free time (open)

[Piper Sasaki-Roswell]

Piper sat at a small table near a window with a book open in her hands. Near her sat a stack of newspapers, a variety of books all tagged with brightly colored bits of paper and a notepad filled with writing. Mostly it was a jumble of psychology book titles, a few romance author names and the number of a nearby Chinese place she was thinking about going for lunch. For now however she was absorbed in her book, brow wrinkled as she thought over the ending of the chapter. She was certain she knew who the culprit of this spy-thriller was but was hesitant to put her finger on it just now. Since she'd been reading for several hours at this point she decided to mark the page and set the book down. Now she had to make a touch decision. She was planning on copying all the articles and short stories she'd marked in the other books (it gave her something to read while she was on the road) but did she rent the book from the library and risk the fine she was likely to incur if she was sent off on assignment while she had it?

Maybe she should just get a Kindle or something, but that seemed like such a waste, she really liked physical books. She'd have to think it over the next time she went out. Not like she had a lot of time to read between meetings with parents and chaperoning students to the school. Reaching over she picked up the book again and flipped through it halfheartedly. Now that her attention was diverted she began to realize that there were more people here now than when she first entered. Her stomach growled loudly and she hurriedly reached into her purse for the second half of a granola bar she'd stashed there, covertly shoving it into her mouth and chewing before a passing librarian could scold her about not eating in the building.

[Dr. Taylor Ward]

Having some free time over a weekend was still new to Taylor. After spending so long holed up in his dorm studying his ass off during weekends to the point of forfeiting much of a social life, sometimes he didn’t know what to do with himself. He’d been working the past few weekends, but this one he’d been scheduled off for.

So he’d done something that was familiar to him. He’d always been somewhat intellectual, much to the amusement of his twin brother and his best friend. Nick and Trevor were off doing… Taylor didn’t actually know, but it was probably going to be louder and more mischievous than he really wanted.

To the library it was.

It was just as well. He was waiting for some textbooks he’d ordered online to show up, but until they did, he figured he could borrow something similar from the library. After some searching, he’d found something sort of like what he needed, plus several others. Nick and Trevor could call him a nerd all he wanted, but this was stuff he needed to know. Or at least have a reference to.

The textbooks in question were on small animal dermatology as well as one on dentistry. The dentistry one was a must, being that his idiot twin had spilled coffee all over his copy from school. The pages were beyond salvaging, and he actually needed to know the stuff inside.

Sometimes, he wished Nick would grow up.

As he headed for a table to do some quiet reading before he went home, he paused as he walked by one in particular. The woman sitting there looked awfully familiar…

“… Piper?”

[Piper Sasaki-Roswell]

Piper had just finished swallowing her granola bar when she looked up to see Taylor Ward passing by. "Oh! Taylor! Hey how are you doing?" she asked with fluctuating volume as she stood to shake his hand in greeting, a habit from all the work she did. She absently dusted off her maroon sweater. "You're studying too?" she asked curiously as she eyed the books in his hand. "Do you want to share my table?" she then asked almost immediately before he could answer. She was hungry but the granola bar would hold her for a little bit, at least long enough for her to catch up with Taylor if he had some time to spare.

[Dr. Taylor Ward]

Oh good, he was right. It was Piper, and not someone who merely looked like his former classmate. Coming closer, he automatically took her hand and smiled at her in greeting. "I'm good, thank you. Yourself?"

Glancing down at the thick books under his arm, he had to smile. "Sort of studying, yeah. My brother wrecked one of my textbooks with coffee last weekend, and I'm trying to brush up on some things." He didn't dare bore her with the more technical details. Medical terminology tended to make people go cross-eyed.

"Sure, that would be nice. Thank you." Shifting the books to his other arm, he caught the back of a chair with his now-free hand and tugged it out so that he could join her. "It's been a while. What are you doing now?" He'd come to terms long ago that most of his classmates had been out in the 'real world' now for at least a few years. That was the joy of med school, both for animals and for people. It took forever. But it was worth it.