The Way I Loved You (Rhekker- Chicago Med)

Maroon

"And I chose you. The one I was dancing with in New York. No shoes. Looked up at the sky and it was...maroon." 

Ava took her folded up burgundy coat from her locker, carefully trying to put it on. As she draped the coat around herself, she felt strong arms around her shoulders.

"Hey," the voice said softly from behind her. She knew exactly who it was. "You heading home?"

"Might be," Ava whispered, shrugging. Connor's arms were still around her, his chin nestled in her shoulder. "Why? You hoping I'd stick around?"

Connor smiled, watching as Ava turned herself around. They looked into each other's eyes, trying to process whatever feelings were coming over them. "What if I had a better idea?" he suggested, with a knowing grin. It was a fool's game now, he knew Ava would accept his invitation. He could see it in her eyes. 

"Go on," Ava said, enthusiastically. She wanted to hear this sudden proposition. "Let's hear this better idea." She smiled. "You might be able to persuade me to stick around, just a little longer."

"Come with me," Connor said, his steady hand on her shoulder once again, guiding her towards the door. "I have a surprise for you." Even touching Ava's shoulder made a thousand electrical impulses run up his spine. It was almost electrifying.

"Surprise, you say?" Ava asked. She was fairly curious about what it could be. From everything that she knew about Connor's notorious relationship with one-night-stands, this was very unusual behaviour for him. 

She wanted to believe that it was because she was different. That Connor saw something in her that he didn't see in every other city girl that spent time in his bed. Of course, this was naive. Connor Rhodes didn't exactly have the best track record when it came to women. This was a fact that Ava knew well, something that she had ingrained in her head from the moment that her heart had started to skip a beat when she saw him walking down the hospital hallways. 

"Yes, and don't start asking me all about it," he teased. "You don't want to ruin it before we're even out of the hospital, do you." He looked at Ava, giving her a warning glance. If she continued to ask questions, his plan would eventually be ruined, and that wouldn't be an ideal outcome for something that he'd spent a while planning, for Ava. 

Ava and Connor walked down the stairs, not bothering to take the elevator. The waiting times were notoriously long, at the end of the day when everyone wanted to head home to their families. With every step, Ava's heartbeat grew slightly quicker. She still had no idea what the surprise was, and her mind was running at a million miles an hour trying to figure it out. She enjoyed the thrill of it, and from the look on his face, it seemed that Connor did, too.

"Give me a clue," Ava pleaded, as she followed Connor out of the hospital doors. He walked with purpose, with a clear direction. "Come on. Is it far? Is there a secret location?" She smiled. "Are we taking your car?" Ava was secretly thrilled about the prospect of possibly using Connor's car. She had been in it before, only a few select times, but she longed to sit in the passenger seat once more, driving in the dark with Connor by her side. That way, she could start to pretend it was real.

Ava shook her head. She absolutely couldn't be thinking like this. If there was one thing that she knew, that everyone knew about Connor Rhodes was that he is not the sort of person you are meant to fall in love with. 

That's pretty much a life rule. Don't fall in love with men who only want a one-night-stand. Except now that she was looking over at Connor's face, the small dimple in the side of his left cheek when he smiled secretively, something felt different. This definitely didn't seem like the typical one-night-stand treatment.