A/N: to the reviewer who said they had a crush on nerdy Arizona... hey :)
One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say.
-Bryant H. McGill
Blue eyes surveyed the room before her, processing it's contents and stark abnormalities that seemed to meet her eyes only. From the overtly paint splattered, wooden cabinet that had posters plastered of various destinations in Italy all in different non conforming angles to the large tables scattered all around the room with light traveling in from both the small windows along the brick wall and the overhead white fluorescent tubes. What bothered her most was how the walls remained a pristine white, save for the few small dark circles where she was sure work had been previously hung. From the moment she entered the room, her senses were overpowered with a pungent chemical smell that forced her to bring her hoodie sleeve over her nose. Music from all different genres blended awfully together and left and awful taste in her mouth, like how you would expect a milk, apple and spinach smoothie to taste. Why was she here?
"Hey" she heard from the side and felt a warm hand on her shoulder "Want to step outside for a minute?" the voice tentatively asked and Arizona slowly nodded, allowing herself to be lead out of the cold room. Once outside and seated, the voice spoke once again "Focus on what you know okay? The sun is warm and hitting your back, the wind is cool and is blowing from your right... now can you tell me some more things?"
Swallowing deeply "My feet feel cold in my shoes and I like the feeling of moving them around in the sand, your hand is really warm on my back and my eyes are feeling really heavy."
"okay. Good job. I want you to take a deep breaths in and out Arizona" the woman says and although she didn't know who was sitting next to her, she felt at ease when the hand on her shoulder started moving in a gentle circular manner around her back that had the effect of grounding her
What felt like an eternity later, Arizona looked to her side and found a girl with a lightly tanned complexion and dark brown eyes hidden behind glasses. She had a small marking of blue paint on the side of her face and without thinking Arizona moved to wipe it away with her thumb. "Thank you..." Arizona smiled
"Maya" the girl supplied "Don't mention it. You looked like just being in the room was going to swallow you whole, I take it this was your first time in the art department"
"Yeah." Arizona said before looking down on her lap with crinkled eyebrows "I don't know what happened to be honest, it's never happened before?"
"The art department can be overwhelming if you're not used it. There's a lot of things to focus on, tables to straighten out, supplies and bottles that need to be deeply cleaned. Honestly before that room was the star of every nightmare I had." Maya laughed "The things that just need to be sorted out and organized"
"So if it overwhelms you too, how are you in there ?"
"I guess that's the thing about art. It's not supposed to be straight line, labels and organization labels. That freedom to just be and know that it does't have to be perfect helps me not be jittery in other parts of my life. Therapy in a way" Maya shrugs "It took a while to just let go and sometimes I do color blue and green squares and triangles perfectly, but that's just me. What brought you here?"
"I uhm... I want to learn how to draw" Arizona says shyly
"Anything in particular?"
"I like cartoons"
"Okay we can start there." Maya says then looks away as if figuring out where and how to start "Are you looking for this to be a form of therapy? or you just want to learn how to draw cartoons because that's fine too"
"A bit of both. I want a hobby that isn't related to facts and figures not that I don't enjoy learning. I just want to try something new and this was the first thing that I could think of that both put me out of my comfort zone and intrigued me at the same time."
"Would you be okay going back in there or do you want to find an empty classroom and start there?"
"Can we find an empty classroom for now."
"Of course we can, come on"
"Hey I missed you at lunch today, where were you?" Callie asked as they walked hand in hand toward the car park. Ever since Arizona had talked to Callie at soccer tryouts, her girlfriend had become more affectionate with her, making a point to always be close to her and affirm her.
"I was with Maya today, we were drawing cartoon characters faces again. I'm not that good at it yet but maya said if I practiced some more I would get the hang of it." Arizona smiled "I had no idea that art therapy was a thing. I mean I knew of it in theory and how it helped expression and self discovery, but I don't feel as on edge as before."
"That's great Arizona" Callie smiled though not fully, a thing that didn't go unnoticed by Arizona. She loved that Arizona had found an outlet for herself and found someone else to support her through it but she couldn't help the bitter feeling that arose whenever Maya came up. She hated herself for feeling like this but lately Maya is the only thing Arizona would talk about, popping her into every conversation and Callie couldn't help but feel jealous.
"Can we search the 1990 Batman cartoon series, Maya said there are some great characters to get some ideas from?" Arizona asked as she sat in the passenger seat of Callie's car
"Yeah, sure. We need to get that chem project done first though" Callie said half heartedly and just started the car and drove the all too familiar route back home on auto pilot while Arizona spouted out facts from the DC universe.
A few weeks had gone by and Callie's jealously had escalated from small spark to full blown wildfire that was threatening to burn everything. Arizona had brought Maya to have lunch with them and their friends, sat next to her in the classes they had together but the last straw for Callie was seeing Arizona hugging Maya as she exited the school hallway and out into the car park.
"Cal you're green is showing" Addison laughed
"I'm done!" Callie huffed throwing her hands up in surrender "I can't win in this situation! I mean let's look at the facts" Callie laughed darkly "There's perfect Maya who 'Calliope she loves superheroes and now I have someone to discuss superheroes with' but more importantly she's someone who understands what Arizona is going through. Like she has this sixth sense and has the perfect reaction for everything. I've been okay with the lunches and the everything else but now Arizona is VOLUNTARILY hugging her" Callie sighs and feels her body slump, eyes shutting to hide her tears "Addison you were her friend for years before she felt comfortable around you and now Maya waltzes in and it's like... hugs were our thing and now..."
"Hey guys" Arizona greets chirpily. The minute Callie turns around, Arizona's smile drops and she rushes to take the brunette into her arms which only causes Callie to cry harder. "Hey what's wrong? what happened" Arizona asks and is met with tan arms hugging her closer. Arizona looked at Addison hoping for some form of an answer, when the slender redhead just shook her head. "Callie give me the keys, lets go home. I'm going to call Maya and cancel movies"
Callie darkly chuckles and pulls out of Arizona's arms "Yeah just make sure everything is okay with your girlfriend... I've gotta go. Addison please can you take Arizona home" Callie rushed out before getting into her car and driving off
"Hey is everything okay?" Maya asks tentatively "I saw Callie crying"
"Maya sorry we can't do movies. Addison can we go home?" Arizona whispers through her own tears
"Yeah sure" Addison says and is surprised when Arizona walks close enough to her and grabs her hand
"Sorry... is this okay? me holding your hand... I should probably let go"
"Hey no! it's okay. Just took me by surprise is all" Addison smiles "This is new"
"Callie started holding my hand and hugging me a lot more so that I'm comfortable with it and I really like it when she does, so I've been doing it with people that I'm close too because I like the comfort it brings. Is that weird? Is that why Callie's mad? I'm not supposed to do this with other people am I" Arizona says and immediately removes her hand from Addison's "I don't like that she's driving alone when she's feeling like this"
"Arizona, it's okay that you want to hug people and it's exciting that you're discovering this new part of you. It's that it's new for Callie too. Tell me about Maya" Addison asks as she starts the car
"Maya's great! today she brought in some art therapy stuff that she does and I feel... light." Arizona says before whispering "Normal"
There was a silence in the car as it navigated down the streets. "Does Callie think I like Maya?"
"You know I love you both and I'm not taking sides here but do you? like Maya as more than a friend?" Addison asks and is met with silence. Deciding to take a detour, the redhead parks near an empty park. "okay lets help you sort through this out"
"I like Maya" Arizona says
"Well what about Callie?" Addison asks, her mind reeling to find a way through this
"I like Maya but I'm not attracted her" Arizona quickly amends "I admire her because she's teaching me to accept myself and it's nice to talk to someone who can empathize with me rather than just sympathizing. Callie is great and she does so much for me but theres always that gap between us but thats what makes it great too. I don't know how to explain it, all I know is that Maya helps me but Callie completes me. She makes everything better"
"Arizona why didn't you tell her this?" Addison asks
"I didn't know" Arizona sighs "I didn't know she felt like this, we promised each other that we would talk to each other if something was bothering either one of us... I guess we still have to work on that"
Callie was sat in a parked car on hog's hill and wondered how it went from both of them planning grand romantic gestures for each other to Arizona starting to like another person. She was taken out of her downward spiral with light rapping on her passenger window "Mind if I join you?"
"I'm not really in the mood for company" Callie sighs
"I promise it will only take a minute of your time" Maya smiles, entering the car when shy saw Callie nod "Arizona loves you, and I would be lying if I said that didn't suck at the beginning because I may or may not have had a crush on her." That brought Callie's attention to her "But getting to know her, I know that we'd be better off as friends because I know I can help her figure out who she is. She needs a person who understands what she's going through and help her navigate through it. And while I may be that person, you are so much more than that to her. Well my minutes up so i'll leave you be."
"Thank you for helping her" Callie said sincerely
"We both are, it takes a village" Maya smiles "Take care Callie"
"Let me take you home" Callie says "It's late and honestly I could use the drive before going home"
"Twenty first century knight in shining armor" Maya laughs