Okay, so this one picks up where the last one left off. Well, the morning after their little 'sleepover' ;)
Sorry for the month wait! Enjoy!
He's not sure what he's supposed to do when he wakes up.
Jackson stretches his arms out as wake takes over his body and he sits himself up, surrounded by thick and comfy covers. They're purple, of course. He stares down at the little white patterns on them for a moment before shaking his head and sliding out from the bed.
He takes a quick glance at the alarm clock. 6'am. He figures she won't be awake yet because they have the day off, but he's never been one for lie-ins himself.
He's an Avery, which meant that he'd been woken up by an alarm clock early in the morning every day of his life so kicks him into gear, get him up and ready for another long day of work.
Because that's what Avery's do. They work. Hard and rough, like it's all they live for.
Like it's what they're built for.
But he's not like that. If someone offers him some time off, he's going to take it, without a doubt. But he can't sleep in late. He's not built to. He's an Avery.
He figures she won't be awake yet because they have the day off, so he slowly opens the door to the hallway and creeps out, clad only by his dark blue tight boxer briefs. He doesn't hear any noise whatsoever, so he walks off into the kitchen. He picks up a glass from the night before off of the sink and pours himself some water from the tap.
He spins around and rests a hand behind him on the kitchen counter.
It's a small kitchen, and a small apartment, but there's only her living here so he figures that it fits, that's it alright for her. He wonders if she needs a roommate, if she's searching, or if she's already given up her search because all of the other interns seem to find her annoying.
He's overheard a few of the young residents talking about the red-head behind her back. Apparently, she was raised out on a farm in Ohio, and she had three sisters.
Also, she was a supposed kiss-ass to the residents and attendings, but he figures that the two trainees (not that he's not one himself, of course) were just jealous of her medical skills and her attention to detail.
He quickly washes the glass in the sink and places it back down on the drainer before walking back into the hallway. He spots a sink and mirror through a doorway and guesses he found the bathroom.
A pair of bare legs catch his attention and he spots April standing over the bathtub, running a shower, clad only by a little pair of black panties. Oh, shit.
Her back snaps up straight when she hears him enter and she turns around, holding her hands up to cover her chest, "Oh my- I forgot you were here!" Her face is bright red and she pulls her hands closer to her chest to keep her breasts covered.
His hand covers his eyes, noticing her discomfort, and he apologizes, "No, I'm sorry- I shouldn't have- Sorry."
April stands still, eyes wide and mouth closed tight. She's not sure what to do. Push him out? Yell?
She's never been in this situation before. Hell, she's definitely never been this naked in front of a guy before. "You can go now."
He nods and spins around, calling behind him as he steps back into the hallway, "Sorry!"
Jackson sighs, slipping into his bedroom for the night again. He leans back against the door and closes his eyes.
"No." He tells himself, like that little incident hasn't just made things ten times more complicated. He wanted easy with her. An easy friendship.
He's had enough complicated and fucked up relationships over the years with incredibly hot women, so all he wanted with her was an easy friendship. Fair enough, it was kind of set-up in the first place, but he's going to prove Karev wrong and get his money's worth. And if she's an added bonus along with that thousand bucks of his, then he'll take it.
But seeing her like that, all naked and sweet-natured isn't helping the little guy downstairs. He's not meant to be thinking of her like that. He's not even sure why he is.
He's usually gone for the over-the-top superficial kind of girl, so he doesn't understand the appeal she seems to have over him. She's the girl next door, the farm girl next door. But maybe, the sexy farm girl. No.
She's the sweet and kind little doctor with a good heart, but he can't help but picture her naked. And wet. And naked. And wet.
Shit.
His mind suddenly starts to wander at the thought of her right now. He feels like a such a pervert, thinking about his clearly shy and virtuous friend, but the image of her in a shower, naked and wet, is killing him.
And he can't even do anything about it because of that fact alone. She's shy and virtuous, pure and untouched.
Maybe it's her legs, he thinks. It has to be. It's her skin, her pale skin contrasted with little black panties that made him feel like this. Or it's her hair. It was the way the red colour shined in the light of the bathroom as it fell across her shoulders. It has to be, because he can't think of any other reason to not walk right back into that bathroom and have her right then and there. Although, he'd probably get arrested for it and she'd probably never forgive him.
She's shy and virtuous, pure and untouched.
But, God, does he want to touch her.
No.
He can't, he reminds himself, slamming his head against the door with a sigh.
"You want to join me?" She asks, biting her bottom lip with a devilish smile and holding out her hand as the water drops down her body. Of course, he joins her.
No.
She's the wholesome and clean farmer's daughter.
She's the forbidden fruit.
He realizes that that's the attraction.
He wants her because he can't have her.
She's the forbidden fruit.
Crap.
"Listen, I'm sorry about earlier.." He tries, taking a look over at her.
April stiffens and clears her throat. She scratches the back of her neck and smiles up at him slightly, "It's.. fine. I just- I forgot that you were staying her, so- It's fine. Let's just move past it." She attempts, holding out a hand.
He carefully takes her hand and shakes it, a small grin playing on his lips. "Yeah, I can do that." He gulps, taking a quick second to look her down as she turns her attention away.
She pulls her hand away, "Okay, so," She sits down on her couch and folds her legs underneath her, "Tell me about you."
Jackson frowns, "What do you want to know?" He's never been one to share personal information about himself with anyone so easily before, but he's sure that April isn't like everybody else, that he can tell her stuff.
"Where were you born?"
"Ah, you're starting off with the easy questions." He jokes and she softly smiles as he sits down beside her, "Okay, Boston. You?"
She shrugs, "Ohio, on a farm."
"That's.. nice." He teases, ignoring the fact that he already knew where she was from. He doesn't want to explain to her that two idiots were sharing details about her life as jokes.
April smacks his chest, "It was! I had a cow and everything!"
"You had your own cow?" He asks, stretching his legs out and folding his arms out, setting himself up for interesting info about her life as a farmer's daughter. Oh, no.
"You wanna do it in the barn?" She asks him, pulling on one of her pony-tails as her other hand tugs on his shirt.
He blinks a few times, "What?"
"I said, have you ever been to farm?" She creases her forehead and reaches over to touch his knee, "Are you okay?"
He tries to ignore her hand on his leg and shakes his head, "Yeah, I'm fine. Uh- Yeah, I have, I think. Maybe when I was little, Avery's don't really do the outdoors."
"Oh, yeah. You're an Avery!" She grins, "I love your mom. She's like amazing, I mean, her article o-"
"I really don't wanna hear about my mom, or my family.. Sorry."
He quickly apologizes for sounding so abrupt and she smiles.
April bites her bottom lip again, "I'm sure you get that a lot. People worshipping your family and stuff. I will try to stop myself." She assures him, smacking her hand down lightly on his knee.
She's not even sure if she's doing it on purpose or not, her hand just seems to have a mind of its own. She's just trying to be friendly, she tells herself, to clear the air from earlier. But, he's acting kind of weird and she's not sure if she did something wrong.
She barely knows him, but she's never had a close friendship with a guy before, and maybe he's her chance. Besides, what are the odds that something else happens.
Either way, he seems slightly dazed for the rest of the day.
"Dude, you invited your girlfriend?"
He hits Karev over the head with bottle of beer lightly and shakes his head, "Shut up."
Alex smirks, taking a swig of his drink and resting his hands back down on the bar. "You owe me money yet?" He teases, nudging his friend's shoulder.
Jackson turns to him, "No, because nothing has happened. Nothing is happening. Nothing will ever happen." He sips his beer and sighs, "Contrary to what my mind has been telling me all day."
"What do you mean?"
He's not even sure that he should tell him because it ruin the competition between them, Alex could start feeling like a winner already, but he comes out with it somehow, "I keep thinking about it."
Alex grins, "About what?"
"What do you think?"
"With her?" He points behind him to where April is stood talking with Meredith and Cristina. "You're thinking about her? Dude, give me my money!" He shouts, holding a hand out with a smirk.
Jackson smacks his hand away and continues, "No, okay? Well, yes. But I haven't- I didn't- Why am I even talking to you about this?"
"Dude, you've got the hots for the Virgin Mary, it's time to confess." Alex jokes.
"I do not have the hots- Maybe a little- She's just so.."
Karev smirks and sticks out his beer, "Untouched?" They cheers and Jackson groans when April walks over to him.
She leans over the counter and catches Joe's attention, ordering herself a fresh beer. "What are you guys talking about?" She whips around, leaning her back against the bar.
Jackson shakes his head and smiles at her, "Guy stuff."
Alex smirks, "Kepner, are you gettin' any?"
Her face contorts and she frowns, "Are you making a -"
"Are you a virgin?"
She stands still, her face blank as she stares at him. "I- uh-" She briefly glances down at the beer Joe slid across the bar for her before turning her gaze back towards Alex. "Why- Why would you ask me that?"
"Ah! She is!
April's face flushes and she bites her lip again, glancing down at the Jackson for some sort of confirmation, "Did you tell him about what happened in the shower?" She thinks that's what it is, maybe. Maybe he realized how clean and pure she was and decided to tell his blabber-mouth best friend.
Maybe she was foolish to think he was a nice guy, a good guy.
Or maybe, it was just plain obvious that she was in fact a virgin.
"What?" He frowns, standing up to gently grab her arm to reassure her, "No."
She shrugs him off and throws down a few dollars at the bar before picking up her jacket from the stool and heading toward the exit.
Jackson watches after her for a second before glaring over at Karev, "Why the hell did you ask her that?" He ignores his friend's reply and copies April's actions, following her out of the bar.
"What happened in the shower? Dude, what happened in the shower?!"