10. Courtyard Lunch

Sage

S age grabbed a salad and water and paid the cashier. It was a beautiful day out, so she left through the back doors and headed into the courtyard. Lena was off, and she didn’t see anyone else in the cafeteria that she necessarily wanted to eat with. It was the perfect opportunity to get a breath of fresh air.

She entered the courtyard and glanced around to find only one person in the courtyard eating their lunch. For such a nice day, that was hard to believe. Sage sat on the other side, her eyes off, looking in the distance as she ate her sandwich. There weren’t too many people that would have fessed up to their mistake, especially when everything was fixed. However, Stassi seemed to have a knack for ensuring that she did the right thing. That was a commendable trait to acquire.

It’d been a week and a half since Stassi started working at the hospital, but Sage wasn’t quite sure she could state that Stassi was past the worry that she would up and quit on them. In fact, she was only just beginning the journey to her career and learning things every day. Anything could happen to push Stassi out the door, but for now, she would hold out on the hope that maybe Stassi would stick around.

Sage approached her, and Stassi gave her a smile. “I was surprised more people aren’t out here,” Stassi replied.

Sage nodded. “That was my first thought when I first got out here.” She nervously looked around. This whole courtyard and she was going to just barge into Stassi’s lunch. That hardly seemed practical. “I hope you’re enjoying the beauty of the weather.”

“It’s great.” Stassi glanced around, then turned back to Sage. “You’re welcome to join me.”

“I don’t want to interrupt you.”

Sage shrugged. “Only have twenty minutes, but lunch is always better when you’re not alone. It’s like people may think you don’t have friends.” Stassi laughed. “So, by all means, have a seat.”

Sage took a seat and opened her salad. “I know what you mean. I rarely go to a restaurant alone and when I do, I’m constantly looking down at my phone, wondering if people are gawking at me, or that’s just my imagination.” Stassi laughed and continued to bite on her sandwich. Sage looked at her, loving the sweet sound of her laughter. It was refreshing and when she laughed, it made everything feel better. She had to look down at her salad, for enjoying it a little too much would only cause confusion. “How’s work been going?”

“Actually, not bad. I’m looking forward to getting my first check on Friday. It’s been an incredible journey.” She was way more enthusiastic than most people would be, another trait that was quite intriguing. Stassi took a long swig of her water. “I tend to talk too much.”

“Nothing wrong with that.” Sage gave a shrug and took a bite of her salad. Especially when you’re comfortable around someone and Sage caught herself being exceptionally comfortable around Stassi. The one woman that would elicit that reaction from Sage was Lena; she had known her for years. “What did you do prior to applying to this job and what made you apply here?”

Stassi’s cheeks turned a bright red. She looked down at her one bite of sandwich and quickly popped it into her mouth, before downing it with a taste of water. Sage waited, wondering if there was some big secret that Stassi had, and she didn’t want to get too much drama out there.

“I mean, you don’t have to tell me if it’s a bit top secret or something.”

Stassi laughed. “Not exactly top secret. But before, I was a model. Well, I still model. Just wanted some extra income.”

“Anything I would know?” Sage inquired. She didn’t stay too engrossed in modeling news, but she would read a magazine here or there. So, it was possible she had caught her somewhere. Although, Sage knew the only place she recalled her from was the club. She still figured Stassi didn’t recall that.

“Modeled with Cirque. Did some fashion modeling. Just sort of all over the board. Not too interesting.”

“I doubt that,” Sage replied. “I imagine you are quite the interesting one.” She blushed when Stassi’s eyes went wide. “I just mean that you seem to have an interesting lifestyle. Never met a model before.” She shrugged and continued to eat her salad. It was a save, but not sure how good of one. “So, now I’m really interested in what brought you to LA County Hospital?”

“Well, you hear horror stories about waitresses, not getting the tips they deserve, so I didn’t want to go that route. And frankly, I’m not too much of a maintenance man.” Stassi laughed. “That was pretty much everything that was out there. When I saw this opening, I couldn’t resist. And looking forward to what the future will bring here.” She took a drink of water. “How long have you worked here?”

“Eight years,” Sage started. Stassi tilted her head and Sage laughed. “You’re surprised that anyone would choose to work here for that long?”

“No, it’s not that,” Stassi began. “I guess I’m impressed. You don’t look old enough.”

Sage laughed. “I think you’re either blind or lying.”

She settled into the banter back and forth between them. Partly it felt like some flirtation was even intermixed and Sage liked that. There was nothing wrong with harmless flirtation as long as you both knew where things were headed. In this case, nowhere.

It was obvious that Stassi was younger than she was. If Stassi had to guess, she’d say nearly fifteen years. Thinking it like that, it seemed way too impossible to fathom that there was any kind of flirtation.

“I mean it, though. I would have never guessed that you’d be out of college and working eight years.”

“Well, thank you. If you want to feel even younger, I will add that this wasn’t my first job.” Both of them laughed and it was easy between them. Way too soon though, it was all cut short. Stassi stood up and grabbed her trash.

“I’m going to have to head back to work. It was nice having lunch with you, though.”

“Likewise.” Sage tipped her water bottle in Stassi’s direction and watched her head back inside. She was glad that she had opted to head out into the courtyard for lunch. Thinking about Stassi brought a smile to Sage’s lips, surprising her. “Get over it, Sage. She’s too young and probably has a boyfriend or something. She dropped her gaze to the ground, disappointment falling to her chest. It wasn’t meant to be, but it didn’t mean they couldn’t continue their friendship. They got along and she could always use another friend.