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Thasmin Week – Prompt Three – AU
Another day. Another parking dispute. Another boring, tedious, aggravating parking dispute. Yasmin Khan, junior officer, stuck dealing with people who had the brain power of a child. No. Children could generally be smarter. Adults just wanted to fight all the time and never get anything done by way of common sense. She had honestly seen someone put a hammer through another person’s wind-shield. A grown woman.
‘I swear, the day I’m free of all this…’
Grumbling to herself, the young woman closed her locker door and slung a gym bag over her shoulder. Days like this, there was only one thing that would calm her down again. And that was taking every frustration out at the gym. Specifically, finding a big old punching bag and beating the living daylights out of it. Not that Yaz thought of herself as a particularly violent person, but considering the physical energy required to do the job, it was a natural progression.
The journey to the gym was short, just a ten minute drive from the station itself. One of the perks of the job, not that it could be said there were many. Although free gym membership for the duration of service was nothing to be sniffed at. Especially as the gym also had a swimming pool and sauna. Yaz parked the car far away from any other of the gym-goers. Not only did she prefer the walk, she also preferred being able to walk away from the typical ‘gym-bros’ that normally hounded her. Although, mentioning she was an officer soon got them to leave her alone.
Taking a card from her pocket, Yaz swiped it against the sensor by the door, quickly stepping through the opening. One day, those doors were going to trap her, she could feel it. They were way too fast. Her eyes scanned the gym, making a quick mental note of the free equipment. A group of women were taking part in a spinning class, while two of the regular guys had set up their run on the treadmill. Most of the guys were swarming around the free weights and other machines, much to her chagrin. Still, for a Friday night at least it was quiet.
Yaz headed into the changing rooms, hiding up the furthest corner from the showers. As much as she knew that there was nothing wrong with them, something about using a public shower always rubbed her up the wrong way. Whether it was just feeling exposed, or being around the other ladies long enough to feel weird, she had no idea. Being in her own shower back home was much more preferable. Throwing the gym bag down, the young woman began to change out of her work clothes. The relief that came from unbuttoning shirt and pants was immeasurable.
Discarding the gym bag in the locker, phone in one hand and decked out in leggings and a vest, Yaz headed back towards the door. However, her journey was short lived as someone collided into her. Taken aback, she grumbled under her breath, towel almost falling from across her shoulders.
“Oh. Sorry. So sorry. I really didn’t mean to bump into you like that. Really should pay more attention to where I’m going. Just a bit lost is all, first time here.”
Rubbing a hand down her arm, Yaz lifted her head up and paused, mouth agape. A very flustered looking blonde stood before her, sheepishly looking at the ground. Easily half a decade on her own age, the young woman mentally cursed herself for staring and ignoring the apology.
“Oh, don’t worry about it, happens to the best of us.”
Brushing the encounter off whilst watching the other woman hurry away with another muffled apology, Yaz shook her head and headed back to the main floor of the gym. However it was hard to shake the encounter from her mind. She had been walked into before by loads of women, and men, and normally she didn’t care. Occasionally there would be cross words and glares, if the perpetrator was particularly inconsiderate. Otherwise, nothing. With another groan, Yaz headed towards the semi-closed-off class room.
The Yoga class had just finished, meaning that she was free to take to the punch bags that were obscured behind a half wall. Placing her phone on top of the wall, along with her towel, Yaz stretched herself out. The music in the gym was to her tastes, for once, meaning she could have a session without drowning the world out with her headphones. Feeling quite satisfied with the stretching, the young woman placed herself in front of the punch bag before realising she was down some vital equipment.
“Argh, my gloves. Don’t wanna walk into work with bloodied knuckles. Again.”
Muttering to herself, Yaz failed to notice that someone was in her personal space until she turned around and almost walked into them.
“Ah!”
Eyes wide and heart racing, Yaz instinctively clutched a hand to her chest as she tried to slow her breathing down. The blonde woman from the changing rooms looked at her with confusion and concern.
“Sorry. Again. I really need to stop sneaking up on people. Always thought I was much louder. Anyway, I think you dropped these in the locker room. Only, I assume they’re yours, because you were the only one in there when I was. And I did ask a few people but they just ignored me…”
Finally able to get her breathing back to normal, and stop herself from reflectively lashing out, Yaz looked down at the pale hand which offered out the gloves. Sure enough, they were black and teal and fingerless. Definitely hers. She tentatively took them, eyes going back up to look at the blonde. An inexplicable wave of calm washed over her as she looked into the hazel-green eyes of the other woman.
“Thank you. And don’t worry about me, I’m just glad you didn’t get me in police mode. Don’t think it would have been fun.”
As Yaz slid the gloves over her hands and fastened them around her wrists, her eyes just caught sight of the blonde quirking her eyebrow and smiling.
“You’re police huh? Not big on violence me, much more the peaceful type. Don’t like guns or any of that nonsense. Although, guess I wouldn’t mind too much if you’d gone ‘police mode’ and dropped me. You look like you’d be good at keeping someone down. Anyway, try not to break anything. See ya.”
‘Did…did she just…’
By the time she lifted her head up and felt a retort coming on, the blonde had gone. Yaz stared into the empty room, feeling heat rise from her chest to her face. Surely a complete stranger had not just attempted to flirt with her. Either that or she was totally clueless, which would fit the rambling profile. Shaking her head to clear the thoughts away, Yaz returned her attention to the punch bag and hit it hard with her right hand. The familiar sting soon gave her something to focus on.
Time was relative. It took beads of sweat falling to the tip of her nose to get her to stop swinging. Heaving breaths like she had just run a marathon non-stop, Yaz lowered her arms and dropped to the ground. With her back pressed up against the wall, she closed her eyes. Her skin was burning, arms aching, sweat pooling wherever it was able.
“Did you not bring a drink with you? You can have my spare if you want. Dehydration’s no fun.”
A voice rang out above her head, causing Yaz to tilt her head up slightly and slowly open one eye. It was familiar. Focusing on pieces of blonde hair swaying before her, she mentally groaned.
‘Not again…’
Attention was diverted as the blonde rounded the wall and sat herself opposite, just about fitting into the small space. She held out a bottle of water, gently nudging it towards her. Yaz opened her eyes and felt herself pause again. For some reason, despite feeling calm around the other woman, she also felt incredibly nervous.
“Come on, it’s not poison. Or alcohol. Promise.”
Realising that she was receiving no answer, the blonde put the bottle on the ground and nudged it over, before taking a long swig from her own. As if to prove a point. Hazel-green eyes watched expectantly as Yaz finally took hold of the bottle and drank half of it down in one go. Cold burnt at her throat and ran into her chest, but it was a relieving pain. With a loud exhale, Yaz reached up behind her to pull the towel down in order to wipe the sweat from her eyes.
“Thanks. Again. Can I just say though…”
Yaz flung the towel over her shoulder, leaving the half empty bottle down by her feet.
“You seem to be popping up an awful lot.”
As a heavy blush descended across her face, the blonde’s eyes fell downwards as she tucked stray hairs behind her ear. Yaz noticed that she had an incredibly beautiful piercing linked to a cuff at the top of her ear. The other woman began ot play with the hem of her t-shirt idly.
“When you say it like that it sounds awful.”
However, whatever embarrassment Yaz noticed quickly faded as another question came her way.
“Probably about time I asked your name, huh?”
That question caused both women to laugh, and Yaz noticed that the other woman had an oddly melodic tone to her. After a moment, she held out her hand.
“Yasmin Khan, Yaz to my friends. And you are?”
A cool, pale hand came into contact with her fingers and rested in the palm of her gloved hand.
“I’m the Doctor, pleasure to meet you Yaz. Calling you Yaz ‘cause we’re friends now, right?”
The handshake was soft and informal, however there was something else to be thinking about. Namely, the name. In all her years, Yaz had never heard such a non-answer, and was mildly insulted by it. She broke the contact first, furrowing her brows.
“The Doctor? Really? That’s some unbelievably MI5 levels of sh-”
Before the curse could pass her lips, the same hand that had once been in her own came to rest over her mouth. The blonde had leant forward, eyes staring into hers with such intensity that Yaz felt panic rising within her. The next words she heard came through gritted teeth, hushed and full of urgency.
“Shhhh, if you say it like that then you’ll blow my cover.”
Silence fell. The sound of the up-beat dance music was drowned out by the sound of her hammering heart. Sweat previously cleaned away was starting to emerge again as her eyes searched for an answer.
One that came in a roar of laughter as the blonde pulled her hand away and fell back into the wall.
“Oh. Oh, man. That absolutely never gets old. Hundred odd times over and it’s still the same reaction. Even fooled a copper!”
As ‘The Doctor’ held onto her stomach and doubled over, Yaz banged her head against the half wall behind her. She was unsure whether she wanted to scream in frustration, or join in on the strange in-joke. She chose the former.
“What the actual fuck is going on?!”
As the laughter subsided with choked breaths and coughing, the blonde sat up straight again and wiped tears from her eyes.
“I’d say I’m sorry, but I’m not. Rest assured I totally am a legitimate doctor, work down in the emergency rooms. Me and a friend of mine have a little bet about how many people we can get to refer to us by just our titles. She’s a professor. Way better at this than I am, think she just intimidates people, or charms them. Can’t work it out. Either way, I don’t really like to divulge my name unless I know someone well enough. Don’t ask, it’s kinda complicated. Actually maybe I should apologise. Sorry.”
The next silence that came was heavy and tense. Yaz could feel herself prickling with anger but was trying to subdue her emotions. There was no reason to get so worked up, and yet the feelings were there. Taunting her. As she lowered her head back down, the young woman caught sight of the Doctor collecting her water and standing up. There was still a blush on her cheeks, either from the laughter or from something else. With a mumbled apology, and something about keeping the bottle, the blonde quickly exited the area.
Scrambling up from the floor and trying to choke out something, Yaz watched the other woman disappear from sight. Her right hand was outstretched, mouth open, whilst the left balled into a fist and dug into her hip. Under no circumstances had she expected her day to be full of random happenstance meetings with anyone, but her outburst left a vile taste in her mouth. She would figure out why later, for now, she had someone to apologise to.
Busying herself by collecting the towel, bottle and her phone, the young woman quickly headed off out of the room. Chances were that the other gym-goers would be staring, if they found the time, but she didn’t care. Glancing down at her phone, noticing that she had been lost in her workout for almost two hours now, Yaz burst into the changing rooms and finally found her voice.
“WAIT!”
Taking a moment to catch her breath, Yaz found the blonde sitting on the furthest bench, back facing the door. Or, as best she could, having the side of her body pressed up against the lockers. At least she hadn’t been crying or anything, that would have been a horrible way to end an encounter. She slowly walked over, seating herself just outside the boundaries of the other woman’s personal space. Yaz never considered herself to be an overly physical person, but something inside her was begging to just give the other woman a hug, or some kind of comforting touch. Brown eyes fell to the floor as she spoke.
“Doctor, I-”
“Jane.”
The blonde turned around, still not making any eye contact. She focused more on twisting her fingers together.
“My name is Jane. Not like it matters much now.”
Feeling a little more brave, and feeling guilty for the sadness in the Doctor’s voice, Yaz shuffled over. She gently nudged the other woman with her shoulder.
“Of course it matters. Don’t worry though, I won’t say anything. Doctor.”
She heard a small laugh, followed by a sigh. It was a start.
“You’re a nice person, Yasmin Khan. I’m not exactly the best at making friends, keep losing them for one reason or another. Start to wonder why I bother. Maybe I’m just meant to be alone or something, you know?”
“Don’t exactly have many myself. Wouldn’t really consider my colleagues friends. I mean, they’re nice and all, just don’t really have much in common. Some of them think I’m mad for spending my nights here, think I should be out partying or whatever, but it helps me get through the day. And, you meet way better people here than on a drunken night out.”
Yaz hummed to herself as she unwrapped the Velcro from around her wrists, tugging the gloves free and dropping them to one side. Shifting her body around, she held out her hand again with a soft smile. The Doctor’s eyes finally left the floor, looked at the offered hand before turning her gaze back to Yaz. In what could only be described as ‘the most adorable thing’, the blonde’s face scrunched up slightly.
“Things kind of got off on the wrong foot. And I may have been a bit distracted. So, let’s do this again. Nice to meet you, Doctor.”
There was a brief pause before the Doctor eagerly took the offered hand, shaking it with much more vigour than the previous attempt.
“Nice to meet you, Yaz. I think I owe you a bit more of a substantial apology. Seeing as it’s late and all, you could always pop over mine for a drink. I’ll get us in a takeaway. Any objections?”
Letting go of her hand, the Doctor stood up and turned her attention to her locker. Yaz felt her arm drop limply into her lap, brain desperately trying to process what had just happened. A drawn out ‘uh’ came from her lips. The nervousness came back, along with a mixed reaction of feelings.
“Did you…did you just flirt with me?”
Having taken all of her belongings out of the locker, and crossing a backpack over her shoulders, the Doctor stood with her hands on her hips and smiled.
“That is entirely dependent on your perspective, PC Khan. I’ll let you be the judge of that, shall I?”
Nerves turned into panic as her whole body set alight with new warmth. It had been a considerable amount of time since a woman had last come on to her. Normally, it was guys. Too rightly so as well, because Yaz was convinced that she hid her bisexuality pretty well. Even so, the illusion was completely shattered by a random blonde at the gym calling herself The Doctor. Arrogance and ego were her biggest turn offs. Rubbed her up the wrong way.
And yet, she was drawn in by the blatant charm of the other woman.
“Okay, sure.”
Yaz walked over to her own locker, feeling eyes burning into the back of her skull. The Doctor was waiting for something. In the back of her mind, the young woman knew exactly what that was and was more than willing to rise up to the evident challenge. In fact, the thought filled her with immense joy.
“Word of warning though, if you’re going to be ordering in you better prepare yourself in advance.”
“Oh?”
Closing the door and slinging the gym bag over her shoulder, Yaz smirked before turning around with the best dead-pan face she could muster.
“I like things hot.”
‘Yasmin Khan…if that wasn’t the worst innuendo ever then I don’t know what is.’
Despite mentally cringing at the words that came out of her mouth, the young woman noticed that they instantly had the desired effect. The Doctor quirked an eyebrow, trying to hide the darkening of her cheeks behind pure bravado. But Yaz saw right through it and smiled.
‘Oh, she’s turned fast. This is going to be fun.’
“And I like a challenge.”
As the two left the gym, the Doctor informed Yaz that she was more a user of public transport, and that that was their only way back. With a laugh, Yaz pulled her keys from out of her gym bag and rattled them, mentioning that part of her police training involved driving lessons. She was amused at how disappointed the Doctor was that she hadn’t arrived in her police car. Having the destination locked into the sat-nav, Yaz set off into the night.
By the time she reached the small block of flats that the Doctor lived in, any feelings of nervousness had melted away. Both of them had talked about their jobs, bonding over the mutual dislike of people wasting their time over trivial matters. She had even been offered the use of the shower, and offered some loungewear to change into, which clearly implied her ability to stay well into the night. And Yaz took that offer gladly.
The Doctor has remarkably failed with the spicy takeaway ordered, having run to the kitchen to drink several small glasses of milk whilst bemoaning the existence of chillis. Yaz felt like she had torn her side from the amount of laughing she had done. Even more so when a very frazzled blonde came back into the room and dropped down on the sofa with defeat.
“Fucking hell, you weren’t lying were you? How can you eat that stuff? I’m gonna feel my insides melting for days.”
Ending the night off with a movie, one which Yaz was completely unable to remember, the Doctor was the first to let out a yawn and move.
“Oh right. About sleeping arrangements. I don’t exactly carry anything for guests. Downside of never having any. So that means you’re gonna have to shack up with me for the night. If you don’t mind that is. Could always just give you my duvet on the sofa, I can manage without.”
Once again, Yaz found herself entirely confused by the terminology that the Doctor was using. But she had already made up her mind the moment she came back to the flat.
“No complaints from me.”
The Doctor smiled, offering out her hand and guiding the young woman towards her less-than-orderly bedroom.
“Yasmin Khan, where on earth have you been?!”
Sneaking back home had failed. Miserably. Even at midday. Apparently her mother had decided not to go and visit her Nani. Much more worrying was the fact that even Sonya was still in the house. Her younger sister poked her head out from behind the wall, a huge smirk plastered across her face.
“I was out with a friend.”
“What? Yaz, I thought we established that you don’t have friends.”
“SONYA! Don’t be mean to your sister.”
Dropping her bag outside her bedroom, Yaz walked into the kitchen and sat down at the dining table. Eagerly awaiting a response, Sonya decided to sit down in front of her, still smirking. It didn’t take long before her mother joined her, pushing over a cup of tea.
“Next time you plan on not coming back, maybe just drop a message so I don’t worry?”
Taking the tea in her hands, Yaz nodded.
“Sorry. I didn’t expect to be out all night. Thought that once I’d been to the gym I’d be coming straight back. Just got swept up.”
Sonya continued her questioning.
“Yeah, but swept up by who though. Come on Yaz, don’t tell me you actually pulled or something? That place is just full of slimeballs and steroid junkies. Unless…”
Yaz braced herself. She knew exactly what was coming.
“Oh my god, it was a woman, wasn’t it? You got picked up by a woman at the gym! Oh man, this is the best day ever. Wait until-”
Receiving a less than subtle jab to the arm, Sonya eventually shut up thanks to motherly persuasion and a very intense glare. Yaz could feel herself welling up with embarrassment again. She hoped that her mother would have nothing else to add to the conversation.
“Sonya, go hang out with your friends or something. Or at least keep quiet.”
Rolling her eyes and huffing, followed by a mumbled ‘whatever, Sonya picked up her phone and left the room. Not before waggling her eyebrows at her broken down sister. Yaz groaned, dropping her head on the table and narrowly missing a collision with the mug. She felt her mother move away from the table and come take a seat beside her.
“Just ignore your sister. You know she just wants to get a rise out of you.”
A gentle hand came to rest on her shoulder, squeezing lightly.
“So, what’s her name then? Please tell me you know her name at least. I have enough with Sonya just…being herself.”
Lifting herself up and taking a sip of the tea, Yaz turned to face her mother but kept her eyes to the ground. Butterflies began to dance around in her stomach as she thought more about the blonde from the night before, and how they spent their evening together. What could she say?
“Her name…well, her name is the Doctor. And honestly mum…I think she’s the best person I’ve ever met.”