Title: Rush
Author: jesross
Pairing: Callie/Arizona
Rating: PG for now
Disclaimer: All television shows, movies, books, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work, and the characters, settings and events thereof, are properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context, and are not intended to be libelous, defamatory, or in any way factual.
Summary: Callie and Arizona meet when they move onto the same dormitory floor at their first day of college.
AN: This is my first post here... This is already posted at the C/A LJ community, but I thought I'd give this a try. Anyway, I really struggled getting this going, and I feel like it has started off kind of boring... I'm very open to suggestions/ideas for future chapters, so send them my way!
Callie
I felt the pace of my heartbeat rapidly increasing as we pulled up to my dorm. This was it. I was going to college. Living away from my parents for the first time ever. Moving onto a floor with 30+ girls I had never met before. I wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans and took one last deep breath for luck before stepping out of the car to start hauling my stuff up to my room.
I had facebooked several of the girls on my floor before coming, so I knew I would be greeted with at least a few friendly and somewhat familiar faces. I ran into a few of them while awkwardly dragging boxes in and out of the elevator with my parents following close behind. Of course I had to live on the 13th floor. No way could moving in be easy for me. By the time we had gotten all of my stuff in my dorm room, I was a sweaty mess and could think of nothing but showering so that my first impression on all these new people wasn't a smelly, sticky one. My mom wouldn't let me go that easily though. She cried and hugged me for at least a half hour while I silently thanked god that my new roommate wasn't present to witness this display of emotion. Her stuff was here, but I had yet to meet her. I assumed that she had gone to get lunch or something and would be back soon enough. I was also secretly terrified to let my parents leave. When they left, that meant I was really on my own. I kept my badass exterior firmly in place, but was having an internal panic attack as I watched my parents board the elevator one last time on their way out.
I immediately walked back in my room and shut the door to allow my fear to take over, even if just for a few minutes. I collapsed on my bed and sobs racked my body as I let the reality of the situation hit me. I actually was really excited to start college. I knew that this was supposed to be the best 4 years of my life, and I was thrilled about the new adventure, but just for a few minutes, I needed to let myself be scared. Just then, I heard a key turning in the lock and made my best effort to restrain my crying and pull myself together in the few brief seconds I had before the intruder saw me.
"Oh! I'm sorry. I didn't know you were here. Are you ok? I'm your new roommate, Addison, by the way – if you don't recognize me from my facebook profile."
I sniffle one last time to gather myself and force an embarrassed smile on my face. "Hi. I'm sorry. I'm fine. Parents just left and I got a little emotional. And yeah, I recognize you. I'm Callie Torres… obviously. It's nice to finally meet you in person."
Addison had assured me that she understood exactly how I was feeling and helped me calm down a little bit. We then had that conversation I knew I would have a thousand more times over the next couple of days. "What's your major?" "Where are you from?" "Why did you decide to come here?" All of those standard questions that are required in the first steps of getting to know someone. After we got that out of the way, we fell into a real conversation with surprising ease. I could tell I was really going to like her, and again sent up a prayer of thanks that I got so lucky with my roommate assignment. I had heard horror stories about college roommates, but could tell I wasn't going to have any major issues with Addison.
Arizona
After finally getting all my belongings in place in my new dorm room and taking a power nap, I decided a shower was definitely in order. Moving up to the 13th floor certainly works up a sweat. I was a little nervous about the shower situation. 30 girls sharing a bathroom could lead to some awkward moments, especially once everyone finds out about my sexual orientation. I've experienced plenty of bigotry in my life. I saw the girls in gym class waiting for me to leave before undressing to take their showers. I've had girls yell at me for just looking at them, accusing me of checking them out. These kinds of situations can make sharing a bathroom extremely uncomfortable.
As I finish up my first shower in my new home without any encounters, I wrap my towel tightly around me and gather my clothes and shower caddy and head for the exit. I am so absorbed in my thoughts on my way out, I don't even see the beautiful Latina on her way in until I'm crashing into her. Our fronts slam together, and I drop everything in my hands in favor of keeping my towel on.
"Oh my god! I'm so – I'm so sorry! I didn't even see you! I'm sorry!" I all but scream as I rush to pick up my things while struggling to keep my towel in place. This is so not the first impression I wanted to make on anyone of my new living companions… especially someone so… wow. She really is gorgeous. Stunningly beautiful. So much so that I find myself too caught up in her to even hear the words coming out of that luscious mouth.
"…really don't worry about it. Hey, are you ok?" I hear as I finally tune into what she's saying.
Oh my god, quit staring. Come on, Arizona, say something."Oh! Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry, I just – I was just startled. I'm sorry." Ugh. Smooth.
"Hey, it's ok. Everyone's a little preoccupied today I think. I'm Callie Torres. 1361. I'm assuming you live on this floor too?" she says with a smile that literally steals the breath from my chest.
Focus, Arizona! There's like a 1% chance that she's gay too, and even smaller that she'd be into you. Pull it together so that she will at least be friends with you.
"Yes. Arizona Robbins. 1359. Which I think means we're next door neighbors!"
Better. You're doing better. At least forming coherent sentences.I shoot her a dimpled grin trying to convey that I'm excited about living next to her and hoping that we can be friends.
"Fantastic! Well I'll find you after I get cleaned up and we can find something to do tonight, yeah?"
She wants to hang out with me already?! I must have pulled it together better than I thought. Or maybe she's just as desperate for new friends as I am. Who am I kidding? We all are. It's a new place with new people. Of course she's just desperate for friends. You don't have a chance Robbins.
"Sounds great Callie! See you in a while!"
Callie
I smile and give her a nod as I finally walk past her toward the showers. Before entering, I turn to catch another glimpse of her as she exits the bathroom. To my surprise, she turns at almost the exact same moment to glance back at me. I simply grin and throw a polite wave in her direction and I think I see a slight blush color her cheeks as she quickly redirects her gaze toward the floor, like she's embarrassed that I caught her turning to look at me again. She briefly meets my eyes once more before scurrying off toward her room.
I carefully arrange my clothes on the bench inside the stall so that they won't get wet and step into the stream of water. I'm grateful for these few minutes alone. I'd be lying if I said that I hadn't been walking around with a certain amount of anxiety weighing me down all day. I was excited for this new chapter in my life, but this first day was a bit overwhelming. I don't always like people. And this day was all about meeting new people and making new friends and it took a lot of my energy to force out that much affability. After collecting myself following the minor breakdown in front of my new roommate, we had ventured out around the hall to meet some of the other girls. As expected, I had almost the same conversation nearly 15 times, and was getting tired of hearing myself talk about how I was pre-med and from Miami. There were definitely some girls I could tell I was going to mesh with better than others.
Even in my extremely brief and somewhat awkward encounter with Arizona, I could tell there was something about her I liked. She looked like she was probably one of those popular girls, the type that would probably join a sorority and hook up with a select few guys while bragging about all the others she had turned down. Yet, from what I could tell of her personality, she didn't embody that stereotype at all. She seemed… sweet. And kind of nervous. There was something endearing about that.
After my shower, back in my room, Addison and I get ready for a night out with the agenda yet to be determined. She's trying on a million different pairs of heels asking me which look best. It took me all of about five minutes to choose my black pants and forest green satin top. I knew these pants fit my curves just right and the shirt exposed just enough cleavage to be tempting, but not enough to be slutty. As I'm finishing up my makeup, I see a head of blonde curls poke itself through our half-opened door. Arizona is glowing with excitement as she brings herself fully into the room.
"Hey neighbors!" she cheerfully says, smiling over at Addison and then drawing her gaze over to me through the mirror. Her eyes linger on me for a second longer than seems natural, but she doesn't seem to be meeting my eyes. Finally, she looks up to make eye contact with me in the mirror and says, "Soooo… word on the street is there's a big party at Sigma Nu tonight. You guys in?"
"Definitely!" Addison shouts without hesitation. "Frat boys, here I come!"
I chuckle and confirm my plans to attend. "Yeah, sounds good! My boyfriend's brother is in that fraternity, so we'll even know one of the brothers!"
I look back at Arizona, expecting to see her elated that we both would be joining her for the party, but her face seems to have dropped slightly.
Arizona
Boyfriend. She said boyfriend.I found myself feeling much more confident after drying off from my shower and talking to a few of the girls about finding plans for the evening. With this newly found boldness, I had decided to go invite Callie and her roommate to join us for our first big party as real college students. I was excited about feeling out the situation with her and seeing what my chances actually were with such a gorgeous specimen. But she said boyfriend. Not only is she straight, but she's taken. Shit… Well I've got a whole year with her as my next door neighbor- maybe I can change that. It'll be a challenge. But there's nothing like the thrill of the chase, right?
"Great!" I say after reaffixing the false smile on my lips. "I'm just gonna go get ready!"
I shimmy into my little black dress and strap on some killer heels after smoothing lotion on my legs and ensuring that I didn't miss any spots while shaving. I finish touching up my makeup and add a little more eyeliner for the smoky-eye effect and spray on a touch of perfume. I then turn to my roommate to make sure she is ready before we head over to get Callie and Addison from their room for the party.
"Christina, you ready?"
"Ugh. Yeah, whatever," she responds. I can tell she's not psyched about this party, but when I told her there would be unlimited free booze, she seemed to perk up a little.
I check myself in the mirror one last time, and drag Christina out the door with me.
Game on.