A Matter Of Misunderstanding

By: Stephanie Woodworth

Tamzen showed up at the five-star hotel like she was asked. She was a new graduate and with suggestions from a friend decided to join the pool nursing service rather than find a job at one of the local hospitals. Looking one last time in the car mirror she wondered why she'd ever decide to do this.

She grabbed the medical bag on the seat next to her. She felt ridiculous. Why do they make me wear this stupid outfit?

Tamzen found the elevator and hit the floor number that'd been given to her. The doors opened and she stepped out.

"May I help you?" a man asked.

Tamzen pulled out her id. "I'm here to take care of Mr. Fatone."

The man compared her id to the list of approved names. "Thank you miss," he said handing her back her id. "Room 829."

Tamzen pinned her id on her lapel and walked down the hall to room 829. She straightened her crisp white dress and her nursing cap before knocking lightly on the door.

The door swung open and an average looking man answered. "Mr. Fatone?" Tamzen asked.

"Yes. Can I help you?"

Tamzen shifted her bag to her left hand and offered him her right. "I was sent by Jive to help take care of you."

"Not me," Steve laughed, "my brother." He moved to the side. "Please come in ... um ... Tamzen." He said reading her name badge.

"Thank you." She walked into the hotel suite. A man looking somewhat like the one that opened the door was lying on the bed.

"Hey Joe, look what Jive got for you," Steve said with a wink.

Joey pulled himself up in the bed. "Hello Doll, how are you?" he asked with a smile.

"Hello. My name is Tamzen. I'm a licensed practical nurse with First Call, I was sent here to care for your needs today."

Joey and Steve shared an all-knowing look and Steve quickly stated, "Now that you have someone to care for your needs," he chuckled, "I'm going to go check out the video shoot." With that Steve left the two of them alone.

"What's wrong again?" Tamzen asked as soon as they were alone.

"I hurt myself while rehearsing, nothing too serious."

"Must be pretty bad if they hired a nurse to take care of you."

"Oh yeah," Joey smiled. "It hurts really bad," he said playing it up. Joey stood up and hobbled over to where Tamzen was standing. "So did you bring your own music or do you want me to pick a CD?"

"Huh?" Tamzen put her bag down. "Do you think you should be up on your leg? What if you pop a staple?"

"Don't worry your pretty little head. I'll be just fine." Joey walked closer to her and ran a hand down her arms before resting them on her hips. "You are going to get working aren't you?"

"Only if you get back in bed."

"Okay." Joey limped back to bed and climbed in, but to his surprise Tamzen didn't pull a CD player out of her bag ... she pulled out medical supplies. "Is that part of you act?"

"Well sort of. How'd you expect me to take care of your leg without gauze and tape?"

It was now Joey's turn to be confused. "You need that stuff to strip?"

"What!?!" Tamzen asked flabbergasted. "I am NOT a STRIPPER!"

Joey sat up on the edge of the bed. "Exotic dance, stripper ... whatever. I'm done waiting let's just get on with it."

Tamzen stopped dead in her tracks. "You ... you ... you think I'm a WHAT?"

Joey was tiring of her games. "Listen, I'm sure you were paid well and all so maybe you should do what you were paid to do. Now come on Doll, take it off!"

Gathering every ounce of control she had, Tamzen picked up her supplies and returned them to her medical bag. "Mr. Fatone, I'm sorry to say that you have the wrong idea. Not to mention that you are the rudest person I've ever met!" Tamzen grabbed her things and headed for the door.

She breathed a sigh of relief as the elevator doors closed and she hit the button for lobby. When the doors opened at the lobby Tamzen was stopped by a huge hotel security guard.

"I've been asked that I return you to Mr. Fatone's room."

"Why?" Tamzen demanded standing firmly in her spot with her hands rested on her hips.

"Mr. Fatone informed us that you took something that belonged to him."

Tamzen opened her bag and shoved it at him. "If you can find anything in here that doesn't belong to me you are more than welcome to take it!"

"Miss, please just cooperate with me." He hit the button on the wall and the elevator door opened. He led her back to Joey's room and knocked. Joey was waiting and promptly opened the door.

"Thank you for bringing her back up. I can take it from here," Joey said dismissing the guard.

Tamzen waited until the security guard was gone before she let him have it. "How dare you tell him that I stole from you!" She took her nursing cap off letting her red hair fall past her shoulders. "You truly are a pig!" She paced around the hotel suite. "Want a show! I'll give you a fuckin' show!" She kicked off her shoes, walked over to the radio and tried to find a song suitable for dancing.

Before she could begin Joey was up out of the bed stopping her. "Wait a second. I didn't bring you back up here for this." He turned the radio off and hobbled over to a nearby chair. "I wanted to apologize. It was a misunderstanding. I thought ..."

"I know what you thought!" She laughed at how silly this whole situation actually was. “So now what?”

“How about dinner? Dancing, when I’m able. Marriage and kids?” Joey laughed. “Your typical I just met you and thought you were a stripper things.”

“Marriage?” Tamzen asked.

“Well yeah … in all due time.” Joey said with a smile.

“You sure are sure of yourself, but once again Mr. Fatone I think you’ve got a huge misunderstanding.”

“Well, why don’t we start off with a date.” Joey stood and walked over to Tamzen. “Would you like to go out sometime?”

“Let me think about it,” Tamzen pretended to think about it. “Sure I’d love to go out with you.”

The End

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