Meredith wasn't much better off in terms of things to do. She was planning a project, but hadn't yet got actually figured out what it was going to be yet, and she had the clinic, but that was mostly administrative. Things had been better, but they'd been a lot worse, too, and she was making do, trying to come to grips with what she'd told Sean after that nightmare loop she got caught in and keeping it all to herself for the most part. It just seemed easier when she still didn't really know what she was doing (but what else was new?). Stuck between everything staying the same and everything getting all shaken up, George was reassuringly... George. She sat down opposite him and shook her head. "Seriously?"
"I'm staring at a chess board," George said, well aware that he was doing himself no favors by admitting it. "I'm bored, Meredith. I'm so bored I'm staring at a chess board."
He frowned at the number of times he'd just said the two words, then mentally brushed it off and leaned forward, arms folded on the table. "Save me."
"Do you... want to play?" Meredith shrugged, gesturing to the board. "Or... we can do something else." What, she didn't yet know, but she'd just have to come up with something. This place could be so dull sometimes, but she wasn't that bad anymore at finding ways to fill the empty time.
"Something else," George decided, folding his arms on the table and resting his chin on them. "This was just a desperate measure, and the only complete board game I could find in there. I didn't think it through."
George had been bored as well, and with classes not in session, he was finding himself with far more free time than he was used to. He'd thought about continuing on with his studying anyway, but hadn't gotten around to it yet. Instead, he'd been spending most of his free time reading.
From one corner of the rec room, George looked up from over the top of a copy of Nausea by Sartre.
George sat up when he recognized the familiar voice. "Uh, it was in the closet." He gestured back to the hallway and added, "the one back there. In the hallway? There's a bunch of stuff in there, but this was the only board game that actually had all the pieces."
Well, no, there'd been the Monopoly game, but George was lacking people to play with, and the money.
"Do you know I've been here over a year and had absolutely no idea that was there?" George said, sounding a bit annoyed. Usually, when he came into the rec room, there was someone watching a film on the projector, or there were people sitting at the chairs or tables with books. If he'd known there was a chess set around, it would have done a lot to help him with how bored he'd been back when he'd first arrived.
...granted that he'd actually had someone to play with him.
"I just found it," George said, nodding in sympathy. "It never occurred to me until just now to see if that closet had more than just kids games and annoying bouncing rubber balls.
Said rubber balls being one of the many ways his older brothers had discovered to torment him as children, of course.
"Bored, huh?" Lexie asked from the doorway to the kitchen, where she stood with her arms crossed over her chest and a crooked smile on her face, unable to interpret the scene in front of her any other way. That made her no less glad to see it. There were times, looking at George, that she felt like the intern with the crush on him all over again; she'd long since gotten over it, but just seeing him alive and whole, not the broken mess that had been John Doe, made her heart race in a remarkably similar fashion, and not just because she'd been delaying the inevitable. She was resolved to tell him, really she was, but it wasn't so simple as that.
For the time being, she was determined to delay it a while longer. As much as it sucked to be keeping such a big secret, it would probably suck worse to have to see his reaction to such news.
"You know, I think that game works better with two people."
"Probably," George said, slumping down onto the table in something similar to defeat. Boredom not only won, but it also made him look a bit like an idiot.
He twisted a little in his seat to look over at Lexie. "Are you offering to play? Cause if you were actually playing with me, it might look just a little less lame than it really is right now."
"Yes, George, I will play chess with you so you look a little less lame," Lexie said, obviously teasing, by the tone of her voice. It wasn't as if she would ever have passed up hanging out with him, playing chess or otherwise. No matter how awkward she felt for it, she had long since decided to get everything right this time, to appreciate his presence while she could. That she could definitely have used the company only helped.
Crossing from the door to where he was seated, she sat down, too, and grinned. "You're not the only one with nothing to do around here."
"You are my hero," he replied, giving Lexie a smile as he rearranged the pieces to being a new game. Some of them were carved, but at least telling black from white was easy.
"Yeah, I know, we're all a victim of boredom, but I still haven't figured out if being here for a while means I should be more bored by everything, or less bored."
Comments 17
Meredith wasn't much better off in terms of things to do. She was planning a project, but hadn't yet got actually figured out what it was going to be yet, and she had the clinic, but that was mostly administrative. Things had been better, but they'd been a lot worse, too, and she was making do, trying to come to grips with what she'd told Sean after that nightmare loop she got caught in and keeping it all to herself for the most part. It just seemed easier when she still didn't really know what she was doing (but what else was new?). Stuck between everything staying the same and everything getting all shaken up, George was reassuringly... George. She sat down opposite him and shook her head. "Seriously?"
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He frowned at the number of times he'd just said the two words, then mentally brushed it off and leaned forward, arms folded on the table. "Save me."
Reply
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From one corner of the rec room, George looked up from over the top of a copy of Nausea by Sartre.
"Where'd-- where'd you get that?" He asked.
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Well, no, there'd been the Monopoly game, but George was lacking people to play with, and the money.
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...granted that he'd actually had someone to play with him.
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Said rubber balls being one of the many ways his older brothers had discovered to torment him as children, of course.
Reply
For the time being, she was determined to delay it a while longer. As much as it sucked to be keeping such a big secret, it would probably suck worse to have to see his reaction to such news.
"You know, I think that game works better with two people."
Reply
He twisted a little in his seat to look over at Lexie. "Are you offering to play? Cause if you were actually playing with me, it might look just a little less lame than it really is right now."
Reply
Crossing from the door to where he was seated, she sat down, too, and grinned. "You're not the only one with nothing to do around here."
Reply
"Yeah, I know, we're all a victim of boredom, but I still haven't figured out if being here for a while means I should be more bored by everything, or less bored."
Reply
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