16. NOTHING ELSE
"SO, YOU AND ELIJAH, HUH?" Henley questions, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.
Aliyah sits with her right leg crossed over her left, trying not to let herself fade away from the conversation at hand considering there's nothing going on between the two.
"There's nothing going on between us," Aliyah shakes her head, her fingers trailing down the beer bottle, "We're just friends."
Paige slaps her friend's arm, "I told you."
But Henley ignores the woman beside her, "That's not what he thinks."
"Huh?" Aliyah chokes on air, "What are you talking about? We met like two weeks ago."
"Well, for the last two weeks, he's been coming to work with the biggest smile on his face and I can only assume it's because he was on the phone with you right before he walked in." Henley tells her, tilting the neck of the bottle towards Aliyah.
Honestly, Aliyah didn't know what to do with that information. They slept together ━ they can't take that back ━ but they did it for all the wrong reasons. And now that they're friends, it's like they're floating in limbo trying to find the side of the line that they want to remain.
They act like friends — they hold hands, they touch, they hang out, they run up their bills talking on the phone for God knows how long every day — but yet, Aliyah can’t stave away the feeling of shock that runs down her spine or the butterflies that seem to wrestle their way through, nipping at her stomach whenever he does something that she finds cute and/or charming.
Was this her subconscious letting her know that her heart wanted something else? And even if she wanted them to try — he was still fresh out of an eight year relationship.
She would be just what she was avoiding ━ a rebound.
So it’s with that one claim she lets them know her final response.
“We’re just friends. Nothing else.”
"SHE'S PRETTY CUTE," Kendrick acknowledges, tilting the neck of his bottle towards his best friend, "So, you guys are friends?"
The three men were leaned against the island of the kitchen, eyes staring out past the crowd of people gathered in the living room to where Henley, Paige, and Aliyah were sat.
With eyes focused on her, Elijah hums a yes.
Drew raises an eyebrow, "You don't sound too happy about that."
Kendrick narrows his eyes as he tries to read his best friend's expression. He gasps when he figures it out, "You like her as more than a friend."
The ortho surgeon rolls his eyes before downing the rest of his beer.
It goes without saying that Elijah West does like Aliyah Pryce as more than a friend. Damn, even when she walked in looking the way she does, his heart skipped a beat. Even looking away from her to take her to the kitchen pained him.
A part of him wanted to pull her into his arms and just hold her, and as weird as it may sound, bathe in her scent. Her beautiful aroma of shea butter and her natural bodily scent could make him go batshit crazy.
What else is there for him to say?
Of course, when she told him that she just wanted to be friends, he wasn't going to say no.
And he's fresh out of a relationship. A relationship that he put his all into. It's not that he expected anything in return but the decency to be told the truth about why he was broken up with would've been nice.
He tries to avert his focus from that situation and instead watches as Aliyah releases a sweet laugh, her melodic voice seeming to float through the room and make its way to his ears.
As sad as he was, he couldn't help the smile that grows on his face at the sight of her enjoying herself.
Honestly, a part of him had hoped that she would reject the invite, so then he would have an excuse to not spend any more time with the people he already works with.
Don't get him wrong, he loves his fellow Attendings but he would rather spend some alone time with Aliyah ━ so they could be bitter together.
"We're just friends." He concludes.
He starts to feel like a creep the longer he looks at her and so he pushes himself up from the island, throws away his empty bottle and makes his way over to the fridge.
He doesn't even have the chance to pop it open when his pager goes off. Though his shift is over, he usually keeps his device on him just in case of an emergency ━ it'd become a habit.
And apparently, he wasn't the only person.
Pagers are going off all throughout the house and people are shuffling around, grabbing their things to make a quick getaway.
Elijah doesn't even have to look at it to know that it's a 911.
"No rest for us, I guess," Drew sighs as he reads what's on his pager.
The ortho surgeon puts the bottle back in the fridge and makes his way out of the kitchen to see Aliyah looking at the people running around.
She's standing and holding her purse along with her coat. However, she's stood out of the way of the door, giving those who need it a chance to quickly leave.
Elijah approaches her with a sympathetic pout, "Hey," He captures her attention, "I'm sorry about this. It's ━"
"An emergency," Aliyah smirks, "I know. Go save lives."
He didn't know what to expect as a farewell but it definitely wasn't the hug that she pulls him into. Wasting no more time to think about it, he wraps his arms around her waist and sinks into her scent.
"Text me when you get home," He whispers into her ear.
He feels her smile against his neck, "I will."
omg y'all shout out to @palinoia for her help w/ this chapter 😭😭😭😭
AND THEY'RE SO DAMN CUTE,, I CANT WAIT UNTIL THEY'RE BEST OF FRIENDS