xviii.

                                    

                                          
- - -
there comes a point in your life when you're officially an adult. suddenly, you're old enough to vote, drink, and engage in other adult activities. 
- - -
                          
pushing open the door to joe's, chloe scans her eyes around the relatively crowded bar in search of someone familiar. the first person she notices is derek who's sat across from sydney heron on what appears to be a date. 
                          
deciding that she didn't want to intervene, she moves her eyes onto mark stood against the bar, drinking alone, whilst watching derek and sydney with incredulity. 
                          
finally, the blonde's eyes land on meredith and cristina, sat at a table, picking at empty peanut shells and watching derek and sydney's 'date'. after realising that she's been lingering by the entrance a little too long, chloe decides to go with option 3- meredith and cristina. 
                          
"hey," chloe smiles as she shrugs her coat off and takes a seat on the empty stool in between them. the girls force smiles and murmur a greeting, but they keep their focus on derek and sydney. 
                          
"i think they're on a date," meredith narrows her eyes at the unexpected couple, before finally tearing her eyes away and turning her head to chloe. "that's definitely a date, right?"
                          
"maybe she's dying," chloe shrugs as the three girls watch sydney lift her pager from the table, then proceeding to stand up and step away. 
                          
"is she dying?" mark cocks a brow as he slides down onto sydney's empty chair in front of derek. "is that why?"
                          
"oh, come on. grow up. she's nice. she asked me out," derek shrugs. 
                          
"want me to fake a heart attack?" mark offers. "i do a great fake heart attack."
                          
"here she comes," derek warns when he looks up to see sydney returning to their table. 
                          
"carry on," mark nods, standing from the chair and heading back over to the bar. 
                          
on his way, his eyes fall on chloe, who is now resting her head on her hands, leaning her elbows on the table. he sends a smirk in her direction, but she fails to return any sort of flirtatious gesture. 
                          
"it's sydney," cristina attempts to reassure meredith with a light shrug of her shoulders. 
                          
"in the movies, when the handsome but sensitive football player kisses the awkward, freaky girl in front of the whole school- that girl is her," meredith sighs, cracking open another peanut shell. 
                          
"you are very awkward and freaky," chloe teases as meredith and cristina's eyes flicker back to where derek and sydney are laughing, loudly, but chloe's eyes drift across the bar to mark. 
                          
- - -
suddenly, people expect you to be responsible, serious... a grown up. we get taller, we get older. but do we ever really grow up?
- - -
                          
erica is erasing and updating information on the o.r board when mark approaches with a coffee in hand, and a furrowed brow. 
                          
"hey, i'm taking meredith grey from you this week," erica informs him. "her mother was a good surgeon, and i want to see what she's like."
                          
"well, that's not how it works here," mark shakes his head. "you get assigned a resident. there's a schedule."
                          
"well, the schedule doesn't take into account certain things," erica scoffs.