"One piece of advice... Don't worry about dating in high school. I mean, it's cool to date in high school, but it's not something that you should worry about. You don't need a boyfriend then." I say to Jessica. It was three in the afternoon and she had been fully assigned to me and Alex, but Alex was also working on a case with Addison Shepherd so he had to keep coming and going. "When you're in high school you really just need to focus on getting good grades, relationships can wait. Besides, when you're that young, the guys you know are such jerks and they're so stupid. All they want to do is have sex and spend time with their friends. It's not worth it."
"How old were you when you lost your virginity?" She asks and I choke on my water and Alex laughs. "What's said in this room, stays in this room."
"I was fifteen." Alex shrugs and I raise my eyebrows, although I can't really say that I'm shocked. "What about you?"
"I didn't want to do it with every guy that showed interest in me. I'm not like that. I was eighteen. Sure, a few people made fun of me, but that doesn't matter. When it came to things like that I thought about it differently than every body else. I wanted it to be special and with somebody that I loved and I knew wasn't using me. It's worth the wait."
"How many people have you slept with?"
"I'm going to be straightforward and answer on behalf of Alex, who probably has no idea." I laugh and he smirks, shaking his head. Of course he didn't.
"Alright then, how many guys have you slept with?" He asks with raised eyebrows, as though he's certain that I'm promiscuous and that my answer will be just as bad as his. "Go on..."
"Three. Two of them were boyfriends, one I dated for four years and we ended up engaged, and the other for almost two, and the other was just a...thing, that I had with somebody when I was in college." I reply.
"Oh, so that's why you two aren't dating, you're engaged." Jessica says, nodding her head as though she had a premonition.
"No, I'm not engaged. I was, not anymore. But that's not why we're not dating." I laugh, and there's a knock at the door and her parents walk in, smiling. "We'll give you guys some space, I'll check on you in an hour." I get up and wave to Jessica, greeting her parents.
"This isn't over!" Jessica exclaims and I shake my head and walk out with Alex and we head to the cafeteria to get some food.
"So, only three guys, huh? That's interesting." Alex smirks, reclining in his chair and taking a sip of his water. We had no idea where the others were, presumably with Burke or Shepherd in the OR, or even lucky enough to be in the ER doing sutures.
"It's really not that interesting. Besides, what happened to what is said in the room, stays in the room? We're not in the room anymore." I take a bite out of my sandwich and shrug. "Where is everybody, anyway?"
"No, no, no, don't try and change the subject." Alex laughs. "Why wouldn't you go out with me?"
I look at him and I try to get inside his mind and find out what he's thinking. He's not an easy person to read and he's not usually very open with things that are...personal. He also doesn't tend to do relationships, from what I know about him.
"I can't tell if you're being serious or not, but, I just got out of a relationship and you have a...reputation. I didn't think you were the kind of guy to, you know, actually have a relationship. No offence."
"What do you mean, a reputation?" I sigh.
"I mean that you're known for not doing relationships and just sleeping with people. I'm not saying you sleep around, I'm saying that you supposedly only sleep with people and not have relationships with them." I frown.
"Is that what you think?" He questions, staring intently at me as he anticipates my reply.
"I don't know what I think. Sometimes I believe a lot of what I hear and sometimes I don't know what I should believe. I think that maybe you do sleep with people and don't do relationships but there isn't necessarily something wrong with that. You shouldn't care about what other people think about you anyway. But I don't know what I think of you." He stays silent for a moment before pushing his tray away from him and beginning to walk away from me, quite angrily.
"Alex! Alex, wait." I exclaim, rushing to catch up with him. I pull the sleeve of his scrub top and he stops and I walk to the other side of him. "I didn't mean to offend you, I'm sorry."
He doesn't say anything, he just stares at the floor and sighs.
"Alex... I don't know what you want me to say. I'm sorry." He looks up at me and I wait for him to say something, for him to not and show that he understands me, but I don't get anything for a few moments.
"Just... Just talk to me when you decide what you think of me."