DISCLAIMER: I don't own Scrubs or any of the characters, nor do I endorse choking people.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
Her Curiosity--Part 2
By bank_farter
Jordan glanced down at her cell phone for the fourth time in the fifteen minutes and frowned. Three minutes since the last time I checked it. What the hell is wrong with me?
She already knew the answer, although she was loath to admit it: she was nervous. Well, maybe not nervous. Definitely not nervous. Seriously, that would be gag worthy. It's more like… anticipatory? Is that even a word?
Her frown deepened—not because she couldn't figure out whether or not she'd just made that word up (although that was irritating)--but because the only time "tingly excitement" was an appropriate emotional state was when she was preparing to totally crush someone's soul. It was not something she wanted to experience before a date.
Date? What are we, in high school again? This is so not a date; it's research. You're dealing with the toe-headed emotional train wreck long enough to satisfy your curiosity about her boob authenticity, and then you're outta there.
She nodded smugly, satisfied that her upcoming evening with Elliot was a purely academic pursuit. Then, she checked her phone. Again.
It's almost eight. Where the hell is she?
Just then, there was a knock at the door. A totally wimpy, hesitant knock, but a knock nonetheless.
Jordan rose and answered it, taking a moment to look Elliot up and down before she put on her best annoyed face. "You're late."
"Look, uh, Jordan," the younger woman began babbling immediately. "I was thinking about this on the way over—not over-thinking or anything because I know I do that and I've really been trying to work on it lately—and it seems kind of dumb to do the whole dinner thing. I mean, I know you don't really like me—or, you know, anyone, but especially me—and, to be honest, you kind of scare me so…" she fidgeted a little, "I guess, if you want, we could just get this out of the way now and then I could just go home and you could go back to sacrificing goats or whatever it is you do."
Jordan contemplated this for a moment. You know, this would be a pretty sweet victory, but accepting it would be admitting that I didn't teach her enough about using her sexuality to extort things from others. I mean, really, giving in before you get what you want is pretty much the number one no-no of that little game. So, as annoying as this is going to be…
"Nice try," Jordan replied, rolling her eyes. "Get in the car."
Shockingly, this is not as much of a disaster as I expected, Jordan thought as she watched Elliot gesturing wildly with a fork full of rigatoni and telling a story about... well, something.
To be fair, Jordan realized that she should probably know what that something consisted of, but she was far too busy marveling at the non-suckiness of her current situation to pay much attention to its actual content. Sue me.
"—I thought about doing it for awhile, but they only wanted men," Elliot wrinkled her nose. "Plus, it's kind of gross, and I figured the yen would probably be all scratchy in the panty area, you know?"
"I do not, actually," Jordan replied when she realized Elliot was starting at her expectantly. "I wasn't really listening. I'm sure it was fascinating, though."
A slightly wounded look crossed Elliot's face for a second, and Jordan almost felt bad. Almost. But the look passed as quickly as it arrived, and Elliot waved a hand dismissively. "It wasn't really important anyway. I was just rambling because that's what I do when I'm nervous, or in public, or, you know…speaking?"
Jordan was mildly annoyed by the younger woman's tendency to make statements as if they were questions, but she found herself too disturbed by the blonde's reaction to care much. Did she just brush me off? Because, really, I was being pretty callous. And she's a neurotic, over-sensitive—she paused and felt that color drain from her face—Oh god, what if I'm losing my touch?
"You all right?" Elliot asked, looking concerned.
"Yeah," Jordan replied distractedly. Then another realization hit her. Holy crap, I actually am all right. Not only is this not terrible, but I'm actually having--
Jordan pushed her plate away, disgusted, and Elliot frowned. "Are you sure you're ok? Because you haven't even eaten half of that, and it's wheat pasta, so it's not like it's all that bad or--."
"God, do you ever stop talking?" Jordan sighed. "Look, I'm about to talk about feelings, and having food directly in front of me when I do that tends to aggravate the nausea. So just sit there and be quiet for a minute."
Elliot did as she was told, and, after a few minutes, Jordan began. "As hard as this is for me to say, tonight has been... not so bad. Perry doesn't like most of my friends, so I don't always get to spend time with people I…like. It's …" she paused, looking very much like someone trying to hold back vomit, "…nice."
"Oh," said Elliot, who seemed conflicted about whether to be touched or extremely concerned about Jordan's mental state. Then a thought occurred to her: "You know Dr. Cox doesn't like me either, right?"
"Duh," Jordan snapped, rolling her eyes. "Why do you think I'm nice to you?"
Elliot opened her mouth to argue, but Jordan corrected herself: "Nicer."
Elliot nodded, and Jordan continued. "That's one of my main criteria for selecting friends, actually. It just makes it kind of hard when they live out of town because Perry gets bitchy when they visit. Sure, it's amusing for the first few days, but it gets old quickly, you know?"
"Mm," Elliot replied noncommittally. She looked pensive for a moment before smiling nervously. "Well, thanks, I think. You're not so bad either?"
"Yeah, yeah," said Jordan, who was careful not to smile back. "Now let's never talk about it again."
"It's a deal," Elliot said, brightening and smiling with relief.
"I didn't really need your agreement, but whatever. I'm going to the restroom to try to wash off the dirty feeling."
Jordan paused and turned back to face Elliot. "Oh, and Stick? I know you're probably not very familiar with eating, but hurry up and finish that so we can get out of here," Jordan said. This time, she allowed herself to smirk. "You've got a deal to hold up."
The End