Summary: Dennis forgets the plans you had together.. again.
Word count: 2.2k!
Content warnings: afab reader, hurt/comfort?? angsty, lwk rlly depressing, not rlly accurate to canon in some parts, don’t question it too much.. not the best but atleast no ai was used.
Notes: I hope you, person reading this rn, enjoy this fic! Please like and reblog, it’s helps me sm<3.
You were in the locker room as your shift had just come to an end. You sprinted to get your stuff, for one, to get out of there, and also, because you were pretty excited about your plans with Dennis today.
There in the room already was Trinity, getting her stuff. “I swear to God is this door gets jammed again-“ she fought with the locker door, which miraculously gave up as she was planning to punch it open. “Yes!”
You chuckled seeing the whole thing. Then, reaching your own locker, praying you don’t meet the same fate. As this happened, Whitaker also entered the room. He rushed to his locker, getting his stuff in a frenzy.
As you were about to teasing him asking if his demeanor was due to his excitement about the plans you had, Trinity interrupted. “Woah huckleberry. Pretty excited to go see your farm widow I see.”
You swallowed hard, all the excitement you had leaving your body in the blink of an eye. You tried hard to say something, to protest. But it was alright, right? Amy needed support. She was going through a lot. You couldn’t even fathom how horrible she must have felt after her husband passed. You had a smile on your face, the one left from seeing him enter just now, but it had no emotions left in it.
“God no, Trinity. I told you to not make comments like that.” He replied, annoyed, not even looking at her, just his things.
You held yourself together, finally being able to spit something out. “What happened with Amy?”
What didn’t happen with Amy? You felt so selfish for thinking like this, she clearly needed support. Besides, it’s not like Dennis and you are anything. You can’t reclaim his time, you just gotta suck it up. There was always something going on with her, so it wasn’t uncommon for Dennis to cancel plans to go help her in the farm. Still, the ordinary nature of this didn’t make it sting less.
Somehow, Amy’s problems always managed to interrupt you when Dennis and you had some time for yourselves. Working in the ER, it’s not like you really have any time, and if you do, you just wanna rot in bed. Like that time when he burned himself with coffee, or most recently, at the park after shift.
It had been a long day. You even had to stay after hours because of a mass casualty after a fire in a nearby apartment complex. All of day shift had went to the park, as usual, to drink some booze and decompress for a while.
Dennis and you were distanced from the group, still close enough so you don’t seem absent. You were exhausted, not even making an effort to talk. He managed to know how to talk to you without using words.
He was alongside you, just looking around. His fingers brushed yours. You noticed, looking up at him. He smiled, you didn’t. You just kept looking at him. It’s not that you didn’t want him there, you were just tired. And he understood.
His hand traced around your back, reaching your waist gently, and pulling you a little closer. His finger started moving, caressing you. You smiled then, not big, just a lopsided grin.
“Wanna go home?” He whispered, and that was the only thing he said during that while. You nodded, waving goodbye to everyone and walking with him to your apartment.
While walking out of the park, he kept brushing your fingers, like he was hesitating if it was okay to hold your hand. Until you reached out for his, tracing circles with your thumb on it. He stopped then, still gripping your hand, but now right in front of you, looking down to meet your eyes.
You moved your head to the side, curiosity and adrenaline filling your entire body. He kept looking at your lips, holding your hand tighter without noticing. With his other hand, he moved a hair on your face behind your ear, it lingered there for a little too long, like he was deciding if he should it. It felt like this was something he finally got the courage to do tonight, but seeing you so tired made himself reconsider.
Truth is you wouldn’t feel bothered. More so, right now it was the best moment. You felt so exhausted, you really needed some stress relief. You were impatient, and when it looked like he had made up his mind—
His phone started buzzing uncontrollably. He looked at you, his eyes saying “I’m sorry”. He started scrambling, letting go of your hands and struggling to get his phone out. When he did, his eyes widened at he looked at the screen. “Shit, it’s Amy. I need to call her, sorry.” Before you could even say it was okay, he had dialed her number.
“Just, her baby is not feeling well. She’s panicked.” He answered, this reply stopping your train of thought. He looked worried.
“Oh, oh my. I hope everything is alright.” You said, sincerely, but pretty awkwardly. That poor woman, you’d never wish that worry on anyone. But still a bitter seed sat in your heart.
“Yeah, uh—I’ll get going guys.” He said to you and Trinity, you could tell by how he looked he had forgotten about your plans.
You couldn’t be mad at him, even less at Amy. It was not their fault. And he was just being helpful. But the thoughts in your head still lingered. You wouldn’t blame him, she’s beautiful. She’s the kind of women his parents would’ve love for him to fall in love with. She’s a farm girl for gods sake! You know nothing about farms. You’re probably more different from him than you thought, maybe you confused everything. He’s so friendly with everyone, maybe he was just being friendly with you too. Well, actually, for now you are just friends, right?
Entering the apartment with Trinity, waiting for her to get the key out of the lock so you can squeeze right past to get to your bed, she starts talking. “Who pissed on your cereal?” She said, with a chuckle to ease the tension. You hadn’t noticed how quiet you were the way home.
She made space for you to enter before her, and when you did, she closed the door behind you both. Now standing there, waiting for you to answer. “Sooo?” She insisted.
“I’m alright. Just, you know, work.” You lied, pathetic. She could tell.
“Just work? Damn. This has been the slowest day on this ER since months. But whatever you say.” She was snarky, not really looking at you. But you could tell even in her meanest tone, that she worried.
Your plans with Dennis today were to go to the movie theater to watch a movie you guys have been excited about since it got announced. But, your work schedule being so tight already, you guys hadn’t really found a time to watch it. It was already announced it would be removed from the theater soon, but thankfully you guys had found a day to go see it. That day was well, today, before Amy called.
You decided to go anyway, instead of laying on your bed staring into the ceiling. Maybe taking a bath and removing your scrubs would make you feel a little better, so you did just that. Walked out, got dressed, just that same hoodie Dennis gave you months ago, and some sweats. You didn’t have much energy left to dress more decently, and you were just going to the movie theater. Alone, at that.
When you got ready to leave, Trinity had already left to stay with Garcia for a while. So you were really, really alone. You reached for you phone, in the back of your mind the lingering thought of him remembering and texting you something, only to be left disappointed. The only text there was from Trinity when she left, telling you to stop by and get some avocados if you went out.
To make matters worse, the theater was almost empty. The only ones there, asides from you, were a young couple that looked like they didn’t really come here to watch the movie. You sat there with your snacks, still thinking about him maybe remembering your plans and texting you something. And feeling extremely pathetic for it.
Halfway through the movie, you were actually immersed, forgetting for a while about Dennis and Amy and them probably eating at her house with a meal she cooked herself because she is so perfect and—God, get over yourself.
Your phone was now actually on silent mode, since you managed to get your Instagram account filled with bots spamming you about porn websites.
What you didn’t notice then, was Dennis’s messages. Tons of them. Spamming you because while heading back home after reassuring Amy her baby was going to be okay, he remembered about the movie date—I mean, the movie. Yeah. Of course he didn’t think it was a date. (That’s what he told himself.)
9:32 P.M. around 2 and a half hours after the shift ended.
— Dennis
Hey! Are you home?
Was today the movie?
9:35 P.M
— Dennis
It was today right? I’m so sorry I forgot
I’ll make it up to you.
Are you home? Maybe I can get us some food
We can watch something else?
9:42 P.M
— Dennis
IM SO SORRY
I’ll get you your favorite ice cream
And some food
I’ll be there soon alright?
10:00 P.M
— Dennis
ILL BE THERE IN 25!!
I’m sorry
10:25 P.M
— Dennis
WHERE R U??
you’re not here?
hello???
Oh my god are you okay?
Hello!!!
He was now worried sick, meanwhile you laughed at corny jokes on the screen. Munching down popcorn meanwhile the couple near you munched on eachother. You were completely unaware that the spamming now came from Dennis instead of Instagram bots. He panicked, calling Trinity to know where you were.
— “Trinity! Hello??”
Trinity, already annoyed that her ramen in bed with Yolanda got interrupted. “Geez dude. Calm down. What do you need?”
— “Um.” He tried to seem calm, to not scare her. “Yeah do you know where—“
“She’s in the movie theatre, I think she was going with someone. I don’t remember, she didn’t seem that good earlier.”
— “Shit. I’m such an ass.”
“Wait.” Something clicked in her brain. “She was going with you! I knew it! And you left her? You are such an asshole!” She laughed, making fun of the usually always-there-for-everyone Whitaker failing you.
— “Goodbye Trin.” He hung up.
He arrived at the movie theater, practically running inside. “Sir, the movie already started at 9:15 P.M, It’s ending soon.” The staff at the counter told him, but he didn’t care, paying full price just to sit there with you for less than 30 minutes. A lame attempt to make it up to you.
Inside, he saw you, having to pass carefully by the pretty busy young couple just to get to you.
You didn’t see him, the theatre was dark and you were too fixated on the screen trying your best to keep your mind occupied. Until, you felt a presence sit beside you.
You looked around, seeing him there, his hair all messy and his face tired. “Dennis?” You called out, confused.
“Did I make it on time?” He joked, watching you there. He couldn’t admit how much he liked seeing you in his hoodie. Still, he felt guilty for leaving you alone.
“Almost didn’t make it. How’s Amy’s baby?”
“Good. Nothing to worry about.”
“I’m glad.”
You returned back to the screen, a lot of thoughts racing through your head but not really saying anything. Dennis also didn’t say anything, he just sat there beside you. He didn’t dare to touch you, as he thought he had failed you and it wasn’t appropriate to try and hold your hand and pretend everything was alright when the air was so tense.
Not long after, the movie had ended. You stood, and Dennis was right behind you. Still, you evaded talking about the elephant in the room, about how you felt, instead replacing it with plain commentary on the film. That could easily be resumed with “I liked it but I’ve seen better.”
He listened to all of it anyways, really taking in what you were saying, even if he sometimes didn’t understand. You walked out of the theater, and he offered you a ride as you had walked to get here. Everything about you two interacting was a bit awkward, so he decided to break the silence in the parking lot before entering the car.
He called out your name softly, “I’m sorry.
I’m sorry this happened and all the times before.”
“You don’t have to be sorry.”
“Yeah but—“
“Dennis, it’s okay.”
His eyes looked full of shame. Yours were tired, but you knew he meant well.
So, you sucked it up. It wasn’t your place to bug him about who he sees. He was just your friend, that’s all, you had not authority over him. You wouldn’t even there to imply so.
