Title: Okay (1/1)
Author: Jazz
Rating: G, I suppose
Fanbase: Grey's Anatomy
Pairing: Callie/Arizona (Calzone)
Word Count: 1,009
Teaser: Set a few days after the 'bathroom kiss' in the last episode of Grey's Anatomy, Callie and Arizona meet again. Arizona knows Callie's still upset and teaches her it's okay to not be okay. It's a pretty short one-shot I wrote at school :)

"…People really like you over there. They, they respect you, and they're concerned…interested. They really like you. Some of them… REALLY like you. You just, you look upset. And I-I thought that you should know that the talk is good. And when you're not upset, when you're…over…being upset…there'll be people lining up for you."

My expression was a mix of surprise and confusion as she said this. What was she getting at? People liked me? Who? And why? I laughed. This was a joke.

Bitterly and slightly sarcastically, I laughed and asked her if she'd like to give me some names.

To my surprise, her look resembled something of polite exasperation. She placed her hand lightly on my face, like Erica used to do, and kissed me.

Wow. That was unexpected.

"I think you'll know." She grinned and walked away, leaving me smiling to myself, with familiar butterflies fluttering around in my stomach.

This memory comes back to me in a rush when I spot her by the nurse's station at work a few days later. I guess we're working about the same shifts, which is fine with me. If I'd seen her around before, I didn't take notice, but now that she's noticed me…well, it's safe to say that I am soooo over Sadie.

I catch her eye and we share a smile. I'm pretty sure we have a moment for a full minute before I get up the nerve to go and talk to her.

"Hi," I say.

"Hi, Callie," she says brightly, as if my very existence made her day that much better.

"Um…" I hesitate. Crap. I had merely wanted to say hi, for there to be a click and a connection and for it to be easy. I always forget it's not easy. I finally ask, "How's your day so far?"

"Pretty good," she says, sipping a Starbucks. It smells like caramel something. I love caramel somethings from Starbucks. "Walk with me?" I nod, and we set off through the hospital corridors.

"So…have you been working here long?" I ask, glancing down at her. She's a couple inches shorter than me, but she stands so confidently that I feel like a tiny ant in a giraffe's presence. Something like that. I felt the same way with Erica sometimes.

"Oh, no," she says cheerfully. "I just transferred her recently from Mercy West."

"Why did you do that?" I ask. Mercy West is way up the list, compared to Seattle Grace.

"I don't know. I needed change." Something in her voice cracks and I know it's more than that. I nod. I don't want to push, so I wait for her to either go on or change the subject.

She, a trusting, talkative, social butterfly, goes on.

"I uh…I had a bad break-up. My girlfriend…well, I caught her cheating on me with a guy."

She says it so casually. It feels so familiar.

"I'm sorry," I say softly, brushing her hair out of her face. "No one deserves to have that happen to her."

The truth rings in my ears. I've been telling myself that Erica deserved it, or that she walked away from me because she was a cruel bitch, the way many of her ex-coworkers thought of her. But Erica was not the bitch. I was. Erica was nothing but a trusting, vulnerable person, much like the blonde walking next to me, and I used her. I see how much Arizona hurts when she says that she was cheated on, and now I finally see what I did to my own best friend. Arizona is ready for a change, to move on…but maybe I'm not as ready as I thought I was.

Arizona catches my eye, a knowing look in her eyes.

"Look, Callie," she says. "I'm very bad at being awkward, okay? So I'm just going to tell you straight out. I know Erica. She transferred to Mercy West a few weeks ago. She and I talked. She wanted me to tell you that maybe it wasn't so okay when she said it was, but now it is. And she misses you and wants her friend back. I don't want to be the in-between-friend or whatever—" She smiles. "But I think that you should call her. I mean...I like you, but you're not over being upset, and you won't be until you talk to her."

I realize I'm crying when she's hugging me and stroking my hair. Like Erica used to do.

"She has a girlfriend, now, you know," Arizona says. "She's doing well. But you won't be, not until you hear it from her."

I nod. "Kay," I sniff. I feel pitiful, but Arizona is the kind of person whose shoulder you can cry on upon meeting her for the second time. I guess the first time I met her I was crying, too. Wow. Great first impressions. I laugh to myself. What a way to start a future relationship. I look around and find that we're in the Peds section now. She has a job to do. So do I.

"Thank you," I say. I mean it.

"Thank you," she replies. For what, I don't know, but she means it, too. "I'll see you around." She checks me out and winks, laughing silently at my shocked expression. I bite my lip trying to hide my grin. I really like her.

She's right, though. I'm still not ready to move on. So I think I will call my best friend right now and tell her all about my new crush/prospective girlfriend. Maybe she'll tell me about hers.

I take out my phone and dial.

Ring. Ring. 3 rings and then…

"Hello?"

"Hi. Erica. …It's me. Callie. I'm really sorry. …How are you?"

I smile and start a conversation with my best friend which will last long enough that Richard Webber himself will have to get me himself and make me hang up the phone and make me do my job.

For the first time in weeks…I think I'm gonna be okay.