Hi friends! Time for another fun update of this story; we're picking right back up where we left off last time since this was technically supposed to be a part of chapter three, but I decided I'd make you wait for it. I know, I'm phenomenal. Usual disclaimers apply, it's a damn shame I own nothing, and pretty please leave a review on your way out! Enjoy the beginnings of the Japril madness. Wink.
Chapter Four
"So let me know the truth, before I dive right into you." — Dive, Ed Sheeran
Lexie was busy burning holes in Mark's skull about the bitter winds of forgetfulness when Jackson finally cleared his throat in attempt to clear the silence. "Uh, so April," he spoke up, eyes darting over at her. "Your stuff is upstairs in my room, couldn't exactly bring it with me down to the conference." He motioned back in the direction of the same way he'd came.
"Shall we?"
From beside her, Lexie had now thrown the Mark debacle swirling like an angry storm cloud in her mind to the bitter winds themselves, a strangled sort of laugh catching in her throat. For whatever reason, this was amusing to her, and April both wanted to elbow her in the chest and simultaneously demand to know why she found that so amusing. The words didn't have the chance to come out as Mark reached over to usher her along with Jackson. She stumbled a little, gathering her composure quickly and trying to swallow any of the embarrassment that had risen into her cheeks.
Jackson offered her a thin-lipped smile, his hand extended out to let her lead the way. April swore that as the two of them walked off, she could hear Mark's laugh ringing out through the lobby.
She stayed in the lead up until they rounded the corner and were officially out of Lexie and Mark's range of sight, a fortunate thing as far as she was concerned. April stepped off to the side, letting Jackson take her place since she wasn't quite sure where to go from there. He stepped past her, pressing his lips down in what she thought resembled something like a smile. Even the hallways were enough to catch her breath; this wasn't by any means the hotels they had booked along their trip and she found herself more captivated by the chandeliers along the ceiling than she was where she was walking. April hadn't even noticed Jackson had stopped walking until she nearly collided into him at full force.
"Oh—uh, sorry," she stammered out, nervous smile as her eyes met his again. Her heart was erratic beating inside of her chest.
"It's, no," was Jackson's equally apprehensive response, shaking his head. "You're fine."
She watched as he reached out, pressing the up button on the elevator and it lighting up orange underneath his finger. Things fell quiet, an awkward silence since neither of them knew what to say to the other. Jackson shoved his hands into the pockets of his slacks, rocking back on his heels as he and April both had their heads cast up looking at the monitor that was counting down the floors until it made theirs.
"So, you're a surgeon?" April finally asked.
Jackson glanced over at her for a split second, nodding. "I am, yeah."
A small laugh pushed from April's throat. "I always thought I was going to be a doctor when I was a kid," she said. "Lasted about three semesters in college. Me and Lexie both decided it wasn't for us."
"What do you do now?" he inquired as the doors of the elevator parted.
April took a quick glimpse in his direction before she started into the elevator. "I graduated with a degree in mass communications."
He followed after her, giving her space to get both her and his suitcase settled against the wall of the elevator. "Mass communications," he repeated. "That's...um, that's nice. Do you work for a news company or something?"
She shook her head. "Unemployed, actually," she admitted, wincing.
"Oh," Jackson said, eyebrows raising as he pressed the button on the panel next to the 7. She could see it written there on his face that he was unsure of how he was supposed to respond to that question. He fell silent again, hands falling back by his sides and his eyes keeping far away from anywhere she was. The entire situation was a particular discomfort, and he was under the impression he'd only made it that much worse.
After what felt like an eternity of silence and steadily moving upwards, April felt the jolt of the floor underneath them as a signal of their arrival. The doors peeled back again, Jackson swiveling around before he made any move to get out.
"I can take that," he offered, pointing down at his suitcase. "You've had to carry around someone else's luggage long enough."
For whatever reasons, she hesitated for a brief moment before realizing he was right, and she had no reason to be holding onto the handle as though it was some sort of lifeline. She relinquished it, her hands quickly falling to her sides as he took it from her and exited the elevator. She followed, at a safe distance as he made his way through the halls to wherever his room was. Behind her back, she was tugging and pulling at her hands, the anxiety growing in her chest the closer and closer she got to her stuff. Her notebook, the missing puzzle piece of her sanity.
Jackson finally stopped in front of one of the identical doors with a golden '729' on it, drawing the key card from his pocket and swiping it through in one fluid motion. He pushed down on the door handle, starting in before he realized April was standing off on the wall, not moving. "You can come inside," he said. "Nothing in here you're not allowed to see."
His features were soft as he spoke, April feeling the heat beginning to rise in her cheeks as she trailed behind him inside. She was careful not to shut the door all of the way as she stepped inside, Jackson continuing on to more than likely go fetch her belongings.
"This is...nice," she complimented, rubbing at the back of her neck, knowing that that was certainly an understatement. "I mean, I'm sure being here for a medical conference doesn't hurt."
He glanced up, having walked around to the opposite side of the bed where she could see her suitcase was propped up against one of the chairs next to the coffee table. "It is. It's just a bed though, I don't really ever pay much attention to the rest of this stuff." He paused for a moment. "Well, except for the room service menu and mini fridge. I do utilize those."
"I believe this belongs to you," Jackson said, walking out from behind his bed with her suitcase in tow. He rolled it up in front of her, hands folding behind his back as he let go and let her have at it. "And I didn't go through any of your stuff, don't worry."
"Yeah...um, I didn't quite figure out that I had your stuff until I accidentally found—" April shook her head. "You know what? Don't worry about it. Everything's where it was in yours. Everything." She didn't go much farther than that, out of fear of her face catching flames just having to recall that memory.
Having her own belongings back in her grasp was a wave of relief that had crashed into her, most of her nerves having subsided. The ride back downstairs was easy; this had been just as simple as she'd prayed it would be, and if Lexie could keep Mark quiet long enough they'd still have time to make it to the London Eye before dinner.
April turned the corner back into the lobby, where she saw both Mark and Lexie sitting down in the chair she'd previously occupied. Lexie was sitting on Mark's lap, the two of them looking at something on her phone with their heads pressed together. They were so immersed in the conversation—and one another—that it was as though the rest of the world didn't exist to them. The two of them, as annoyingly disgusting as they could be, made a picturesque couple and there was no denying that.
Lexie, however, was much more aware of her surroundings even when she was swept up in the world of Mark, head lifting only for a moment when she spotted April. She sprung up from Mark's lap, meeting her halfway. "Did you get everything?" she asked. April nodded.
Mark had also left his seat, joining the three of them and sidling up to Jackson. So much for the London Eye, April thought to herself.
"So, Avery," Mark began, clapping his hand down on Jackson's shoulder. "How long are you in town for?"
"My flight leaves tomorrow evening," he replied, awkwardly bending under the force of Mark's hand.
"Are you going back to work?" Jackson shook his head.
"Nah, I've got the next week and a half off. Decided to cash in a few vacation days after I wear off from the jet lag and everything," he said, before rectifying his statement. "Well, they told me if I didn't take a few days they were going to have to ban me from the OR. Apparently there's such a thing as working too much."
"Nice to know you haven't forgotten how you were raised," Mark beamed. The look on Mark's face was the very thing that all bad ideas themselves feared. "But you know, if you've got the next little bit off, you should hang around and stay with us."
"I'm sorry, what?"
"Have you lost your mind?"
April and Lexie both spluttered the first thing that came to their minds simultaneously, twin expressions of sheer shock on their faces as they stared at Mark. Jackson was visibly uncomfortable now, trying not to shrink under the weight of Mark's hand on his shoulder and duck out at the last minute. Meanwhile, Mark was sound in his decision. "Yeah," he replied, having convinced himself of his supposed genius idea in two seconds flat and now trying to recruit the girls. "There's plenty of room for Avery, it'll be even more fun. I'll have someone to occupy me if you and Kepner ever want to break off and go do your touristy shit by yourself, it's perfect."
It was clear on Jackson's face that the conversation had taken a drastic left turn, one that he was about as keen on as April and Lexie were. "Mark, you don't have to—"
"Where's he going to sleep, Mark?" Lexie asked, her voice strained.
Mark shrugged. "He can sleep with Kepner."
April nearly choked, almost dropping her suitcase handle. "I'm—"
Lexie came to her rescue before she had the chance to utter out anything, granting her brain let her. "He can sleep with you, you mean," she corrected. "Your friend."
Again, Jackson was trying to intervene and change Mark's already made-up mind. "Sloan, seriously man, we can meet up sometime when you guys get home; I really don't want to impose on your trip."
"Nonsense!"
"That's exactly what you're speaking," Lexie bit back.
"Oh, come on Lex," Mark groaned. "It's fate. You and Kepner over there are big believers in fate."
April raised her hand slowly. "Actually, I believe in divine intervention but...I guess kinda it's the same thing."
Mark motioned in her direction, giving Lexie a pointed look. "If Saint Kepner agrees—"
"—never said that—"
"C'mon, Lex. He was my mini me when I was still at Pres."
"Mark Sloan, if we ever enter a world where two of you exist, I'd have to jump off a bridge in order to keep my sanity in tact," Lexie swore. Mark rolled his eyes.
"You are the biggest drama queen I have ever met in my life."
"Wanna bet? I'm not having sex with you for a week," she promised, folding her arms over her chest. Mark stared at her, jaw falling slightly agape. Lexie simply shook her head in reply, pursing her lips together. "You weren't supposed to be on this girls trip anyways, and now here you are pulling strays."
One of Mark's eyebrows lifted. "Is this you saying yes?"
Lexie glanced over at April for her consent, who could only shrug complacently in reply. The trip had already been shot to hell anyways, going with the flow at this point was all she could do unless she wanted for it to backfire. At the very least, it'd make for great writing material, and seeing Mark and Lexie bicker was always quite the entertainment.
They wouldn't see Jackson again until after his conference wrapped up the next day, Mark having to bribe the lady down at the front desk of their own hotel to keep their room for an extra night as they'd gotten pushed back a little on schedule. He'd met them at their hotel, a significant step down from Grosvenor House as far as April was concerned before they'd gone out for the evening, Mark insisting upon a night out at a pub as their something low-key before the drive to their next stop in the morning.
Mark went downstairs to watch for Jackson, while Lexie and April finished getting ready in the tiny bathroom. April was sitting on the closed toilet, Lexie perched on top of the sink with both of her feet stationed on either side of April to hold her in place. She was finishing up her handiwork on April's eyeliner; Lexie always loved to use April as a blank canvas whenever the time called for either of them to wear makeup, and April had long since figured out it was best to let her do as she pleased. There'd only been one occasion, really, where it had been disastrous.
Lexie's lips had parted into an 'O' as she went about her work, April staring up at the ceiling and trying not to move any at risk of possibly going blind. "Do you think this is a good idea?" she asked.
"Absolutely not," Lexie said without hesitation. "Any idea that comes out of my boyfriend's mind is never a good one. Do you not remember when he tried to surprise us by decorating the apartment for Christmas?"
April blinked twice as Lexie moved the pencil away from her face for a moment, taking another glimpse at her handiwork. "He almost set our apartment on fire."
"My point exactly."
She pressed both of her lips together, watching as Lexie twisted her body around and reached into the sink for where she'd dumped out all of the makeup she'd brought, searching for something. "I mean, I think Jackson seems nice, don't you?"
Lexie turned back around, tube of lip gloss in her hands. "Yeah," she conceded. "He seems nice. Then again, Kep, you and I have different ideas of what constitutes as nice." She twisted the cap off, holding up the wand as she shrugged. "Look at who Mark was when I met him."
Well, she certainly made a point.
"I don't know, though," Lexie continued, motioning for April to pucker her lips. "I mean, out of all of us, I've been around him the least. So I guess I'm just kinda going off of what you have to say."
"And all the praises Mark keeps singing," April added. Lexie rolled her eyes.
"That man's the very one who paves all the roads to hell with those good intentions of his," she muttered. She capped the lip gloss back once she was finished, leaning away from April carefully to ensue she herself didn't fall into the sink. "You look like a dream, Kep."
"I wouldn't without any of your help." Lexie frowned at that, reaching behind April's back and pulling her hair forward, twirling it a little.
"Stop it, you're always pretty, even without my experimenting." She retracted her feet, spinning around on the sink and leaping down. "Now come on, the boys will be back up here any minute." April took the hand Lexie had extended to her, pulling herself up.
Right about the time Lexie and April had made it out into the small living area, voices were coming from the other side of the door. They only got louder when the sound of the key in the door clicked, Mark pushing the door open. April glanced over as she slipped her sweater on, the two of them all smiles and laughing as they came walking in.
"Hi ladies," Mark sang as he pressed himself up against the door and letting Jackson walk in. "We're back."
"I've got eyes, Mark," Lexie informed him dryly, glancing up from putting her shoes on only to shoot him a look.
"Don't mind her, she's still being hostile. You can go put your stuff in my room, Avery, it's the one on the other side of the bathroom." He sent Jackson on his way, patting him on the back as he ushered him in the right direction. His face twisted up as he passed, scowling at Lexie, even though she didn't pay him any attention.
Seeing the two of them at each other's throats, even over some of the most trivial things was always amusing on April's behalf. Lexie and Mark were certainly different people on all accounts, and the fact that they even made it work at all sometimes baffled her. It was moments like these that reminded her Lexie's luck would never allow her to have any sort of perfect relationship, and that so long as Mark Sloan was involved, things were always apt to flip on their heads at any given moment.
"Kepner, you look nice," he complimented as he walked over, leaning up against the back of a chair slid up to the edge of their small dining room table. "You should wear your hair down like that more often."
"Uh...thanks," April muttered.
Jackson came back out of what had been Mark and Lexie's bedroom, and now was only inhabited by Mark. Lexie had ceremoniously moved all of her belongings into April's bedroom the night after April had gotten her luggage back, and while April didn't mind her friend's presence in her room, it made it a lot harder to write in bed with Lexie snuggled up to her like she was a human body pillow. He was dressed down compared to the last time she'd seen him, wearing jeans and a black t-shirt. Even in a suit, she noticed, his eyes were still his defining feature. They looked more green today.
He smiled when he caught her staring, and she could feel the goofy grin start to etch itself over her lips. "Hey, April," he said, a small wave following.
"Hi."
"Alright kids, who's ready to go get wasted?" Mark announced, clapping his hands together after throwing his leather jacket over his shoulder.
"Is that all you ever think about?" Lexie groaned.
He winked at her, retreating back towards the door. "Among other things."
She rolled her eyes, walking straight out of the door he'd opened and not bothering to wait up for him or anyone else.
They hailed a cab out front; Lexie, April, and Jackson all cramming themselves in the back seat while Mark, once again, hopped up front despite it being permissible or not. April found herself in the unfortunate position of the middle seat, awkwardly trying to give Jackson his space without sitting entirely in Lexie's lap at the same time. Mark knew exactly what pub they were headed to, giving their driver the name of the place and they were off.
Mark talked the whole way there, to their driver, to Jackson, even to himself on occasion, and in April's mind, it was a miracle the driver didn't stop in the middle of the road and let Mark out to walk the rest of the way. Lexie had her arm tightly wound around April's, rolling her eyes and mumbling under her breath every couple of comments he made. If there was one thing she knew for sure, it was that Lexie was ridiculously loyal to April, almost to a fault. The fault here was that if Mark wasn't careful, Lexie was going to push him out in front of a car and not think twice.
She understood where Lexie's agitation derived from, the fact that April had been hesitant enough about letting Mark accompany them on what was supposed to be their trip and now Mark was doing as he pleased, and she appreciated it. Perhaps took a little too much pleasure from it, sure, but she still appreciated it, even though she'd let go of this trip ever going her way the minute she pulled out condoms instead of her notebook.
They arrived at the pub, both Jackson and Lexie exiting from their respective sides and leaving April in the middle with her pick of the trade. She shot a grateful smile in Jackson's direction before following after Lexie.
Jackson held the door open for all of them as they walked inside, falling in line behind April. Mark, who had taken the lead, was already beelining off to an empty table tucked away along the wall. "Thanks," she told Jackson, looking over her shoulder at him and giving him a smile.
"What?" The live music that was blaring out throughout the pub was conveniently located right next to the entrance, making it hard to hear anything.
She threw her thumb over her shoulder. "The door. Thanks for holding it."
"Oh, yeah. No problem," he replied, rubbing at the back of his neck. She could see it on his face, him finding it a little odd at her explicitly thanking him for just holding the door open for her, but it was how she'd been raised. You treat people the way you'd want them to treat you, and you be appreciative when someone does something nice for you.
"First round of drinks is on Lexie," Mark announced to the group devilishly, as Jackson and April sat down at the table Mark had gotten for them, April sliding into the seat next to her best friend. Lexie sat up a little straighter, removing her head from where she'd had it propped on her fist, eyebrows furrowing together. He pulled out his wallet, opening it enough to flash that he'd swiped her card at some point in time.
"You little—"
The smile on Mark's face was a goddamn sin. "Love you too, baby." Before she could lunge over the table, he darted off in direction of the bar.
"I...hate him," Lexie sputtered furiously, sulking back into her seat. April could only reach out and pat her shoulder reassuringly.
"There, there," she muttered apathetically.
"How did you deal with him through your whole residency?" Lexie asked, leaning across the table and dragging Jackson into the conversation.
He simply shrugged. "Same way you dealt with him enough to sleep with him for the last three years of your life."
Lexie frowned. "Touché."
Mark returned a few moments later, trying to balance all four beers without spilling them on himself or anyone else. "Alright, drinks are here! Thanks Lex," he deliberately said, winking at her.
"Die," she spat at him, snatching a beer out of his hand before he had the chance to set them on the table and back away.
Jackson's eyes widened a little, both eyebrows hitting his hairline. "You two sure are an interesting couple," he commented dryly. April snorted, Lexie downed nearly half of her beer in one go, and Mark just threw his arm around Jackson.
"So Avery, tell me about everything I've missed out on. How's Tulane?" Mark asked.
"It's, um, well it's Tulane. New Orleans isn't New York by any means, but it's pretty fun; the night life is always busy which means I'm always going to have a job in plastics. And there's Mardi Gras to look forward to whenever we get to our rotation to go out and celebrate instead of working shift."
"That's my boy!" Mark exclaimed, looking over at Lexie pointedly. "See, I keep telling you we ought to go to Mardi Gras."
"You just want an excuse to party. You're—"
"Don't you dare say it," he warned, while Lexie mouthed the words 'almost forty' at him. "I still know how to have fun, unlike you, Grandma."
Both of Lexie's eyebrows went shooting up towards her scalp. "I'm no fun?"
"O-kay," April sang, intervening while she had the chance and locked her elbow around Lexie's arm. She rested her head on Lexie's shoulder, batting her eyes. "We're in London. Drink, stop bitching. Please."
Lexie rolled her eyes as she brought her beer back up to her lips, and Mark simply kept going with his conversation with Jackson.
That was how it went for the next half hour; Lexie and April immersed in their own little conversation while they scrolled away on their phones and Mark and Jackson talking about suturing techniques. Occasionally, they'd mix and talk among the four of them for a few seconds before splitting back off, April's eyes meeting Jackson's every so often as they both found themselves wandering away. She wondered what was going on inside of his head, if he had any idea what he'd signed up for.
April knew she had the lowest tolerance out of Lexie and Mark, that much wasn't a secret. Lexie could usually keep up with Mark while leaving April off in the dust after a few drinks. The two of them had each only gone through one and a half beers before Lexie was in Mark's lap leaving no room for Jesus or anything else in between them, her back pressed up against the wall as they made out, giggling like a bunch of teenagers as Mark's hand made its way up her shirt. No wonder he'd gotten a table at the very back corner of the joint. He knew how this was all going to play out: the two of them had always been something like a hurricane once they really got comfortable with one another.
"I'm uh, going to go get another drink," April said to absolutely no one, seeing as how Mark and Lexie weren't paying them any attention. Jackson seemed to be just as uncomfortable as she was, was quick to jump up.
"I'll go with you."
They walked up to the bar together, the both of them eager to get away from Lexie and Mark's obscene amount of PDA. April knew it was only a matter of time before it'd come to the two of them abandoning their posts of firing at one another. She leaned up against the counter, glancing around to see where the bartender had vanished off to. "Another Guiness," she requested after catching his attention.
"Same thing," Jackson chimed in from behind her before the bartender disappeared from sight once again.
April spun back around slowly, arms crossing. "Not what you had expected when you signed up to tag along on this trip, huh?" she asked.
"Not entirely, no. But it's Mark, it kind of comes with the territory."
"Makes sense," she replied.
"I'm guessing the two of them can't really stay mad at each other for long," Jackson pointed out, both he and April watching the two of them. Only the bartender sliding both of their drinks across the counter in their direction tore them away from watching the sight, him giving them a firm nod before he went back to tending to the rest of his customers. They went back to looking at Lexie and Mark, April now unable to tell where one ended and the other began.
April's face twisted up. "Not really, no. Kinda disappointing, they're more fun when they're at each other's throats and not...down one another's throats." She sighed. "You any good at darts?" she offered, shrugging.
"I'm okay," he replied. "But it sounds like a lot more fun than watching the two of them make out."
"Agreed." April grabbed her beer from off the bar top as she and Jackson made their way over to the dartboard up on the wall on the opposite side of the bar. She knew Lexie and Mark wouldn't have even noticed they'd disappeared, and it was probably a good thing that they'd distanced themselves from the couple. It was only a matter of time now before they headed off for the bathroom hand in hand.
"So, how'd you meet Lexie? I'm assuming that's how you met Mark," Jackson reasoned as he moved to grab the abandoned stack of darts at the table nearest the board.
"Oh, what? Do I not look like Sloan's type?" April asked, head tilting to the side as she sat her drink down on an empty table nearby. Jackson turned around, lifting both of his hands in mock arrest.
"Hey, you said it, not me."
"You're right," she admitted after a moment, cupping her hands as Jackson extended his fist balled up with the darts over them. He gave her three to start with, and she sat them down next to her drink. "We're not much of each other's type. Besides, the first time I met him he was using my shower, and that first and last glimpse of all of Mark Sloan was enough to scar me for life."
Jackson chuckled at that. "You wanna go first or me?" April gestured out towards him, giving him the floor.
She leaned up against the table, both arms folded over her chest as she watched him. "Did you voluntarily become Mark's protégé or did he rope you into it?"
"What do you think?" he asked, glancing over his shoulder before throwing the first dart. "'Course he roped me into it. My mother wanted me to follow in her footsteps, go into urology. I was kind of grateful he snatched me too; the only person more stubborn than Catherine Avery is Sloan." He threw another dart as emphasis, it landing a little closer to the bulls-eye than the last one had. He had pretty decent aim.
"And you never answered my question," he reminded her as he threw his last dart onto the board, hitting closer to his second try than his first. "How'd you meet Lexie?"
April walked around him, her set of darts in hand. He moved off to the side, back against the wall as he took another drink of his beer. "Lexie and I were roommates our sophomore year of college; we were Myspace friends and—"
"Myspace? Damn."
She gave him a look, before focusing her attention back on the dartboard. "We were Myspace friends and she'd posted something about looking for a roommate spring semester. My roommate was transferring, and I'd recognized Lexie from one of our generic university courses; it was hard not to recognize her, really. She was pretty popular, played softball and everything. We met up a few times for coffee and decided we'd go for it since we were both med majors, and the rest is history. Literally."
"What does Lexie do now?"
"She majored with a degree in political science, she's done all kinds of different over the last four and a half years." She shrugged, throwing two darts in a row at the board. "She's always been the most versatile of the both of us. I've never known the girl to keep a hairstyle for longer than six months."
"A hairstyle?" Jackson repeated.
"In the nine years I've known her, she's been blonde four times. Every single time she does it, she immediately regrets it and wants to go back darker, and I have to remind her that she can't use the whole 'it doesn't look right' excuse anymore. Then there was that time she cut her bangs. And then cut all her hair off. Like I said, Lexie's definitely the most versatile."
"I don't know," Jackson said, rolling his shoulders in a shrug as April lined up her last dart before throwing. "I think the red hair can be pretty versatile."
"You do know what versatile means, right?" she asked, eyebrows furrowing together as she moved out of his way so he could start his next turn.
"Well I had to get into medical school somehow, Kepner."
They did another three rounds after that, the two of them languidly throwing darts in the middle of their conversations. Jackson asked April about what drew her to mass comms after wanting to be a doctor for so long, and she implored more on what medical school was like just to reaffirm that she'd been smart in getting out when she had. College talk morphed into job talk, job talk evolved into talk about the little things in life, like if April was really a natural redhead (she wasn't) or where Jackson got his blue-green eyes from (his father). Lexie and Mark and their borderline encounters in indecent exposure were long forgotten, up until April realized she was empty and glanced back over in the direction of the bar. Of course, Lexie and Mark were still necking like a bunch of horny teenagers, and they were starting to draw a few more looks than they had to begin with.
"I think the two of them are done for the evening," April noted.
"We probably need to get them out of here."
April looked over at Jackson, one of her eyebrows quirking in response. "Well the only thing prying them off of one another is the jaws of life, so yeah."
Getting Lexie off of Mark long enough to tell them that they were calling a cab and heading back to the hotel room proved a little bit of a struggle—out of the three of them, April definitely didn't have the arm strength on either—and April had to walk behind the incredibly touchy pair to make sure they kept walking towards the exit. Jackson had gone outside ahead of time to flag down a cab, both Mark and Lexie tumbling in gleefully and laughing as their hands started to roam once again. April went to follow after them when Jackson stopped her.
"You sit up front," he told her, motioning towards the door.
"Are you sure?" she asked. "Because they're going to make out the whole way there, I know, and they're obviously a bit much and I've unfortunately dealt with it before so I can—"
One of Jackson's hands came down on her shoulder, stopping her mid-ramble. "It's okay. Sit up front."
She felt bad for abandoning Jackson in the backseat; she wanted nothing more than to turn around and continue their conversation, which she'd been enjoying despite the fact only a few hours ago he'd still been the mystery guy who had possession of her luggage that she wanted to see long enough to get rid of his things, but she was hesitant at what she might see in the process. Every so often, she'd catch Jackson's eyes in the rearview mirror, shooting him apologetic smiles the whole way.
Mark and Lexie were long gone by the time Jackson and April had barely stepped foot out of the cab, the two of them more than likely racing back to Mark's bedroom before either of them had the chance to see anything that wasn't necessary.
"You know, I had fun tonight kicking your ass at darts," Jackson noted as they made their way for the stairs in a languid fashion, in absolutely no hurry to embark back upstairs.
April scoffed. "Who says you won?"
"The numbers don't lie."
"Oh, whatever." She paused for a moment, still ascending up the stairs slowly. "I had fun letting you kick my ass tonight," she said, launching into a full-blown explanation she hadn't even intended on letting fall off her tongue. "Mark and Lexie always try not to get like that too much whenever I'm around, because we're all friends and Lexie really feels bad whenever she thinks she's made me feel like the third wheel but sometimes they get a little swept away." April kept shuffling along, looking over her shoulder at Jackson. "I don't know, it's just nice having someone to third-wheel with me."
Jackson was smiling by the time they reached their floor; it was genuine, but there was still the trace of mischief lingering. "So you admit that I beat you."
"I believe I used the word letting in that sentence," April reminded him, swinging the door open.
As they made their way down the hall, April could see that the room to their suite was the one that was kicked wide open, and she sighed internally at the sight upon arrival. She didn't even have to glance down the hall inside to know that there'd be both a tie on Mark's bedroom door and another tie on the bathroom door that lead into their bedroom.
Jackson followed in behind her, closing the door. She hadn't moved very far, still staring at the blue and grey tie hanging around the door handle. "Everything okay?" he asked quietly.
April scratched behind her ear, turning around. "Um, kind of, it's just...well, if the two of them are in there..." she trailed off, hoping he'd get the hint. She watched as his face fell a little.
"They're probably not coming out again tonight for Lexie to switch beds." April nodded. "That's fine, I can take the couch."
April glanced over at the tiny, pathetic excuse of a chair that the hotel had deemed a couch, frowning. "That's not even a couch, it's more like an armchair. You can't sleep on that, not if we're still leaving tomorrow." She paused, and then the words came flying out of her mouth before she could even contemplate what they meant in her mind. "You can just sleep in my room."
His eyes threatened to leap from his skull. "Are...are you sure, April? I mean, that's...you really don't have to, I can sleep over there," he whispered. "It's fine, I promise."
"I'll sleep better at night knowing that you're not forever going to have back problems because of Mark and Lexie's inability to keep their hands off one another." From the depths of Mark's bedroom, someone—Lexie, probably—laughed.
Jackson followed behind her tentatively into her bedroom, still choosing to lurk by the door as April went around to the nightstand and fetched her pajamas from the night before. "I'm serious, April, you don't have to do this—I mean, you barely know me."
April's head shot up, red hair flying in her face. He certainly made a point, and she was all about to agree with him up until she hear rather concerning noises from Mark's bedroom. She shook her head, tucking the ball of clothing underneath her arms. "I'm uh, gonna go change. Brush my teeth. Make yourself comfortable, I guess," she said before darting off into the bathroom.
Was this a bad idea, just as Jackson himself had reiterated? Yes, of course. She'd never hear the end of it from Lexie the next morning—"April Kepner, you slept with a strange man in your bed? Who are you and what have you done with the real April?"—and Mark would be all too pleased to join in on the teasing, no doubt. She'd only ever been kissed three times in her life, and all of her promises that she made to God when she was a young child still stood firm. Sharing a bed with a man, a man she barely knew at that, was probably the worst idea she'd ever had in her life. But she felt bad; bad because Jackson had gotten roped into this world without any warnings, bad because Lexie and Mark couldn't stay mad at one another long enough for her to at least learn Jackson's middle name before sharing any close proximity of space with him, bad because one look at that armchair even made her lumbar region ache. It was a war over being virtuous April over generous April, and generous April always won.
Sure enough, after she'd finished brushing her teeth, shimmying into her pajamas and tying her hair back, she'd all but talked herself into it. God, was this going to make a good entry for tomorrow's journal on the train ride.
She came out hesitantly, pushing the door slowly to make sure Jackson was decent. He'd sat down on the far edge of the bed, almost jumping up in alert once he realized she was standing there. April came out slowly, throwing the ball of her clothes into the open suitcase inside of the closet before she went about turning the sheets back.
Jackson, for whatever reason, had his eyes cast down towards the floor and was rubbing sheepishly at the back of his neck. "April—"
"No, it's fine," she automatically reassured him, throwing one of the pillows she'd stacked up on her side of the bed to where she'd already mapped out in her mind where Jackson was going to sleep. "You stay on your side, I stay on mine, it'll all be alright."
"That's..." He shook his head. "That wasn't what I was going to say. I was going to say I don't think I'm going to be able to go in Mark's room and get my pajamas, and I was going to ask you if it's okay if I. You know. Sleep without a shirt on." April glanced up at him, and he immediately launched into an explanation. "I mean, if you're not comfortable with it, that's totally fine, I get it, I just, these jeans are bad enough and I really don't want to have to take those off if I can at all help it—"
"No," April cut him off, her voice an octave higher than normal. "No, that's, uh, that's okay." Was it, April? She could hear her subconscious almost mocking her; her heart was the knot in her throat as she tried to keep otherwise idle body busy, moving around and making sure the entire bed was turned down.
She climbed on into bed, claiming her spot and feeling as though she'd just crawled into a coffin at the same time due to the rigidness of her body. She was trying not to watch Jackson, trying to give him the benefit of the doubt even though he'd simply just turned around to take his shirt off and throw it into the chair sitting next to the dresser. April nestled on down into the covers, reaching over for the lamp and switching hers off.
She kept her back to Jackson, heart hammering in her chest so hard she was terrified he could hear it. There was rustling from beside her, the bed dipping off to the side as he more than likely climbed in next to her. She was rock solid, a force of nature who was not going to tear her eyes off the closet doors for anything. "Goodnight, April," Jackson said, ripping through the awkward silence that had settled over them the same way April had burrowed under all of her blankets. His voice was right there, and she could already feel the heat radiating off of his body that was merely a few inches away. The bed seemed so much smaller with the two of them in it. When it had been Lexie sharing the space with her, it was spacious, and now April was scared if she moved even a hair she was accidentally going to touch him and make these even more uncomfortable.
"Goodnight, Jackson," she whispered, before clenching her eyes to begin her nightly prayers in her head, prayers she knew she was going to have to say quite a few more of for tonight.
The lights went out entirely as Jackson flipped his lamp off, and April's heart sank to her ankles.
A long overdue update, sure, but I made sure to make it up to you by making it a long one this time! Next chapter we won't be in London anymore, any guesses as to where our favorite foursome is off to next? First person who guesses right gets a shoutout in the A/N of next chapter, and if someone gets it right, I'll update just a little bit faster. The Japril burn has begun. See you guys back here real soon. xo