Running in Circles - Lexie Grey x OC

Now Our Memories They're Haunted

Wednesday Evening
Dexter Avenue — Eric and Lexie's Townhouse

The television murmured softly from the living room.

Traffic drifted past outside.

The dishwasher hummed somewhere in the kitchen.

Across the room, the faint rustle of journal pages turning mixed with the occasional tap of a highlighter against paper.

Normal, ordinary sounds.

The kind that usually made the townhouse feel like home.

Tonight they only made Lexie feel trapped.

She sat curled into the corner of the sofa with her legs tucked beneath her. An oversized T-shirt hung loosely from her frame. Her hair was still damp from the shower she'd taken nearly half an hour earlier. She hadn't bothered drying it.

Hadn't bothered doing much of anything.

The television flickered across the room, little more than background noise.

She had no idea what was on.

Her eyes stayed fixed on the screen without seeing it.

Her mind was somewhere else.

Back at Bellamy Bridal.

Back at the mirror.

Back at the dress.

A garden.

Spring.

White flowers.

Green and purple.

Eric waiting for her at the end of the aisle. Smiling.

Lexie closed her eyes.

The memory made her stomach twist.

God, she wanted it.

And every time she remembered the way he'd looked at her that afternoon—how he'd jokingly said I do while somehow meaning every word—the guilt crashed back twice as hard.

You don't deserve any of it.

The thought arrived before she could stop it.

You should've told him.

Days ago.

Weeks ago.

Before every smile started feeling like a lie.

Lexie turned her face away and blinked rapidly. The tears came anyway. She wiped one away, then another. The effort was pointless.

Across the room, Eric looked up from the journal article he'd been pretending to read. He'd stopped reading several minutes ago.

Lexie sat exactly where she'd been for most of the evening. Curled into the corner of the sofa. Hair still damp. Lost somewhere he couldn't reach.

It had been happening for weeks.

Ever since Arizona and Callie had gone home.

Every conversation felt unfinished.

Every smile looked forced.

Every time she seemed on the verge of saying something, she stopped herself.

At first he'd blamed exhaustion.

Recovery.

Work.

Everything they'd been carrying lately.

But the days kept passing.

Nothing changed.

Tonight she wasn't even trying to hide it.