Better than Coffee

[Olivia Skye]

In a school filled with students, teachers, and professors of magic, you would think that at least one person would be able to fix the hospital coffee machine.
Olivia jabbed the hot-water button fiercely again, tapping the floor with her heels, and chewing her lip. The third time was lucky, supposedly, but this was the sixth time and the rickety thing still wouldn’t work. The button was loose, and wouldn’t be held down at all.
Surely there was some sort of power that’d have an effect on it? The caretakers would know, surely. She’d have to get Nurse Gornray to get them to look at it, before someone cracked up with caffeine withdrawal. The mood was tense enough as it was, and it had been working almost well until a couple of days ago.
Or maybe she was the one being tense. It was fair to say that her mind had been somewhere else, up near the clouds recently. Things were… well, concentration was difficult. Concentrating on school work, hospital duty, Jack and her failing relationship with him… and even the state of calm she usually reached during yoga wasn’t happening. Her mind was buzzing up there in the atmosphere, and the strange dreams didn’t help.
The dreams weren’t strange in themselves, but the day she’d met Reuben Knight in the street, she’d dreamt of him that night. Not him as she’d met him, concussed and amusingly confused, but fully lucid, with the same crooked grin and charming chocolate eyes, and he was making her laugh. It had been odd enough then, but even though he hadn't called her, every dream she’d had in the two weeks since then involved lampposts, and a lopsided smile.
She tried the button again, holding it in for a couple of seconds, and miraculously, it worked, the hot coffee-coloured liquid pouring down in a thick fast stream, before sloshing over the edge and burning her fingers. Grimacing, she set the cup down on the coffee table of the “Staff” room and tapped the scalded red fingers with her other hand. A soft gold glow enveloped them, and the redness and pain melted away.
She lifted two sachets of sugar and poured them into the cup, stirring it in and wincing. This stuff was truly revolting. It wasn’t as though she especially liked coffee in the first place – she was an Earl Grey person – but the tea from this machine was an off-charcoal shade and was even more vile than the coffee. The only reason she drinking it was because the weather was getting so cold, inside the ward especially. The winds were howling outside, and Orchid Hill hadn't heard of double-glazed windows - and one whole side of the hospital wing was glass. Beautiful glass, but unless there was a fire or heat elementalist at work, it could make the ward rather arctic. Today, she had had to put on a light olive green trench jacket over her white shirt and dark jeans, just to stay reasonably warm, but she'd been assured by a foreseer that the weather was going to get warmed quickly.
Olivia sat down on the hard wooden seat beside the table, and sipped the revolting liquid inside the cup. Ew, this really was horrible-
The black cell phone in the pocket of her light coat vibrated, making her spill the coffee over her fingers again. Automatically wincing and sucking the red patch, she slid the phone out of her pocket, only for it to stop quivering. Frowning, she checked the number as the pale glow covered her finger again.
Withheld.
She rolled her eyes. Scalded finger for nothing, then. She slid it back in her pocket, before tasting the coffee and grimacing at it again. At least it was warm, and that was really all she needed it for.
Buzz. Buzz.
Oh, for goodness sake.
This time, it took a moment for her to get the small phone out of the pocket, the way barred by the button closing the pocket over
A withheld number, again. Rolling her eyes, again, she tapped the 'answer' button, and put it to her ear, tucking back a strand of bright hair. "Hell-o?"

[Olivia Skye]

There was a minor scuffling sound at the end of the phone as a response, and Olivia frowned, trying to hear what was going on.
Just more scuffling.
What..?
Okay, this wasn’t funny. What was that?
A pause, but just as she was preparing to hang up, a voice appeared on the other end of the line. “Miss Skye?”
She froze for a second as she recognised the voice. “Reuben?”
It was, wasn’t it? Only Reuben would call her ‘Miss Skye’ over the phone. No one else with her number would call her that; it wasn’t as though telemarketers had that mobile number.
But it had taken two weeks. She’d given up on his calling a while ago, and so had gotten a bit… well, miffed. Even when she’d remembered that she shouldn’t have given her number to him, because failing or not, she still had a relationship with Jack, and well… yes, it was pretty self-explanatory. But for him not to call her – it had made her bristle a little bit.
But she smiled involuntarily, shaking her head. “What did I tell you about calling me Miss Skye?” she asked, before wondering about the long gap between the meeting and the call.

[Olivia Skye]

The smile faded slightly, though she knew it shouldn't.
He'd called her to thank her; that was it. Of course, seeing as how his immaculate politeness had came through even with his concussion, she should have known that he'd only want to phone her to say thank you.
He already had, of course - in his flawlessly polite way, after he'd jumped up from the ground.
She sighed slightly, but barely audiably so that he wouldn't hear. She had no right to be disappointed, of course, she had Jack, even if he was away, and it wasn't as though he'd had any obligation to call her at all for whatever purpose. Being disappointed was just, simply, ridiculous.
Don't be silly, Olivia.
"You did, actually," she laughed, lightly. "Just after you confused me by trying to leave."

[Olivia Skye]

"All the same, merely saying thank you after all your help doesn't feel quite sufficient, to me."
She froze slightly again at that, refusing to let herself take it the way she heard it.
"All my help?" Olivia replied, with another gentle laugh. "I didn't really do all that much."
If he meant it to... arrange an appointment, as they'd put it, would that be again just to thank her, or...?
She didn't know - probably because of how long it had taken him to call her in the first place; it had left her confused.
"Then again, I probably should have just left you to think that I'd done all the healing: make myself look good," she added, with a mock sigh. "Oh well. But you don't need to thank me, honestly; you've thanked me enough."
... what are you saying? You want to meet him again, don't you?

[Olivia Skye]

The change in her pulse rate was tangible, and Olivia smiled once more, involuntarily.
So she'd been wrong then - wrong to have been irritated by his not calling. Though, she still didn't know why he hadn't called, but that didn't really matter. All she could think was the smile on her lips at that minute.
"Um... that would be lovely," she accepted, before laughing. "As long as you promise to call me Olivia for the duration of dinner, or the answer will be no."
At that point, the image of Jack came back to her, and she shivered guiltily, but convinced herself easily that it was fine for her to accept the offer of dinner from Reuben - because, after all, he'd been gone for so long, and had barely contacted her and...
Yes, it was fine. So, banishing Jack from her mind, she concentrated on Reuben's answer.

[Olivia Skye]

"Well, Sundays aren't good-" hospital duties " - and weekdays until five won't suit," Olivia added, with a laugh, realising that he may not have known that she was still in school and thus had homework. "But any times other than those suit perfectly."
Well, provided that Will and Nurse Gornray didn't put her on duty at the time he picked, but she'd fix that - either by asking them to change, which probably wouldn't work, so she'd sweet-talk Paul or blackmail Josh into switching with her, if needed.
She'd make the time suit; the thought of going to dinner with him was still making her smile, and she didn't want to have to cancel, or not go...
Oh, God, what was she going to wear?!
"So, any time that suits you," she finished smoothly.

[Olivia Skye]

She wouldn't need to make a note of that; there was no way she'd forget it.
"That sounds fabulous."
Wait... what? Fabulous? When had she ever used the word fabulous before, when not parodying someone? Oh, God.
Footsteps up the corridor. She craned her neck to check through the glass at the side, and saw Nurse Gornray walk up the couloir, but mercifully, she walked on. Olivia very much doubted that Nurse Gornray would be pleased to find her here using her phone, even if she was on her break.
Which reminded her of her coffee, which was probably already congealing in its cup. Good. It didn't really deserve to be drank, and this call had given her more of an energy boost than that grey liquid was going to.
Olivia cringed, before she continued, "Yes, that's perfect."
Should she ask why it had taken so long? Well, she was a little curious. Still, with Nurse Gornray stalking outside, she probably shouldn't, in case it was a long explanation.
"So I shall see you there, then?" she concluded.

[Olivia Skye]

“Hey, you’re getting better at this,” she grinned. “We might be able to avoid “Miss Skye” for a whole evening, you know.”
Seriously, though, what was she going to wear? She’d probably spent the whole week freaking out over her wardrobe, though, this was where conjuring came in useful, but even at that…
And the ever cat-like Nurse Gornray was back to stalking outside the corridor. She could see her through the glass of the door. Checking her watch, Olivia fought back a groan. Her break was nearly up, and if Nurse Gornray was waiting for her, something must have happened…
They never got interrupted during phone calls in Grey’s Anatomy, you know. Though, when she’d said that to Nurse Gornray, the look she’d been given… the two of them usually got along very well, but when Olivia made jokes like that, they weren’t always taken as well…
“I’m sorry, I have to go – Friday, eight o’clock at the fountain?” she repeated.
“Eight o’clock, Friday,” he responded.
She smiled. “’Kay, I shall see you there, then."
As soon as she had pressed the hang up button and slid the phone back into her jeans, Nurse Gornray materialised in the room. "Olivia, I need you outside. There's been a first year trying to turn into a giraffe, and well... it didn't go so well..."
Olivia flinched automatically. First years...