Open Heart One Shots (Choices)

Only a Crush

Summary: Was it just a crush or the start of something more?

Cassie Valentine remembered the first time she had a serious crush on a boy. She was fifteen, and it was the first day of the debate club. Feeling lost and out of place as the new kid, she stood at the edges, watching and listening.

She glanced up as the first speaker approached the lectern and cleared his throat for attention. Then he smiled wide, showing teeth, his eyes glittering with a challenge before launching his opening argument.

And Cassie felt the flutter of butterflies in her stomach.

Her hand shot up when the teacher called for a volunteer to counterargue. Palms clammy, face flushed, and her heart racing a mile a minute, she took her place and proceeded to eviscerate his logic.

She might be attracted to the charismatic Michael Perry, but that didn't mean she would let him win. And so began a slow ascent from crush to puppy love to him being her first.

The next time Cassie felt that way was while standing in the quad at Georgetown, staring at the map and wondering which way was freshman orientation.

If only she had woken up earlier, she thought morosely.

Max warned her he would leave without her if she was late. She remembered scoffing, so sure he'd wait for her. But he'd been true to his word, and now she was hopelessly lost in a sprawling campus.

A tall shadow fell upon her. She tilted her head, lifting her hand to shade her eyes against the sunlight. She saw warm blue eyes and an errant lock of dark brown hair flopping across his forehead. His stance was hesitant, as if he wasn't sure but couldn't stay away.

He asked solicitously if he could help, his accent a low drawl reminiscent of hazy summer nights. And then he smiled, a slow and enigmatic curving of the lips, and Cassie felt herself falling again.

Jackson McAllister was her first true love, her first adult relationship, and the one whose heart she broke even as his loss from her life shattered hers. She didn't think she would ever love someone the way she had loved him until....

The last time Cassie had a crush on a man was in the unlikeliest of situations. She was late for orientation on her first day as an internal medicine resident at Boston's Edenbrook Hospital.

Damn closet, she thought in frustration. If she hadn't been so stubborn, she could've enjoyed a good night's sleep and woken up with plenty of time to get to work.

Her apartment — and she used the term loosely — was situated under a busy staircase with barely enough room for a bed, a couch, a tiny kitchenette and an even tinier bathroom. Most of her things were in storage as there wasn't enough space for anything but the essentials.

She missed her clothes, she thought wistfully, and her shoes, too. As always, Max was right.

Lost in thought, she didn't notice the commotion in the waiting room at first, and then she heard a gasp as a woman fell to the floor. She rushed over, almost tripping to a stop at the sight of a handsome doctor kneeling beside the fallen patient.

Cassie heard him mutter as he checked the patient's pulse. Then he looked around, eyes narrowing as he spotted her.

"You. Rookie. Get in here."

Cassie gazed into his impatient blue eyes, and a familiar heat filled her belly. She didn't know him from Adam, and it was the most inopportune of times, but her heart skipped a beat. And then they were too busy saving the patient's life for her to give it another thought.

Later, she was reluctantly charmed by the roguish grin when she flirted and mischievously asked for private lessons. Her pulse sped up, her cheeks flushed, and her green eyes sparkled, all signs that she was attracted to this man standing before her.

And then he countered her offer for private lessons with a zinger about not being able to afford him. Dr. Valentine couldn't afford it, but she thought Cassie Valentine was another matter, anger rising at his barb. But he was gone before she could react.

He was an asshole and the most condescending man she'd ever met. Despite all that, she couldn't fight biology. She looked forward to making him take back his pompous assessment of her capabilities and apologize. Groveling would be better.

She silently groaned when the nurse told her she'd been talking to — and crushing on — Dr. Ethan Ramsey. She waited for the ground to swallow her whole. Then, she prayed for another chance to make a better impression on her medical hero.

You're allowed to fall apart a little, she lectured herself, not quite listening to Dr. Emery's speech, too distracted by the happenings of the last hour. She hadn't been a doctor for five minutes before she was working side by side with the Dr. Ramsey (and flirting with him — eek!).

It wasn't a crush, Cassie consoled herself later that day as she aimlessly wandered the hallways. Her subconscious must have known who he was, hence the release of dopamine and norepinephrine into her bloodstream.

She didn't have a crush on Ethan Ramsey, Cassie reasoned less confidently after their electrifying exchange at the vending machine. It was just a neurochemical response to finally meeting the doctor whose words had inspired her to change her life.

That was all. Full stop. Period.

Later that night, Cassie tossed and turned in her tiny bed, trying her best to ignore the stomping of feet above her. When she finally fell asleep, she dreamed of gleaming blue eyes, tousled dark brown hair and a wicked smirk that made her nerves pulsate with anticipation.

Definitely not a crush, she thought groggily as the dream faded in the cold light of day. She was very much afraid it was the start of something more. And wasn't that the most inconvenient truth of all?