving! Rowan would pay. Sage was still wearing the clothes he checked into the inn with, and now he was standing in broad daylight. He felt gross, embarrassed, and desperately wanted to change into a set of clean clothing. Not to mention, he did not do his nightly care routine since he was too tired after carrying Rowan inside. Oh, Rowan would most certainly pay.
Sage wheeled in his bag and let the inn door loudly slam shut behind him. The noise startled Rowan and woke him up from his slumber. He tumbled off the couch onto the inn floor, nearly banging his head on the nightstand by the bed as he rolled. With a grown, he brushed his messy, caramel hair back and sat up, gripping the edge of the bed to pull himself to a sitting position.
"What time is it?" he mumbled.
"Nine in the morning."
Rowan looked around and asked, "Where are we? This doesn't look like the inn room."
"You really don't remember," Sage commented under his breath. He sighed and said, "The next inn. I took the location out from your emails. Go get your stuff from the car and get ready." and he moved to get ready as well. Rowan gathered his sober thoughts then. He stood up and reached out for Sage, grabbing him by the wrist. When the doctor turned and passed a mean look of question through his half-lidded green eyes, Rowan began to sweat and nervously dropped his hand.
"Sorry. I was just going to say you don't need to come with me this time."
If Sage was not going to make any appearances, why did Rowan need a fake husband at all? He raised his eyebrow at Rowan.
"This one is a bank firm. They need help on keeping private accounts and sub-accounts in order," Rowan began to explain. "I can't bring another party, husband or not." He suddenly smiled and said, "I'll drop you off at your scheduled work, you can do your ten hours, and then I'll come pick you up, and we can go somewhere."
"What?"
"I need to say sorry for last night," Rowan said with a tone of embarrassment. He was, again, not an idiot. Rowan could tell that Sage was upset with him. It was only their second week, and he was already taking care of him like a drunkard child. Anyone would be displeased, but Rowan didn't know Sage enough to know what was a good way to apologize to someone like him. But everyone liked being taken out for a free meal. "I'll take you out for dinner. A husband should treat his husband, no?"
Sage scoffed, turning his head. "Is it really your treat when you're using a company card," he grumbled. "Go get your stuff and get dressed before you're late."
It was the second time that Sage was thrown into a new medical facility and had to get accustomed to his new surroundings. Most had the same set up, but each had its own characters and atmosphere. The second hospital Sage did his travel work at was quite calm; the area for violence was low, and the hospital only had to deal with unfortunate accidents every now and then. Overall, the community was calm and gentle, so even accidents hardly happened.
So, Sage was left with nothing to do. Instead, the younger generation of doctors asked him how it was like where he worked. They were intrigued by Doctor Sage Gannon, his professionalism, and how he was from a bigger medical facility where it was busier and more exciting. A group of three young nurses, two girls and one boy, each in their early twenties, dragged Sage off to the eating hall of the hospital. They bought him a fuzzy, lime soda and offered him their eyes and ears in hearing the stories he had.
However, Sage was not a storyteller! He had no idea what to say or offer the young minds, but at the same time, he did not want to crush their spirits. Sage was momentarily stuck. To him, nothing in the hospital was exciting, because Sage was a natural workaholic and was accustomed to work coming at him from every angle. He had no idea what it was like to sit around bored and waiting for something to happen. There was always a task for him to do.
He chose to recall a few stories of when he was younger. When he first had to deal with a rush hour and was not sure what to do. When he had been passed by and overlooked because he was inexperienced. Thinking back on the memories made him a little bitter, but he knew that he was far past that stage of his life, so it was more like a reflection of his growth as he spoke about it.
"Wow, really!?" one of the young girls exclaimed. Her name was Mary, and she was blonde, cute, and full of life. Quit fitting for a young nurse at a desolate hospital that needed a bit of sunshine to it. She reminded him of Liwayway. "Is it scary at all?"
"You get used to it after a while," Sage answered honestly.
"You're so cool," Mary said outright.
Her friend elbowed her in the side. "Mary!" she cried.
"What, I can't be honest!"
The two bickered back and forth about whether it was in the correct manners to compliment Doctor Sage Gannon to his face, and if it were to be done then what were the correct words. He raised the soda the kids had bought for him and sucked on the thin, black straw. His eyes drifted to the third kid who was a younger boy, but he was much like Sage—sitting quietly and waiting for the two to cease their quarreling. The two introverted men sat on the opposite side of the two extroverted women.
Sage was surprised that time went by so quickly. He spent the first seven hours of the day learning the layout of the hospital, and he spent the last three hours of the day sitting and listening to the two young girls talk his ear off about the most interesting events that they could recall happening, which compared to Sage's stories were not nearly as exciting.
The young boy, Austin, had gotten Sage another soda, but he declined it. So, he offered him water instead. Hesitant for a few moments that he was allowing kids to be treating him when it should have been the other way around, Sage finally accepted it. It was only water after all. He felt obligated to do something for them in the future if the situation called for it.
Mary talked about one of the recent things that had gone on. She was very animated as she spoke, waving her hands in dramatic movements. The story was about some guy who walked in appearing deathly sick by stumbling through the doors and collapsing onto the floors. No one would step near him for a while, afraid of it being contagious. Before anyone could gather the courage to draw closer, their chief of the hospital stepped out and diagnosed him with a common cold! The guy was up and walking within a day. Wow!
Suddenly, she stopped moving and froze. Her body stiffened, and her face went red, mismatching her blonde hair. The other girl also went cold and still.
Sage had been about to turn and see where their gazes were tied, and he jumped slightly when a hand touched his shoulder.
"Rowan." He put a hand over his beating heart.
"Sage, you ready?" Rowan leaned closer to his ear and said in a teasing tone, "I called your phone twice, you know. It hurts when you don't answer me."
Even though they were only on their second week, Sage was used to Rowan's teasing words. Being forced to sleep in the same room drew their comfortability to each other together scarily quick, but it worked well for appearing to be husbands in public. The doctor was also not new to experience flirtations, so Rowan's natural romantic nature did not move him. He was seemingly immune; his face was still in the face of Rowan's cute behavior.
Sage picked up his phone that was sitting face down on the table and clicked the screen on. Sure enough, there were two notifications of a missed call from Rowan. He had silenced his phone since he was in a hospital, and he had turned off the vibrate ages ago from hating the noise it made when it hummed against a surface.
"Oh," Sage mumbled.
"I wouldn't normally rush you, but I made a reservation."
Reservation? Weren't they only going to dinner? What did Rowan plan?! Sage tossed him a glance, but it was too bland to read. He had merely looked at him with his half-lidded green eyes, so Rowan couldn't tell that Sage looked at him in a questioning way.
Rowan tidied up from his rough morning. His light caramel, brown hair was slicked to the side, a small piece from the left hanging down loose. Though not all shaved, Rowan left a shallow fuzz on his face of hair. His outfit was clean and tidied, a black button up tucked into a pair of matching slacks. Sage would never voice it out loud in front of other people, but Rowan cleaned up well.
The doctor cleared his throat as he stood up from the table. He was going to reach for the empty soda can and the half-full bottle of water when Mary stopped him.
"W—we'll take care of it, Doctor Gannon! Enjoy your date!"
"Date?" Sage blinked until his eyes went dry.
"Thank you," Rowan replied. He swooped an arm around Sage and pulled him off.
Sage frowned at him, but he did not resist, allowing Rowan to pull him out of the medical facility. There was still that gentle smile on Rowan's face. His dimples were deep.
"This isn't a date," Sage corrected as they neared the car waiting up front.
"Don't hurt my feelings," Rowan teased. "We're married, Doctor Gannon. Don't forget that."
"Yeah, on your end of things," Sage muttered. But still, Rowan opened the passenger door for him, and Sage, like a proper lady, got in.
"This is not a date. It's a shitty apology."
"Mm. Okay," Rowan said with a smile. "I'll try not to do it again then. In the meantime, we have a reservation."