Awkward Beginnings

By Sharon Young

How is it that some life changes can happen in a blink of an eye?

The life of Samantha Calls, AKA Sam, changed just that quickly. More like a drop of a dime, since Sam did some dropping.

She thought that she was living the life she was born to live.

But a hospital visit and health problems changed her thinking, making her adjust her life to a whole different tone.

Samantha had an ideal life—going to work with the fellows, playing hard with the fellows, and loving like the fellows. And the next day, she would do it all over again. Until one day, it all changed. No more job she had been at for years. No more being able to go to the gym with the guys. Her health had gotten to a dark place.

Sam went from the headstrong woman she had worked hard into becoming to a fragile flower that she thought would never be her.

Relationships changed. Everything got twisted and different like her health. It was awkward. There were so many awkward beginnings, all bum-rushed on Sam so quickly.

But Sam went to the right doctor. The right doctor indeed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 30, 2020
• ISBN: 9781662404771

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Awkward Beginnings

Sharon Young

Copyright © 2020 Sharon Young

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING, INC.

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2020

ISBN 978-1-6624-0476-4 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-6624-0477-1 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 1

H i, there. I guess you gave everyone a scare, a voice said to me as I slowly moved my head and looked to the end of what appeared to be a hospital bed.

What the heck? I started to question, but the IV began to hurt my arm, so I moved my arm back to its original position to lay close to the cold iron bar of the hospital bed.

My stomach still hurt like nothing I could describe. It was the reason I was here, I knew that, and I slowly remembered I had passed out.

I went to sit up a little, but the pain wouldn’t allow me.

Woo there, you can’t be doing that no time soon, the mild and calming voice informed me.

I was about to ask what was going on and how long I had been in the hospital when the door opened. My mother, father, and girlfriend entered the room.

Oh look, she is up, my mother, Faye, said, leading the others in. She kissed me on the cheek and then made room for my dad to come over to me.

My dad, Tommy Calls, looked very worried like always, I thought. He just pushed some hair from my eyes and squeezed my arm a little. Yeah, I could tell that he had been worrying. His glasses were pushed down a little. That’s how he wore them when he was worrying.

Then my baby came over and kissed me on the cheek. I knew she did that because everyone was there. She knew she could have given me a little tongue even though I was in so much pain. I tried to smile, but I frowned because of the pain. It was a little better, but it didn’t go away all together.

I was about to ask what was wrong with me and how I got to the hospital when the questions were answered for me.

I think I need to fill my patient in on some things, came the calm voice who was behind my baby.

He had to be the doctor. Heather moved over so I could see him better.

He was tall. That was what I noticed about him standing near. That and his very calm and appealing voice. It was somewhat deep and smooth, almost like a person advertising some product on TV you didn’t want to buy but might because the voice lured you into doing it. I wasn’t buying anything he was selling, or so I thought.

Hi there, Sam. Or should I call you Samantha Calls? he asked.

Everyone answered before me, She likes to be called Sam, in unison.

Sam it is, then. My name is Dr. Kyle Winters, and I’m the head doctor here at Saint Dukes Hospital. You have been here for a day, and we are treating you because you have a fibroid. It’s a… He was saying all these medical terms about my situation, and all I was thinking about was how pleasant his voice sounded and how it could be on television on one of those commercials, trying to sell you something you didn’t want.

I looked over to the others in the room. I was really trying to tune out the doctor’s voice. It was affecting something deep inside of me. It had to be the meds I was on because I wasn’t thinking how I normally thought.

My daddy was looking at me with the little smirk on his face he has when he thought it was something he knew that everyone else didn’t.

I was clueless and didn’t even begin to want to think of what my daddy might have thought he saw me do or was thinking. I quickly glanced to my mother, who was taking in all the good doctor’s words. Good, I thought. She could explain everything to me when I woke up because I felt myself going back to sleep.

I awoke in what appeared to be hours later in another room. This room seemed whiter and colder than the other room. There were nurses with masks on. A long tube was coming out my mouth, and I felt it in my throat. I couldn’t speak. I wanted to ask the doctor what was going on. Even with the mask, I saw it was the same doctor with the smooth voice. I heard him giving orders, and I passed out again.

This time, when I woke up, I was alone in the same room as before where my family had been. I was so out of sorts. I felt so confused. Had it all been a dream?

I didn’t have any tubes in my mouth this time, and my mouth was dry.

I went to get a cup to get what appeared to be water on a table close to me.

Hey there, Sam. Let me get that for you. Now I can truly say you gave all of us a scare there, the doctor told me, smiling, showing pretty white teeth and a fabulous mouth.

I was startled to see the good doctor there even though I knew I was his patient and it was his job to help me. He helped me sit up by pushing something on the side of the hospital bed and getting the water pitcher for me. He poured me a glass of water in a Styrofoam cup and helped me to lift my head to drink the contents.

I was very appreciative of his help. My mouth welcomed the cold liquid. I felt revived in a way.

Drink slowly because you might not hold it down. You have been through it in the pass four days, he said to me.

Four days? I was so surprised with that info myself. I lay back to get a better look at him. He was very attractive, I had to say. And I didn’t say that about too many men at all. I was beginning to think this hospital, my illness and situation, was beginning to mess with my thinking altogether. What was it called? Hero syndrome? I thought.

I smelled myself. He smiled as my weak arm lifted the hospital gown to my nose. I smelled like a person who had been in the hospital too damn long, I thought.

I can assure you my staff has been taking care of your hygiene quite well. We don’t tend to let our patients stink for too long. We don’t like stinky patients ourselves. We all want to breathe, he said through perfectly white teeth, cracking a joke. Guess he had to practice his bedside manner. After all, he had seen me in ways no man could ever claim to have seen me. Nude!

He continued to talk as he looked at my files now at the end of my bed.

Let’s see, Ms. Calls. You have been here for four days, brought in through ambulance. Now you were brought in for fainting a lot, but it seems you have fibroids. We’ve been monitoring your heart and haven’t found anything wrong with you. I’m thinking that it can be lack of sleep or some other reason for the fainting spells. I’m having tests ran on you, but before you doze off again, I want you to sign some consent forms so I can treat you better. If you need to have someone come and look them over for you, I have your parents’ number to call to have them come to help you before you sign the forms, the doctor said.

I had been fainting. That was odd. I thought they had been sedating me once I got to the hospital. I was truly at a loss for words. But some came out anyway.

Can you get my parents up here, please? I said, feeling weak and wanting some more water.

But I didn’t want him to give it to me. I wanted my mom. I knew it seemed childish, and it did, coming from me. I was always so hard, or so I thought. But right then, I wanted her to baby me. He seemed to understand and put the clipboard down.

The good doctor went to pause to tell me more, but then I saw him go by the door to exit and say he would get them up here for me.

Do you think you will need anything else before I call them here? Do you want the TV on while you wait? he asked as I saw the remote was by my left hand. I put it in my hand even though it was feeling weak.

What is your name again? I asked, seeing I couldn’t remember it.

He looked back and smiled at me again, saying it real smooth, or so my presumption was. Dr. Kyle Winters, he said.

And like some foolish, silly, dry-mouthed girl, I repeated it hoarsely. But the fact that I repeated it like some silly lovestruck girl was a surprise to me. And he smiled back at me. I could have just dropped dead, because something strange seemed to be wrong with me. I think it had something to do with my pain medicine.

I didn’t faint. I pressed the remote and watched the doctor leave.

My thinking was twisted or brought to a different light.

Wow, all of this was too much to take in. So my stomach problems were fibroids. How did I get that? I wondered. And the fainting, who would have known?

It all had happened on Wednesday. I had gotten off work at BNES, which was short for Best Network Electrical Services. I was kind of tired. We had gotten a new project, and I had been working overtime to finish it. It did require me to lift more pounds than normal. It was the wiring for a skyscraper. But the company I worked for also did big companies like hospitals, auditoriums, and schools. I never fancied myself winding up in a hospital. Go figure, I thought.

So I had gotten off work on Wednesday, and me and the fellows met at the gym, we always played basketball every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I ate some burritos before we played. I purchased my burritos by the gas station. I got my gas from after work. It had been a new food truck. I had eaten at plenty before. People didn’t know, but some of the best Mexican food could come off a food truck. I was witness to that fact. One time, I had gotten the best burrito I had ever eaten off one coming from Galveston Island. But I never seemed to find that particular truck ever again, and I had been looking for it. I should have gotten a card. My work took me to Galveston a lot. That Wednesday, I worked down that way, and I brought the burritos. It was one reason I thought I got a bad case of gas, not fibroids. And then I played and won three games at the gym.

I just thought that the beef and beans hadn’t agreed with my basketball games, not the swelling of my organs in my abdomen. That was a bad diagnosis on my part. Well, I always said I wasn’t a doctor. And I always credited myself to go to the doctor when something was wrong with me. I didn’t even let myself get a cold.

When I came home from the gym, I tried to catch the end of the middle of a pro basketball game because my game at the gym had lasted a little longer than I had planned. We won three in a row. Normally, we would win or lose one. I would be home by 7:00 p.m. But that Wednesday, I brought my game on, and we won three in a row. I knew I was going to be watching the Rockets play the Lakers at seven, so my night was going to be complete, with Heather coming over with our dinner.

She hadn’t moved in yet, but we had been talking about it since she was there every night for the last six months. She would always bring dinner as I stayed glued to the TV on game nights. But the discomfort in my stomach had increased with a nagging pain. I felt it when I first got out the car, but I just dismissed it thinking it was just gas. I thought it was the damn burritos.

So I called Heather, knowing she might have been by a store or near one at least. I asked her to bring me some Pepto-Bismol or some Tums. She said, Okay. Then I went to the bathroom, and that’s when I saw that I was bleeding. I shouldn’t have been, since my period had been a week prior to that day. I got concerned and reached to call Heather or even my mom to ask why I would be bleeding so soon after my period. Then I felt nauseated and dizzy, and everything had gotten black. I never made the call.

Now here I was, sitting in a hospital bed. Wow, I thought. My poor parents always had to go through horrible experiences with little old me. I thought of the day I finally came out the closet. My mother cried a lot at first. My daddy wanted to put me in therapy, but in the end they accepted it, or so they led me to believe they had.

It seemed as if they loved and supported my decision. They never asked me to change my view or lifestyle. I loved them for that and did my best not to force my lifestyle on them. They weren’t familiar with my lifestyle.

They just loved their only child. That would be me. And my daddy made me promise to never make gestures around him as if I had a penis down there, like grab my balls. I laughed and promised not to grab no imaginary private parts.

And now I thought it was so uncanny that I was truly reminded that it was a vagina down there. The damn thing was bleeding like crazy.

Maybe that was why I was seeing this doctor in such a different light. My hormones had to be affected by all of this. I was never the one to crush on anyone, but damn, some things were changing. And not just my health.

I was seeing the doctor in a whole new light. If I did tell anyone, it would have been Heather, but I thought this was better off being my secret. I didn’t want to tell my parents. That would give them false hope. So the conclusion I came to was I just needed to get the hell out of here. Away from the doctor. I didn’t just do things on a whim. It took me a long time to finally be honest with myself. And I refused to let a smooth voice change everything, even though he sounded beautiful to me.

My mom and dad had been totally surprised when I told them the news when I was eighteen years old. It was a life changer for sure. Nothing had been the same in my life. But I sure hoped my stomach would be back normal, and my whole life, for that matter, at least as normal as possible.

I looked at the time on the TV. Thirty minutes had passed. What happened to the doctor? I was hoping that he hadn’t forgotten about my parents. I knew I wasn’t his only patient. I was getting impatient. I started to buzz the nurses’ station, but I knew the doctor wouldn’t come, it would just be a nurse. So I sat back and tried to watch TV, not letting my mind wonder on everything else. And I got so comfortable that I fell asleep waiting.

Chapter 2

Iwondered what was taking the Calls and Delores so long. I called them both thirty minutes ago.

Delores Vaines was my fiancée for two years, and she was never on time. I was about to call her again to see where she was when Rebecca, the head nurse, stuck her head into my office. She told me that Samantha Calls had buzzed them. I instructed the nurses to inform me personally if Samantha buzzed. I knew they might think it odd that I request that, but they didn’t have a choice in the matter. And I wouldn’t be second guessed or questioned about my actions. I told the nurses on my shift to alert me so I could know how she was being treated at all times, even if I went home. I made that clear as soon as she started the fainting episodes. Why? I was still asking myself that question.

Samantha Calls had come in so fragile, and I just couldn’t get my mind off the woman. To find out she was gay had been a shock. I was still trying to make my big head get that thought digested in my loins and having a bad time at it. I was physically attracted to the woman. Delores had picked up on it right off. Seeing that she had to wind me in like a fisherman with a very good bait. I was a normal man with normal needs. I was just very picky. Wanting a anything with Samantha was very surprising to me. I was truly shocked, and it took a lot to shock me. I was a doctor. Nothing ever bothered me.

Needless to say, my professionalism didn’t warrant me to be interested or attracted to Samantha. Not once in six years had I felt this way. I couldn’t explain it. I’ve never even flirted with a patient, let alone many women at all. Delores was a fashion model, and she had pursued me. We met through my gay sister.

Yes, my sister was gay. She had been all her life. And I didn’t ever have a problem with her sexuality. She and I were only two years apart. I was the oldest. Tabatha Winters and I were the best of friends. We even picked up women together. All before Delores. We even dated the same girl before by accident. It had been a very short relationship. So I wasn’t a hypocrite when it came to gay women. I would die for my sister. But she wasn’t Samantha.

I’ll take care of her, I said, getting up from my desk to go to Sam’s room.

If Delores comes looking for me, tell her to wait here. I’ll be right back. I saw how Rebecca looked at me with a smirk, and I really didn’t care.

You know how Delores is. She will be trying to find out which room you’re in to meet you there. I swear, she doesn’t have patience. And she’s the one who is always late to meet you here, Rebecca said to my retreating back as I grabbed my stethoscope and headed to Sam’s room, smiling.

I didn’t realize I had a big Kool-Aid smile on my face as I entered Sam’s room. Good thing she was asleep and didn’t notice it. I was thinking that Rebecca made a mistake. My Kool-Aid smile vanished. I had to check her vitals from the monitor, and she was in a very restful sleep.

Samantha was knocked out, and my thoughts were wicked. Well, I knew I shouldn’t have been thinking how beautiful she looked without makeup, but those were the lines of my thinking. I could not say that out loud, but I sure thought it. I was so glad no one else was in the room to see me fawn after her. I thought of how she would look if she was made up like. Delores always made herself up. And I could tell that if she wasn’t all sick looking in that hospital bed and had on the type of clothes my Dolores dressed herself up in, she would be more glamorous than her. Unfortunately, she wasn’t that type of woman. I was still very disappointed to find out she was like my sister. I had to hope this crazy desire for her would go away when she left the hospital. I wasn’t going to trick myself to think that there was a chance for me and Samantha Calls.

I told Rebecca I was going to be right back. And my thoughts were kind of everywhere, so I left the room as quietly as I had come. I was so glad that she was asleep and not passed out. But before I left, I also checked to make sure her IV wasn’t hurting her arm. It looked as though it wasn’t. I left just in time to make a couple of steps.

Delores was there turning the corner as soon as I closed the door. I didn’t think that she had seen what room I went out of, but I quickly moved away from Sam’s door so that I could get her away from it. I thought of a bloodhound and smiled again. That would have been Delores.

What are you smiling about? And please tell me why Rebecca was trying to keep me in your office, Delores asked even before she said hi. I noticed Rebecca couldn’t hold her in my office. Rebecca came running from around the corner Delores had just came from. She was out of breath.

I’m so sorry, Doctor. She flew right pass me as I thought we both were going to the restroom. She acted as if she was going to the restroom with me, then she looked at your clipboard and saw your whereabouts. Rebecca told on Delores as if she wasn’t there. It was not like she cared.

She was trying to see where I had come from. Rebecca had an apologetic look on her face. I knew it was Delores who manipulated her into thinking she was going to the restroom as a ploy to find me. I knew her very well.

I thought it was my fault that I had to go to Samantha’s room myself every time. Why did I use every moment I could see her to do just that? And if Delores saw that the woman was gorgeous in the room I just had come out of, I wouldn’t hear the last of it. That and the fact that I needed to check her vitals before I left. She knew someone else could do it just as well.

Anyway, I should have been feeling frustrated. Delores should have gotten here on time. Why wasn’t she ever early? We could have been gone already. I wouldn’t have gotten a report that Sam was calling for some reason that I never found out because she was asleep. I was battling this in my head, but I really wanted to see the woman one last time before I left for the night anyway.

Delores was looking back and forth from me to Rebecca with an ugly look on her face. Hell, I really didn’t know what I was trying to cover up. Truth be told, Samantha Calls would probably flirt with Delores. She might even steal her from me. Heather was a very good-looking woman too. That would mess me up a little, I thought, so I dismissed the thought from my head.

I hurried up and grabbed Delores’s arm so we could go. I didn’t want anyone else to see her there, and Rebecca was steadily apologizing. I’m sorry, Doctor. Delores grabbed your clipboard and found out where you were. I was only in the restroom for a minute, Rebecca said in her defense.

Oh, I thought that she went to the restroom too. She was right with me, but she waited for me to go in a stall. She fooled me, she said yet again. I understood very well what poor Rebecca was talking about. She didn’t have to tell me again.

Just then, Faye and Tommy Calls came around the corner that led to Sam’s room. I quickly greeted them, still holding Delores by the arm. They noticed my hand on her but said nothing. We were some yards from Sam’s room, so that allowed them easy access to their daughter’s room.

Doctor, were there some forms we were supposed to be signing? That was what Nurse Rebecca Wells informed us over the phone, so Sam could decide how she wanted to see what her treatment would be like? Mrs. Calls asked me.

She was still looking curiously at my hand on Delores. I knew I should let go of Delores in front of them, but I knew Delores. Delores wasn’t going to miss her window of opportunity. She wanted to see who was in the room I was visiting since Rebecca must have gotten her riled up in some kind of way. I knew women, and this had some kind of drama written all over it.

Hello, allow me to introduce myself since my fiancé is being very rude, Delores said. Me and Rebecca looked at each other, knowing that Delores was up to no good. I hated when she acted like this, and it was often. If I didn’t love her, she would have been gone out of my life. But I did, and she was going to be my wife.

We just barely picked the date five weeks ago. After two years of dating, five weeks ago, we made that decision. Well, actually, she made the decision, and I agreed. Yelp, I just went along with it. If I had met Sam weeks ago, I think I would probably have postponed it. I would not try to get married. I would’ve held it off a little longer

Delores, I’m pretty sure the Calls want to go and visit their daughter. Who you are, dear, is really no concern to them. Why don’t you go back to the office and wait for me? I asked her calmly, knowing she was going to ignore me.

She did. She looked back at me as she turned more into the closed door to let the Calls pass her and go to the hospital room of what appeared to be their daughter. Mrs. Calls was a little curious to why Delores offered to introduce herself to her. I could tell that light was going off in her head. Maybe it was the doctor in me, and the fact I knew how to pay attention to people’s body language.

Hi, my dear. My name is Faye Calls, and this here is my husband, Tommy Calls. We are here unfortunately to visit our daughter and take care of some personal business with the good doctor here. Nice meeting you, but I’m not here to be social. Her needs are the only reason we are here. Not to be rude, but why are you here? Mrs. Calls said and didn’t even wait for Delores to answer her. I’m just her to make sure my daughter is okay and taken care of. So can we get this ball rolling? Dr. Winters, can you please come with us so we can take care of these minor details? And we can let you good people go about your business. I’m sure if my daughter was well, she would love to meet you, but under the circumstances, I don’t want anyone in this room unless they are family. Is that understood, Dr. Winters? My daughter is very fragile right now. And I don’t want anybody around her with any foolishness either, Mrs. Calls said, rolling her eyes at Delores and looking at her from head to toe.

Hey! Wow! I was surprised that Delores was speechless. Or was it that she realized Mrs. Calls had every right to be so forward with her? She was the intruder here. This really worked in my advantage. I didn’t have to explain Sam to Delores.

Well, that was what she got, I thought. Delores was taken aback. She looked at me then to the others, huffed, and stomped off toward my office, not saying another word.

I was surprised and embarrassed for Delores’s foolishness. Mrs. Calls looked at me as if I should watch what kind of company I was keeping. I smiled.

Mrs. Calls wasn’t going for that. She looked at me as if she had a bad taste in the mouth. Are you coming, sir? she asked me.

I told Rebecca to go and check on Delores. I went in the room with Mrs. Calls and her husband.

You know, Dr. Winters, we have been very impressed with the way you have been taking care of our daughter. Her treatment has been excellent. She seems to be on the road to recovery soon, right?

I nodded yes in agreement. She would get all the way better.

So you understand my concern. That I don’t want anyone in the room harassing her. Especially people she doesn’t know. She is very fragile right now, and I don’t want anyone I can’t put enough emphasis on to disturb her getting well, Mrs. Calls stated and went to stand by Samantha, who was now up. I couldn’t get mad at her. She was a mother taking care of her sick daughter. Delores should have been waiting for me in the office like I asked her to. She overstepped her boundary.

She shouldn’t come and check on me at my work. She was crazy that way. I wasn’t sorry that she got offended by Mrs. Calls. I was getting offended by Mrs. Calls staring at me right now. It reminded me of my mom’s stare when I did something very wrong. Maybe she could read my thoughts about her daughter.

And yes, I knew Mrs. Calls was correct in what she said. In fact, I was very impressed that Mrs. Calls had Delores leave silently. I thought I needed that technique in a bottle to use on her as well when she was giving me a hard time or on her temper tantrums.

Why did this creature have to come to my hospital? I called her a creature. That made me smile a little. She wasn’t that. She was, however, something that was haunting my dreams lately. And my life and my thoughts. This wasn’t something I did. I was always a very professional doctor, even though Delores thought otherwise.

She was always checking on me at the hospital. I think it was because under all that beauty, maybe she was a little insecure. I shook my head. Nah, not her. I think she just liked to control everything in my life. And in my practice, she can’t control it. My being physically attracted to Samantha she definitely couldn’t control. It would never be her doing at all. Hell, if I was honest, it was not even my own, I thought. It was just something that was happening right now as I gazed at Samantha. It didn’t want to shut off. It wasn’t shutting off. Damn, damn, Sam, damn, damn, Sam, I thought.

Sam was