All Chapters of PLAYING PRETEND: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

Travis let his hands fall to his sides and his smug smirk widened as he casually strolled further into the dim tavern.He ignored the dirty looks from the local mechanics and headed straight for a cracked vinyl booth near the back pool tables.He slid into the worn seat and kicked his expensive white sneakers right up onto the sticky wooden surface of the table."Hey, let's get some service over here for a paying customer!" Travis shouted over the heavy bass of the corner jukebox.A few patrons turned their heads to glare at the loud fraternity brother but nobody stepped in to shut him up.Travis locked his dark eyes directly on my face and he raised his voice so everyone in the immediate area could hear his next demand."I want a premium domestic draft and I want the ex-President to bring it to me right now," he announced with a cruel laugh.The blood roared in my ears and my bruised fists clenched so hard that the fresh scabs on my knuckles stretched taut.Every single violent insti

I stood in the dim hallway of the rundown apartment building and listened to the heavy rattle of the landlord's keychain.The fluorescent light bulb flickering above our heads buzzed with a relentless hum that made the sharp headache forming behind my eyes throb even harder.It was Friday morning and Kyle was currently passed out on my narrow dorm bed after stumbling through the door at three in the morning.He came back from his first grueling shift at the dive bar with raw blisters covering his hands and exactly forty-two dollars crumpled inside his torn denim pocket.That depressing handful of cash forced Sarah and me to skip our morning classes so we could meet a sketchy property manager on the wrong side of the city limits.The heavy wooden door scraped loudly against the warped floorboards as the landlord finally shoved it open with his shoulder.A thick wave of stale air washed over us and the sharp scent of damp mildew immediately stung the inside of my nose."This is the avai

I walked down the hall and stepped into the cramped space I would be sharing with the former student body president.The room was barely large enough to fit a standard closet and the cheap linoleum floor was heavily scuffed from the previous tenants.We could not afford a proper metal bed frame or a matching bedroom set from the local furniture store.I dragged a cheap twin mattress through the doorway and dropped it directly onto the bare floorboards near the far wall.It landed with a dull slap that kicked up a small cloud of invisible dust into the stale air.Kyle walked in behind me carrying a stack of my folded blue hospital scrubs and a heavy desk lamp."We are sleeping on the floor," I stated the obvious while kicking the edge of the mattress to straighten it."It is a massive downgrade from your luxury campus suite.""I do not care about the room as long as we are not sleeping on the freezing pavement tonight," Kyle replied with a steady voice.He dropped the clothes onto the

Kyle was lying flat on his back with his chest bare and his dark hair plastered to his forehead with sweat.He looked incredibly vulnerable without his tailored suits or his polished political armor to shield him from the harsh reality of our poverty.I dropped to my knees on the faded blue blanket and I shuffled closer to his injured side until my thighs brushed against his hip."I have to press on the bone line to feel for crepitus," I warned him while rubbing my cold hands together to warm my palms."It is going to hurt a lot but I need you to stay as still as possible so I can feel the alignment."Kyle gave a weak nod of his head and he stared up at the water-damaged ceiling without offering a single complaint.I reached out and I gently placed my fingertips against the swollen, discolored skin just below his armpit.The skin was radiating a dull heat and the dark purple bruises felt tight and swollen under my light touch.I slowly traced the outline of his upper ribs and I applie

I pressed my pen against the edge of the cheap kitchen table and the uneven wooden leg wobbled loudly against the peeling linoleum floor.I grabbed a folded piece of supermarket junk mail from the counter and I shoved it firmly under the table leg to stop the annoying rocking motion.The rusted metal radiator in the corner hissed a steady stream of hot steam into the cramped living room.I rubbed my tired eyes and I forced myself to focus on the massive stack of handwritten flashcards spread out across the fake wood grain.My first semester of Level 200 was quickly proving to be a brutal wake-up call.Surgical Nursing 1 demanded a level of intense memorization that made my previous anatomy classes look like a gentle warm-up.I flipped a green index card over and I silently recited the risk factors for severe postoperative hemorrhage.The hospital clinical rotation this morning drained almost all of my energy before the sun even reached the middle of the sky.Nurse Brenda did not offer