Jackson should have seen it coming.

A girl like April, really, he should have seen it coming from a mile away. As sweet and thoughtful as she was, it had already been made clear that her brain didn't work quite the same way as his did. She was involved in what she did, didn't know how to make herself emotionally distant. It's a dangerous thing, as a surgeon, and he has to pause for a moment and wonder how she handled things at work if she was already so invested in what he was doing with his time outside of residency.

"It's not about you, April." His words come out slightly harsher than what the intention had necessarily been, but he doesn't take it back or apologize merely because they're true. His work was about himself, he'd done it long before her. Maybe he hadn't dated a lot since he'd picked up this job, but he'd never blamed it on the content of the gif. It didn't leave a lot of spare time or energy for dating. That was just the way that it was.

The redhead's gaze dropped down, bottom lip rolling between her teeth harshly as she picked up her fork and mindlessly pushed around the salad. She was at a momentary loss for words.

"I didn't mean to make it about me," she offered. It was supposed to be something resembling an apology but the word sorry doesn't actually manage to make it out of her mouth. Instead, April looked like a wounded puppy. Bordered on selfishness for her and yet Jackson couldn't hold it against her, not when she was looking at him like that.

"I know." Kind, but not apologizing for her.

Quiet resumed for a moment with neither of them sure what to say, taking the opportunity to get a few mouthfuls of food in. It was still supposed to be lunch, after all. Jackson couldn't quite let go of what she'd said, but neither could April. She was stuck on the idea that he'd always have another woman to go running off to, even if the attachment was supposedly a physical one, not something emotional. Yet he'd talked about it so kindly… she can't quite accept the idea.

"You don't think that you'd feel the same way if it was me running off with men?" It's a bit of a pushy question and relying on the idea that he probably had some kind of sexism inside of him, even if he didn't want to actually admit it. Wrong of her, entirely. She can't figure out why she was pushing the subject so fiercely when she barely knew him.

Except she can, really.

Their first date had been magnificent and wonderful. He'd been the most charming date that she'd ever had, seemed all too perfect. Perhaps this was the fatal flaw. April didn't want to think of it that way, in her nature to give chance after chance. She couldn't quite realize that in the moment, she was the one who was in need of those same chances.

"As long as you're being safe, no." Jackson's words emitted confidence even though he had no way of being sure about it. He's a jealous person by nature, even if that wasn't something that he wanted to own up to when she was pestering him about the topic.

"And are you? Being safe?"

"Of course."

April knew that it was a little different for males and females. There's always the risk of diseases and infections for any member of the part, but men didn't have to worry about pregnancy in the same way that women had. They could opt out, if they wanted to. And if the women that he was with were rich enough to be able to do something like this with him, well, she assumed that they weren't going to be the type to come knocking back nine months later demanding child support.

She wanted to pester him more, but she could feel her inquiries becoming disingenuous. The questions begged to be asked to get him to think more about what he was doing and understand things from her own point of view. Tomato basil soup is slurped slowly as he took another munch out of his burger, trying to figure out where to go from here.

"I don't think I'm being judgmental," she started slowly. "I just like you, a lot. That's all. And maybe I don't get it, but… I'd like to."

The words seemed genuine, in Jackson's opinion. Maybe he could have asked for more understanding or acceptance from her, but it was a good start.

Because he couldn't deny the spark that he'd felt on their first date, either. Even if he'd approached it from the wrong mindset, putting on a professional charm more than a personal one, he'd been able to let himself out since then. And it felt good to just relax and be himself with someone, not have to think about a paycheck or making things completely about her. This was something that could be mutually beneficial, nothing about money. She was a resident just like him. She'd understand some of the financial hardships that needed to be dealt with, even if not quite to the same extent. But she'd understand the busyness, the exhaustion, that he couldn't always be on his A game when it came to personal time. And that was a lot of what he needed, to just be himself without having to worry about the consequences of it.

"Maybe I can help you understand." Jackson offered after a quiet moment of pondering.

"How?"

"Well, you know what it's like to date, and you know what it's like to date me. Maybe I'm getting a little cocky here, but I think that we happened to have a pretty good first date. This one isn't going so bad, either. We're having a real conversation, and that means something," he took a deep breath, pausing slightly before he could get to his point. "Let's have a night where I'll show you what it'd be like if you hired me. No charge. And I know no sex, either. But you might understand why I don't consider it cheating if you got a better idea of what it's really like."

The suggestion is enough for April to fall quiet with consideration, thin brows knitting together. That hadn't been the proposition that she was expecting from him in the slightest, and she praised herself for not having an over the top react immediately. Yet… something about it doesn't quite make sense. Mostly, she can't picture what it'd be like if it wasn't just sex. And she didn't like being unprepared for anything. That was the quickest way to get her anxious with just about anything, and dating in itself tended to grip her nerves harshly.

"What do you think?" Jackson questioned with a raise of her brows, trying to figure out just what was going on inside of her head. He leaned back in his seat slightly, light eyes never leaving the features of her face.

"It's not a terrible idea," April breathed out, lips pressing together and forming a small smile. It's a little crazy, sure. A little out there. But so was what he did, in her opinion... which meant it made a little bit of sense, she could reason. "How would it work, exactly?" She didn't want to dive into things completely blind, and this seemed like one of those things that Google wasn't going to help her out much with."

"I think it's better if I just show you than tell you. I'll come to your place. How's Thursday night?"

Questions still whirred inside of April's head as she fought with the urge to interrogate him further about what all this was going to entail. Thursday gave her three days to prepare and try to figure out exactly what was going to happen. It also gave her a little more time to research this escort thing and see if she could find some kind of non-biased information about it, even if that seemed unlikely. She wanted to understand more than she wanted to judge, and right now, it felt as if she was doing the opposite. Even with her efforts, she's still somewhat self aware.

But maybe he was right. Maybe it was a good idea. If he wasn't going to push her into having sex, then there was no harm in getting a little sample of what it was. It'd make her either more jealous, or it'd make her understanding. She hoped it was the latter, even if it seemed unlikely.

"Okay. Thursday. Let's do it."