Chapter Text
“Hey! So... I was wondering if you have any plans for July 4th?” Said Trinity Santos, the R2 from PTMC.
“Nothing besides the usual, go home to have a glass or two of wine, and then sit back and relax. Why are you asking Santos?” The trauma surgeon, Yolanda Garcia, replied. Knowing fully well why.
“Well...you know...maybe you’d want to come over to my place, and we could watch fireworks, I’d grab a bottle of wine, the one you like, of course. And we could just hang out?” Trinity rambled hurriedly, nervous about the surgeon’s answer, as if they didn’t spend almost every weekend in each other’s company.
Raising an eyebrow, Yolanda replied, “Are you asking me out on a date, Santos...?”
“No! I-I just thought! I mean, you know like..um..like if you- if you had no plans, I ju-”
“Relax Trin,” she said, cutting Trinity’s stutters off, along with a smile. “I’d like to go watch fireworks with you.”
“Oh! Yeah...yeah, okay, great!”
“God, that girl is a bit of a mess.” Thought Yolanda as she started walking back to the OR. “But that’s my mess.”
Yolanda Garcia was down bad. Real bad.
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“Wow, you look awfully happy right now Lanny.” Dr. Emery Walsh, Yolanda’s attending, said with an amused tone. “Is it that R2 you always talk about, what is her name again... Trina...Trish-”
Dr. Walsh had successfully annoyed Yolanda.
“Trinity. Trinity Santos,” Grumbles Yolanda. “That’s her name.”
“Right, of course. Like, I haven’t heard it a thousand times by now. Speaking of which, are you coming out for drinks with the rest of us on the 4th, or are you going out with your little girlfriend?” Walsh countered smugly, with a wicked shit-eating grin on her face.
“Excuse me? First off, she’s not my girlfriend. As I told you before, we’re just casual, nothing more,” Yolanda said, now irritated. “And yes, I do have plans. We are simply just going to watch some fireworks.”
“Mhmm, sounds like something girlfriends would dooo!” Walsh sings as she walks off to check on the other Doctors in the OR.
This left Garcia with her thoughts, “No, we’re just casual. That’s what was agreed upon after all. We’re nothing more, just casual...”
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The entire rest of Yolanda’s shift became a blur; she performed all her operations in a manner of muscle memory. Thoracotomy for the first patient, a craniotomy on the next, and so on. But she couldn’t stop thinking about what Walsh had said to her.
“That’s something girlfriends would do, was she right?” she thought, “Is that something girlfriends would do?”
Suddenly, Yolanda got a sickening feeling in her stomach. She felt everything within her tighten up. Her breathing started to become labored.
“Oh god.” She huffed to herself. “I think we’re not casual anymore...”
If there was one thing that scared Yolanda Garcia, it was the feeling of commitment. That wasn’t her; she was a woman who never let anybody get too close to her, a woman who kept people around just to toy with them until she was bored. A woman who didn’t do committed relationships. But, God, it would seem that the surgeon was absolutely down bad for Trinity Santos, and there was no return now.
She swore to herself she would never let herself get to this point. After having lived through what her parents had been, she pledged never to have what they had. She could remember the countless nights of their angered whispers in an attempt to hide the truth. Yolanda was no fool; it was obvious that they despised one another, but thought it better for Yolanda to have both parents in the picture. She gives them props for one thing: they stayed committed, for the better or worse. Commitment...
“Casual. Just that. That's all it is.” She repeated, lying to herself.
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In an attempt to distance herself, Yolanda has purposefully been avoiding Trinity all day, making minimal interactions. However, she couldn’t escape the call she got from the ER, a motorcycle accident. Just her luck, Trinity was there as well.
As soon as she finished up the resolutions and went to exit, she felt Trinity walk up beside her.
“Are you still uh coming over tonight? Whitaker is gonna be playing farm boy again this weekend, so he’s not gonna be around.”
“I may need a rain check,” Yolanda replied, distancing herself again.
This was going to be a long shift; Yolanda knew it would be. It would prove to be so, during all her operations, she was only thinking about one thing, Trinity, alongside the word casual. Was it casual to think about a girl this much? Who fucking knows.
“God dammit.” The pager in her pocket went off again.
“What’s up?” She said to Dr. Robby
“Hand versus M-80,” Robby replied.
“Surprised we’ve only seen one of these.”
“The day’s still young yet. Lost fourth metacarpal, mid-shaft on the fifth.”
“Bummer,” Yolanda replied flatly.
Yolanda then proceeded to quiz the residents attending to the young boy and finish up the protocols that we needed to clear the young boy for surgery. Her job was done for now; she opened the doors to leave.
“Hey.”
Trinity...
“What’s up?” Yolanda said, trying to appear calm and not panicked .
“Do you still need a rain check for watching fireworks tonight?”
Right...the fireworks...
“I thought you were coming over,” Trinity questioned.
Quick, make up something, Yolanda thought. “I made other plans.” Other plans? What the hell. Whatever that’ll have to do.
Trinity looked taken aback but kept her cool, “Okay, cool.”
“I’ll try hitting you up tomorrow.” Turning around in the elevator, “We’re just keeping it casual, right?” Yolanda questioned back.
The second those words came out of her mouth, she regretted it. It felt sour in her mouth.
The doors to the elevator close, with Trinity looking dejected.
God. Why did she do that? What did she even mean by casual? She was not casual at all about Trinity Santos. She was her every thought. Any moment of free time was being occupied by the thought of that girl. Casual. Why would she say that? God dammit, Yolanda, she thought to herself. Why can’t you just admit that it is more than just casual?.
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Yolanda goes back to the OR to be met with her favorite colleague, Walsh, the woman who has sent her into an existential crisis.
“Wow. You look like a kicked puppy. What’s the matter with you? Di-”
“I think I may have fallen for Trinity Santos,” she cuts in with, “I don’t think it’s casual with her anymore, I th-”
“WELL DUH.” Walsh exclaims, “Fucking Hellen Keller could’ve seen and heard that coming.”
“I-I...” Stutters Yolanda.
“Yolanda. Everyone knew you guys weren’t just casual.”
“But...that’s...that’s what we were.”
“Keyword! Were. Maybe you think you both have been casual, but spending all your weekends with her is so not casual.” Walsh said. “Yolanda, can you tell me the last time you came out with us to get drinks?”
“...”
“Exactly. You spend all your time with that girl. Casual is the last thing you guys are like, I can’t ev-”
“Emery...I think I may have fucked up.”
“Yolanda, what did you do?”
“I told Trinity we’re just keeping it casual. I’ve been avoiding her. Honestly, I’ve been such an asshole to her recently.”
“Lanny...”
“I don’t know what to do. I messed up. I’m... I need to fix this. I just don’t know how. What do I do??”
“Lanny. You’re gonna have to put on your big girl pants and tell her how you feel. Don’t tell me, I’m not the one who needs to hear this. You need to tell Trinity. And be honest. Don’t lie to her or yourself; go tell her and amend your ways. Dumbass.”
“Thank Em. I needed that. Maybe not the last part... but thank you.”
“Oh no, you definitely needed the last part the most.” The attending chuckled.