Running in Circles - Lexie Grey x OC

I Had All and Then Most of You

PAST — Late Night
Gracie's Diner — New York

The bell above the door gave a dull chime as Amelia stepped inside.

The diner smelled of burnt coffee, fryer oil, and something sweet baking somewhere behind the counter. Most of the booths were empty, their cracked vinyl seats shining beneath the low fluorescent lights. Two cabdrivers sat hunched over coffee at the counter while an exhausted waitress wiped down tables without any real urgency.

Amelia spotted Eric immediately.

He sat alone in the corner booth, still wearing the same blue shirt he had worn to dinner, though the sleeves were now pushed to his forearms and the collar sat slightly open. The neatness he had carried into the Shepherd house had been worn down by several hours at the hospital. A closed patient chart rested beside his elbow, and a cup of coffee sat cooling between his hands.

He looked up as she approached.

That same infuriatingly calm expression greeted her, softened only by the faint smile that appeared when he saw her.

"You made it."

"I almost didn't."

"I gathered that from the threatening message."

"It wasn't threatening."

Eric reached for his phone beside the chart and glanced at the screen.

"You wrote, 'Gracie's. Now. Don't make me come back to the hospital and drag you out by your unnecessarily expensive tie.'"

Amelia slid into the booth across from him. "That was informative."

"You also used three exclamation marks."

"I was emphasizing."

"You don't usually emphasize quietly."

She shrugged off her coat and dropped it beside her.

Eric studied her for a moment. "How bad was it after I left?"

"Oh, you know. Normal Shepherd dinner." Amelia reached for the sugar dispenser, turning it absently between her hands. "Kathleen psychoanalyzed everyone without admitting she was doing it, and my mother pretended none of us were exhausting."

"That sounds rather pleasant."

"You were there. You know it wasn't."

"I enjoyed myself."

"Of course you did. They liked you."

Eric frowned. "Was that not the objective?"

"No. The objective was for you to be awkward and uncomfortable so I could enjoy watching you suffer."

"I'm sorry to have disappointed you."

"You should be."

The waitress approached, coffee pot in hand.

"Coffee?"

"Yes," Amelia said.

"No," Eric said at the same time.

Amelia looked at him.

Eric looked at the waitress. "Decaf."

"I don't want decaf."

"You have an early shift."

"I'm a surgeon. Coffee is the shift."

The waitress glanced between them.

Eric sighed. "Regular coffee."

"Thank you."

The waitress filled the mug and walked away.