˚♡ ⋆｡˚
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
kung fu fighting.
season four, episode six.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
That morning, Cristina, Meredith and Billie stood in front of the rack full of yellow trauma gowns, fetching one for each and throwing them over their scrubs. However, soon, the former's eyes caught something over her persons' shoulders, so she stopped moving.
"Oh, heads up," Cristina whispered secretively through the corner of her lip, beckoning towards Derek. "Mr. Incredible, twelve o'clock."
The man walked up to the three girls and nodded at Billie with a smile. "Bil." He then grinned at Meredith slyly, walking past her. "Hi."
"Hi." The blonde smiled dopily.
Billie squinted between the two for a second, watching Derek's back as he walked away. "So... you two are back together, or are you pregnant? Sick? Cancer got you?"
"No." Meredith laughed. "No cancer, no sickness, no babies, and no relationship."
"Then what the hell was that about?" Cristina tutted while the three girls began making their way into the ER.
"That was about a date we have later in the on-call room. It's nothing."
Billie snorted prominently. "Sure seem to be losing sleep over a whole lotta nothing."
The three girls with their trauma gowns already knotted over their scrubs walked out into the ambulance station, where Alex already waited eagerly for the incoming traumas. As soon as she saw him, Billie couldn't help but take a step back.
Memories of the conversation she'd overheard the night prior came flooding back. Words she now wished she hadn't heard. Rebecca and Alex were a thing, apparently, so she wasn't getting him back any time soon-not that he wanted to, of course. But it had been nice to know that he was there.
Now, he wasn't. And Billie understood Alex just wasn't patient enough to wait for her.
"Okay, what do we got?" Callie came running out to the ambulance station, snapping Billie out of her reverie.
"Two ambulances, multiple traumas," she informed.
"Any chance you need a resident's help, Dr. Torres?" Alex asked.
"As long as you wanna smash bones. Into dust. While people cry."
Billie glanced over at Callie sympathetically, well-informed on the status quo of her marriage. Her anger still bubbled fresh and raw in her veins, the type to not let her even look in Izzie Stevens' direction without going red in the face, and that wasn't hard to suss out, but as from that day, she had promised herself she wouldn't be having any more anger attacks. She hoped. She really did.
Kind of.
"Sweet. What do you got?" Alex asked, making his way to one of the ambulances. Billie noticed he was sort of ignoring her presence there.
"Chest pain. Tamponade. Ruptured aorta." Cristina prayed under her breath, given that Erica Hahn was in as the new chief of cardio and she had been singling her out from her service.
"More like a clown car," the paramedic hopping out of the vehicle huffed. "Jackie Escott, twenty-five years old. Dislocated shoulder, lac to her thigh. Vital signs are stable." The residents watched confused as two stretchers were rolled out onto the ground, carrying two different girls holding one same, bloody wedding dress. "And Helena Boyd, twenty-six years old, also stable. Obvious nasal fracture, facial lacs and a chunk of missing scalp."
"She ripped out my hair!" Helena groaned out, holding a prominent piece of gauze against her head, through which the blood bore into.
"She ripped out my shoulder!" Jackie fired back.
"You ripped out your own shoulder when you tried to push me off the platform!"
"Who let go of the dress? Did anybody let go of the dress?" A blond man in regular street clothes also jumped out of the ambulance.
"Hang in there, honey. Don't let her psych you out," the other man-a brunet-beckoned towards Helena.
"Okay, what the hell's all this?" Callie frowned.
"It's a store contest. I'm the judge." A third older man wearing work clothes sighed wearily, obviously bored.
"Last one to let go of the dress..."
"Wins the wedding of my dreams!" Jackie yelled loudly, too loudly.
"Of my dreams!" Helena corrected with determination, but in futile attempt.
"Alright, enough. You two are injured, okay? You need to get your priorities straight and let go of the-" Callie tried prying the dress off of their hands, but it was pointless. "-let go of the dress so we can treat you!" She kept pulling, but none of the girls budged. "Alright, let go now. Now."
Jackie glared in Helena's direction. "Yeah. That's not gonna happen."
☆
"You do know that you're bleeding all over the dress, right?" Billie said truthfully to the two girls, watching as blood from Helena's nose poured flimsily onto the beautiful white silk of the gown.
The woman in question rolled her eyes. "It's not about the dress."
"I can't, uhm... look, there's too much blood down here. Which one of your legs is bleeding?" Alex came up from under the wedding dress, where he had been trying to inspect the thigh laceration that, due to the many layers of broken tulle, he couldn't see.
"I don't know, I can't really feel anything anymore," Jackie spat out through gritted teeth, still glaring at Helena while she tugged on the dress for dear life.
Mark sauntered into the ER and walked towards the exam table. "You have a broken nose down here? What's with the dress?"
Jackie huffed. "It's not about the dress."
"Can't they just split the prize?"
"I offered," the store manager said. "I offered that fourteen hours ago."
"It is a one hundred thousand dollar wedding package and I'm not splitting it with anyone!" Jackie glowered.
George, who was on Mark's service, glanced down at them, oblivious. "Oh, you're bleeding on your dress-"
"It's not about the dress!" the two brides, plus the two grooms, plus Billie (who found the litany to have a nice ring to it, and was now repeating it out of fun), bellowed.
Callie glanced over at the resident weirdly. "Uh... I'm gonna have to stabilize that shoulder somehow."
"I'll go grab a sling!" Alex chanted hastily, as if wanting to flee the scene as soon as possible.
Callie and Billie removed their latex gloves and walked up to Mark. The latter sighed, aware of what it felt like to have patients that were too stubborn to care about their health, but regardless, admiring the two girls' dedication.
Billie could only wish to have that kind of determination over something. Yes, she knew she could be a stubborn, and sometimes proud, little thing (judging by that time that she had fought her mother to death-it's a saying, okay?-on whether she had or hadn't eaten the big gingerbread man on the lawn of the gingerbread house that was meant to be for the guests, considering the fact that she was only six) but she realized she had never found herself fighting so hard for love. She had never gone to the extent of a broken nose and a dislocated shoulder for a wedding, and had never found anyone who had done the same thing for her. Following her train of thought, she began doubting several aspects of her life.
"Well, this is cozy," Mark whispered at his two best friends, snapping Billie out of her internalized ramble.
"This is hell. I assigned O'Malley to you to keep him away from me and now our patients are connected to each other." Callie groaned, glancing over her shoulder at the intern, who stood by the patients' bed.
Mark and Billie shared eager looks. She arched a single eyebrow at her statement, slow smirk taking upon her features.
"Oh, baby, no. You're not looking at this like the opportunity it is," she said suggestively.
"Meaning?"
"Meaning-" Mark continued as if him and Billie had one neuron, which they happened to share. "-he's an intern. It's, like, half my job, torturing interns."
Callie laughed sarcastically. "Thanks. That's almost sweet, but torturing George is not gonna make any of this any better."
Again, attending and second-year resident shared excited looks and Billie finally squinted her eyes. "I suggest you rethink that."
At the words, Callie seemed hesitant. She turned towards George as Billie and Mark's eyes were kept on hers, and as a particularly intuitive person, the girl simply knew-by the twitch on her eyebrows, the fall of her lips and the clench of her jaw-that Callie would absolutely, definitely change her mind.
As expected, she glared in George's direction and then lowered her voice. "Torture him how, exactly?"
☆
"No way, no freaking way!"
Mark, Callie, Billie and now, John Rogers too, stared at Jackie expectantly as she shook her head frantically, tugging on the wedding dress on her hands. After having heard the three doctors' suggestion to let go of the dress in order to get treated, she had absolutely lost it, and now, here they were.
Billie still found the situation quite impressive, although her expectations for the outcome of it declined every single time one of the girls opened her mouth. On the other hand, she was absolutely sure that her intern thought the situation to be ridiculous.
"It's the only solution if neither of you will let go of the dress," Billie said, shrugging her shoulders.
"It's very simple." Mark nodded. "Dr. Torres needs to treat Jackie's shoulder and leg, so, Jackie, you need a proxy."
"What?"
Her soon-to-be husband leant into her. "Think about it, babe. This gives you an advantage. You get to rest your hand and come back refreshed." He stood up and looked at Billie. "Give me the dress. I'll be the proxy."
Soon-to-be Husband Number Two rose. "No way! Uh-uh. This isn't fair. You think this is fair?"
Billie and Mark glanced at each other, sly smirks on their faces. The girl's eyes then landed on George, who looked back, confused.
Billie smiled devilishly. "Dr. O'Malley's the proxy."
Everybody turned to a wide-eyed George. "What?"
"You'll hold onto the dress," she finished.
"Hold the dress? You just want me to..." He was speechless, staring shocked at a very amused Billie, "stand here and hold a dress?"
Billie shrugged. "No one ever said internship was easy."
Next to her, the girl noticed how Callie held back a laugh, biting down hard on her lip in order to stay silent. Again, husbands and wives looked back at George, who removed his latex gloves aggressively with a glare set hard on Billie and then rolled up his sleeve melodramatically, proceeding to grab the bloody dress handed to him by Jackie.
Husband Number Two laughed. "Dude, your job kinda sucks, huh?"
Billie snorted under her breath. Callie, John and her promptly removed Jackie from the stretcher, placing her on another gurney in order to take her to a separate trauma room. Immediately, the bride yelled out loud.
"Ouch! Hello? Watch the shoulder!"
Billie laughed discreetly under her breath at the ridiculousness of the situation, sighting as Alex walked into the ER followed by Lexie. His eyes soon fell on George holding the dress and he laughed.
"Oh, check it out," he said. "Bambi's a bridesmaid."
John, standing by Billie, rolled his eyes. "This is stupid."
"Behave." Billie elbowed him on the ribs, efficiently shutting him up.
Then, Callie patted her and Mark on the shoulder. "You're right, this did cheer me up."
☆
Billie, Alex, Callie, John and Lexie stood in a different exam room with Jackie laying on the table in front of them. Callie and Alex were holding her dislocated shoulder in place for a reduction and Billie hated that she didn't hate the way the muscles on Alex's arms flexed due to the force he had to use.
On the other hand, she could also see how close John and Lexie were standing. She had noticed his eye on the younger girl multiple times and the tension between them both was palpable, seeing as Billie was a perceptive person and could notice their mutual attraction. A side of her was wanting John to make the first move, but the other was putting all of her money on Lexie.
Billie glanced back at Callie and Alex.
"Now, Jackie?" the chief resident called out. "Dr. Karev and I are gonna do this on the count of three, okay?"
The girl simply rolled her eyes. "I should totally win over that Helena girl. I'm way more injured than she is. I should just win by default."
"One," the ortho surgeon began counting just to get her to shut up, "two... three!"
Callie and Alex then both pulled from each side of Jackie's body, causing her to let out a scream of pain that topped the sound of cracking bones. Billie watched intently, trying not to make it obvious that she was staring right in his direction.
"Is it in?" she asked, in order to get her mind off him.
Callie softly palpated Jackie's shoulder, but as she did, the joint popped right back out of place, causing the patient to let out a second scream.
"Oh," Alex winced. "It popped back out."
"She's gonna need surgery," Billie reasoned.
"Woah! Hey, no! I gotta get back to my dress, just wrap some bandages around it or something!" Jackie sobbed.
"You would rather hold onto a dress with a dislocated shoulder than let me repair it in surgery for you right now?" Callie arched an eyebrow in inquiry.
"I can have surgery anytime. I can only win this wedding once."
At the words, Billie and John shared looks, confounded by Jackie's determination.
☆
Later that day, Billie sat in the empty research room, legs crossed over one another on top of the counter, carton of apple juice on one hand and orange prescription bottle of Prozac on the other. The white plastic straw directly connected to the carton remained between her lips, feeding her the sugary beverage in short intervals.
She hadn't realized what a long time she had spent without drinking her daily portion of apple juice. With all of the crappy situations she had been forced to overbear, the last time she was able to enjoy her favorite drink felt like decades ago.
However, her eyes were fixed on the prescription bottle with her name in it, tag which signaled the right dosage to take, the amount of refills to make, amongst other bits of important information. Billie was making it her job to read the small print when Derek found her and frowned at the sight in front of him.
"What am I looking at?" He placed his hands on his hips.
"No," she simply said expressionlessly, unsure of where the monosyllabic answer was truly coming from, but too focused observing the words on the tag to even care.
"Uh," Derek stuttered, but then shook his head, walking over to the chair next to her and plummeting down. "You good?"
"Great."
"And... what are you doing?"
"I'm trying to see where I can find the side effects to this crap," Billie said. "I think it's... nausea, drowsiness, dizziness, anxiety... trouble sleeping?" She looked up, confused. "Am I not taking this pills to help me sleep?"
Derek laughed at the comment, "No, Billie. You're taking the Prozac to help with your panic disorder. The benzodiazepines are what help you sleep, and the Xanax treats your anxiety." He paused. "Also, the extended version of the side effects are usually included in the package insert. Thought you should know."
Billie was deadpan for a second. "What the fuck is a package insert?"
"Why do you need that anyway?"
"Well, in the beginning, I was just trying to see if a side effect of Prozac can be horniness or, like, really-turned-on-ness, but then, I just kind of drifted off and I haven't even been reading this crap, I was just staring at it." Billie shrugged. "Happens sometimes."
"You're back on those pills?" Derek asked, a little surprised.
"Yep. Ever since... like, today. I think."
He frowned. "You're weirdly hyperactive. Are you sick?"
"No, Derek, I am medicated. Learn the difference." Billie rolled her eyes, but then checked the time, chugged down the remnants of apple juice and stood up. "Anyway, I got a wedding dress to take care of. Toodles!"
Derek watched as the younger girl walked out of the research room, thereby, leaving him sitting alone on one of the chairs. He frowned and squinted at the empty space in front of him before her words finally hit him.
"Wait, you're getting married?"
☆
"You have no idea the kind of stamina it takes to stand in a display window for two days." Jackie emphasized the last two words. "It's the hardest thing I've ever done. Like, ever."
Again, Callie, Lexie, Alex, John and Billie were all in the exam room, taking care of her injuries while she still refused to undergo surgery. The brunette resident, on her part, was sitting at the end of the bed, sewing up the cut on her thigh while Lexie and John watched over her shoulder.
"You're risking permanent damage to your shoulder over a contest," Callie said angrily.
Billie looked up at the older woman and then glanced back at her work, just as Lexie spoke. "What does your dress look like?"
"Strapless, sweetheart neckline, crystal beading. So pretty," Jackie described longingly.
Billie didn't bat an eyelash when she spoke. "You're gonna wear your hair down though, right? You know, to cover the hunchback?"
Both Alex and Callie turned to her with eyebrows raised in inquiry, but Lexie, who was caught up on the plan, understood.
"The... what?"
"Well, it's just... since you're ignoring Dr. Torres' advice about getting the surgery, your shoulder's probably gonna be pretty swollen. And purple," the intern said.
Billie looked up at Jackie and smiled innocently. "Like a hunchback."
"But your hair should totally cover it." Lexie shrugged her off.
"Maybe. I mean, with the right veil... just maybe," the resident finished.
Jackie turned to Callie, shocked. "You didn't tell me that. How soon can we have the surgery?"
☆
As Billie scrubbed in for the surgery alongside John, she saw through the corner of her eye as the intern slowly glided towards her and cleared his throat. She didn't even have to look at him in order to know there was something he wanted to say.
"Yes?" she asked, focused on the sponge running laps from the top of her forearm to the tip of her fingers.
"I, uh..." John began, looking around subtly. "You know Lexie? Grey? Lexie Grey?"
"Yes, Rogers, I know Grey. What's with her?" Billie asked.
"Well, I was just, you know, I was wondering... because she's kinda hot and really cool, if maybe-"
"I believe Lexie Grey is single," Billie cut off his rant, shaking off the excess water on her hands over the sink. "And I believe she has this thing for you, so maybe you could ask her out. But you should know that I'm very fond of that girl, so if you hurt her, I might just make sure you don't ever have kids."
John gulped. "I don't want any kids." Billie raised a threatening eyebrow and he took a step back. "Right, no kids. Yes, okay. I got it."
"Good." The girl nodded, then proceeded to dry off her hands with one of the sterile towels over the sink. "So, will you?"
"What?"
"Ask her out."
"Oh..." The intern thought for a second. "Maybe. I like her."
Billie slowly smiled, noticing the blush taking over his cheeks. "Okay, then. Okay."
"Okay," he said.
☆
Billie left the OR later that day only to meet up with Ian in a gathering she had certainly not expected and wasn't planning on having. In fact, as soon as she saw him, she simply ripped out her mask, threw it in the bin and walked right past him, though counting on the fact that he'd definitely follow her.
"I haven't seen you in forever," he said, running up next to her with his hands on the pockets of his lab coat. "I had this crazy sick case today, man with a pituitary adenoma the size of a grapefruit. Just the kind of thing you would've loved."
"You have absolutely no idea what I would've liked, Ian." Billie sighed, placing a towel damp with cold water against the back of her neck to soothe the tiredness of a few hours' worth of surgery.
The man cleared his throat. "Right." He paused for a second. "But, uh... what did you do?"
"Not that it's any of your business, but I have somewhere to be. So, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go now," Billie said harshly, obviously lying about the fact that she needed to go, but doing it anyway because she was not mentally prepared to have any sort of conversation with her brother.
However, she knew Ian LeBlanc always caught her on the lie. No matter how insignificant it was, he always found a way of sussing out her littlest deceptions. She didn't know what it was that he saw, but he just did. And the last time Billie recalled having a regular conversation with her brother was a very long time ago, to which she had no idea when he had gotten the time to learn who she was. They weren't brother and sister, they were strangers; yet, somehow, he knew it all.
"Right," Ian repeated, looking at her in a way that she knew he knew, but not saying anything. "Well, uhm... just so that you know, the Chief invited me to this... I think they called it a 'gentlemen's evening'. I understand your friends will be there, Mark, Derek, so I just- well, I wanted you to know."
"I don't really care, but let just get this straight," Billie turned around, facing her brother, "my friends are consorting? With you?"
"Well, I- I wouldn't call it consorting, but-"
"But yes," she finished off.
Ian bit his lip. "Yes."
Billie remained quiet for a second, unsure of how to feel about said detail. Of course she couldn't stay mad at the two people she owed so much to, but the fact that she was in an emotional debt with them didn't mean they got the right to do such thing behind her back.
But was she really mad, or was she just jealous?
"Okay," she finally said, beginning to walk away. "By the way, fuck you. And when you get there, tell them both I told them 'fuck you' too. Now, take two of these-" She flipped him off with both hands. "-and see you later, doctor."
☆
Billie, Callie, Alex, John and Husband Number One stood in Jackie's patient room after the surgery. As Billie finished velcro-ing the sling around the young girl's shoulder, she watched as her eyes slowly flicked open on her wake.
"Oh, hey. Hi there. You're awake," Billie chanted.
Jackie frowned. "Did I win?"
"You should know that your surgery went very well," Callie ignored her words while she finished updating and closing off her chart. Billie watched the situation unfold with an air of curiosity.
The patient looked around. "But... who won? I- Is she still holding on?"
Alex sighed. "Helena collapsed. She's in surgery."
"So-" Jackie's eyes lit up. "-I won? She- She collapsed, which means I won, right? Where's the judge?"
Callie huffed and handed the chart to Alex, then turned to Jackie with an air of sick annoyance. "The woman that you stood next to for two days almost died. Okay? You've just woken up from surgery and all that you can think about is if you've won a stupid contest? Don't you get it?" She scoffed. "You- You shouldn't have to fight this hard for a wedding. You fight for a marriage, and sometimes, even that is a lost cause. Sometimes, you have to know when to let go. So just let go already, alright? Just freaking let go!"
The people in the room watched as the surgeon stormed out of the room, although Billie seemed to be the only one that knew that her words were coming from a much deeper place within her. She knew Callie missed George, but hated him ever too much.
However, in the wake of silence, Jackie looked around. "Yeah, but... did I win?"
☆
"Hey, Billie, can I talk to you?" George came up to Billie later that night, as the girl sped down the main lobby towards the door in order to go back home.
After a tiring day, Billie couldn't wait to plummet down on her bed and sleep like she never had, considering the fact that medication would always make her body feel too heavy for her feet to bear. Her eyelids weighed like two anvils on top of her eyes, making her question if she was primed enough to drive herself back home without getting herself into a (second) car crash.
She turned, howbeit, when she heard George's voice. It wasn't the one she was expecting, to put it nicely, and any other day, she would've been delighted by his presence. Nonetheless, this time, she really just wanted to pretend she hadn't heard him, because she knew what he was there for.
"Uh..." Billie huffed tiredly, still walking towards the entrance but feeling George's presence behind her, following her out. "Uhm, I, uh... y- yeah, sure."
She turned, seeming weary, and George looked her in the eye. "Are you mad at me?"
"Why would I be mad at you?" Billie tried to avoid the topic subtly, but her attempts were futile in comparison to his determination.
"I don't know. Are you?"
"I-" she huffed out. "George, I- I'm really tired. Can't we just have this conversation tomorrow?"
"Billie," he asserted, taking a glance around to make sure nobody was listening. "I know I did some crappy things, but I really need my friends right now."
"How does that apply to me?"
George frowned. "Well, you're my friend. I need you to not be mad at me. And I know you are because I know you and you've been punishing me all day."
"I'm sorry, George, I really am. But I'm gonna go now," Billie said.
She didn't give the man any more time to answer when she was pivoting on her heel and making it her job to leave the main lobby. However, as she was about to push open the double entrance doors, she changed her mind, so quickly went back on her steps until she was facing George.
"Remember that time-" she began. "-when you slept with Meredith and I was, like, super mad at you because I thought you had taken advantage of her?"
The man's eyebrows twitched in tension, uncertainty as to where she was heading towards with such statement. "Uhm... yeah?"
"Remember when you begged for me to forgive you, and I said that we could be friends again, but I told you that I was never actually gonna forgive you for what you did?" Billie continued, motioning widely with her hands. "I stand by that, George. And when I told you that, I thought I was giving you an open door for you to be a better person. I thought, 'well, the next time he's about to do something bad, at least he'll think about me, and maybe that will stop him'. I really did think that. But cheating on Callie, George, cheating on your wife? The woman you claimed to love? Was that really necessary? Because, really, I've seen you and Izzie be friends for two years and not once have you shown to like each other romantically. And then, suddenly, because Izzie's so jealous of Callie, she has to come and take her away from you. An amazing woman, an amazing surgeon, an amazing person that you ruined... and for what?"
George was a little taken aback.
Billie sighed. "I'm not... judging, George. I'm not blaming you, because you and I both know this is Izzie's fault. But... why? Why did you do it? Why-and I am not making this about me-but why didn't you think of me when you slept with Izzie? And I know, I know I said I wasn't mad at you, but there's just a limited amount of things I can stand by you through, and this is not one of them. I- I just, I don't understand." She paused. "Help me understand."
George simply blinked, heart slowing down in windswept depiction of his lament. He knew he'd hurt his wife and he'd never feel content with himself about what he did, but it pained him knowing that his actions, by extent, also hurt his dearest friend. She was the last person he ever wanted to cause pain to, knowing how much she had already been through and how pure her soul was.
However, following that train of thought, he didn't answer. So Billie simply swallowed and nodded her head, then proceeded to turn and leave the hospital with a feeling of heartache housed within her chest.
☆
Due to the events that had happened right before she left the hospital, Billie had decided to stop by Joe's bar before she actually went back home and slept.
Truth was, she'd always hated sleeping, which was weird, considering the fact that you don't really feel anything when you're sleeping. But seeing it through her eyes and as a person with a chronic sleeping disorder, having to lie in bed for countless hours without being able to close her eyes felt like hell. Especially knowing that she was alone when the whole world was asleep.
So, she figured, a shot of tequila couldn't hurt.
Billie made her way into the pub and chose a seat by the bar, where she greeted Joe behind the counter politely and then hung her jacket and bag from the backrest of her stool. She ordered herself a pint of IPA and, while she waited, cracked a few peanuts from the little red basket in front of her and popped them into her mouth. She looked around curiously.
"Can I buy you a drink?"
Billie's head whipped in the direction of the man that sat a stool away from her. Tall, handsome, and with a jaw set like a blade, she couldn't help but allow her eyes to travel the curve of his biceps all the way to his hands, which laid ring-clad. Something about his smirk called her in, so she grinned.
"Maybe," she answered with a shrug. "Depends on your intentions."
"Alright." He nodded. "What about... I like what I see. I like your eyes, you're pretty, and I'd like to get to know you... would that be good enough?"
A smile slowly took upon her entire face and she lapsed her tongue over her bottom lip, finally caving at his immediate persuasiveness. "I'm Billie."
"Miles." He grinned widely, jumping from his stool over to the one next to her and making her cheeks turn red. They stretched hands politely in a way that sent electric shocks down her spine. "You seem like you've had a rough day."
"Well, I'm a surgeon. There's really no good days for a surgeon."
"A surgeon? Wait, so, like, you also save lives and all?" Miles widened his eyes and talked genuinely, analyzing her features calmly.
She laughed. "Also?"
"Well, I'm a fourth-year resident at Mercy West. I'm- wow, that's one hell of a coincidence." He seemed surprised, allowing the big toothy smile on his face to remain.
Billie grinned. "It is, indeed. I'm a second-year."
"Second year? You seem young."
"Oh, well, uhm... not to brag, but I'm kind of a prodigy." She leant in as if telling a secret, then winked, causing Miles to laugh.
"Oh, I bet you are."
Billie jutted her lips a little and squinted her eyes at him playfully, as if trying to pry off any sort of hidden emotions from his cryptic eyes, but when she noticed his gaze falling to her mouth, she felt a current of electricity bolting her out of the blue. Her heart picked up pace in her chest and she slowly licked her lips, analyzing his stance before she spoke.
Why was she holding back?
She reminded herself Alex and her were over and then leant in toward Miles.
"Hey, Miles," she said, eyes dropping briefly to the shape of his cherry lips. Almost immediately, Miles figured her intention, but wanted it to hear it regardless when she smiled. "You wanna get out of here?"