Five Months Later

Tatum Hartley was many things.

Smart.

Driven.

Stubborn.

Maybe a bit outspoken at times.

But late was not one of those things.

She prided herself for her punctuality. She despised being late. It made her skin crawl. She had been late one time in middle school due to her mother waking up past her alarm. But Tatum refused to miss a beat, starting to read her textbook in the car as they whipped into the parking lot on two wheels. After arriving to class a whole twelve minutes and thirty seconds late, she assured her teacher that she wouldn't fall behind. She even recited everything she believed she missed just to show her that she kept up despite the absence. Turned out, all she had missed was attendance.

Ever since, Tatum was keenly aware that being late for things was not her forte.

And so, she was never late again.

Except for today.

And this was not the day for her to try something new.

But her phone alarm decided she needed a change. It must have thought it was doing her a favor by letting her sleep in forty-three minutes after her alarm. It was that sinking feeling when you realize your alarm hadn't gone off yet and it seemed like you were sleeping for too long. It was the jolt you felt as you shot up from bed, checking your phone to see the time. Normally, she was met with the relief of finding she had time before her alarm was set to go off.

This was not one of those days.

No, today her phone showed it was 8:43am.

Almost an hour after she was supposed to be awake.

Then, naturally, every single bus just had to be full because of the rain. And, of course, her umbrella had a hole in it after being chewed by the mouse infestation that she had been ignoring in her dorm. What they wanted with her umbrella? She wasn't sure. But since she was pretending to not hear them scurry around at night, she couldn't question it.

Most days, she was rushing for no reason, really. But today, she had an actual reason. Today, she was starting the PT plan for the notorious Brady Parker. A couple of months ago, someone smashed his knee in the night before the last game of the season. No one knew who did it. Brady claimed he didn't see anything, but Tatum didn't know what to think. So far, he had ran off anyone who tried to help fix his knee. He didn't say why he didn't want them to help, he just drove them to the point of them storming out during his sessions. And when she was offered the opportunity to do his plan, she jumped at the opportunity.

She had a knack for wanting to do things that other people considered impossible. She was ambitious. Academics meant something to her.

She wanted to graduate top of her class. She wanted to get into the medical school of her dreams. She wanted to land a position at a hospital of her choosing. She wanted to help save people's lives. She wanted to do research and win awards.

She wanted to do it all.

And to do that, Tatum had to do it all.

Which meant taking grunt shifts at the hospital in addition to her already grueling schedule of classes. It meant staying in on the weekends to study for a test that she wouldn't even be taking for another two years. And, since her freshman year of college, it meant working as an assistant to the physical therapist on sports teams. Specifically, the hockey team.

That last one wasn't exactly planned. She had never been a huge sports fan growing up. But when Tatum heard her favorite professor mention her other job position at the school, she couldn't resist. Especially considering Doctor Evans had connections to the medical field that she could only dream of.

But the whole point was to have access to those connections.

And she had two minutes to make sure she didn't lose them forever.

She couldn't mess up this opportunity with Brady. She had to make him do this plan.

Tatum held her breath as she locked eyes on the building. She picked up her pace, refusing to look at her phone in fear of it being too late. Starting to just shove past people, she rid any reservations against moving everyone out of her way.

She crashed through the doors, eyes locked on the computer to clock in. Tatum punched her fingers against the screen as she typed in her code, slamming her student I.D. against the scanner. It beeped and she tapped the screen to confirm the start of her shift.

9:02 A.M.

The system gave a two minute leeway for either clocking in two minutes before or two minutes after your shift. If someone clocked in at either of those options, it would just show they clock in at the correct time. It wouldn't register her as late until three minutes after.

Tatum slumped against the wall, panting as she caught her breath. Her eyes shut in exhaustion and she clutched her side, feeling a cramp growing from having to run. Footsteps filled the air and she straightened up instantly, she knew those footsteps. Forcing her eyes opened, she greeted Doctor Evans with a tentative look as she tried to play it cool.

Doctor Evans didn't even look up from her clipboard as she hustled on by. Her blonde hair was wound up into a bun on the top of her head like always. Her eyes stayed locked on the words in front of her as she said, "Hartley! Need you to get me more resistance bands from the back closet."

"Got it," Tatum breathed out in exhaustion, flashing a forced smile.

"And next time you're late," Doctor Evans started, making Tatum pause and hold her breath expectantly, "relax. Being two minutes late once in three years won't be the end of everything."

"And the second time I'm late?"

"Oh, you're out," she said lightly, turning the corner and out of sight.

Tatum breathed out a laugh, her head falling forward. She shook her head as she attempted to gather her bearings. She gathered her dark hair into a ponytail, whipping it into the elastic as she marched to the supply closet. Opening the door, Tatum hoisted the box up into her arms with a grunt. Nodding once to herself, she kicked the door open with her foot.

She could hardly see over the box, tilting her head in an attempt to not charge into anyone. She carried it to the exercise room, dropping it down loudly. Huffing out in relief of no longer carrying it, she went to open the cardboard and restock the area where the resistance bands were. Tatum pulled out a couple handfuls, collecting them into her arms.

"Hartley," Doctor Evans called out from her office. Tatum glanced up at the call, making her way over to the door. She raised her eyebrows, waiting to hear why she was called. "You ready for Parker's plan today?"

"Absolutely," Tatum assured her confidently. "Have to admit though, still surprised you offered me this. I'm not exactly known for my patience."

"Well, if you want any patients one day, you'll do this for me," she quipped with a tilt of her head, holding out the packet of papers with everything Tatum would need to know. Tatum stared at it, feeling an odd sense of uncertainty suddenly.

"Look, you know how it works, I'll make the plan for you to do," Doctor Evans reminded her, continuing to hold out the packet, "just find a way to make him do the damn exercises."

Tatum bit the inside of her mouth. "When do I start with him?"

"Right now," she said, nodding to the clock. "He should be here any second."

Tatum nodded once before she hustled out towards the treatment rooms where her specific room was. Heading into her room, she grabbed the first clipboard on the stack next to the wall. She flipped through the plan, eyes squinting in attempt to figure out a strategy to make him do the plan.

There was one more layer to all of this that she still had to figure out. Her best friend and roommate, Kinsley, just so happened to be Brady Parker's half-sister. This wouldn't be an issue if Kinsley didn't despise Brady. She didn't hold him to the same celebrity status that the rest of the school did. Her friend wasn't exactly close with her family. Tatum didn't even know any details about them, really. All she knew was that it was for the best that Kinsley separated herself from them. She heard a few stories about her roommate's half-brother, and she got the sense that it was best not to push the subject of their relationship.

But Tatum figured that it would be fine that she was doing Brady's plan. She was trying to help someone. That was what she wanted to do with her life one day. Surely, Kinsley would understand that. Besides, Tatum only found out she would be doing this plan yesterday and she hadn't seen Kinsley since. This wasn't exactly something she wanted to deliver over text. Tatum decided to clear her head, she didn't want to be distracted when Brady was here. She huffed out, lifting her head confidently as she eyed the door and waited.

The first five minutes that Brady was late, Tatum wasn't too mad. It gave her a chance to review the plan a few times.

Then five minutes turned into fifteen minutes, and she was growing a bit antsy.

By thirty minutes she was frustrated. Tatum had ran out of things to do to keep herself occupied.

And then the clock hit the hour, and she was fuming.

Who did he think he was? Blowing her off without even a heads up. Doctor Evans was steering clear of her room, which was likely purposeful. When Tatum got like this, she wasn't exactly known to be good company. Her anger tended to blind her a bit. She picked the resistance bands up and threw them into the bucket across the room, clenching her jaw harshly. Reaching down to roll up the mat she laid out, Tatum did her best to contain herself. She knew this would happen. Brady didn't care about how any of the assistants were doing their best to help him. He ran all of them off. She was starting to understand how.

But maybe something happened. Maybe there was a situation that couldn't be avoided. Maybe Brady had a great reason to not even send a text to offer a reason for not showing up.

She was repeating those thoughts in her head like a mantra when she heard some boys shouting loudly to each other outside.

Then she heard it: "Yo, Parker, wanna grab some food before class?"

Oh, she was going to kill him.

She threw the mat to the floor, not bothering to tell anyone where she was going. Her eyes flashed something furious and she was out of the clinic with her ponytail swishing madly behind her. Some people turned to see who was bulldozing through the building, but she couldn't bother to care. Shoving the doors open, she tried her best to tame her frustration. But Tatum tended to be a bit hot-headed, if she was being completely transparent. Though, if anyone told her that... she probably wouldn't take that very well.

She spotted the hockey player with a group of other members of the team. They were outside one of the academic buildings, backpacks hanging from their shoulders. She picked Brady out of the crowd instantly. It was impossible to miss the tousled, messy head of brown curls he was known for.

"Hey!" Tatum called out, arms swinging by her side as she stormed towards him. Brady turned with raised eyebrows, as if expecting her to do this. She reached the boy and his friends, stopping in her step. She shook her head slowly as she asked, "Did you forget you had a PT session today?"

"No," Brady said easily, giving her a blank look.

Tatum blinked in surprise. She was at least hoping he'd deny it. "You joking? You just didn't show up?"

Brady shrugged, hoisting up the strap of his backpack that rested on one of his shoulders. "Just didn't wanna go."

She gave him an incredulous look, scoffing at him. "Do you think I have all the time in the world to be just waiting for you?"

"Not my problem," he quipped as he went to move past her.

"Yes, your problem, if you wanna play hockey," Tatum corrected pointedly, shuffling to the side to get in his way and holding her hand up to stop him.

He huffed out in frustration. "I'll still play hockey."

"Gonna be hard to do with a busted knee," she scolded, gesturing firmly at his leg.

"Watch it," Brady warned her, as if bothered by the reminder.

"Why don't you want to come to the sessions?" Tatum pressed in confusion, crossing her arms over her chest.

He glanced past her, saying, "Just got better things to do."

"Is that right?" she asked with raised eyebrows, a humorless smile twitching at her lips. "So, you're just not coming to any of them?"

Brady gave her a smirk. "Wouldn't hold your breath."

Tatum stuck up her chin. "If you don't do the plan, you don't play."

"That's not up to you," he denied as the smile faltered on his face, looking at her carefully.

"Yeah? Try me," she suggested smugly. In truth, she had no idea if it was up to her or not. She had never been in the situation where she didn't have an athlete want to get better. But Tatum had no problem with having a talk to Doctor Evans.

Brady seemed to consider her for a moment. But not even a second after, he let out a laugh that made her briefly contemplate punching him in the face. "Yeah, all right."

Brady began to stroll off, and Tatum let him. He pushed past her shoulder lazily, not seeming to have a care in the world. Must be nice, she mused to herself. Though, right after she had that thought, she mentally rescinded it. How could she think that considering what happened to him barely even six months ago? But Tatum decided not to hold it against herself— she was stressed, so she thought it was fair game. She clenched her jaw in frustration, going through her head to figure out what she could possibly say.

"I'm not kidding, Parker," she called out stiffly, not bothering to look over her shoulder. "If you don't show up, I'm pulling you. If you don't believe me... that's fine. Just don't throw a fit when you can't step foot on the ice."

Tatum didn't turn around as she marched back into the PT clinic.

She could feel his eyes burning holes into her back, but she didn't turn around. She didn't stop walking until she reached her room in the office, allowing herself to take a moment. Tatum was starting to understand what Kinsley was always talking about. Part of her genuinely thought that this wouldn't be as horrible as everyone made it out to be. A ridiculous part of her thought that she would be the one to accomplish what the others couldn't. But maybe if he didn't give a damn, she shouldn't either. It was his life he was ruining, after all.

"You good, Hartley?" Doctor Evans asked, leaning against the doorway.

Tatum grumbled out, "Fine."

She felt like a toddler throwing a fit, if she was being honest. But it was her life and she could cry if she wanted to.

"You're not gonna storm out on me too, are you?"

"Seriously considering it."

Doctor Evans let out a sigh, walking into the room slowly. "Look, I was gonna wait until the end of the year to offer this... but consider this incentive, all right? If you somehow manage Parker to do the plan, I'll call up Doctor Ashford about you."

Now that got Tatum's attention.

Her head snapped to the doctor standing beside her in awe. Tatum hadn't even dared to ask her if she would use that connection for her. She knew that Evans was well-aquatinted him, but she never even went so far as to ask a single question about him. Something about it felt too sacred. Doctor Ashford was known to be the best heart surgeon in New York. Not only was Evans offering to vouch for her, but she was offering to help Tatum get ahead of everyone else. She thought she'd have to wait months before considering a summer internship. It would be more of a shadowing than anything else, but still. Not to mention, she never dreamed she would get one with someone so acclaimed as Doctor Ashford. She would have her foot in the door before the others even thought to look for it.

Doctor Evans was strict about who she used her contacts with. She also was careful about timing. Tatum had only ever known her to start vouching for students early in their college careers maybe twice. She took it seriously, and didn't want to bombard doctors with students who wouldn't take things as thoughtfully as she did. She took her time to get to know her students and she never rushed that. She didn't want to recommend someone who wouldn't be up to par. Half the time, students couldn't even get a recommendation out of her. This was more than Tatum had ever expected.

"You're being serious," Tatum checked slowly, eyeing Evans carefully.

"Tatum, you're one of the one of the best students I've ever come across here," Doctor Evans said truthfully. "You've got more ambition than almost anyone I've ever seen. Ashford has an eye for young talent, but he gets a lot of names thrown at him. Getting your name in early is your best shot."

"Oh my god," Tatum all but squealed, throwing her arms around Doctor Evans. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"All right," she laughed out, patting her back gently before pulling back. "But not so fast. I'm planning on mentioning you regardless by end of year. But like I said, being one of the first on his radar is in your best interest. I've known him for a while, so he won't mind me reaching out early. Do this with Parker, and I'll have no choice but to give you the best damn recommendation that Ashford's ever seen."

Tatum felt a surge of confidence go through her. Maybe a bit of arrogance too. She didn't want to get too ahead of herself, considering how this first day had went. But there was no chance in hell that Tatum was messing this up. Too much was riding on this.

So, she would do whatever it took to fix that god damn knee.

Brady Parker? Meet your match.

●・○・♥︎・○・●

Tatum Hartley, my loud-mouthed, career-obsessed bff with a bad attitude, I love you.

Brady Parker, my equally loud-mouthed, arrogant bff who's more stubborn than anyone I've ever met, I love you.