Tanner's Story

T W O

The town looked so dreary, so dull, almost cold. Tanner mindlessly drove, no music, just silence buzzing in his ears. Just listening to the hum of the car as he drove to Evergreen Hospital. As he pulled into the parking lot of the Hospital, it was busy as always.

'Six thirty on a Thursday, of course they're busy.' Tanner thought to himself. The building was white, tall, and very clean looking. Even though the building was so lively with people getting dispatched from the Hospital, it seemed so sad to Tanner. Tanner leaned forward looking out his windshield and looking at the side of the very tall hospital. He looked at each story. His eyes had picked out the windows where he could see people observing the outside from. He let out another sigh before leaning back in his seat. Tanner's eyes once again found the reassuring picture, a faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips. Checking the time on his phone one more time Tanner decided it was time to go into work. He leaned into the backseat to grab his bag for work. It was a dark blue duffle bag, it held his scrubs, his coat, and other stuff he needed for work. The other stuff was stuff that his Mother had packed for him when he received the job, he hasn't touched them since they were first put in there, it would break her heart if he removed them from his bag. Tanner took his keys from the ignition and stepped out of the car. Upon opening the door of the car, the silence turned into the sound of sirens and people. Tanner looked around trying to find something to count. He felt his anxiety building up in his stomach, his breath becoming more erratic. He felt himself losing his focus quickly, still frantically looking for something to count.

"Tanner!!" Tanner heard a familiar voice; this broke his concentration. When he looked for the voice, he turned to see a man with a big green tuff of hair flopping over his face. Tanner smiled as he felt the anxiety quickly leave his body when he saw the familiar face of his best friend, Aidan Gray. His loud friend gave a toothy grin and waved. Aidan began trotting over to the taller man, when he finally reached his side, he lightly pushed Tanner.
"Where have you been?" He asked giving Tanner a bit of grief "You stood me up! We were supposed to get coffee together before work today. What the hell happened?" He questioned the taller man. Tanner shoved his hands into his pockets

"I...ugh...I'm sorry Aidan, I totally forgot..." Tanner felt very guilty for missing their plans, he never meant to schedule over their plans. Aidan smiled to him, yet Tanner's face stayed solemn. Going to see a therapist was not something he ever wanted to do, so stepping foot into that office brought up emotions he had to take time to adjust to. Aidan gave a chuckle before adjusting the strap, from his bag, on his shoulder.

"It's cool, I brought you a coffee anyway." Aidan extended his arm letting Tanner grab the coffee from him. "Little bit of milk, 'lot of sugar. Just how you like it." He gave a cheeky smile and sipped his own coffee. Tanner gave a wide toothy smile, this small gesture had made Tanner forget his problems, even for just a bit. Aidan always looked out for Tanner and Tanner was incredibly lucky to have a best friend like him.

"Aw. How sweet." He cooed, almost in a joking tone while taking the coffee from the other man's slender hands. "If I didn't know any better, you knew me more than I know myself." Tanner gave a laugh as they started walking towards the hospital's entrance. Aidan let out a very loud laugh nodding his head.

"It's because I am so infatuated with you and what you're doing at all times." The shorter man began to play around with his green hair a bit. As they walked into the hospital people waved to them, giving warm smiles which were gladly returned. "I re-dyed my hair. Doesn't it look so green!" Aidan broke the silence as he smiled to the other, Tanner had seemed to be in his own world which took Aidan a little back.

"Ugh...Yeah, looks like slime." Tanner shrugged a tiny bit giving a small awkward smile.

"Dude, are you alright? You seem like something is bugging you." Tanner looked down at his coffee cup and swirled it a bit, listening to the coffee hit the side of the cup with a heavy sloshing sound. With his free hand he once again shifted the strap further onto his shoulder.

"Yeah, just have been really tired lately." Tanner laughed lightly before shrugging his shoulders a bit. Aidan nodded in response. He was not sure if he should believe the response he received but Tanner did look tired so he could not really argue with the other man.

"If you say so." Aidan agreed taking another sip of his coffee. When they finally reached the changing room, they both began to disrobe. "You'll never guess who I ran into!" Aidan was giddy at this.

"Who?" Tanner raised an eyebrow and smiled a bit.

"My ex-girlfriend." Aidan let out a laugh "She was just as much of a bitch as normal." he added giving a smirk to the other before pulling his scrubs on.

"Nothing new, huh?" Tanner looked to the smaller man as he pulled his pants up. "Still as mean as she always was."

"Yeah it was super awkward. She approached me, and everything. I wasn't sure how to feel about it. The conversation started normal, and then it went south so quickly. First she told me how much she missed me and then she told me how much she still hated me and that she would never get back together with me even if I was the last person on Earth." Aidan adjusted his scrubs a little before turning to the mirror to check himself out. "And then she proceeded to ask me if I was free Friday, by the way I told her that you and I had plans Friday." He let out a laugh at his own lie.

"We don't have any though." Tanner furrowed his eyebrows in a questioning manner. Aidan gave a frustrated look as he put his palm to his forehead.

"I know that. I didn't want to hang out with her and listen to her complain about me, and then proceed to tell me how much she loves me and how much she wants to be with me." Tanner felt himself fading from listening to Aidan to listening to his own thoughts. Aidan's voice began to sound muffled to Tanner as he drifted in his own thoughts. This was normal for the two of them. Aidan would talk Tanner's ear off, and Tanner would just listen. So, Aidan paid no mind to Tanner being quiet. Tanner just listened to the sound of running water from the showers in the locker room. His own thoughts even began to blur, as he stood there staring into the mirror in front of him. He felt so empty. Tanner felt worse than he did before he visited the therapist. He felt as if his whole world were being drained of all its color, that was the best way he could describe the feeling in the pit of his stomach. He felt his thoughts eating away at him. A muffled sound had begun ringing in his ear. When he felt a hand on his shoulder he snapped out of his thoughts.

"You okay, dude?" Aidan asked. Tanner tried swallowing the lump in his throat as he nodded.

"Of course, man." Tanner was good at putting on a mask, the mask that said he was fine.

A/N Thank you for reading! Chapter three will be up as soon as possible.