Shooting Stars

Chapter 80

"So, who's got interviews lined up?" Meredith asked, stabbing at her salad as she glanced around the group.

Cristina barely looked up from her soup. "Mayo. Hopkins. Basically, places that aren't here."

Meredith rolled her eyes before turning to Aria. "What about you?"

Aria, distracted by a file in front of her, answered without much thought. "Seattle, Boston, Texas, Philly, Stanford."

Alex, who had been quietly eating beside her, suddenly stopped. His fork hovered mid-air as he processed her words.

Boston? Stanford?

His stomach twisted slightly. He hadn't known she was considering places that far.

Aria, sensing his stare, glanced up. "What?"

Alex scoffed, shaking his head slightly. "Nothing, just... didn't know you were looking at places like that."

Aria shrugged. "I want the best training I can get. It doesn't hurt to keep my options open."

Alex leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. "Yeah, sure. Makes sense."

Except it didn't make sense—not to him.

He'd known, obviously, that she was applying for fellowships. They all were. But he'd been so caught up in the idea of getting in somewhere himself that he hadn't actually thought about where she might end up.

And now, for the first time, he was realizing that "next year" might not include them being in the same place.

Aria frowned at his tone. "You are looking at other hospitals too, right?"

Alex hesitated. "I've been looking," he admitted. "Haven't heard anything yet."

Aria nodded, expecting that. Alex was one of the best residents in their class, but he had a reputation—one that sometimes worked against him. She knew he'd get offers, but they weren't pouring in just yet.

Still, that wasn't what was bothering him.

"I just figured..." Alex started, then exhaled sharply, shaking his head. "I don't know. I didn't think we'd be looking at different places."

And there it was.

Neither of them had said it out loud yet, but it was suddenly so obvious. They'd both been focused on their own careers, on getting the best training, that they hadn't once stopped to think about what happened if those fellowships took them to opposite sides of the country.

Aria's stomach twisted.

She hadn't thought about it either.

Cristina, oblivious to the growing tension, scoffed. "Oh please, long-distance isn't the end of the world. You fly, you visit, you sext—"

Alex shot her a glare, but Aria barely heard her.

Because for the first time, she and Alex were both realizing—this wasn't just about fellowships anymore.

This was about them.

And they had no idea what happened next.

Aria sat across from Meredith in their shared living room, her laptop open beside her, a half-empty coffee mug balanced on her knee. She was still coming down from the adrenaline of her Boston interview earlier that day, and while she should have been exhausted, her brain wouldn't slow down.

"It went well?" Meredith asked, watching her sister closely.

Aria nodded, fingers tracing the rim of her mug. "Yeah. Better than I expected, honestly."