Disclaimer: All characters in my stories are 18 years of age or older.
After finishing high school Varie Faheem had gone straight into university, not wanting to prolong the long and arduous journey that was medical school. Whilst most of her friends and fellow classmates had taken the year off to work and travel and experience the world outside of education, Varie had preferred to get a head start on the path ahead of her.
It wasn't a path that was entirely chosen by her, rather one of the limited acceptable options as deemed by her family. Despite the very liberal western lifestyle of her birth-city, Varie's home life was overshadowed by her father's conservative ideology. Whilst Varie's mother Sana had herself been raised in Europe, her father Ali had spent the majority of his life in Dubai, the city of his birth.
Whilst her father didn't strictly adhere to the doctrines of his faith and didn't feel compelled to force that lifestyle upon his family, he still held many strong opinions regarding acceptable behaviour and choices. Whilst Varie's two older brothers, Sammi and Aran, were given more of a free reign on their choices in their teen years, Varie's conduct had been more strictly monitored and controlled.
With curfews, and mandates on the clothes she wore, the constant pressure to dress conservatively and conduct herself meekly, Varie often felt that she had been deprived of many of the experiences that her teen years could have offered. So, when she was accepted into the medical program in their city's nearby university, Varie had felt that her father's grip on her may finally begin to loosen.
Having graduated with honours and earned herself a place at a prestigious university, Varie felt the watchful eyes and controlling hands of her father begin to ease. And so, for her first year she began to truly enjoy life as an adult.
Among the new friends that she was making, Varie even managed to have a few short-lived and exciting flings with some of the guys in her wider group of classmates. They never lasted long, and with Varie still living at home their encounters always took place at a friend's house or the dorms that her classmates resided in.
This suited her perfectly fine and having no intention of distracting herself with a long term commitment, Varie felt that this was a perfect way of making up for her missed opportunities earlier in life without over complicating things at home. As far as her mother and father were concerned, she was still their modest, reserved, celibate role-model of a daughter.
With each passing week, as she began to emerge from her shell, Varie felt the longing inside of her growing. The urge to break free, the need to escape her overbearing family and reinvent herself began to consume her. Her few, brief sexual encounters with some of her classmates had begun to awaken some long repressed aspects of her personality, and she found herself tormented with confusing and exciting daydreams that she instinctively pushed from her mind.
For the most part, she was successful, ignoring the shameful, lust-driven thoughts that entered her mind, putting her concentration into her work and study. Until she began her second year, and the work-placement that came with it.
Just shy of her twentieth birthday, Varie and her classmates were informed that part of their course credit for the year would be earned via work-placement at a general practitioner's clinic in the city. They would be assigned their clinic along with a classmate and would be shadowing the doctors who worked there on intermittent shifts throughout the year.
Whilst everyone was excited at the opportunity to gain some experience within a medical workplace, the reality of it was that they would spend most of the time carrying out tedious administrative work. To make things even worse for Varie, she had been paired with someone that she had gone to great lengths to avoid over her first year.
Robbie Heller had been a classmate of Varie's back in high school. Tall, handsome, smug and arrogant, he had been an academic and athletic wonder boy at their school. Outgoing and confident in every way that Varie was not, Robbie had drawn people to him with a casual ease. He had the attitude of someone who was very used to getting what they wanted, and his constant flow of success through school had left him with a severely inflated ego.
As two of the top performing students at their school, Robbie and Varie had shared many classes together, and therefore spent more time in each other's company than Varie would have preferred. Despite her attempts to keep a low profile, Robbie had taken an immediate like to her, and had wasted no time in trying to win over the quiet, conservative star pupil.
Everything about his personality had repelled Varie, but in spite of this, a small part of her was flattered by the attention. He was undeniably attractive, and there was no shortage of girls in their year who would have fallen down at his feet. The fact that he had taken an interest in her excited Varie.
With her pretty cherubic face, short dark hair and olive complexion, Varie wasn't unused to the attention that she would get from the boys in her year. But her lack of self-confidence, and the repressive nature of her upbringing had always served as a barrier to her allowing anything to progress. Varie was shorter than most of the girls in their class, and her curvy frame, wide hips and small breasts all registered as flaws in her mind, twisting her self-image towards negativity.
Knowing that he wanted her, knowing that he was attracted to her, and knowing that she would never let him have that satisfaction, it gave Varie a strange feeling of power. It excited her to know that she could wield that over him. Seeing his growing frustration at her rejections brought Varie an immense sense of satisfaction. But sometimes, alone at night, she would give in to her shameful fantasies. Imagining Robbie finally breaking down her walls, taking what he had wanted for so very long, satisfying her in a way that she had never felt.
All of those shameful thoughts and memories had come rushing back in her second semester when she had spotted him on the other side of the lecture hall. She had known that Robbie was pursuing medicine also but had assumed that given his family's wealth he would have moved somewhere across the country, somewhere more exciting. But there he sat, twirling a pen lazily in his hand as he scanned his eyes across the room.
Varie managed to go a further two weeks without encountering him, until early one morning as she sat waiting for a lecture to begin, he abruptly sat down next to her and struck up a conversation. Varie had been curt and short, making it very clear to him that she had no interest in chatting, but he was not deterred.
Week after week, whenever the opportunity arose to find a seat next to her, there Robbie was. Sometimes chatting, sometimes just sitting quietly, legs splayed wide, causing her to lean away against the other side of her cramped lecture hall chair.
And then, many months later, as their professor had handed out their clinic placements, Varie saw her name next to Robbie's. He had grinned widely at her from across the lecture hall where he sat, holding up the piece of paper and shrugging. Varie had felt herself blush, a strange and confusing blending of annoyance and excitement welling up in her for a moment.
On their first visit to the clinic, Varie had arrived early. It was in a far-flung corner on the outer edges of the city, in a run-down neighbourhood surrounded by shuttered businesses and abandoned lots. She had felt a strange trepidation as she approached the front door, not knowing what to expect on the other side.
Stepping into a wide and brightly lit waiting room, Varie was taken back momentarily at the stark contrast this room presented to the street outside. The reception area was spotless, sparkling clean linoleum floors spanned the wide open space, and rows of chairs were aligned off to her left.
To the right sat the empty receptionist's desk, two swivel chairs positioned behind a pair of monitors, an open door behind them leading to a room with file-stacked shelves. At the far end of the waiting room, positioned in front of the rows of chairs, was a single closed door leading to the doctor's examination room. To the left of this lead a small corridor, a unisex bathroom door at its end.
Varie took in the quiet, empty room, wondering if she should announce herself. Before she could make up her mind, the examination room door swung open, and a short, stocky, middle-aged man strode out.
He paused at the sight of Varie, momentarily raising his eyebrows and looking her up-and-down. He returned his gaze to the clipboard in his hand and flicked over two sheets of paper.
"Varie...Faheem?" he asked, reading her name from a sheet attached before looking back up at her.
"Yes. Hi, nice to meet you." Vaire said, striding forward and holding out her hand.
"And you," he said, taking her hand and shaking it. His tone was neutral, almost bored, but not impolite as he greeted her. "I'm Martin Beran. Doctor Beran in front of the patients if you don't mind."
He looked back down at the sheet on his clipboard.
"I'm expecting another one. Robert?" he asked her.
"Yes, I think I'm a little early, I'm sure he's on his way." Varie replied.
Part of her was glad that Robbie hadn't arrived. She had wanted to make a good first impression, to earn this doctor's approval and respect. Even though he gave no indication of what he was thinking in that moment, Varie felt like she had won a tiny victory over Robbie in that moment.
But any sense of confidence and smugness that she was feeling had been erased by the end of the first day.
Once Robbie had arrived, Dr. Beran had shown them to the reception area and given them a run-down on the myriad tasks that they would be completing over the course of the day. He explained that he was the only doctor working at the clinic, and that he had a part-time staff who ran the reception. On the days that Varie and Robbie were working, they would take the place of this staff and conduct the majority of the clerical work that was needed.
