"Good call, partner," Sara teased when she walked in and saw me going through my locker. I looked at her over my shoulder as she sauntered closer. "'Yeah, and he's probably long gone by now.'" she lowered her voice and attempted a Texan twang for her imitation. She quickly dissolved into giggles.
"Yup. Timing hasn't been my strongest suit today." I spoke with a wry smile and turned to face her. I sat down on the bench, abandoning my locker search. She joined me, patting my knee in a fake display of comfort and sympathy.
"Well, I think it's entertaining when your words come back to bite you in the ass," she smiled broadly at me, her hand resting absently on my knee.
I had decided earlier to follow through with my initial plan from this morning. I was going to ask her out once and for all; today was the day. But first I just had to find out what kind of competition Hank was: "Speaking of pains in my ass…" I smiled for a second at my own joke before sobering and continuing on so she'd understand. "How was your date?"
She frowned slightly at my seg-way. "Well, it definitely couldn't be considered a success; it ended with a severed finger…" she trailed off, finding the situation a little more amusing now that it wasn't so fresh.
I nodded, staring straight ahead as I decided to push a little further. "So since Catherine crashed it, does that mean the medic gets an automatic second date?"
Out of the corner of my eye I could see her studying me. I wasn't sure if it was intentional, but she started to flex and move her fingers on my leg making invisible patterns. She glanced down at her hand, "Can you think of any reasons why he shouldn't?" She suddenly seemed to realize that she was stroking my knee and started to take her hand back. I quickly snatched it with both of mine while it was still hovering over my leg. She looked up at me, surprise clearly written across her face; I guess she wasn't expecting me to take the bait. She already knows, what's the harm in telling her myself?
"I can think of a million, but they probably can't be trusted. I'm a little bias on the subject." I swallowed and shifted on the bench so that I faced her directly. My left leg was still resting on the floor but my right one was bent to form a triangle over top of the bench. I smiled shyly and added, "But then again, you already knew that."
"I know a lot of things; could you be a little more specific?" she asked sweetly, trying to hide a smile. I couldn't help but chuckle.
"Sure. What do you want to hear: why I'm bias or the reasons why you shouldn't date that guy?" I asked looking around the locker room, feeling very self-conscious.
"Well let's start with why you're bias, and if we still need to after that, you can tell me why I shouldn't date Hank." She emphasized his name, seeing that I wouldn't use it. Then she squeezed my hand to bring my attention back to her.
"Alright," I cleared my throat and looked her in the eye. No BS this time. "I'm bias because I'm completely crazy about you." My twang got a little thicker as I made my declaration and a smile spread across my face. It was a relieved smile, knowing that no matter how she reacted I had finally been able to tell her how I feel. I paused to watch her response; a tiny part of me was hoping that she would be mortified and run from the room, so I wouldn't have to continue. I hate talking about this stuff. However, the smile that she finally let out was extremely encouraging. I pulled her hand closer and placed in on my chest above my heart in what I hoped was a sincere gesture. "I'm not sure when it happened but I think I've wanted something more than friendship between us for a long while." I paused once more to let her speak.
"So why didn't you say something sooner?" she asked quietly, looking down at the bench in embarrassment. I forced my eyes on her face so that I could catch her eye when she looked up again.
"It's not that easy to put your heart out on the line. I didn't say anything because we're friends, and co-workers, and if I make a fool out of myself with this belated confession I can't avoid you… nor do I want to." She was still avoiding my eyes. I removed one hand from hers and reached across the distance to cup her cheek and raise her head to look me in the eye. I felt her lean into my palm and I smiled a little more before continuing. "Sara, being with you, even when we're doing absolutely nothing, means everything to me. I didn't tell you how I felt because that way even if we would never be anything more, we wouldn't be anything less either; I would still have you in my life as a friend. And when it comes down to it, I'll take you anyway I can get you… I want more, but I'll take friends over nothing. So the ball's in your court and you can mmph--" I started to offer her as much time as she needed to decide what she wanted but was cut off as she suddenly rocked forward and pressed her lips to mine.