𝐆𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐇 // 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐡𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐬

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲-𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞

CONNOR HAD LOST TRACK of how much time he had spent to make his apartment as close to perfect as possible. By some miracle, he had managed to buy Christmas decorations and a tree, which he had fully decorated, between getting off shift the night before, and Eila showing up at his door at three in the afternoon that very day. He could feel his pulse race as he stood with the mistletoe in his hand, swearing to himself underneath his breath.

               He felt stupid. Connor Rhodes was not a man who was afraid of speaking his mind, no matter what the case was, yet here he found himself tip-toeing around his feelings for a girl.

                His trail of thoughts were distracted as his phone lit up, a 'good luck'-text ( with a ridiculous amount of emojis ) from Will staring back at him. Connor let out a shaky sigh, tossing the mistletoe onto the couch next to him as he sat down.

It hadn't taken Maggie long, before she had informed almost the entire hospital about Connor's little plan to woo Eila, and quite frankly; he was embarrassed. Especially when it came to the way his fellow cardiothoracic surgeon, Ava Bekker, looked at him. In her eyes, Connor Rhodes was a pathetic man, merely the shadow of the great surgeon he could have been. It wasn't something Connor was proud of, and he was hurt that one of his closest colleagues felt the way about him, that she did.

                He turned on his stereo, not choosing to play Christmas music; quite on the contrary, he turned on an album by Iron Maiden, feeling the ability to shake loose nerves and stress to the sound of heavy drums.

Seconds turned into minutes, and minutes into hours as Connor patiently waited for Eila. The plan was for her to show up at his apartment when she had finished her day of work, though the surgeon was sure she had ended her shift at 4 pm. Checking the watch on his wrist, he noticed it was 6 pm — and he still hadn't heard anything from her. Sighing, he checked his phone once more ( surely she would let him know what was going on, right? ), though sighed in disappointment as he once again was met without any sort of notifications.

              Connor got up, heading to the kitchen. It wasn't the part of his apartment that he spent the most time in, though he had found himself using it more frequently after starting the '24 days of Christmas' with Eila.

Quietly, he made himself a cup of coffee and a slice of toast, turning down the music as he returned to the couch. Instead, he turned on the T.V, zapping through the channels as he hoped to find something of interest to get lost in. Much to his dismay, most of the films were of the Christmas-genre; a genre Connor still hadn't gotten completely used to.

              Another message lit up his screen, once again from Will; this time the doctor wondered if anything had happened between the cardiothoracic surgeon and the neighbour. Sighing, Connor replied with a simple thumbs down-emoji ( giving Will the message everyone understood as a 'negative' ).

               Shortly after, Connor found himself accepting a call from Will, the red-head yelling at him through the line. "What the actual fuck do you mean with thumbs down? Didn't you have an entire night of kissing and—,"

               "Confessing feelings? I thought so." Connor scoffed, cutting Will off. "Truth is, Halstead — she hasn't showed up, but I'm sure she just lost track of time."

His words seemed to be reassuring to Will, though they didn't do the job for Connor himself. The palms of his hands were still sweaty, and he found himself listening to the footsteps in the hall outside, hoping and praying they would stop outside his apartment. Though the conversation with Will had lasted for about thirty minutes, Connor could not admit to remembering more than the first five minutes, at the most.

Truth was, he zoned out, imagining all the possible reasons as to why Eila was M.I.A. As if on cue, however, a knock on the door tore him out or his thoughts, leaving him with his heart beating a little faster. "Hey." He smiled as he opened the door, revealing Eila's face. "How has your—,"

                 He was cut off by Eila smashing her lips against his. In many ways, it was everything Connor had imagined it would be — at the same time as it was far from perfect. Her nose crashed against his, sending an ache through his face, making him grimace.

"I'm so sorry—," Eila paused as she parted from his lips, brown eyes looking at Connor with an apologetic look. "It's just— I wanted this to be perfect, but no matter how much I tried to plan it, or picture how the whole setting would be, I found myself freaking out. I think I freaked out to the point where I almost gave myself a heart attack just a couple of hours ago. I'm sorry I didn't text you or anything, I just—,"

Connor chuckled as he leaned forward, cutting her off by gently pressing his lips against hers; though this time, it felt perfect. "It's okay." He breathed out as he pulled back, blue eyes sparkling as his gaze danced across her face; this time around taking in every single part of her in a whole new way.

              And for the first time in a very long time, Connor wasn't lying to her or himself; everything was okay.