"Liz? Are you okay?" I asked slowly walking across the room. I could see that Liz's eyes were di
lated and she was talking a mile a minute as she watched the resident washing things in the sink.
"Yeah, I'm great! Look at all this shiny stuff!" she said waving her arm out across the sink full of silver instruments. "Aren't they pretty?"
"Liz, we need to get back out on the floor," I said looking at the resident who appeared to be moving in slow motion. "C'mon, let's go."
Liz hopped off of the counter, walked over and grabbed my hand before dragging me out the door and skipping down the hallway. I eyed her suspiciously knowing that this was not normal behavior. Not even for Liz.
"Don't be a worry wart, Alex," she said as she patted my head. "I'm fine, I'm just a little tired and kind of loopy after the all-night studying session and then this shift."
"If you're sure..." I said trailing off unconvinced as Leslie came around the corner and announced that our shift was over.
Liz and I headed to the locker room to gather our things before we stepped outside and found that it had snowed all day. The city was covered in a fresh blanket of pure, white snow, making it look clean and new. Liz scooped up a handful and threw it at me laughing as she ran away. I dropped my backpack on the sidewalk, scooped up a handful of snow and dashed after her laughing as I ran. We threw snowballs at each other in the yard until we were exhausted from laughing while ducking from the flying snow.
"Truce!" Liz called as she walked over and stuffed a handful of snow down the back of my coat. I screamed in protest as she laughed before dropping to the ground and proceeding to make a snow angel. Once she’d finished and was satisfied with the results, we headed back to where we'd dropped our things only to find our backpacks were gone.
"Oh no!" I moaned as I looked around. I was cursing myself for being so careless when I heard a familiar voice.
"Did you ladies leave your things unattended?" a male voice asked. I turned and found myself face to face with Cam Connor.
CHAPTER NINE
Cam
"Hello, Alex Pierce," I smiled as I handed her one of the two backpacks I was holding.
"Nice try," she laughed and reached for the other one before asking, "What are you doing here?"
"Well, that's a nice way to greet a guy who rescued your belongings from certain theft," I said still smiling at her. She looked even more beautiful than I remembered, with her hair covered in snow and eyes shining.
"Sorry," she quickly replied as she turned and handed the second backpack to the friend who had been pelting her with snowballs moments before. "This is Liz Baker. Liz, this is Cam Connor. You remember him, don't you?"
"Nope not at all," the other girl grinned as she stuck out a hand. "But it's nice to meet you just the same, Cam Connor."
"It's nice to meet you, Liz Baker," I said as I shook her hand and let her give me the once-over. I could tell she was suspicious and I didn't blame her a bit. If the situation had been reversed and it had been Leo, I would have done the exact same thing.
"What are you doing here, Cam?" Alex asked again.
"Well, I just...I came by...," I stammered suddenly realizing that I didn't have a prepared excuse because I wasn't expecting to have needed one.
"You're here because you wanted to see Alex again," Liz said bluntly. "It's cool, Cam. She wanted to see you, too"
"Liz!" Alex gasped and then blushed a deep shade of red. "You're not supposed to say that!"
"Why not?" Liz shrugged looking back and forth between Alex and I. "It's true, isn't it?"
"Yeah, it is," I admitted deciding it was better to tell the truth now that I'd been caught. "I wanted to come see you again and not have to rush off to another call."
"I'm glad," Alex smiled at me before shooting Liz a semi-dirty look. "I wanted to see you, too."
"All right, now that we've gotten that established, are the two of you going to agree to go have dinner together?" Liz asked looking at her phone before looking back up at the two of us. "I've got a date at seven, so I need to get going, kids."
"Would you like to go to dinner with me, Alex?" I asked, feeling self-conscious about being put on the spot to do what I'd come here to do.
"I'd...yes, I'd like that," Alex nodded. Her face was still tinged with a light shade of pink from the blush that was slowly fading. She looked up at me with a slight frown, saying, "But I'm not really dressed for a date."
"No problem, we can go somewhere casual," I suggested. "Maybe somewhere close to the hospital so that you don't feel out of place?"