Everyone Has Secrets

Chapter 2

She arrived at the hospital early that morning, ready for the presentation she was due to give to her mother's residents in less than an hour. She stopped by the coffee cart and ordered both her and Cristina's regular coffee order before going to seek her out, knowing she would have just gotten out of her early morning surgery..

As she walked through the halls of the hospital, she found her mind wandering back to the stranger she'd met on her walk the previous day. She even found herself biting her lip involuntarily as she thought about the kiss they'd shared. They way he had stood so confident in front of her. Surely, most would find it creepy the way he kissed her, a complete stranger, in the middle of the woods on a Sunday afternoon. She found it... intriguing.

"Do you want to get your head out of the clouds long enough to give me the caffeine?"

The sound of Cristina's voice snapped her out of her daydream and she felt the slight blush on her cheeks as she realised she'd been caught out, and would definitely have to explain herself.

"Oh, here," she said, passing over the coffee cup, taking a sip of her own drink.

"Where's your mind this morning? It can't be that Ryan guy, can it? Because I'm telling you this as your best friend, he's about as interesting as a plank of wood," Cristina said, not holding back as usual with her bluntness, especially before getting a chance for the caffeine to set in.

"Ryan? I ended that like, a week ago," Meredith said with a slight frown, "I swore I told you that."

"I got the memo, I was just making sure you hadn't started regretting ending it," Cristina said, leaning back against the nurses' station, "but then that begs the question, who has got Meredith Grey's head in the clouds?"

"I wish I could tell you, but I don't even know his name," Meredith admitted, her arm leaning against the same work station beside Cristina.

"Admiring from afar? Okay, we can work with that," Cristina said with a nod.

"Not that either, not exactly," Meredith murmured, to which Cristina raised her eyebrows again, wanting further explanation, "Well, I went on my walk yesterday and there was this guy and he was doing the whole, I know I look good, and he did look good and then he kissed me and I kissed him back, and I didn't ask his name because I may have freaked a little and left."

"Oh, so now you're off kissing a stranger in the woods, who could very well be an axe murderer or major creepy stalker, and you didn't even get his name? Is this something that Europeans do?" Cristina asked, seemingly impressed with the little drama that seemed to be happening in her best friend's life, yet slightly concerned at Meredith's out of character behaviour..

"No! I mean, I don't think so," Meredith said with a frown, "anyway, he said he walks around there sometimes, so maybe I'll see him again, next Sunday."

"Sometimes you romanticise things far too much," Cristina said with a shake of her head.

"Don't swear at me with words like romance," Meredith said with a grimace, nudging her fiend in the shoulder.

"You're the one being all mushy and getting lost in your own thoughts," Cristina said with a laugh.

"Maybe I have to run away to Europe again," Meredith teased with a shrug before she started walking away in the direction of her mother's office.

"Don't you dare, Grey!" Cristina called after her down the hallway, laughing.

Meredith glanced back at her with a grin, letting her know she was joking before finishing off the coffee, dumping the empty cup in the bin. She let herself into her mother's office, dropping her bag on the sofa before taking off her coat. She must already have gone to the auditorium, or have been pulled in on an emergent surgery, which wouldn't surprise Meredith too much.