Together, Always: Romance Stories from Quarantine

The Nurse

by Wendy Dalrymple

Daniel rubbed his eyes, trying to readjust his vision as he looked at the headline that jumped out at him from his phone screen. Despite constantly telling himself to quit obsessing over social media and the news, he couldn’t help it. The internet was his only lifeline to the outside world — for the time being, anyway. Normally, he would have just continued scrolling through his social feed, mindlessly numbing himself with the news of the day, but a single image stopped him in his tracks amongst the constant stream of information:

Nurses Stage Counterstrike Against Protestors at Highland Hospital

Those eyes. He would remember them anywhere.

It was her, no doubt about it. Her arms were crossed defiantly across her chest, as a man clad in a leather vest and American flag bandanna yelled in her face. She was wearing turquoise scrubs and a face mask, her long, glossy black hair in a ponytail, just as stoic and beautiful as he remembered.

Marianna.

How long had it been since they had seen each other? Two years? Three?

Daniel looked around his studio apartment in disgust, taking note of the unwashed dishes by the sink, the trash bag that still needed to be taken out, the pile of laundry by the front door. It had been weeks since he had gone anywhere, partially because of quarantine lockdown rules and partially because he was a self-described hermit. In an age where you can get everything delivered, from takeout to groceries to whiskey, Daniel saw no real reason to leave the house.

Until now.

He pulled at the collar of his shirt and took a sniff, wincing in disgust at his own musky odor. Daniel couldn’t remember the last time he had taken a shower. Tuesday? What day was it even? Time and dates had become irrelevant weeks ago as he volleyed from working on his laptop at the kitchen table to flopping on the couch and building up his island on his new favorite video game. He was badly in need of a haircut and a shave, and realized it was time to put on something other than his quarantine uniform of mesh basketball shorts and a random T-shirt.

There was something about seeing his old flame in the news that made him feel itchy and edgy. Up until then, he had been very content to sit on the couch and enjoy his imposed solitude, letting the rest of the world go by outside. But the longer he thought about Marianna, the more his anxiety grew. Something was bubbling to the surface inside Daniel that he had pushed down long ago, and the pain he felt whenever he saw her, or even thought of her name was fresh in his heart again. In college, he was willing to live with the constant ache just to keep her near. As the stereotypical guy that always seemed to get friendzoned, Daniel knew that one wrong move could mean the end of a friendship. Now, with the future so uncertain, something inside of him snapped. A sense of urgency coursed through his veins, propelling him off the couch.

What’s she doing now?

Does she have a boyfriend?

Would she be happy to see me?

A million thoughts raced through Daniel’s mind as he showered, shaved and searched for something suitable to wear. A million memories of her smile when he would make her laugh. A million memories of the warmth of her thigh next to his on hard bleacher seats, cheering on their home team on a Friday night. A million memories of the sound of pages flipping in silence as he gazed at her across the library study table. A million memories were all he had.

Then, as quickly as his frenzied impulse to see her again had manifested, a sobering realization settled in and took the wind out of his sails. He winced at his own stupidity. It was too obvious.

She’s not going to want to talk to me, he thought, still dripping from the shower. Not now. Not like this.

The article about Marianna and her fellow nurses was headline news on one of the most respected media outlets in the world. Marianna was sure to be flooded with questions right about now, and was probably getting harassed by complete strangers. Besides, she was busy saving lives and protesting against people that thought the pandemic was a fake government conspiracy. There’s no way on earth that she would have time for Danny Myers now.

Marianna Diaz eased into her car seat, soaking in the radiant heat that had accumulated in the scorching afternoon sun. After twelve hours spent working in the frigid emergency room intake at Highland Hospital, she was happy to sit for a moment and let the warmth soak through to her bones.

She was tired. So tired.

Marianna ripped off her face mask and stashed it in the plastic garbage bag on her passenger seat. Despite her better judgement, she looked at her reflection in the rear view mirror to see just how deeply the mask lines were etched into her face that day. After three consecutive shifts and intaking dozens of infected patients, the circles under her eyes were more pronounced than ever. Even though her twenty-fifth birthday was just around the corner, she felt decades older.

She was already dreaming of taking a scalding hot bath as she started her car, ready to eradicate any possible molecule of virus that might have landed on her skin. She would strip down in her garage and immediately wash her scrubs on high heat, then head straight to the bathroom and scrub every inch of her body with antibacterial soap. After that, she would down a bowl of cereal, climb into bed, and fall asleep watching baking videos on YouTube like always. More than anything, she just needed some creature comforts. She needed to shut her mind off and relax in any way that she could before her next twelve-hour pandemic shift from hell. She needed to laugh again.

Just then, her phone dinged. It was a message and a link from her mother.

You’re famous! her mother’s text said.

Marianna groaned. She already knew that the link would lead to the story about her counterprotest from the day before. Her coworkers had been slapping her on the back and congratulating her all day. She was tired of it. Tired of it all. Tired of the virus. Tired of people that made her job harder because they thought the virus was a lie. And now, on top of it all, she somehow had managed to go viral in her own small way.

As Marianna drove home on autopilot that night, she started to indulge in an emotion that she had been trying not to feel since the pandemic broke out. She knew that she had a hard job, but she considered herself far better off than many other people. She tried to remind herself not to complain too much. Self-pity felt way too… selfish. She had her health, after all, and her family was still safe and healthy. She had a job and wasn’t worried about how to pay her rent or her bills. But still, that night, she had finally reached a breaking point. She wished she had someone to come home to. Someone to make her laugh and forget about all of the horrors she saw at the hospital each day. Someone like Danny.

When she finally pulled into her garage, Marianna stripped down to her underwear and threw her scrubs in the laundry. Instead of heading straight to the bathroom, she washed her hands and went to her bookcase instead. She hadn’t looked at her college yearbooks for a long time, but the urge to reminisce and get caught up in nostalgia was strong.

She knew exactly where to go. Page seventy-three, clubs and associations. There in full color were Syreeta, Marcus, Lila, Danny, and herself, all dressed up for Comic-Con. If it wasn’t for Cosplay Club, she may never have even met Danny; he was a business major and she was in the nursing program. But when they both showed up dressed as Deadpool for Comic-Con that first year, she and Danny struck up an instant, unlikely friendship. She immediately felt a bond with him that she had never felt before with someone who wasn’t a female friend, a family member or a boyfriend.

Not that she didn’t want Danny to be her boyfriend. She waited and waited for him to make a move, but he never did, and their relationship stayed strictly platonic. By the time she was ready to finally speak up and tell him how she felt, Marcus swept her off her feet and told her all of the things she had been waiting to hear from Danny. Marcus was nice, good looking, easy to get along with. But he didn’t make her laugh like Danny did. He didn’t look her in the eyes and see right through her like Danny did.

After graduation, Marianna and Marcus’s relationship didn’t last that long. Marcus went on to grad school six hours away, and the distance quickly showed the cracks in their relationship. By this time, Marianna had lost track of Danny. When she and Marcus got together, Danny backed off, meeting up with her and contacting her less and less to the point where he was just a ghost in her past, a blip in her timeline. The Cosplay Club photos were the only proof that he ever existed in her life at all.

Marianna decided on taking a beer to bed that night in place of her bowl of cereal. She knew it was bad, but she was too amped up and needed a little something to take the edge off. As she let her mind glaze over to the glow of the TV, she couldn’t shake Danny Myers from her thoughts. She wondered what he was doing now. She hoped he was okay. If it was any other time, she might have thought to reach out to him, just to say hey.

But there was no point now. Not when keeping her distance from everyone outside of work was the only ethical thing to do.

Hey Syreeta, Daniel said, pacing in his studio apartment. His cell phone was hot and sweaty against his ear.

Danny! she squealed through the receiver. "How are you?"

I’m fine, I guess, he said, trying not to sound impatient. Normally he would have been happy to chat and catch up with Syreeta, but he had an agenda.

I would ask if you were going to Comic-Con this year, but it looks like it’s going to be cancelled, she said. I had my Mandalorian suit almost complete too.

Yeah, it sucks, he said, trying not to be rude. Wish I could have seen it.

So, what’s up? she asked, to his relief.

"Well, this