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“Do you think Renaissance fairs are dorky?”
“Yes,” Santos says immediately, looking up from her computer screen just in time to see her face fall. The other doctor stammers for a moment, as Javadi pauses and gives her a sidelong glance.
“I mean, no,” Santos amends. “Definitely not.”
Her brow furrows slightly.
“I’m not really sure –”
“Okay, fine, Mel. They’re dorky,” Santos says, sighing and looking over at her. “But if you like them, who cares if they’re dorky.”
“She’s right,” Javadi tells her, with a gentle smile on her face. “If you enjoy them, it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks.”
“Oh, I know,” she assures them, nodding gently, but she can’t help the way her heart falls just a little. “I just…I was just wondering because a patient of mine was asking me about things I like to do outside of work and I brought up how I used to go to Renaissance fairs and he said they were kind of dorky. I was just curious what you both –”
“Wait, this guy was asking what you like to do outside of work?” Santos asks, as both her and Javadi creep closer to her, suddenly very interested in what she has to say.
“I mean, yeah,” she says, confused again. “He was trying to be nice, I think. His stitches were taking awhile because I kept getting interrupted and he was making conversation to…show…”
She trails off when she sees how both women are staring at her.
“What?”
“Mel,” Santos says. “He was flirting with you.”
Her face immediately heats up. She looks to Javadi for help, but she’s just smiling slyly at her.
“No,” she says, with a breathless laugh. “I think I would have realized if he…”
She trails off again. She remembers her Anatomy and Physiology class during her second year of med school, and how her lab partner had to be the one to clue her in that the boy who sat in front of them was trying to get her to go out with him, just like Javadi and Santos were doing now.
“Don’t tell Langdon.”
The mention of his name breaks her out of her thoughts, and her head snaps towards Santos.
“Don’t tell Langdon what?”
Santos stares at her for a moment, then glances at Javadi, who is looking back to her with a look that is almost…scolding? Incredulous? She can’t really tell.
Santos goes to speak again, but Javadi interrupts her.
“Nothing,” Javadi says. “Don’t listen to her.”
“Speak of the devil,” Santos mutters under her breath.
She turns her head and sees him approaching central. When they make eye contact, he smiles. She smiles back, but then tamps it down – she can still feel Santos’ and Javadi’s gazes on her.
His brow furrows.
“Everything okay?” he asks when he reaches them, putting his hands on the desk, his fingers tapping at the hardwood.
Before she can open her mouth, Santos does.
“Dr. Langdon, do you think Renaissance fairs are dorky?”
He smiles, laughs once, starts to look around at the three of them.
“I mean,” he begins, but stops, sobers when he sees her. “I mean, not necessarily.”
“Yeah, alright,” Santos drawls, snickering. “Mel, have you started on your next patient yet? Maybe they’ll flirt with you, too.”
“Wait, what?” Langdon says. His fingers stop tapping.
“They weren’t flirting with me,” she tells him, almost feeling the need to reassure him. “Well, I mean, maybe he was, but –”
“But what, Mel?” Santos asks. “Was he cute?”
She shrugs.
“I mean, he wasn’t unattractive.”
“Well, then, the only mistake he made was disagreeing with you about Renaissance fairs. If that hadn’t happened, you two could on a lunch date right now.”
“I don’t know about that.”
“Wait a sec,” Langdon says, glancing up at the patient status board. “Who was flirting with you?”
“Why, Langdon?” Santos asks, leaning forward in her chair. “You have a problem with that?”
“No,” he stammers, a strangled laugh coming from his chest. “I just think it might be a little inappropriate to come to the ER and flirt with your doctor.”
“I don’t think so,” Santos says, and Javadi smiles at him.
“She’s right,” she says. Her tone is almost…apologetic. “That’s like, a romcom waiting to happen.”
“Okay, well, I think it’s unprofessional.”
“As unprofessional as a senior resident having a crush on his –”
“Santos, what are you…”
They start talking over each other. She can’t understand either one, or focus on anything else.
“Guys!” she says loudly, raising her voice for the first time in eleven months.
They all stop immediately, looking over at her with wide eyes.
“Why are we making such a big deal about this? It was a month ago, and the patient ended up getting arrested.”
“Wait,” Langdon says, standing up straight, turning towards her fully. “Was this the guy that knocked you over running from the cops?”
“Oh, um,” she says, suddenly feeling timid again. “I mean, yeah.”
“And he was flirting with you beforehand?”
“Apparently?”
Langdon scoffs.
“What a fucking jackass.”
“Down, boy,” Santos murmurs, and Javadi kicks her. “What?! Everyone likes to flirt with pretty girls, criminal or not. Right, Captain Scurvy?”
“How did you…”
“You know about…”
She and Langdon both start talking at the same time. She looks at him, finds him looking back at her. He’s blushing.
She’s not sure she’s ever seen him blush before. A moment later, he sighs, rolls her eyes, stands up even straighter.
“I’m going to kill Perlah,” he mutters.
The corners of her mouth start to turn up. Again, she shakes her head, makes herself keep a straight face. She sees Dr. Al-Hashimi starting to approach out of the corner of her eye.
“Dr. Langdon, Dr. King,” she says. “I have a trauma I would like you both to assist on if you have the time.”
“Of course,” she says, and she hears Langdon’s footsteps approaching.
“Good,” Dr. Al-Hashimi says, smiling at the two of them. “I find the two of you work very well together.”
“Oops,” she hears Santos remark from behind her, and then something crashes to the floor. “Hey, Dr. Langdon. I think it’s very unprofessional that you just threw a box of gloves at me.”
“I have to agree, Dr. Langdon,” Dr. Al-Hashimi scolds softly, but there’s still a smile on her face.
“Sorry, Dr. Al,” he says, coming to stand next to her. She glances at him surreptitiously, finds his cheeks are still flushed. “Won’t happen again.”
“I hope so. Now, come along.”
They both follow after their attending. His arm brushes hers as he walks. Her skin pebbles, her heart beats, and she smiles.
* * *
“That was mean,” Javadi tells her, once the three of them are out of sight.
“That was funny,” Santos says instead. “Lighten up, Crash. We’re performing a service if you think about it. Plus, I have a bet to win.”
“What did you put up?”
“Ten shifts together after he finally took the wedding ring off.”
“And it’s been?”
“Six.”
Javadi hums.
“Still think Perlah has you beat.”
Santos scoffs.
“Did you even see what I just saw? They are not going to make it to the end of the month. Especially if I keep giving them little pushes.”
“That’s cheating,” Perlah says from behind her.
Santos glances over her shoulder, smirks at the nurse.
“Whatever. I’ve always been known to play a little dirty.”
Three days later, she finds a pamphlet in her lunchbox, a sticky note attached to it. She recognizes the handwriting from when she found a note with his phone number folded in her jacket pocket three weeks ago, the day after he went to get boba with her and Becca after work.
This does seem kind of cool. I could drive?
She smiles, leafing through the pages covered with pictures of the Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival. She pulls out her phone, scrolls to their text conversation.
Free this weekend :), she writes.
He starts typing immediately, and his message pops up a moment later.
Sounds like a date ;)
She almost feels bad for Santos, and Javadi, and Perlah, and all the other people who were betting on them, according to Donnie. But then, she remembers what he told her last Friday, when he was walking her to pick up Becca, his arm slung casually around her shoulders, and she smiles.
What they don’t know won’t kill them.