Rose

I quickly rubbed my eyes as I still felt a little sleepy from my nap but I didn't want to seem like I was uninterested in the things she was saying, I didn't know how a night shift worked after all.

The nurse was rambling without an end and I tried to keep up with her. "So the most important thing for now is to check up on the patients to make sure they're alright. The kids should be sleeping and the patients who are older than eighteen are aware of their own sleeping schedule. Make sure they took their medication. If they didn't you're allowed to wake them up and let them take it anyway. After that you can come back to the living room for this department and make your schoolwork."

I nodded my head. "Okay. I got it. What if someone wakes up and calls for help?"

"If someone calls for help, by pressing on the button as example you should go over to the room and help them in any way. This barely happens, so don't worry about it. They're all usually sleeping as they're tired from the day. Don't be scared when someone walks past though, they probably need to go to the toilet." The nurse smiled and checked out with her keychain. Her shift was over and I was a little jealous, wondering how on earth I could stay awake through the night, even if I had slept before.

The fact that I had never done this before made me slightly nervous. There was another nurse but she was sitting in the other living room next to me, which was more for the kids department. They called this the boring side. Nothing ever happened here. The kids department was busier, but I could work on school stuff.

"Good luck, Rose. Let us know how it went while reporting. Good night." She waved at me. I thanked her and waved back, watching her as she took the elevator to go down.

Yawning quietly, I stood up and looked around me for a while. It was dead silent, only a faint noise of a child crying was heard. Glancing at the rooms, I decided to start. Thirty rooms to go. I walked over to the first one, slowly knocked and opened the door, seeing an older man watching tv.

He smiled at me. "Good evening young lady."

"Oh hi- uhm, good evening. I came to check. Did you take your medication?" I asked, feeling slightly uncomfortable that I had to do this. I was so much younger than him, it was strange.

"Yes, I did. Good night." He smiled again and I gave him a small nod, closing the door behind me.

I went to the room next to him but that patient was already sleeping. I checked the medication box and when I saw it was empty I knew she had already taken it, which relieved me as I wouldn't know how to wake them.

Room after room, I had noticed there weren't much eighteen plus patients. More like fourty plus. Most of the patients were already asleep so it was rather quiet and it was good for me to start the shift with. Easy, as I felt like I had just awoken as well.

I recognized Nathan when I stepped inside a room. He was snoring out loud and I cringed, though couldn't help and chuckle lightly. That guy was something else. He took his medication, luckily and I could finally walk over to the last rooms.

After almost all of the rooms were checked, I eventually arrived at number 28. Zayn.

I knocked but didn't get an answer so I slowly opened his door and stepped inside. I quietly walked over to his bed and stared at him for a while.

He was sleeping without his beanie, but his arms were stretched out above his head. Soft breaths left his slightly open mouth and I couldn't help but smile a little. It seemed he was in a deep and peaceful sleep. It made me happy because I knew he needed it and I didn't want him to be in pain. The sight was rather sweet, but before I could turn into a creep, I checked his medication box on his nightstand and saw an empty package of pills and a half empty glass of water.

He took his medication, so that was good. I stared at him for another while and then left his room, checking the last two patients after that before turning back to my schoolwork.

Sitting back down on my chair, I grabbed my book and pencil and flipped to the page I stopped working on last time at school. I immediately sighed, knowing I wasn't going to get through this.

It was arithmetic for nurses and it was so hard for me. I had asked the teacher for explaining a thousand times but I still didn't get it. It made me feel dumb but also extremely frustrated, knowing with the exam you weren't allowed to get even one question wrong. You needed to pass with a hundred percent, which seemed impossible to me.

I started reading the question over and over again, but it was like it wasn't getting to me. I didn't understand what I was reading.

Sighing deeply, I closed the book and started up my laptop. I had to write an essay so it was better to do that first since I didn't understand the other subject, anyway.

I rubbed my eyes, feeling slightly sleepy as I had barely slept in the afternoon. My sleeping schedule was messed up now as my body wasn't used to sleeping in the afternoon but I forced myself to do it, knowing I wasn't going to survive tonight if I didn't. I felt tired and I thought I looked like a zombie, but it paid more at least and would be good for my experience.

When I typed for about half an hour, my essay was as much done. I shut off my laptop, grabbed the book and started reading the question again, still not getting it and making me extremely frustrated and moody.

But being that focused on my schoolwork caused me to forget about where I actually was and I didn't hear stuff around me. Not until I saw something moving in the corner of my eye and a dark silhouette came to stand near me because at that moment my focus faded and the noises were coming back again, hearing his sleepy yet sweet voice greeting me.

"You startled me," I admitted sheepishly, trying to calm my rapidly beating heart.

He chuckled. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." He looked up and glanced at the clock, then looked back at me and gave me a smile.

I sighed softly, "It's fine." I gave him a smile back. "Can't you sleep Zayn?" I stared at him, observing his outfit. He was wearing his beanie, some grey sweatpants and a black hoodie which I could recall he wasn't wearing in bed an hour ago.

Zayn slowly rubbed his arm, "Eh, not really. I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep." He looked sleepy, so I wondered why he couldn't.

"Do you want painkillers?" I asked him, pulling out a chair for him so he could sit down. Once he sat down, I could smell his fresh, washed clothes and a faint scent of sleep.

"No, I'm good. Thanks Rose." He gave me another smile and stared at my book. "What's that?" Zayn pointed at it and I sighed instantly, because of the subject.

"Arithmetic for nurses. I don't understand one single thing and it's driving me insane." I shoved my book towards him, his eyes scanning the questions right away.

A small frown appeared on his face while reading, but it faded soon after. "What do you not understand?"

"The whole thing. I mean.. ' a patient is prescribed 225 milligrams of a drug per day into three doses. You have in four divisible pills with 60 milligrams. How many whole and divided pills do you give at a time'. Like what?" I sighed and groaned, slightly started to freak out because my exam was soon.

Zayn looked at me, "It's not that hard. Look, you just divide the 225 milligrams with the 3 doses."

"But why?" Sighing, I couldn't help but frown at how easy it sounded to him, but not to me. "And where's that 60 for?"

"Because the question is how much you need to give him at a time. So you divide the milligrams with the doses to find out how much milligrams he needs at one time." Zayn explained like it was the most obvious question in the world.

I shook my head. "I don't get it. I had asked the teacher this about a thousand times but I still don't get it. Am I dumb? I've got this exam on Friday and I'm not allowed to make any mistakes. I'm so going to fail." I rubbed my temples while freaking out.

"Babe.. chill. I'll help you, okay?" Zayn spoke.

I gulped. Because I couldn't calm down, but mainly because he just called me babe. Babe. The name made me feel flustered, shy but at the same time happy for some reasons. I loved how he was comfortable enough around me and called me things like that, even if we didn't like each other or anything, it was just.. nice.

I looked up at him and the moment our eyes met a sweet smile grew on his face. "I promise. Here, let me show you something."

He stood up and walked over to a drawer of the kitchen. He grabbed some pills and walked back over to me, sitting down after that. After he had also grabbed a paper and a pen, Zayn started writing things down for me.

He started explaining everything to me and showed me it with the pills as example, which was so useful to me. He even explained the next chapters as I didn't understand anything about that as well. Grateful would be an understatement.

I could listen to him for ages. His voice was deep and beautiful and he was explaining everything so well. He only had to explain it once and I got it, while the teacher had explained me everything about at least ten times and I still wouldn't get it. He was clever and wise, something I could appreciate quite a lot.

"Enough schoolwork for today I think. How about I show you something?" Zayn said, his eyes twinkling slightly so it made clear to me that he had a plan.

"Do you not have to sleep, Zayn?" I glanced at the clock, seeing it was two am. He had been helping me for about two hours, which was extremely sweet but I knew he needed his sleep a lot.

Zayn shrugged. "I slept a lot today. I'm not really tired and you'll be bored if I go back, trust me. Nothing happens here."

I bit my lip, "I don't know Zayn.. I don't want to keep you up. You'll be exhausted tomorrow and that isn't exactly good for.. you know, you just need your sleep." I grabbed my schoolwork and stuffed everything back into my bag, placing it underneath the table after that.

"Rose.." He pouted, his voice almost sounding like he was begging for it.

I raised my eyebrow, a playful smile playing on my lips. "What, Zayn? What's so important you have to show me then?"

"It's not really important.. I just feel like- you know.. I just want to be around-" He stopped and looked away, pulling a face at himself.

I chuckled, "You just want to be around me? How lovely. I can appreciate that." I teased and I could swear he was blushing, although I couldn't see.

"Rose.." He whined, begging me to stop embarrassing him. "I really need to show you something, okay? Just follow me."

He stood up and I copied his action. I needed something to get me through this night anyway.

And I felt like it was going to be very interesting.