Chapter three
Hi guys! Just want to thank you all for your nice reviews and I'm glad you like it!
max123- Thank you for the 'constructive' criticism. You know, it's a good thing that I don't care about how many reviews I get. I love to write, so I write. I love Calzona, so I write about Calzona. Feel free to never read or review again.
"Oooh, you're not looking so fabulous." Teddy told me the next day as we stood at the nurse's station on the peds floor. We were working together on an eight year old Mikey Harter who needed a lung transplant.
"Well thank you very much." I muttered sarcastically, silently agreeing with her. My lack of sleep combined with the events of last night made for a slow start to the day and a headache, although I knew the others who had been there last night had it worse. I'd walked past Cristina Yang earlier and she looked almost zombie like, although she refused to promise she'd never drink again, so she couldn't have been that bad.
"Are you okay though? You're really quiet." She asked me more seriously and I sighed.
I was quiet because I was pissed. Pissed at myself, pissed at him, pissed at the universe. It had been almost two years now and I had finally thought the nightmares had stopped. I thought I was finally moving on with my life instead of getting hung up on it, but no, it always came back to haunt me.
"I'm fine." I assured her. "Just a headache."
She looked at me sceptically for a moment before dropping it. "I feel ya." She agreed. "I think I'll just stay indoors for the rest of my life. Maybe I'll buy a cat."
"Yeah, and then you'll be the crazy cat lady." I joked, relieved that she hadn't pressed on further.
The rest of the day was pretty normal for a surgeon. In other words, hectic, because a normal person's definition of hectic was a doctors definition of normal, and their definition of quiet was a doctor's definition of boring.
"Hey, Casey!" I sang as I walked into ten year old Casey Parker's room. I was more than relieved when my headache had subsided about an hour ago, and with an extra-large coffee a smile from Calliope across the room, it was needless to say that I was in a considerably better mood than this morning.
"Dr Robbins! Thank goodness you're back!" She sighed dramatically, throwing her arms up in the air. "It's soooo boring here- the TV's don't have any good channels on them."
I laughed because I knew it was true. I definitely felt sorry for the kids who were here for a long time, because if I were in these rooms for any longer than an hour by myself then I would surely die of boredom. Seriously. "Well I'll definitely make a complaint about that. How are you doing today?" I asked as I checked her vitals and reviewed her charts.
"Apart from bored? Just regular. The tube hurts sometimes but it's okay." She said, holding her arm up and gesturing to her IV lines. I smiled gently as I pulled over the IV tray from the corner of the room and begun taking it out.
"All the medication's done from this one, anyway." I told her. It didn't take me long to remove it and clean everything up, so I pulled out a pack of cards that I had in my lab coat pocket for some reason. "How about crazy eights?"
"I love crazy eights. You always lose." She laughed and I placed my hand over my chest and scoffed in fake hurt.
"Just remember who's operating on you later." I chuckled which definitely made her shut up.
About an hour and five lost games of crazy eights later, I emerged from Casey' room with a smile. I glanced down at my watch to see that I had plenty of time before my next surgery. My smile grew when I saw the familiar face of a certain Latina at the nurse's station talking to one of my favourite nurses, Holly. She'd shown me around when I'd first arrived here and she was pretty nice. I walked over and started signing charts while I waited for their conversation to be over.
"Calliope!" I exclaimed brightly as I approached her, putting on my best dimple smile.
"Arizona!" She exclaimed back just as brightly, putting aside the work she'd been doing and turning to face me. I stopped for a minute as I was near enough blinded by her 100 watt smile.
"Um, patient in room twelve has a pretty nasty tib/fib break; I don't know if you knew, so could you check that out, please? And also willyougoonadatewithme?" I asked at lightning speed but I'm pretty sure she got it when her face lit up. I'd had some reservations about this, because over everything that had happened over the last two years had made me a completely different person from the last time I had dated someone. However, I had slapped myself mentally and told myself to pull it together, because I definitely wanted to try with Calliope. "Tomorrow, 1pm? Great." I spoke quickly, rushing off before I could say something embarrassing or she said no. Because what if she wasn't even free tomorrow? What if she didn't want to go on a date?
"Arizona!"
I snapped my head back round so quickly that I could've sworn I got whiplash.
"What should I wear?"
So I decided on just keeping it a casual day date. Just lunch and maybe coffee at the café that I went to when I had time that was joined to a book store. I figured going to see a movie or going out for a meal was a bit of a cliché so I decided against that.
Since it was approaching fall and the weather definitely wasn't as cool, I decided against skirts or dresses or anything like that. Instead, I kept it casual with navy skinny jeans, a white and navy long sleeved striped shirt. I paired this with black combat boots and a purple scarf. I kept my hair down and curly since the wind wasn't too crazy.
I glanced at my watch and realised that if I didn't leave now then I was going to be late. I quickly smoothed some clear lip gloss over my lips, grabbed my purse and then left.
It didn't take me long to reach the café since it was just a few streets away from the hospital. The first thing I always noticed when I stepped into this place was the warm smell of coffee and peppermint, which definitely created a cosy feeling. I glanced around the place. It appeared that Calliope hadn't arrived yet so I took a seat at one of the chairs next to window so that she would be able to spot me.
It was only about five minutes before Callie came rushing in, apologising profusely for being so late. She said something about a last minute consult at the hospital. She looked stunning in a red and grey checked shirt, black jeans and knee high black boots. I quickly shrugged her apologies off and assured her it was fine.
"I'm a surgeon too, I get it." I reminded her. "And plus, I'm an army brat, so I'm always early to everything."
We quickly ordered some food each, me going for the turkey sandwich and she going for a BLT, by my recommendation. They did have the best BLT here.
"So, you grew up in Miami, right? Must have been great." I said just as the waiter came over with our food. We thanked him and began to eat.
"It was. The weather was so much better there. I've lived here for five years and I still haven't seen a full day of sunshine." She half pouted.
"Well you still have the Miami glow." I smiled before frowning internally. "Okay, that was weird. I just meant that you-"
"It's okay I get it." She smiled and I momentarily felt ashamed for rambling so much. The old Arizona wouldn't have rambled- but then again, a lot had changed.
"So, are you named after the state or the battleship?" She asked curiously, and the part that got me was that she was actually being genuine. I stopped mid-sip of my coffee which caused a major and probably highly unattractive coughing fit. 'What's going on with you? Pull yourself together!' I chastised myself. "Sorry, uh, touchy subject?" Callie frowned questioningly, although the corners of her mouth were lifted up in an amused smile.
"No, not at all. I was just surprised." I laughed. "I was actually named after the battleship- the USS Arizona. My grandfather was serving on it when the Japanese bombed and he saved 19 men before he drowned." I recited proudly. My past was a touchy subject for me, but this was one of the few topics that I would talk about freely and proudly.
"Well that's an amazing story. Unfortunately 'Calliope' just means music. Nothing that great." She shrugged her shoulders.
"Well your voice is like music to my ears." I said sappily, and then cringed at how sappy and cheesy that sounded. Callie seemed to think it was hilarious.
"Where did you get that one, 100 worst pickup lines?" She guessed, still laughing.
"Nope, that's just my game." I replied casually, before a set of books on the bookshelf opposite us caught my eye. "Ooh, it's all the Harry Potter books!" I exclaimed excitedly before grabbing Callie's hand and dragging her over to the other side of the shop with me. "I always meant to buy a whole new set- mine are so old and used and falling apart!"
She raised her eyebrows. "You're like a child." She said jokingly, beginning to flick through a few of the other books.
I scoffed. "After the fourth book, these books are not children's books. And anyway, I'm a peds surgeon, so it gets hard not to like Harry Potter."
"Hmm. So where did you grow up?" She asked nonchalantly as she continued to look over more books, occasionally adding one to her pile.
"Where didn't I grow up? I lived everywhere. As I said I'm an army bat so we moved every eighteen months, but when I was sixteen we finally settled more in Baltimore."
"Baltimore, that's pretty far away. Why move all the way to Seattle? I mean, you worked at Johns Hopkins, right? That's a pretty prized fellowship." She asked and I contemplated whether I should tell her or not.
I sighed. "That's a long story. And a deep one. Maybe later? It just isn't a very bookshop café type conversation." I said, feeling myself getting nervous. I wasn't as ashamed to talk about it anymore, but I just didn't want it to change anything between us.
"Okay." She said simply.
"So why move all the way across the country from Miami?" I asked.
"Well I was just an intern when I moved here, and Seattle Grace has the top ranked teaching programme in the country. It was a no-brainer."
"Yeah, I guess. I like teaching. Except Cristina Yang. She is not easy to teach anything to." I said, remembering all of my previous conversations with Teddy.
"Yeah, well, she's my roommate, so I can't really say anything." Callie chuckled and I gasped. "But I will agree- she is stubborn and cranky. She's a pretty nice person once you get to know her though."
The rest of the day passed in a blur of laughter and easy conversations. We left the café eventually and just started walking around, entering a few shops and what not. I was actually having the best time and I didn't want this date to end. However, when the weak fall sun began to dim and the darkness came creeping in, it was time to call it a day.
"I've had the best time today." I said as we stood outside of Calliope's apartment door. I was on call tonight so I was just going home to grab my things and then back to the hospital.
"It was an amazing day." She said in agreement, taking my hand in hers. It was a casual action, one that we'd repeated many times throughout the day, but it never failed to give me electric currents shooting up my arm.
I watched as she became closer to me, and soon I could smell the sweet coconut and cocoa beans smell of her hair. I took a deep breath before our lips collided, and my hands immediately reached up to her hair. It was a soft kiss, and nothing but a kiss, but it was the best kiss I'd ever had.
We drew back after a minute when we both needed air, and I smiled brighter and so widely that my cheeks hurt. "I've been waiting all day to do that."
"Yeah, me too." She breathed in agreement. We stood there in comfortable silence for a few seconds before I realised that I was going to be late if I didn't move now.
"I have to go. But we should do this again." I said, taking a pen from my bag and writing my number down on the back of her hand. Once I was done I gave her hand a soft kiss and smiled at her. "Goodbye, Calliope."
"Goodbye, Arizona."