norway | mark sloan

⇥ CHAPTER 30

"Why does it matter what I think?" Marcela asked, quirking a brow at him which left him stammering as she continued, "If you are, that's cool. If you're not, that's cool, too."

"I'm not." Mark answered, frowning his brows at her.

Marcela squinted up at him, "Why did it matter if I thought you were gay?"

"It doesn't." Mark denied, raising his hands in surrender as he shrugged.

"Mhmm." Marcela hummed, nodding along as she grabbed a chart from the Nurses' Station before walking off— and subsequently rolling her eyes as she heard Mark's footsteps behind her, "What?"

"I'm worried about this Gentleman's Evening thing." Mark admitted, squinting his eyes, "And about what it entails."

"If you need help, call me or Tim." Marcela suggested with a shrug as she looked up at him, "Or just don't go if you're scared—"

"Pft." Mark scoffed, rolling his eyes as he stated, "I'm not scared."

"Then why are you here talking to me about it?" Marcela quirked a brow, watching as Mark squinted at her as he took a sip of his coffee.

Mark shook his head as he turned, "I'm leaving you now."

"Mm." Marcela chuckled as Mark walked away, "Goodbye!"

✶

"I thought you'd be in a battle for the death or something." Marcela revealed, pursing her lips as she, along with Alex, Meredith, and Cristina, watched George hold onto a dress while a proctor and the fiancés of the two wives fighting over a wedding spectated nearby.

"I know." Meredith agreed, shaking her head, "I thought it was gonna be more exciting, too."

Exhaling softly as Cristina continued the conversation, Marcela walked over to Mark, who was finishing up sutures for his patient, "I have a patient who's in love with his trainer— and after admitting his love for her, she just left."

"Really?" Mark chuckled, multitasking in concentrating on his sutures while also paying attention to the resident.

"Mhmm." Marcela hummed, "He had this whole I-almost-died epiphany and just blurted it out— which, you know, would be okay if she actually said it back to him, but she didn't." Marcela cringed as she continued rambling, "This is why you should hint at loving someone before full on admitting it— it brings on an expectation and you can kind of see the other person's reaction."

"Mm." Mark hummed back before quirking a brow as he finished the sutures, "Did you have a near-death epiphany when you flatlined and scared us all half to death?"

"Hm..." Marcela squinted as she thought back— and upon realizing her epiphany was her liking the attending in front of her, she briefly widened her eyes a fraction of an inch before shaking her head, "Nope— but I did see my Mom and my sister."

"Oh, really?" Mark blinked, intrigued at the after-life talk, "What'd they say?"

Marcela paled as she remembered her sister's teasing words, "Uh..."

Cristina, removing a CD from her pocket with a smirk, glanced at her friends as she stated, "Skydiver video."

With all of their eyes wide, the residents grinned as they began to follow her— leaving George and Marcela as the former switched their position with a fiancé while the latter shrugged at Mark, "Gotta go."

✶

"Did you start the video?" Marcela asked, rushing into the room with George behind her with popcorn in his arms.