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John Carter did not consider himself a terribly selfish person. He was a doctor, for one, and was rather hopeful that the arrogant surgeon stereotype did not apply to him. His empathy for his patients had, after all, gotten him many reprimands from Benton, and even a few run-ins with Dr. Anspaugh.
John Carter did not consider himself a terribly selfish person. But when he ended up outside a crowded bar with Jing-Mei Chen, a fellow medical student who he’d had his eye on, he was thinking more about himself than anything. After his breakup with Harper, he had been feeling a bit down on himself. Jerry had advised him to find a rebound — not the simplest thing, first of all, and it wouldn’t exactly be easy on Carter’s conscience. A relationship with Jing-Mei, though, would be convenient. And it could be more than a rebound if he really tried. They worked together, she seemed sweet, and as much as he pretended he didn’t need his parents approval, he knew they would like her — more than his previous prospects, at least.
The nurses and some other ER staff, including Greene and Lewis, had invited Carter for drinks. This seemed appealing, especially after his not-so-great day at work. But after attempting to ask Mark to order a drink for him, Carter had been assigned to “sober duty”, as Greene called it. “No drinking on call — and if you consider yourself a gentleman, Carter, you’ll be happy to make sure none of us end up passed out,” Doug had explained. When Carter clarified that he was not, in fact, on call, Doug patted him on the back with a chuckle and a “You’re a med student, buddy. You’re always on call,”
Thus, Carter had decided to cut his losses and go home. But when he saw Jing-Mei Chen sitting on the steps outside and looking just as dejected as he felt, he figured he could keep her some company.
Presently, he glanced at Chen warily, who was sitting on the steps with her chin sitting in her hands. “Chilly,” he stated, before sitting down next to her and silently reprimanding himself. What was he doing talking about the weather?
“Yup,” Jing-Mei clicked her tongue. A few more beats of silence and Carter opened his mouth again:
“They tell you the ‘sober duty’ thing, too?” He was met with a look of amusement. “Sober duty? Is that some kind of medical term?” Chen asked with a tired grin. Carter explained the whole spiel Doug had given him, leaving him grinning himself by the end.
“Sober duty.” Chen laughed. “Sounds like some bad sitcom Jerry would try to put on the TVs,” Carter snickered at the mental image of Jerry on a ladder messing around with the televisions. Chen had placed her hand next to him on the stairs at this point — Carter could easily inch his own towards it if he wanted to. She was very pretty. Funny too. Being with her would be… convenient. He was contemplating this when a thought occurred to him:
“If you weren’t practically kicked out by the residents like me, then what are you doing sulking out here?” He questioned. He knew Chen got along with most of the nurses; she could easily be sitting in there drinking margaritas with them.
“Saw my ex,” Chen stated bluntly. This was just great. Now he felt horrible for trying (at least mentally) to make a move on her. After a moment dwelling on this, Carter spoke up.
“Sorry.”
“Yeah.”
“He was probably a dick anyways,” Carter chuckled. Chen didn’t respond. He couldn’t blame her — he wasn’t the best at consolation in situations like this.
“She,” Chen finally muttered.
“What?”
“ She was probably a dick,” She repeated, looking down at her shoes. Carter could only gape at her.
“Oh.”
“Oh.” Chen mocked, looking warily back at Carter. “I like girls. Sorry,” He wanted to say something that would make it known she shouldn’t have to apologize. Anything that would show he wasn’t oh-ing in an “Oh, you just shattered all my expectations of you,” way but in an “Oh! You just shattered all my expectations of you!” way. All he could get out was,
“Me too,”
“What?” Chen paused. “Congratulations, you like girls?”
Carter jerked his head to face her.
“No, no, sorry,” He grinned sheepishly. “I mean, I don’t know… The other side is — more appealing. To me.” He paused, before giving a self-conscious nod and turning back to gaze at the ground. Silence floated between them, broken up only by the muffled music of the bar and the sound of their own breathing.
“Cool,” Chen’s voice finally cut through the stillness. Carter turned, to find her already looking at him.
“Yeah. Cool,” He replied, grinning harder than he really wanted to.
John Carter did not consider himself a terribly selfish person. But sitting on splintered steps, outside a bar he didn’t want to be at, he was thinking more of himself than anything. Jing-Mei Chen had just done one of the scariest things someone can do — and all he could think about was how relieved he felt. Maybe he was glad he hadn’t taken Jerry’s advice. Maybe he had never considered a relationship with Chen for the right reasons. Maybe self reflection was better at getting over a breakup than a rebound.
They sat in comfortable silence.