Thank you guys all so much for your positive reviews on the first chapter, it really meant a lot. It took me a little longer than expected to write the second part. There's going to be quite a few time jumps in this story, so the chapters will probably skip on a few things, but they're not really important so it's not a big deal. Anyways (sorry for the rant), here's the second one. x
ONE WEEK LATER
"Kepner!"
She spins around at the mention of her name, Dr. Bailey's angered face catching her attention. She quickly rushes over to the pregnant resident's side.
"Yes, Dr. Bailey?"
"You're one of Dr. Torres residents' right?"
April nods, clicking her pen off and slipping into the breast pocket of her scrubs. "Yes." Her eyes are wide and her throat is sore (from lack of sleep and caffeine, she thinks), so she licks her lips and blinks back a few itches. "What can I do for you?" She's here for the medicine, for learning, to become the best doctor that she could possibly be.
"One of my stupid interns ran off with the charts for an important patient in room 224. I need those charts, Kepner. If I don't have them in an hour, my patient can't have surgery and I will be very displeased. You don't want me to be displeased. Torres said you were reliable, was she wrong? Tell me she wasn't wrong, Kepner."
The redhead shakes her head, gulping her spit and plastering a smile over her face, "No, Dr. Bailey. She wasn't. I am so reliable, really. There is nobody better than-"
Bailey rolls her eyes, "No need to suck up, just find my chart."
She nods again, hurrying off down to the tunnels where the resident's group of interns hang out.
She's not even sure who they are, she hasn't been one for making friends since she arrived apart from that one time with that one guy who she hasn't spoken to since. Maybe he backed away, she thinks it's probably because she scared him off.
She slips down the hallway, opening the door to the underground hangout for the newbies.
Oh, great.
"April!"
Okay, maybe he didn't back off.
Jackson jumps over to her side, wrapping an arm around her shoulders as he walks forward and she trails next to him, a frown covering her face. "How'd you know my name?"
"I asked around." He says simply, smiling down at her.
She only then notices the other interns.
There's Yang. She's heard of her, loud-mouthed and competitive. The older woman lifts her head from her book and pushes her hair out of her face, "Who are you?" She asks rudely, pointing a finger at her.
"I'm, uh- I'm April Kepner. I'm an intern here."
Yang nods, "Who's your resident?"
"Dr. Torres."
"You're working with Callie? Oh, you got good." She nudges the woman seated beside her and nods her head towards the redhead, "Mer, we got screwed over. June over here got Torres."
Meredith Grey, the woman sat beside Yang perks up and April recognizes her as the intern who had that infamous fling with her attending.
She feels the need to correct the elder resident and rubs her lips together nervously, "My name's April, not-"
"Whatever, August."
Jackson stretches his arms and sits down on one of the abadonned cots. He pats the place beside him and she slowly joins him, her feet dangling in the air. They sit in silence for a while, trying to ignore the awkwardness of the situation. They haven't spoken two words to each other since that night a week ago when they met. And that alone wasn't exactly one of the greatest memories. He'd basically told her that she got stodd up because she wasn't good enough and yet, here she was, giving it her best shot to be social and give him a chance.
She figures that now is a good time to bring it up, because time's running out and she really doesn't want to have any problems with Dr. Bailey, "Do you have the-"
"Pretty boy!" Jackson turns his attention away from her and frowns at his friend.
"What?"
Alex pauses as he spots the petite redhead by the other guy's side and lets a grin plaster over his face, "Who's your... friend?"
Avery glares at him, biting his bottom lip to keep himself calm. He know full well that Karev's going to make this hell for him, going to make him lose this bet. And, he really doesn't want to be a grand, so he needs to win. It sounds horrible, as though he's using her. And he is, in some way, but the idea of being actual friends with her isn't actually all that terrible.
April lifts her head and recognizes Alex as the other guy from the bar who'd been hanging by Jackson's side before he'd left to come and talk to her. "I'm April. April Kepner."
"Karev." His nods his head calmly, "You an intern here?"
He's playing on it, acting as though he doesn't already know everything Avery told him about her.
No way, he thinks. No way can Avery keep this up long enough to win his money. Sure, she seems nice and a decent person. But she's way too perky and shy to be his friend. He doesn't think she'll last long, especially when he starts tormenting her. He's not the worst person you could ever meet, but when a thousand bucks are at stake, Alex is going to do everything he can to win this thing. He's going to make April fall for the guy and then ruin her.
He knows he may eventually regret the whole thing, but he wants his money and if a nice girl's confidence is the price, then he'll pay it.
"Hey, man. Do you think you could find somewhere else to stay tonight?" He asks him, swiping the grin from his mouth.
Jackson raises an eyebrow, "Why the hell would I?"
"My, uh- My brother's coming over from Iowa and I really don't want a full house while he's here. Our relationship is kind of strained and things might get bad."
He's going for the sympathy. He knows what he's doing.
"Dude, you hate your family."
"Dude, it's one night. It won't kill you."
Avery catches the evil look that crosses his face and sighs. He fucking positive that his brother's not coming for a visit. "Where am I gonna stay?"
"No way, Pretty Boy! I like my space."
Meredith finally pipes up and ties her hair in a ponytail as she speaks, "I have room but McDreamy's coming over later."
Alex pouts his lips and widens his eyes, as though he's stumped. He shrugs his shoulders and nods his head toward April. "Maybe you can stay with your friend here. Kepner, was it?"
She falters and glances between the two guys, gulping a breath, "I-uh..." She has room, she hasn't had chance to find a roommate yet so the second room is still empty. But the idea of having a guy over at her place slightly frightens her, even if it's only a friendly favour, "Sure." The word slips out without her knowledge and she stays still.
Karev smiles and raises his hands, "Great, perfect. There you go!"
April only just notices the folder is his hands and points at it, "Is that the chart for 224?"
"Yeah, why?" He frowns and glances at the object, "You're not stealing my case."
She hurriedly stands up and snatches it from his hands.
"Hey!"
"It's for Dr. Bailey." She turns to Jackson and smiles. She'd forgotten about the whole sleepover situation for a few seconds. "I'll leave my adress in your locker."
He doesn't ave any time to respond before she rushes off, the folder swinging in her grasp as she pushes through the doors. Jackson turns to Alex again and smacks him hard on the arm, shaking his head. "You're fucking unbelievable."
"What?! You're clearly not gonna crush on her, so she's gonna have to fall for you. And the sooner that happens, the sooner I get my dollar."
"That wasn't exactly the deal.."
Alex raises an eyebrow and pats him on the shoulder, "No, see.. It works both ways. Either you fall for her, the friendship fails and I win. Or, she falls for you and you clearly don't feel the same, the friendship fails, and I win. Or, nothing ever happens and you win. But, let's face it, the odds of that happening are pretty fucking slim." He smirks one last time before his pager beeps and runs out of the tunnels.
"You know you didn't have to do this.."
She bites her lip and softly smiles, pulling a few pillows from the cupboard. She's already made herself at home within the two months she's been here, so her small apartment is all organized how she likes it. neat and tidy, she as just her mother had taught her.
"It's fine."
He watches her as she walks across the room, placing the cushions down on the bed and pushing her hair behind her ears. Jackson stares around the empty room; the walls are painted light blue and he guesses that she'd chosen the larger room.
"Are you... working tomorrow?" He doesn't even know what he was going to ask to begin with, but it definitely wasn't that. He mentally kicks himself.
April shakes her head, "No. I've been up for the last.." she stops to glance at the clock, "52 hours so I get the day off."
He nods and sits down on the bed, "Me too."
She stands awkwardly before she scratches her forehead and talks, "Are you hungry? I was going to order something but I wasn't sure-"
"I'm starving." He tells her and she nods,
"Is pizza okay?"
He grins, "I love pizza."
"I kind of hoped so because it's the only thing I have a menu for."
Jackson laughs, leaning himself back on his arms. He smiles up at her but quickly sits himself back up with a slight frown. No.
"Pizza is great."
April licks her lips, "Okay, I'll just- I'm gonna... go order."
She hurries out of the room and closes the door behind her, leaning herself against it.
She doesn't understand what's doesn't understand why she's acting like an idiot, like a shy twelve-year old around him. What, because he's hot? Because she feels way too self-conscious around him? Because she's nervous around hanging out with a guy?
She's never been one for guy friends, and the only boyfriend she's ever had ended in college when he tried to pressure her into having sex. That wasn't going to happen anytime soon because she wasn't that kind of person.
She wanted to wait, for many reasons. For the perfect time, for the perfect guy, for the love of her life, which he had clearly turned out not to be.
She sometimes thinks that maybe if she just did it, if she went there and didn't regret anything, that she'd be different. She wouldn't be so self-conscious. She wouldn't be so shy. She wouldn't be so awkward around guys.
But the idea of sleeping with someone who she wasn't going to marry scared her. Because she wasn't brought up that way, it goes against her religion. It scared her because she was afraid of what would happen.
Ever since she was little, she had this idea of her perfect man, of her ideal guy. He'd be tall and handsome, and he'd be really smart because that was a good quality. Her mother had always told that she needed somebody like her because that's what was right and that, contrary to popular belief, opposites didn't attract.
But she wonders if maybe her mother was wrong. Maybe everything she'd invisionned for herself as a young woman was completely off and she didn't really know what she wanted or needed.
"That was delicious."
She giggles and neatly tucks her napkin into a ball. "It was good. And thank you for paying. You know you didn't have to, right?"
Jackson smiles, "Oh, come on. You're hosting me tonight, it was the least I could do."
April bites her lip again and sighs a breath as she closes her eyes. He finds himself watching her face, mesmerized by the way she breathes in and out so deeply. No.
The way she licks her lips before she sighs. No. The way her chest heaves with every breath. No. The way she flickers her eyes open and stares right at him. No.
"Are you okay?" She asks him, and he barely catches her words because she speaks so quietly. He thinks maybe it's because she was watching him too.
His eyes brief over hers, as though he's searching them for something. But he gives up when he remembers that there's nothing to search for. He can't do this. He can't start thinking like this.
"Uh.. Yeah. I'm fine. I'm good, yeah." He stutters and quickly stands up. He holds his hand out to pull her up from the floor and she takes it slowly, her fingers clasping in his own. She leans down to pick up the plates and he follows her path to the kitchen with the glasses. The room is quite cramped and he stands behind her as she places the pots down beside the sink. He waves the glasses down in front of her and she jerks when she realizes where he's stood. She can feel his soft breathing on his neck as she carefully takes the glasses from him. He can't see her, so she takes a second to gulp and compose herself. Why does he have to be in such close proximity to her? It's really not helping.
Jackson moves from his spot and returns to the living room to pick up the pizza box. He enters the kitchen and places it down on the edge of the counter. "Last piece?"
April swiftly turns around, her left arm colliding with his chest. "Gimme." He holds it out for her, but lifts it higher when she reaches for the slice.
He laughs and continues to hold it above her.
"I'm tiny, I can't reach that." She tries, shrugging her shoulders and giving up. She goes to turn towards the sink to wash the dishes until he grabs her shoulder lightly and hands her the last.
"You don't have to make me feel bad." He tells her.
The redhead smirks and bites into her pizza, "Sucker." She laughs to herself, noticing the shocked look on his face.
"Oh, funny. Haha. Okay, you can never use the height thing again."
She raises an eyebrow, "So, we'll be eating more pizza?"
"Oh, lots more." He replies, deeply staring down at her.
Her brown eyes cast down to the floor before flickering back up to meet his green ones. She realizes what's happening and mentally kicks herself for getting into this situation. She shouldn't be having him over. She shouldn't be eating dinner with him. And she definitely shouldn't be flirting with him. What would her mother think?
But she sometimes likes to think that her mother was wrong.
"I should uh-"
She starts to turn backwards when he rests a hand on her neck. He's not going to- Oh, no.
"Hold on, you got a little bit of.." He swipes his thumb over her bottom lip and she stands still, staring up at him like a statue.
He swallows a breath and curses himself, gently letting his hand fall from her neck. No. He scratches the back of his head and blinks a few times.
April snaps herself out of her trance and bites her lip again, glancing awkwardly around the kitchen.
"Do you- Do you need- Can I help?" He gestures to the dirty plates resting on the side.
She only then realizes that the sink was running the whole time and reaches behind her to turn it off. "No, I'm- Uh.. In the- I'll just- I'll do them in the morning." She comes up with quickly, wiping her hands on her jeans and slips past him.
He watches her walk away, "Are you okay?"
He's not even sure if he's okay himself because he knows that he shouldn't have done that.
She smiles back at him and crosses her arms over her chest, "I'm fine, I'm just really tired." She stops for a moment, speaking again when he walks closer, "Goodnight."
She quickly goes into her room, closing the door gently behind her and leaving Jackson stood confused in the hallway.
He's not completely confused, he knows what he did. And now he's made things even more awkward between them, like that was even a possibility.
Jackson sighs and makes his way to his bedroom for the night, closing the door shut tight behind him. It's not entirely his fault, he thinks, it's partly hers because she just looked so freaking cute with that tomato sauce on her lips. Oh, god. Her lips. No.