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Yolanda was going around the hospital, switching between the E.R. and the O.R. floor, in search of her best friend.
“Excuse me,” She said to one of the nurses at the desk. “Have you seen Dr Sadaat?”
“Roof,” The nurse simply said, going back to the file she was reading.
With that, Yolanda made her way up to the roof. It was the end of their shift, and all of day shift knew that meant being able to take some time to themselves before having to deal with paperwork.
On the roof, Yolanda finds Shay past the safety railings, sitting quite literally on the edge of the roof, her legs swinging into the void.
Today was a hard shift; the 4th of July always ends up in a bunch of fireworks accidents, alcohol intoxications, and other injuries related to the fun of the summer. And of course, this cyber attack had them going back to the early 20th century. The roof has always been a safe space to relax after or before a shift; otherwise, they’d find themselves catching a small break at the ambulance bay during the day.
Shay heard the roof’s door open, yet she did not bother to turn around and look who was there. Nonetheless, a smile made its way onto her face when she heard the voice belonging to the person.
“I’m not gonna come over there, can you come back behind the safety railings, please?” Yolanda asked her. Shay breathed out a small laugh, safely getting up. “Someone could push you off. You do realise that, right?” Yolanda reminded her best friend as the latter came to stand next to her, leaning on the safety railings.
“Yeah, well, they’d have to have access to the hospital, then the hospital rooftop with a badge. So, unless it’s any of my co-workers, I think I’ll be good,” Shay told her with a smile, turning to look at the sunset.
Yolanda chuckled briefly before going back to being serious, thinking of what brought her here in the first place. Sensing the preoccupations in her best friend’s mind, Shay turned to Yolanda, examining her face and the frown forming between her eyebrows.
“What’s up?” She asked, frowning too.
Yolanda kept quiet for a while before sighing and looking down at her hands, “It’s Trinity.”
“Ah,” Shay simply said. “What is it this time?”
“It’s just so weird. She’s been annoying me all day with this Langdon shit,” Yolanda told her, turning to look at the woman next to her. “We’ve been sleeping around, it’s been fun but…”
“You have no idea where you’re going,” Shay finished for her, which earned her a nod. “Why don’t you guys talk? Aren’t you supposed to do something with her tonight?”
Yolanda winced slightly, thinking about what had happened earlier that day. “I might have asked for a rain check, saying that I had other plans.”
“Okay,” Shay stretched, eyes squinting at her best friend. “And do you?”
“Well, I thought you’d want to do something tonight,” the Latina told her, playing with her hands.
The other woman laughed. “Are you seriously using me to blow off your situationship?”
“I’m not using you,” Yolanda defended, turning back to look at the skyline. “You’re my roommate. We could have done something,” She shrugged.
Shay stayed quiet for a moment, she was still looking at Yolanda. It was rare to see her friend being this raw with her emotions and letting herself be vulnerable. They’d been best friends for years, and Yolanda was different with her, more open, more vulnerable, but when it came to relationships, except when it came to sleeping around, the woman was never engaging in things that could lead to more; she was avoidant that way.
“Stop doing your therapist thingy when you look at me, trying to understand what the fuck is wrong with me,” Yolanda told her, pushing her face towards the skyline.
Shay laughed, a real laugh this time. “Oh, babe. I think we’d have to spend the whole night here if that was the case.”
“Bitch,” Yolanda muttered, smiling nonetheless. “So, are we going out tonight?” She asked after a beat.
Shay gently shook her head. “You need to get things sorted out with Trinity. She’s a great girl, and seriously, can you be mad at her about Langdon? All this happened on her first day ever.”
Yolanda stayed quiet, looking down at her hands once more and fidgeting with them.
“I know you’re not good at the whole being with someone thing. But I also know that you like the girl. You avoid touchy subjects not because you don’t want to talk about Langdon, but because you don’t want to show you care. You’re scared to be the broken-hearted one, but I’ve seen you two. You’re good together, and you’re kinda annoyingly cringe sometimes.”
That last part earned her a shove in the ribs, she used this opportunity to wrap an arm around Yolanda, the latter leaning her head on Shay’s shoulder. “Call her tonight. Apologise for whatever you said and let her know that you’re willing to hear her. Set boundaries if necessary, but don’t shut her out.”
“For a woman who’s been single ever since I’ve met her, you sure her as wise as it gets,” Yolanda deflected with a joke, looking up at Shayan with a grin.
“Go to her apartment, Whitaker has plans with his farmer girl and her child tonight, she’ll be alone.”
“How’d you know all that?” The Latina asked, confused.
“I know everything,” Shay smirked with a teasing look.
The two were interrupted by the roof door opening again. The two turned around only to see the new attending standing there.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I did not mean to disturb your conversation,” Baran apologised quickly.
“No, it’s alright. I was just going anyway,” Yolanda told her before turning back to Shayan with a little smirk. “I let you two be,” She said, briefly hugging the woman.
“Yeah, and please keep me updated!” She called behind Yolanda, the latter answering by giving her a thumbs up.
Baran waited for Yolanda to be gone to come stand next to Shayan, where Yolanda had been not even a minute ago. She stared at the skyline while Shay had turned her back to it, taking this opportunity to scrutinise the attending’s features. Her hair was frizzier than this morning, and the dark circles under her eyes were more pronounced.
“So,” She started. “First day at the Pitt. How was it?”
Baran gave her a tired laugh. “This E.D. is a mess.”
“Yeah. But it’s our mess. You get used to it,” Shay reassured, which got the other woman to look at her.
“Do you, really?”
Shay shrugged, turning her body fully towards Baran, “Eventually. Why aren't you home already?”
“I wanted to make sure everything was in order for the night shift,” Baran told her.
“You mean that you wanted to make a good impression on your first day,” Shayan translated. Baran was about to open her mouth, but Shay stopped her with a hand in the air. “I can understand that, don’t worry. But you cannot do that every shift. Don’t get consumed by the job. In the E.D., it’s all about balance. That’s why I admire Joy, on her first day, she managed to not get caught up and leave right at the end of her shift.”
Baran listened to the woman, nodding. “Dr Robinovitch is such a character, though.”
“Did he give you a hard time?” Shay asked, getting defensive.
The Persian woman laughed at the woman’s protectiveness before shaking her head. “Nothing I can’t handle, don’t worry.”
The two stayed quiet for a while before Baran spoke up.
“I’m glad to have you here,” She said, which got Shayan to look into those brown, flirty doe eyes she kept on caving in. “It’s nice to have a familiar face in all this chaos and to know I have a shoulder to lean on if I need,” She finished with a smile.
Shayan was mesmerised by those eyes. She snapped out of it when she realised Baran was done talking. “Always,” She nodded, clearing her throat. “I-,” The words got caught up in her throat. “I’m sorry,” She apologized, turning back to look at the skyline, hiding the emotions behind her eyes. “I’m just really glad I get to see you again.”
Baran nodded, lips quivering and eyes glossy as she stood up straight before putting her arms around the taller woman’s waist and leaning her head on Shayan’s chest, the latter responding almost immediately by pulling the other Persian woman closer.