For writing prompt #25 – Ten Minute Prompt - subject "School"

It's short, I know …

… but I was stumped and I only had ten minutes.

XxXxXx

Howie had gotten a little banged up doing a three story fall stunt on the set that morning and Colt wanted to make certain his cousin wasn't hurt worse than he looked so he dragged him to the hospital for a check up.

It was Wednesday, mid afternoon and the hospital was, for the moment, quiet and nearly empty.

The older, heavy-set nurse on duty was a familiar face to Colt Seavers; she'd taken care of him more times than he cared to even remember.

She and Colt were sitting at the desk, drinking coffee and watching a first year nurse named Sharon check Howie over in the cubical across the hall.

"What a fascinating child." Brenda, the charge nurse, observed.

"Howie? Fascinating to who?" Colt huffed, "Himself?"

"Whom." Brenda corrected him, "And don't be such a brat, that boy is very intelligent. He just has no direction for all that drive. Was he home schooled?"

"Nope. College," Colt sighed, recalling all the places and subjects Howie had studied, "lots and lots of colleges."

Brenda tapped her finger on her chin, "I suppose that could explain it."

"Explain what?"

"His lack of social skills - too much time spent buried in a book and not enough time socializing."

Colt raised an eyebrow, "He is social, too social, and sometimes it gets on my nerves."

"That's because he doesn't know how," she scolded him; "you need to teach him how to behave around other people."

"If he spends more time around other people, he probably won't survive long." Colt teased, "Someone will strangle him just to shut him up."

Brenda laughed, "He is a talker all right. All that energy and youth, he's trying to cram too much into a short space of time."

The delicate, blond haired nurse began to attach EKG sensors to his young cousin's chest and Colt felt a trill of alarm, "What's wrong with him? Why's she hooking him up to that machine?"

"Oh he's fine, honey." she reassured him, "Sharon needs the practice." Brenda laughed, "All that attention isn't going to hurt him any. Just look at him."

Sitting shirtless on the edge of the cot, his boot covered feet tapping on the tile, Howie was blushing a deep red from his hairline down and spreading down his neck. His ears were practically glowing. For once he wasn't talking a mile a minute; he appeared to be too nervous to speak and he was staring at the young nurse with wide eyes.

Colt couldn't help but laugh. "A pretty girl with her hands all over you is enough to make anyone blush and tongue-tied."