⇢ CHAPTER 54

in the world, Lexie and Holly both ate ice cream as they danced around the empty apartment while April, Jackson, and Alex were partying in Meredith's house.

"And then," Lexie continued, placing a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth as she spoke, "I told Mark I loved him as Julia came outside." 

"Oh, my God." Holly's eyes widened, eating more of her ice cream as well before she shrugged, "Boys are just... idiots."

Lexie nodded, her mouth full of ice cream as she chuckled, "Agreed."

Upon hearing the phone ringing, Holly sighed before placing the tub of ice cream down, as well as the volume of their stereo, and walked over to her phone, "Hello?"

"," A man's voice chimed in from the other line, making Holly quirk an eyebrow at Lexie since the voice wasn't familiar, ""

"Um," Holly awkwardly chuckled, "who's this?"

"The man cleared his throat,"" The man revealed, making Holly's jaw drop as Lexie frowned her eyebrows, not hearing what the man admitted, ""

"...She ?"

✧

"Oh, April," Holly sang, walking into the Chief Resident room only April was in, "did you sleep with a guy at your boards?"

April, who was still struggling to recover from a massive hangover, squinted at her sister, "I was drunk."

"Oh," Holly nodded before sitting down next to her, stifling a chuckle as she mocked, "come, pray with me--"

"Holly--"

"Okay, I'm sorry." Holly genuinely apologized before sighing deeply, "I cannot believe this happened to the both of us--"

"I-It happens." April defended, "Right?"

"Yeah," Holly nodded, clearing her throat, "it happened-- twice, sometimes, if we're really drunk."

April's eyes snapped from the floor to her sister, "We have to vow off drinking."

"Agreed."

✧

"'Thank you for your candor'?" Holly glared at Mark as the two, along with Derek, went up floors on the elevator before Holly slapped Mark's arm, "Seriously?!"

"What was I supposed to do?" Mark raised his hands in surrender.

"Oh, I don't know..." Derek added with a shrug, "Kiss her."

Mark paused, staring at the two before responding, "Julia's away on a conference. I'm not a cheater."

"Sure." Holly muttered under her breath.

Mark corrected himself, "Usually."

Derek hummed, "Mm."

"Look," Mark continued, "I owe it to both of them to..." He sighed as Derek and Holly looked at him,  "I don't want to mess this one up, okay? Julia wants to give me everything I want. But I'm in love with Lexie, who doesn't want anything I want."

As if it was perfect timing, the elevator stopped and the doors opened-- revealing Lexie standing in front door, "Dr. Shepherd." Lexie greeted with a nod, "Dr. Sloan."

"Lexie," Derek smiled cheekily,  "come on in."

"Oh," Lexie stammered, "uh..."

"Evil." Holly whispered to Derek.

Derek waved Holly aside as he reached out to grab the folder from Lexie's hand, "Plenty of room."

"You know," Lexie chuckled, trying to escape as she stepped forward, "actually, I was just gonna update you on the Boise Doctors' bios, but since you're both here and Holly's on the case, too," The doors closed behind her, making Holly facepalm, "I'm just gonna give it to you, and then that way, I can..." Lexie turned back around and watched the doors close, "leave."

Derek and Holly both stared at Mark, who didn't realize their eyes on him until Holly lightly tapped him. Mark shrugged, not knowing what to do before Holly and Derek both gestured for him to talk to Lexie as the doors opened. That was when Derek, Mark, and Lexie all tried to leave the elevator at the same time as Holly stood in the back.

"Oh, sorry." Derek apologized.

"Oh, no, uh," Lexie backed into the elevator and chuckled, "you guys go. I'm gonna stay."

Derek and Mark walked out of the elevator and Mark turned back to face Lexie, "Oh, hey, Lexie, about that other thing, don't think I forgot what you said. I just need to ruminate on that..."

Lexie hummed as Holly squinted at the man, "Ah."

"You know?" Mark added as the doors closed, "Run it up the old flagpole?"

The doors fulled shut and Lexie exhaled deeply as Holly shook her head, "They're idiots."

Lexie answered as if all of the air in her lungs were gone, "Yup."

✧

"Oh," Jackson spoke as he stared down at his lunch, "we can add Spaghetti Wednesday to the list of things I'm not gonna miss about this place."

"Wait, so," Holly asked softly as her eyes trained on him, "you're definitely not staying?"

"Are you kidding?" Meredith laughed, clearly not hearing Holly, "Best deal in town. I've watched Alex go through six bowls already."

Alex, who was stuffing his face with spaghetti, answered, "True that."

Meredith turned to Cristina, "Hey, I hear Stanford has a farm-to-table Chef. You can text your order right from the O.R."

"Well," Cristina shrugged, "I'll factor that in. I still haven't made my decision."

"Well," Meredith added, "it's gotta be Stanford. Where else would you go?"

"I don't know." Cristina shrugged, "I might stay. Everything's on the table."

"She like-a the spaghetti, too." Alex joked with an Italian accent, making the group laugh.  

"Tulane's got crawfish." Jackson shrugged, "I mean, that's a selling point. U.S.C.-- I mean, what-- what do they eat in L.A.?"

"Souls." Cristina replied before eating a slice of cucumber and April's phone rang-- making the group all stare at it.