No Time | Grey's Anatomy // Book 1 // COMPLETED |

13 | Friends

 Not unusually, the hospital was busy. So busy, that I assumed finding a case to jump on would be a walk in the park, but apparently, I was wrong. So wrong, in fact, that when I saw Arizona in the hall I sprinted over to her and practically begged for something to do. "Arizona!" I called, catching her attention before she could walk away. "Please tell me you need help on a case! I will literally do anything!"

"Sorry, I can't help you." she shook her head and shrugged. "But what I can do is invite you to Girl's Night tonight!"

"Girl's Night?" I repeated, making sure I heard her right.

Arizona grinned. "Yeah! Oh, come on, it'll be fun. I promise it'll be fun."

"Sure, why not?" I agreed. "At least it'll give me something to look forward to."

"That's the spirit!" Arizona patted me on the shoulder before taking off. "Good luck finding something to do until then."

"Thanks . . ." I forced a dejected smile. 

With absolutely nothing else to do, I grabbed a bag of chips from the nearest vending machine and took a seat in the waiting room. Maybe, just maybe, if I stopped trying to chase down surgeries, one would just find me.

So, as I waited for a juicy case to fall into my lap, I opened my chips, started eating, and people watched. 

"Hey, you!" I heard a familiar voice. Following the sound, I spotted Sam coming down the hall toward me.

Standing up, I smiled. "Hey." I chirped and pulled her in for a hug. "Are you okay? Is everything okay? Because when people go to the hospital it's usually because something bad has happened."

"Relax!" Sam giggled as she pulled out of the hug. "I was doing some shopping in the area and decided to drop by. I was starting to forget what you looked like. You are never home, and when you are, you show up and leave all while I'm sleeping."

"I'm sorry." I sat back down and gestured for Sam to take a seat across from me. "It's been crazy here."

"I can tell." Sam motioned to the almost empty waiting room and laughed. "So tell me, how is it going? Are you loving the new job?"

I nodded as I held out my bag toward her, offering her some chips. "It's really great. Definitely the step up I was looking for."

Sharing my bag of chips, Sam and I took the downtime to catch up, which really made us realize just how much of each other's lives we were missing. I told her about the little girl I had preformed the solo surgery on and the whacky relationship drama that always seemed to be spreading through the hospital's never-stopping rumour mill. 

She told me about her new job, which had allowed her to move out to Seattle with me. Despite the time apart from one another, even though we lived under the same roof, we really seemed to be thriving.

Before I knew it, I was blabbing on and on about meeting Tom Kates. I had totally lost track of time, so when Jackson came and sat down beside me, I freaked out, thinking it was the end of the day.

"Jackson." I turned to him. "What time is it?" 

Jackson shifted his cup of coffee to his other hand and glanced down at his watch. "Uh, just before noon."

I instantly relaxed. "Oh, good. I was worried I had missed the entire day."

"Still nothing?" he cocked a brow.

"Nada," I told him. "Absolutely nothing."

Clearing her throat, Sam raised her brows at me. "Are you going to introduce me to your hot friend or just leave me guessing?" she asked. 

I nervously smiled. Sam was never one to beat around the bush very much. She was always very forward; sometimes, too forward. "Right, sorry." I nodded. "Sam, this is Dr. Jackson Avery. Jackson, this is my very blunt, best friend, Samantha Wallis."

"Nice to meet you." Jackson reached out to shake Sam's hand. 

"So . . ." I searched my mind for something to say; something to change the topic and move on from Sam's weirdness. "How's your grandfather?"

"In surgery," Jackson said. "I had to come down here and clear my mind."

"I hope everything's all right," I told him. "I came down here because I simply have nothing better to do."

Hearing a phone go off, I looked over at Sam, who was fishing her cellphone out of her pocket. She checked a message and then stood up, grabbing her shopping bags in the process. "I've gotta go," she said. "I'm meeting Jake for lunch. It was very nice to meet you, Jackson. And, Ellie, you better be coming home tonight."

"Based on how my day is going so far, I don't see any reason why I wouldn't be," I assured her. "I'll see you later."

"Bye." Jackson waved as Sam turned on her heel and headed for the door. Once she was out of sight, Jackson turned to me with an amused grin on his face. "She's . . . interesting."

I chuckled. "Yeah, she is, but it has its perks, that's for sure. There's a reason why she's almost never single. Sam has a very 'go get 'em' attitude toward all aspects of life, including dating."

"Oh, and you're not?" Jackson inquired.

I shrugged, unsure what to say. "Dating just isn't really at the top of my priority list at the moment."

Jackson nodded and I could tell that he understood what I meant. For a while longer, I sat with Jackson and we talked, and I could tell it was helping take his mind off of his grandfather. Before we knew it,  Meredith had found us and informed Jackson that his grandfather was out of surgery.