juniper // the many things i wonder

[Scarlett Anne Owens]

The man in the corner probably had Lupus, although autoimmune diseases were tricky to diagnose and Lupus presented itself in a million of different ways. Really, Scarlett had no idea what the man had, so Lupus was the best bet. A sort of jack of all trades for symptoms. But the trembling lady just two chairs away definitely had Parkinson's.

Scarlett was taking fleeting glances around the clinic waiting room, a setting all too familiar. Normally, though, she was in the habit of sending encouraging sorts of smiles to anyone she made eye contact with, as if saying, "Well, we're all here." Now that she had assessed everyone, she was just staring dejectedly ahead, rubbing the back of her neck. Ignoring the water-stained magazines, Scarlett uncrossed and crossed her legs again. She looked particularly thin in her sweatpants and t-shirt, but had no initiative to look any better.

Her brows furrowed as an interesting idea occurred to her. What if people were looking at her now, and trying to guess what was wrong with her? Scarlett chewed the inside of her cheek, trying to decide what her appearance would lend people to believe.

[Juniper Faye Green]

Juniper really was lacking a life outside of work, wasn't she?

Or maybe it was just her deep desire to connect to people again, to prove that she could be happy and not destroy everything she comes into contact with. She used to have friends, to have an active social life, places to go and people to see. All of that disappeared with Brandon as she withdrew into herself, stealing herself away into the safety of her family — and no one else. She ignored calls, sold her computer and was rarely seen outside of her parents' house, and even then it was only to trek to and from work.

But it was a new era. She'd moved out of her parents' house into one of her very own, and the place seemed empty. She had very few people who would still welcome her back with open arms, and she needed to feel social again. She needed to feel like she made a difference in other people's lives.

So she ventured into the waiting room after her shift ended, still in her scrubs and scanning the place. Many people found it depressing, being at the hospital, surrounded by the diseased and possibly dying. But there was something comforting about the atmosphere that made her feel at home. She'd spent so much of her adult life here, caring for people better than she cared for herself. She found beauty in even the worst of the patients, refusing to give up until she'd won them over and made them love her. That could still be true, couldn't it? She could still be charming and lovable, couldn't she?

Lost in her thoughts, Juniper stood just inside the entrance to the room, leaning against the wall and staring off into space.

[Scarlett Anne Owens]

Occasionally Scarlett's eyes flickered around the room - usually in response to movement. When a pair of nurses walked in, discussing something on a clipboard, Scarlett noticed someone standing by the entrance. Because of her angle, however, Scarlett only saw the person's left side. There was something so compelling about the unknown figure, that Scarlett wasted no time leaning to her right to get a better view.

It was a woman. A doctor. The only stationary hospital worker, which seemed unusual. Was she working? Did her shift end - but what was she still doing in the hospital? Did she just lose a patient? Is that why she was just staring off into the distance?

The wonder alone was enough to pique Scarlett's curiosity, but it was compounded by the strange impression that she already knew who that was, though Scarlett didn't think she had ever met that woman before. And if Scarlett didn't already know who that was, then she felt as though she should know. Or wanted to. One of those.

And even though the woman looked thoughtful and maybe a little sad, Scarlett couldn't help but notice that she was beautiful. Maybe that was what struck Scarlett the most. And the woman was beautiful in such a way, that Scarlett felt she was beautiful as an entire entity - inside, outside, everything. There was no doubt that the woman must also be a good and interesting person. And if anyone came along and told her otherwise, Scarlett would insist that the woman was more complicated than that - that they just didn't understand her.

All that even though Scarlett had never met her before (or maybe met her once before.) But her thoughts were interrupted when the nurse at the desk called, "Owens, Scarlett." Scarlett got up awkwardly, having been snapped out of her reverie. What could they want with her? (And she felt stupid for thinking this because she had elected to go to the hospital - she wasn't on trail awaiting a verdict. "What could they want with her?" Honestly.) All the nurse asked was, "Is the insurance the same?" Scarlett nodded mutely. She waited in case there were any other questions, but the nurse went back to ignoring her and filling out some sort of form. Feeling dismissed, Scarlett went back to her seat.

[Juniper Faye Green]

"Owens, Scarlett."

Juniper was snapped out of her thoughts by the name, called across the muted sounds of moans and ramblings of patients and friends. Owens? She glanced at the girl; she and Todd had similar features. Not alike enough to immediately stand out, but upon further inspection, there were definitely similarities. She struggled to remember if she'd ever seen her before in her hangouts with her brother, but came up blank. Having grown up in this town, how could she not recognize someone, especially someone related to a friend (granted, a friend she didn't see much of anymore — but that had more to do with her own problems than problems between them)?

Realizing she was staring, Juniper visibly shook her head to shake off the thoughts and made her way over to the girl. Surely she wouldn't mind? She didn't look too entertained in the waiting room, and she seemed to be alone, so hopefully she wouldn't be intruding.

She stopped in front of the girl and smiled slightly at her, doing her best to seem approachable and not at all creepy. "Hi. Are you Todd's sister, by any chance?" she asked, rubbing the back of her head. "I'm a friend of his," she added. "He talks about you a lot, so I thought it'd be nice to meet the infamous Scarlett."

Of course, she said this all before the girl either confirmed or denied her identity as Todd's sister, so she hoped dearly that she wasn't wrong.

[Scarlett Anne Owens]

Scarlett was having a moment. She wasn't sure what kind of moment it was – if she had to categorize it, she wouldn't be able to. And it wasn't as thought it was a storm of thoughts and feelings, all so mixed up that they made no concrete sense. It was one feeling. One overwhelming feeling that was giving Scarlett an out-of-body experience as she stared blankly up at the face above her. It was neither good, nor bad, just seemed to tell her one thing: this is important. And Scarlett wondered what her subconscious and body knew before she did (and how weird that was, and how was that even possible?)

And in the midst of this Feeling, while Scarlett was working on what to say, she noticed how especially pretty the woman was when she smiled.

"Yes, I'm Todd's sister." Scarlett almost added, he's my brother. "Why am I infamous?" She asked curiously, wondering that out loud. She had always assumed Todd spoke well of her when he did, just as she did in regards to him.

As a sort-of delayed reaction, Scarlett held out her hand. "My name's Scarlett. Todd calls me Letty." She knew she wanted the woman to like her. So far she seemed to have adopted the strategy of saying a lot of unnecessary information, in hopes that something would seem endearing.