Review and what not, that'd be dandy.
AZsgirl: They haven't had sexy time yet.
It's one of those idyllic spring mornings.
The only sounds in the park are the steady pitter patter of seasoned runners and the shrill chirping of nearby swallows. Pollen hangs in the air, heavy but not stifling, just enough to cover everything in a thin sheet of yellow. Callie is as steady in her stride as always, her ponytail waving behind her like a stringy flag while Arizona trails closely behind, protest on her lips.
"I'm just saying, Callie," the blonde reasons, her breathing a bit more labored as they make their fourth and final lap around the track. "If I'm going to be running for two hours, I think I deserve a little compensation."
A loud, annoyed sigh comes from the other woman who intentionally quickens her pace hoping to shake off her persistent pupil. "I'm helping you prepare for finals. That's your compensation."
Arizona groans at the answer.
They've been doing this every morning for four days.
Running and studying.
And Arizona has yet to get accustomed to the long stretches of silence; it's not that they're particularly uncomfortable. It's just that something in her always wants to fill them, always wants to make conversation.
Callie is the exact opposite; she likes to run quietly and think. And to her merit, these past four days have had the best kind of atmosphere for silent introspection. Calm and warm, not yet tainted by Seattle's notorious spring showers.
"Callie, think of it as positive reinforcement," the blonde proposes, and the other woman snorts loudly in response.
"You mean the way they train dogs?"
Arizona rolls her eyes. "I just think it would be more fun if I got to ask you things, too."
"We are studying. I ask you questions to help teach you. It's not supposed to be fun," Callie exasperates, causing the other woman to click her tongue defiantly. "Unless you want to ask me about the structure of Aromatic Hydrocarbon, it's not a fair trade."
"Come on, Calliope. Don't be a downer."
The blonde has been becoming more and more interested in learning about her new mentor. It's mostly because of all the contact they've had lately between their daily study sessions and their before-date chats. Plus, they just have this 'natural camaraderie' as Arizona explained to April before when the redhead inquired about their relationship. The other woman had been convinced that there was something romantic brewing, but the blonde had quickly dismissed the assumption. Callie and she were strictly platonic if anything. Of course, she recognized how attractive the other woman was (for god's sake they've slept together), but she was dating Tim, and Arizona would never cross that line. Ever.
Besides the sophomore wasn't looking for a relationship anyway. Been there. Done that.
"Why?" Callie inquires genuinely at loss. The other woman had propositioned this yesterday and hadn't let up since. It wasn't that Callie was completely opposed to the idea. She didn't mind talking to Arizona; in fact, she enjoyed it. The blonde was incredibly funny and sweet, but it just simply wasn't part of her method. None of this banter was supposed to be happening; they were supposed to be serious and focused, but for some reason the sophomore just couldn't stop and Callie had ended up being quite the enabler.
"Why not?" Arizona responds, flashing the brunette a dimpled grin. "Come on, it'll be fun." Callie tries to shoot the other woman a glare, but it quickly falls way smile. Such an enabler. She shakes her head quickly, trying to regain her resolve.
"Because," the brunette starts firmly, "This is a study session. If you want to ask me about something unrelated to Organic Chemistry or Molecular Biology, do it afterwards." Her words come out all strict and adult-y, and Callie can't help but be a little proud of herself.
That is before her blonde pupil counters rather quickly (and surprisingly). "Fine then, come to breakfast with me." It's meant to come out as a casual offer, playful and relaxed, but for some reason, the suddenness of it makes it sound more like a demand. Arizona bites the inside of her cheek, slightly embarrassed. "It's just—I don't have class until nine," she tries to explain, "So you know, if you wanted to…or whatever. No biggie."
A beat of awkward silence passes before the older woman finally nods.
"Sure," she agrees, turning her head to face the other woman who's now at her side, "But for the rest of this lap, we study."
Arizona opens her mouth to protest but quickly decides not to push her luck. She's silently excited that she'll get to hang out with Callie in a less formal setting. It's hard to get to know someone when you're constantly being shushed or quizzed. It isn't until fifteen minutes later that the brunette finally slows to a stop and turns around. Her breathing is a little hard from the running as her hands come to rest tiredly on her hips.
"Okay," she exhales, wiping tiny droplets of sweat from her brow, "What do you have in mind?"
They end up going to a diner not too far away from the park. Arizona picks it out because it's small and homey and pastel-colored, and if there's one thing that Callie has learned from seeing the inside of the other woman's condo, it's that she loves pastels. There's the soft sound of soul music playing in the background, but not the popular kind of soul music. It's the kind that you know must have been burnt onto someone's personal CD and played over the speakers.
Callie orders French toast and black coffee while Arizona settles on blueberry pancakes and poached eggs. As soon as their orders arrive, the brunette drowns her toast in a river of lukewarm maple syrup and begins haphazardly slicing into it; her blonde companion watches on, slightly appalled.
"You know they flavor the toast right?" Arizona inquires critically, causing her mentor to pause mid-bite.
"Hm?"
"They flavor the toast," she repeats, gesturing toward the woman's syrupy plate. Callie looks down before looking back up, her eyes narrowed a bit.
"You can't invite me to breakfast and then judge the way I eat," Callie clucks before bringing a slice over-soaked bread to her lips.
"I'm not judging. I just," the blonde pauses, scrunching up her nose as the other woman proceeds to sop her remaining toast in the pool of syrup on her plate. "Wow." Her blonde brows dip a little lower, knitting together. "Are you really going to eat that?"
Callie locks eyes with the blonde, smirking as she lifts a piece of syrup-drenched bread to her lips. "Mmm," she moans dramatically as she takes it into her mouth.
"Wow," Arizona breathes again as Callie makes a show of licking her now empty fork, letting it slide leisurely against her lips. Something unrecognizable passes over the blonde's face as she watches the other woman, her eyes flicking down to the brunette's pouty lips briefly before looking away. She crosses her arms, clearing her throat awkwardly.
"Gross."
A loud, throaty laugh falls from Callie's mouth. "This is actually really delicious. You should try it."
The younger woman makes a 'gak' sound in the back of her throat which only serves to make Callie laugh again.
"No, thank you. I don't like syrup," Arizona states easily, and Callie's eyes widen in surprise.
"Everyone likes syrup…You're joking, right?
"I just don't see the appeal...It's sticky. It gets everywhere. It tastes like wet sugar." Arizona shrugs, and the other woman stares at her for a long moment, a disbelieving smile pulling at her lips.
"You're a very anal person, aren't you?" the brunette finally asks, her head tilting curiously. Arizona rolls her eyes at the other woman as a tiny snort falls from her mouth.
"I'm not anal," she answers easily, picking up her fork and knife and proceeding to cut her pancakes up into neat portions. Callie watches her friend, her lips pursed in amusement. "I just don't like to drown my food in sugar," Arizona explains, still looking down at her plate as she separates each wedge of pancake.
"Mhm," Callie hums disbelievingly though she can't help but smile as she watches the other woman lift a slice of pancake to her lips. She doesn't realize she's been staring quietly for a while until Arizona finally shoots her a questioning look.
"Are you just going to watch me eat?"
Callie's face reddens just a bit. "I wasn't watching," she excuses, moving her fork around her plate. The metal against ceramic makes an uncomfortable scraping sound. "I was just wondering how you can eat that entire pancake plain."
"It's not plain…It has blueberries."
The brunette makes a face and Arizona shoots her a teasing grin.
"You're lucky we're friends," Callie mumbles absently before taking a sip from her cup of coffee. She doesn't notice the change in Arizona's expression at her words. Soft and subtle…though something much heavier curls inside her stomach.
"Friends, huh?" the blonde tests, and Callie nods, giving her a sort of "duh" look.
"What else would we be?"
The words come out nonchalant and certain as Callie takes another long sip from her coffee cup. Arizona watches the other woman for a bit before looking away, a tiny smile pulling at her lips.
And then, as if some sort of cruel karma finally decides to kick in, a svelte familiar blonde waltzes through the diner's entrance. When Arizona catches sight of her over Callie's shoulder, she instantly grabs a menu from behind the table's condiment stand and props it up in front of her face. Callie furrows her brow in confusion.
"What are you doing?" She asks, reaching over to pull the menu away from the blonde, but Arizona slaps her hand away.
"Heather's here!"
This answer only serves to make the brunette more confused. "Who's Heather?"
"She's my ex…stalker?" Arizona whispers a bit uncertainly. The two never dated, but the amount that the crazy blonde was in her life, it sure seemed like it.
"Your ex-stalker?"
Callie tries to turn around, curious and surprised, but instantly Arizona grabs her hand, causing her to still and stiffen.
"She used to call me nonstop and follow me around everywhere. One time she came over, and we got into an argument, and she tried to stab me with a butter knife."
"What the hell!?" Callie blurted rather loudly, and Arizona looks over the menu for a moment to shoot her a scolding look.
"Don't draw her attention!" Arizona shushes, "I don't want Crazy McCrazy coming over here."
Callie shakes her head, her eyebrows almost touching her hairline. "This is insane."
"I know," the blonde stresses. "She's the reason I adopted a "one night only" rule."
There's a long pause where Callie doesn't respond, and then all of a sudden, Arizona's menu is yanked smoothly from her hands.
"A 'one night only' rule?" the brunette's eyes are slightly thinned into a scrutinizing stare, but Arizona's too busy scrambling to get her menu back to notice the other woman's expression. "Exactly how many women have you slept with, Arizona?" The question is asked in surprised curiosity as the brunette's mind immediately goes back to the night they met.
"Oh my god, you're so fucking good," Callie moans as Arizona props one of the her legs over her shoulder. "Y-You must do this alo—Ummff," her words get cut off by a sharp groan as the blonde suddenly pushes two fingers inside of her. Arizona looks up to see the other woman's eyes shut tightly and her face contort in pleasure. She smirks cockily, kissing the other woman's thigh as she continues to fuck her.
"No," the blonde says lowly before letting her tongue slide up against Callie's pretty caramel skin, "You're my first."
Callie barely registers her words though because Arizona chooses soon after to move her tongue from the brunette's inner thigh to her soaking wet center.
"Ohhh fuckkk!" The taller woman groans loudly, banging her head against the plastic restroom partition.
"Uh…a few…" Arizona finally answers as a bashful smile takes over her lips. The brunette narrows her eyes even more, humming skeptically.
Her first, my ass.
But before she can ask anything else, Arizona releases a tiny gasp and dips down again this time lower.
"I've been spotted!"
Callie rolls her eyes. "Oh would you calm down."
"That woman tried to stab me, Calliope!" Arizona whispers disbelievingly.
"With a butter knife! It barely counts."
The blonde goes to shoot an annoyed glare at her friend but immediately seizes up again when she sees Heather slowly advancing in their direction.
Oh, goddamnit
"Zona? Is that you?" Heather approaches the table, a wide, surprised smile on her face. "I haven't seen you in forever!"
Because I've been avoiding you, you nutjob.
Arizona sits up in her seat, a forced smile on her lips. "Hi, Heather."
She glances over to Callie who's giving her a tiny, humored smirk.
"It's been too long," Heather coos, staring affectionately at the blonde. Arizona just awkwardly smiles back, internally glaring as she watches her tutor swallow a laugh out of the corner of her eye.
"You haven't been answering my calls lately. I figured you were busy," the woman offers politely, and Arizona knows exactly where this is going. She sighs in quiet annoyance.
"Yeah, my classes have been really tough this semester."
"Oh, so it's just your classes?" Heather questions, laughing at the end in an attempt to make the inquiry seem casual. "There isn't any special someone keeping you distracted?"
Arizona again glances over to Callie who raises her eyebrows a bit surprised by the other woman's gall.
"Heather, I don't really want to talk about this, right now. Callie and I were kind of in the middle of breakfas—"
Arizona's statement is cut off by Heather who upon hearing the unfamiliar woman's name, makes a suspicious noise in the back of her throat. She turns toward the brunette, politely holding out her hand. "I'm sorry; it was rude of me not to introduce myself. I'm Heather Martisse, and you are?"
The sudden attention surprises Callie, but she shakes it off quickly, taking the other woman's hand and giving it a firm pump before letting it go. "Callie Torres. Pleasure to meet you."
The tall blonde gives her a too-wide smile that Callie knows has to be forced. "So…how do you know Zona?"
The brunette glances over at Arizona for a second, her mind once again going back to that night in the restroom.
"Uh…" she starts off, cheeks reddening a little, "Through Tim…we became friends after he introduced us."
"Oh…just friends?"
Callie's eyebrows rise slightly at the blonde's blatant implication, and Heather immediately notices, holding her hands out apologetically.
"I'm sorry…I'm just not used to Zona having any female friends besides April."
Callie has only heard of April briefly, but she smiles and nods anyway, curiosity blooming in her chest.
"Wait, Arizona doesn't have other female friends?" she questions, and immediately, Arizona clears her throat uncomfortably.
"Not that I'm not thrilled you two are getting along so well, but I was really looking forward to eating breakfast—"
Heather makes a face of faux-embarrassment like she hadn't the slightest clue she was being intrusive. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'll get out of your hair," she says quickly interrupting the blonde. "But hey, don't be a stranger. I would love to get together again sometime…With the both of you." Heather adds on the last part courteously, but Callie can tell by the way her eyes are glued to Arizona that she doesn't really care whether or not the brunette joins.
"Uh, okay," Arizona responds, smiling until Heather finally leaves the table. They wait until the blonde has received her order and left the diner to speak again.
"Wow, Zona. You have quite the admirer," Callie teases lowly, leaning in over the booth table. Arizona groans.
"God, don't call me 'Zona'. I hate that." Callie laughs, cocking an eyebrow.
"More than 'Battleship'?"
"More than 'Battleship."
After breakfast, the two separate: Callie going to a Kappa Gamma Delta meeting (apparently she's their treasurer), and Arizona going to Sociology class. Time flies after that, and it isn't long before the blonde arrives back to her condo, stressed and exhausted. Tim is sitting on the couch, his legs propped up on the coffee table. There's a half-empty bottle of beer in his hand, and some basketball game playing on TV.
When he hears the door open, he turns toward the sound, an immediate smile taking over his lips. "Sis!"
"Brother," Arizona smiles back a bit less excitedly. She's so tired, all she wants to do is sleep. "I thought you and Callie were supposed to be going on a date at 7?" she asks, checking her watch. It was 6:30. Tim's eyes suddenly widen, and he jumps up quickly from the couch.
"Oh, shit!"
"You forgot?!" Arizona asks, half-disbelievingly, half-amused. He makes a guilty face, running quickly to his bedroom. The blonde laughs quietly at him, setting her car keys down on the counter before placing her backpack beside the couch. She moves toward the kitchen, hoping Tim hasn't eaten all the leftover pizza from last night.
"I'm taking her to this new Indian place downtown," Tim yells from the back room, "It's a surprise though. Told her to dress casual."
Arizona furrows her brow. "You sure she'll like that?" she inquires, and Tim makes a 'psh' sound.
"Yeah, of course. Callie loves surprises."
"Yeah but—"
She's cut off by Tim scrambling to the front, looking rushed but handsomely dressed. He's wearing a fitted red shirt and dark jeans, and his hair is brushed back neatly enough. "Gotta go, Sis. See you later."
He gives her a quick kiss on the cheek causing her to make a "bleh" sound and scrunch up her face. She thinks a little more about Tim and his date after he leaves, but then, quickly decides she'd rather not.
"At least, I can finally go to sleep," she sighs optimistically, pulling a cold slice of pizza from the fridge and taking a bite. At that moment, her phone begins ringing. She pulls it from her pocket and answers.
"I need you to come over," April says almost immediately from the other end.
"Uh, Hello to you too," Arizona snorts, taking another bite of her pizza.
The redhead exhales heavily. "I'm serious. Alex is already here. Come on." Arizona's eyebrows rise in surprise. Alex never gets there first.
"Did something happen?" she asks concernedly, and a beat passes before the other woman answers, her voice a little sniffily.
"Yeah," she all but whimpers.
And Arizona's out of the house and in her car, ten minutes later.
"I just think it's weird that Jackson confesses his love for me." She does air quotes at the word love, rolling her eyes before continuing. "But then gets a girlfriend two weeks later." Yes, this was the emergency. Jackson had changed his Facebook status to 'in a relationship', and the redhead had found it serious enough to call for an emergency meeting.
Arizona groans exhaustedly. "April, please…if we talk about this anymore I might become an alcoholic." The other woman looks from the blonde to the half-drunken wine bottle gripped loosely in her hand. She gasps loudly, her eyes widening in disbelief.
"Is that my Chateau Montelena?" she exclaims loudly, and Arizona furrows her brow, glancing down at the bottle but finding the tiny words a little blurred.
"Uh…no?" the blonde answers though her mouth can't help but stretch down uncertainly. Upon seeing this, April walks around the coffee table separating them and indignantly plucks the bottle from her friend's hand. She reads the label quickly before shooting a glare at the intoxicated woman. "You always come over here and drink the most expensive thing!"
"I didn't know it was expensive," the blonde sputters overly-loud. (Arizona has always had a problem with volume when she's inebriated.) "How am I supposed to know what Chapoo M-Montl," she struggles with the name for a bit longer before waving her hands in angry confusion. "Whatever the hell you call that. How was I supposed to know it was expensive?"
"I don't know Arizona. How about asking?" April all but screams though she's more frustrated about her Jackson situation than Arizona drinking her wine. Heck, she didn't even buy the wine; Jackson did. He gave it to her as a birthday present.
"Would you two stop catfighting?" Alex interrupts the argument from his seat on the couch. He hasn't really been talking at all since he got to April's house. Mostly just texting, and every now and then grunting when the two women say something of interest. He turns toward the blonde, his eyebrows knitted into a stern expression. "Go drink some water, Arizona. You're drunk."
"No, I'm not!"
He waves off her response before turning to April. "And you," he says in disbelief, "No one wants to hear you bitch about Jackson. You dumped the guy for Christ's sake! Either get back with him or leave him alone."
April crosses her arms and hmphs. "Technically, we were never actually together."
"Whatever," Alex dismisses, "We don't want to hear about it."
"That's totally not fair," the redhead fires back, "I listened to you bitch about Jo for a whole week. And you," she says, looking toward Arizona, "When you were with Satan, I let you talk my ear off all the time." (April sometimes refers to Mary Barish as Satan. And Alex frequently calls her 'SheDemon'.)
The blonde jumps back in when she's mentioned, almost falling off the couch in her vigor. "I was in an actual relationship though unlike you two!"
They both shoot her a withering look before Alex mutters lowly, "Barely."
The blonde releases an offended scoff before trying to indignantly shoot up from her seat on the couch. The alcohol flowing through her system though makes this task a little difficult, so inside of rising like she wanted, Arizona just wobbles a bit before falling down.
"Oh my god," she laughs into the couch cushion as her friends watch on rolling their eyes (April) and smirking (Alex). "I think I might be tipsy, guys."
"More like wasted," Alex retorts but is quickly pulled from the discussion when his phone vibrates. He picks up the device quickly and begins texting. April eyes him closely.
"You've been texting a lot tonight, Alex" she observes, causing him to narrow his eyes at her briefly before redirecting them back toward the screen.
"Hey," Arizona pipes in again from her position on the couch, drawing April's attention from the irritable man, "Do you think I should call Callie?" The question comes out of nowhere causing April furrow her brow. "What?! No!" the redhead exasperates while Alex offers an agreeing grunt. Arizona simply pouts in return, continuing to pick bits of lint from the couch.
"She and Tim had a date tonight," the blonde says absently before squinting her eyes slightly in thought, "He's taking her to some Indian place." Arizona smacks her lips. "She doesn't even like Indian food."
Both of her friends look at her with scrutiny, but she doesn't even notice. She just keeps picking lint from the couch cushion.