YOU AND ME - Chapter 7
It has now been three weeks since we had arrived in New Jersey and nearly the same amount of time since I had last seen Mark Sloan. After talking with Alex at the park, we went home and continued on with our lives, like we didn't just find out that Mark Sloan may be living in the same city as us. Work was good, Alex and I had gotten the chance to meet some of my uncle's surgery team and other doctors around the hospital. I was starting to feel comfortable here and I'm pretty sure Alex would say the same.
It was now six thirty in the morning, we had been given the night shift much to Alex's annoyance. I was walking through the corridor of one of the more empty wards, with my eyes locked on the clipboard in my hand, when all of a sudden I bumped into a wall. A really muscular, wall. Looking up, with my focus still a bit dazed, I was shocked to see the bright blue eyes that I had run away from the other day. Getting a better look at him compared to when I had sprinted away, I was able to really take in all his features. He still looked the same as when we were in Seattle, just more tired now and if you looked close enough, less confident. It was weird, it hurt to see him like that and I didn't know why. Maybe it was because I knew what he was going through? Before I had any more time to really dwell on it he spoke, "Grey?" He sounded hesitant like I would scare easily, which wasn't surprising considering our last run in. "Hi, Mark." I don't know why, but I was shy all of a sudden and I don't think I was the only one. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you still be in Seattle? Did everyone else come with you?" I knew this where it was going to lead to eventually and I had already told Alex that I was probably going to tell Mark, so why not do it today anyway. Quickly flicking my eyes towards the clock on the wall behind Mark's head, I saw that I only had five more minutes on my shift left and since I was going to tell him I wanted to be comfortable I asked him if he wanted to get a coffee. "Yeah, sure. I don't actually start for another hour and was going to get one soon anyway." Slightly smiling at him, I turned around and quietly said, "come on then."
Sitting down in the hospitals' cafe, it was quiet. There were only a few people scattered around the tables spread out in the large room, most of them being doctors or nurses. Waiting for our drinks I decided that it was now or never. "You still want answers to your questions?" With a silent nod from him, I carried on, telling him about everything that went all back in Seattle after he had left and even why I ran the other day. "...only me and Alex came here. We both needed a fresh start and this seemed like a great place." He was silent for a few more seconds, before opening up. "Well, I'm not going to say sorry to you because I know you don't want my pity." That made me smile, I was happy that I had listened to Alex and told him. "But I am happy you're here Grey. Even though we weren't close in Seattle, you were my partner in crime. I happy Karev followed you here as well. He's got ambition, I like that." That made my smile even bigger. "I'm happy that I'm here as well Sloan. It's good to have my fellow dirty mistress back as well." Chuckling, he thanked the waiter as he brought over our drinks. Sipping on our drinks we talked a bit more. He told me why he came here instead of going back to New York, he didn't want to be stuck in all those memories that he had made with his friends there and how much we were both enjoying working here at the moment. Our conversation went on for about fifteen minutes longer before he got paged, even though he didn't start work for another twenty-five minutes. After paying for both our coffees even though I insisted that I could pay my own, Mark asked me the last question I was ever expecting to hear from him. "Grey, I really liked this morning. Do you wan-, I mean would y-, dammit." He seemed almost...nervous. It was sort of cute. Blowing out a breath of air, he started again. "Grey, do you want to go out to dinner with me?" Shocked, I stood there for what of must have been longer than I thought because Mark started backing out. "I mean you don't have to. I know you just broke up with Derek and my whole mess with Addison. Like I totally get if you want to s-" Breaking out of my trance I looked up to him with what I was pretty sure was nervousness and also happiness and said the last thing I think he was expecting at that moment. "Yeah. Yeah, I'd love to Sloan."