for the love of God somebody give me the motivation I so severely lack to finish my wip
have a preview, the opening section:
You were dragging your feet but you were relieved - the shift was nearing the end. You’d handed over your patients and finished charting.
You had your satchel over one shoulder when Robby found you walking out. Midstep, he turned, hand up.
“I need to talk for two minutes.”
“I was so close,” you whispered, and he gave a crooked, knowing smile.
At least he was asking nicely. Sometimes you were lucky if he even gave you eye contact, depending on his shift. Lately, you’d been passing ships, you doing nights while he did the days.
“Okay, but is it going to be like when you’ve asked to see me before and then you get caught up in something and I end up in the breakroom, forgotten about?”
Robby made a face. “When did that happen?”
“Like, twice. At least,” you retorted. You flapped a hand at him. “Go. Two minutes.”
“No, it’s important,” he said. “I’ll come by in ten minutes, I promise.”
He left you standing there, your shoulders slumping. Abbot walked past, brows hiked.
“Should’ve ran while you could…”
“The fuck are you still doing here, then?” you said, lacking venom due to your low energy.
You rolled your eyes and shuffled off toward the breakroom. You considered the coffee pot and left it, knowing you’d only make your headache worse. You longed for your bed, sitting at the empty table while doomscrolling while you waited.
It was forty-five minutes later when Robby came in, apologetic but not exactly regretful. It was always such a frustrating combination. You knew there was little he could do about it, you just wished he meant what he said when he said it.
“Okay, I need to ask you something and it’s not an easy request, but I know you’re up for it…”
You wait for him to spit it out, rubbing your eyes. “Uh-huh.”
“The Baltimore conference, end of next week. I want you to come with me.”
You freeze, awakened. “What. That’s… really short notice. And… why me?”
You were good, some ordinary people would call you brilliant. But in medicine, brilliant was pretty common. You had to be exceptional.
“Admittedly… you weren’t my first choice,” he muttered.
“So your number one fell through?” you said, frowning.
He blinked, rubbing the back of his head. “Something like that.”
“I’m not your second choice?”
“How many people have you asked?”
He hesitated, closing his eyes for a second. “Four.”
You were his fifth choice. You tried not to show how that hurt by the look on your face. He wasn’t dumb enough to lie, instead attempting to smooth it over with placating hands.
“I know you’ll be good,” he said.
You glanced away, tired again, though now your mind was turning this over and over, this new problem to solve. You anticipated little sleep for the next several nights, thinking about this bizarre situation. A conference with Robby. You knew it was four days of presentations, training sessions, intensive learning. You knew you would rise to the occasion.
You just wished it hadn’t been him you went with. Anybody but Robby.
“Sure I would,” you said eventually.
You made a show of checking the time on your phone.
“So is that a ‘yes’?” he asked, moving towards the door.
“Is that the best you can do?” you threw back.
Never mind that he was the Chief Attending. He assumed you had nothing else better to do.
“Please,” he said. “Please would you come to Baltimore with me?”
You nodded, looking down at your phone. “Okay.”
“Okay,” he echoed. “Good. Go home.”
You rolled your eyes at his retreating back.
