Hi Guys,
This will be the beginning of Ashton's romantic life! Pretty exciting. Please read and review. Reviews really do inspire me to write faster, and I read everyone. That being said, if you have any requests, you can write it in the reviews or PM me, as always. Thanks for all your support!
-allANN
Seven days later, Ashton was comfortably into her routine of avoiding Callie and Arizona. Or, more specifically, avoiding being alone with Callie or Arizona. But it was on the seventh day of her self-proclaimed, lifelong mission, that Mark dropped a bombshell.
On Thursday afternoon, Mark and Ashton were at the coffee cart. They stood in line and each purchased their favourite pastry (they didn't allow themselves to drink coffee after 3pm). The two found a small table set up by the cart and sat, munching away. "So what are you doing tomorrow night?" Mark asked casually.
"I'm going to a party," Ashton replied, with the same degree of nonchalance.
Mark almost choked on his chocolate chip muffin, and had to finish coughing before responding. "You're doing what? You're going to a party?"
"No," Ashton responded flatly. "When have I ever gone to a party? I can't believe you believed me..." She trailed off, snickering.
Mark coughed one last time, "you're the worst. I could have died, and you're laughing."
"Relax, you're fine," Ashton said, exasperatedly.
Mark frowned slightly at her. "Well, I do have plans."
After 30 seconds of silence, Ashton sighed, "would you like to share your plans?"
"Oh, me?" Mark feigned looking around for someone else. "Okay, if you insist. I," he said pausing for emphasis, "have a date with Lexi."
This time it was Ashton's turn to be surprised. "Are you bullshitting me for getting you earlier?"
"Language," Mark said, automatically. "Nope, I am 100% serious. I have a date with Lexi tomorrow night."
A smile crept onto Ashton's lips, "Well done, my friend," she said, raising her hand for a high-five to which Mark promptly slapped.
"There's just one little thing," Mark started tentatively. Ashton raised her eyebrow in question. "We both finish our shifts at 10 at night, so we're going on a date after. Which means, since I don't want you spending the night alone, you'll be with-"
Ashton cut him off, "Callie and Arizona."
"Yeah. I know you're on the outs with them right now, though I don't know why, but it's Lex, so please could you just be civil?" Mark all but begged.
Ashton nodded, resignedly. "But I do have to bring up the question, why aren't you guys just waiting until like next week? Instead of going on a date at 10 o'clock..."
"We couldn't find a time soon and we couldn't wait that long," Mark smiled, sappily.
"Blegh," Ashton said, pushing back her chair and standing. "I'm going to cardio, I need a hard dose of dark and twisty after listening to you talk about Lexi."
"Cynic," Mark called at her back as she walked away.
The next day, Ashton walked into the hospital around 6pm, after her soccer game. She took a long shower in the intern bathrooms, got dressed, then began making her way to the attending's lounge. When she finally entered the lounge it was five minutes before seven. Callie was already in there, changing out of her scrubs and chatting with Cristina. Ashton sat as far away as possible from Callie, dreading this night and being in a small, confined space, alone, with Callie and Arizona. Arizona walked in with Karev, giving him some last minute instructions for the night. When she finished changing, she and Callie stood and turned to Ashton.
"Ready, Ash?" Callie asked.
"As ready as I ever will be," Ashton responded, taking the question as though it were referring to the whole night ahead of her.
Arizona smiled, understanding the joke. "How's pizza for everyone?" She asked.
"Sure," Callie responded.
"Sausage?" Ashton asked hopefully.
"Yup, sausage it is," Arizona said, dialing the pizza place's number. She finished ordering just as they reached the entrance to their apartment building. They rode the elevator in silence, and Ashton braced herself one last time as Callie unlocked the door. The girl was not ready for the conversation she knew was coming.
Ashton immediately collapsed onto the couch. Callie and Arizona went to change out of their work clothes. Arizona came out of the bedroom first. But to Ashton's relief, she walked towards the kitchen instead of the couch. The woman began preparing a simple salad, and just as Callie finally exited the bedroom, the doorbell rang.
"I got it," Callie said, heading for the door. Callie returned with a pizza, setting it down on the coffee table instead of in the kitchen. Arizona joined them a moment late with plates, forks, and a salad. "Thanks, love," Callie murmured, kissing Arizona on the cheek. Arizona smiled slightly, turning her head to claim a real kiss on the lips. Ashton dug into the pizza while she waited for them to finish. It was pretty adorable, but equally gross, as they had become her aunts, and family PDA was always sort of gross.
Finally, Arizona plopped down on the coach next to Callie. Both of them grabbed pizza and started to eat. "So Ash, how was school?" Arizona began.
Ashton rolled her eyes, "Boring."
"Did you learn anything?" Callie asked.
"They have to teach for me to learn," Ashton mumbled around a mouthful of pizza. It was not lost on her, though, that this exact conversation had happened seven days before in the lobby of the hospital.
"Do you have any friends, Ash?" Arizona asked, genuinely curious.
Ashton looked mildly offended, "Of course I have friends. I'm an incredibly likeable person."
Callie scoffed, "According to whom?"
"According to me," Ashton responded snappily, yet jokingly.
"How come we haven't met any of them? And why don't you ever see them outside of school?" Arizona inquired.
"I have to spend six hours a day with them, five days a week, 30 weeks a year. Why would I want to add to that already extremely large dividend?"
"I hear that," Callie responded. Arizona frowned slightly, humphing. "Not everyone's a social butterfly, love."
"Hey! I can be social if I want to!" Ashton defended herself.
"In what context?" Arizona asked, laughing.
"Ouch. That cut real deep," Ashton glared, sarcastically.
"Do you have a significant other?" Callie queried, innocently.
There it was. Ashton shouldn't have been surprised, but somehow the question still managed to catch her off-guard. "No, you already drilled me on that when Jon was here."
"Oh, yeah. And you said you weren't interested in him. Could it have something to do with the fact that he's the wrong gender?" Arizona asked, gently.
"I have to use the bathroom," Ashton stood up abruptly.
Arizona sighed. "You can't avoid us forever, Ash," she called after the girl.
When Ashton returned several minutes later, she sat down on one of the chairs adjacent to the couch, her left leg bouncing quickly. "How did you guys know you were–, know you liked girls?" Ashton rephrased her question.
Callie started threading her fingers through Arizona's hair, as the blonde doctor's head was now resting on her lap, "I'm not going to be very helpful in this department."
"Why not?" Ashton almost pleaded.
"I didn't figure out I was bisexual until I was, jeez, probably 27ish," Callie responded.
"I'll take this one then," Arizona shifted her head to face Ashton's rigid body. "I was fourteen when I knew, but I didn't tell anyone until I was fifteen."
"But how did you know?" Ashton repeated her question.
"I had more than friendly feelings towards a couple of my girl friends, and I found myself looking at girls a lot more in passing. Like you were the other day," Arizona said, trying to make eye contact with Ashton.
Ashton looked down at her hands, the cracking of her knuckles popping loudly throughout the room. "You were doing that last week, yeah?" Callie prompted, hoping to make Ashton open up a little bit.
"Yeah," Ashton almost whispered, still refusing to make eye contact.
"It's nothing to be ashamed of Ash. She was hot. I looked at her too," Arizona tried, again. "No offense, sweetie," she said to Callie, quietly.
"Okay, so, what if, if, I, uh...do like girls?" Ashton asked, hesitantly.
"So nothing, sweetheart. That's just it, it doesn't matter. We just want you to be happy, and anyone who cares about you just wants that too," Callie said, smiling warmly at the vulnerable girl in front of her.
Ashton's posture relaxed slightly. "So do you?" Arizona pressed, wanting the girl to say it out loud.
"Yeah, I..uh..I do. I'm getting more water. Does anyone want some?"
"I'll have some," Callie passed the girl her glass.
Ashton returned moments later, first setting her own glass down, then handing the second one to Callie.
"Thanks. Do you have a thing for brunettes?" Callie asked as she set down her glass.
"Uh..why, why do you ask?" Ashton stumbled over her words, frantically trying to remember when she could have mentioned that.
"Over the past few weeks, I've noticed all the girls you've looked at have been brunettes. I think you have a type," Callie teased.
Ashton sighed in relief. The girl was relieved Callie hadn't asked why brunettes were her type right now. Because of a certain someone who was perfectly brunette. "I don't know. If I do, it's subconscious," Ashton mumbled.
Callie raised her eyebrow disbelievingly, but then Arizona interrupted. "Now that that's out on the table, we can talk about girls!" Arizona realized excitedly.
"A little late to the game, babe," Callie chuckled.
Arizona frowned at her, then turned to Ashton, "I've always wanted a gay sister or niece." Arizona noticed the way Ashton stiffened at the word gay, but the women plowed on, intentionally ignoring the reaction to try and make Ashton open up. "Who's your celebrity crush?"
The girl immediately turned bright red, "Zoie Palmer." They could barely understand the quiet words coming out of Ashton's mouth.
"Who?" Arizona asked again.
"Zoie Palmer," Ashton said, louder, almost defensively.
Arizona smiled, "Why?"
"A lot of reasons," Ashton responded, avoiding the question.
"What are the reasons?" Callie tag-teamed with Arizona.
"She's pretty," Ashton mumbled, still embarrased.
"She's hot," Arizona agreed. "And her voice is incredibly sexy."
Ashton nodded, "it's the lilt she has."
"Am I the only one who has no idea who this girl is?" Callie interjected.
"Yes, now quiet. Ash was going to let us through some of her walls," Arizona scolded her girlfriend.
"Sorry, sorry," Callie said, raising her hands in defense.
Arizona looked back to Ashton. "I don't have walls," the girl frowned.
Arizona sighed, exaggeratedly, "Ugh, see. She's changing the subject from attractive celebrities!"
"I'm not! I'm just saying I don't have walls!"
"You do," Callie stated. "Why else do you like Zellie Palmer?"
"Zoie," Ashton corrected, softly.
"Huh?" Callie asked, ungracefully.
"Her name's Zoie Palmer. And she's just really pretty. Like everything about her is pretty, her face, her hair, her..her body," Ashton looked down at her hands after saying that.
"Ash, you can say that. It's not weird, and you aren't in 7th grade anymore. We won't get mad," Arizona reassured her.
Ashton looked up again, "she has a great body."
"Thank you!" Arizona exclaimed. "Finally, she says something with conviction and no embarassment!" All three women laughed, and they continued talking long into the night.