Ethan x Casey Fiction - Short Stories & One Shots

Familiarity & Surprise - Ethan x Casey x Bryce

Casey Valentine. One of the best doctors Edenbrook Hospital in Boston had to offer, also had a small side job of performing at the local bar as a means to let people hear her beautiful singing voice every once in a while. But after having recently rekindled her love for dance, tonight after her shift ended would be her last musical performance at the bar. She wanted to make it special. Not only for herself but for all the patrons that would be there that night. She knew she'd have to leave off a little early if she was to get there before it got busy. There was just one problem. Ethan had been avoiding her all day. She'd tried 4 times by now to ask for permission to leave early but every time she approached him, he shot her a quick glance and then practically ran off. She didn't know what was going on with him. Things had been friendly between them, they hadn't kissed or even flirted in a couple months. So why was he acting weird now? What was going on in his internal dialogue to make him act so weird today. Finally alone in the diagnostics office with him, she took her shot. She blocked off the door and cleared her throat.

"Dr. Ramsey, I need to speak to you, it's extremely important. I've been trying to catch you all day."

Ethan sighed, acknowledging he was trapped.

"What is it, Dr. Valentine."

"Can I leave 30 minutes early? Please, there's somewhere really important I need to be."

"And where is so important that you'd be requesting to leave your duties early?"

"I... I can't tell you. If I could, I would but..."

Ethan held up his hand and took a deep breath.

"Then you may not leave early Dr. Valentine."

"But!"

"No. If you can not give me a valid reason or tell me the place you so desperately need to be. You may not leave early, now kindly move from the door so I can carry on with my work."

"But Ethan..."

He inhaled sharply with closed eyes, opening them again as he exhaled slowly.

"It's Dr. Ramsey. Nothing else. Now move."

Knowing that the conversation was over, she hung her head and moved out of his way, he brushed passed and left out of the door as she sat down in a chair at the oval table feeling dejected. How was she supposed to play her last show now? Say goodbye to all the people who loved her covers and originals so much. If Ethan wasn't going to let her leave then she would have to sneak out, and to do that she would need to enlist the help of a few friends. Grabbing her pager from her pocket she paged all of her friends to meet her by the supply closet that was closest to the elevator on the 3rd floor. She shut the lid of her laptop and rushed out of the room, into the elevator and hit the button for the 3rd floor. When it opened on the 3rd floor, she rushed out and to the closet, to find that Jackie and Sienna were already there. They waited for another minute for anyone else to arrive before Casey started to tell them anything. She was just about to start when Bryce came around the corner and stopped amongst the group.

"What's up?" he asked

"Right. Basically. I need your help in sneaking out of here 30 minutes before my shift ends."

She stopped as she saw Ethan turn the corner and acted like she was consulting with her friends until she was sure he was gone.

"I guess the big boss man isn't letting you go?" Jackie asked

"No. he's being really weird with me today. He's run off from me 4 times and said no more than 100 words to me today. And even those were spoke rather coldly..."

"Cass? Why do you let him get away with the hot and cold thing so much? Every time you guys get somewhere he goes ice cold again. It's got to be hurting you." Bryce asked, sincerity and kindness in his eyes. She looked back at him for a moment unable to think of an answer, so she just shrugged. They walked in a line through the corridors as they etched out their plan for Casey's escape, before heading back to their respective jobs. Time seemed to fly by as soon, Casey was getting the page from Sienna to signal the start of the escape plan. She paged Jackie and then pulled out her phone, texting Bryce moving as smoothly as she could through the halls. Not wanting to draw attention to herself. She met up with Jackie at a nurse's station and right on time both of there pagers beeped. They shared a "panicked" look and rushed off down the halls. They passed Ethan but he didn't spare them a second glance, though if Casey had been alone he would definitely have followed her. Soon they were entering the locker rooms, and Casey was changing her clothes when Bryce strolled in casually whilst whistling a happy tune.