Say when

35

"I don't know Mer." Derek grumbled as he searched for a shirt to wear... "Shouldn't we be focusing on other things than getting to know people we'll end up being enemies with later on?"

"What?" she called out from the bathroom as she got ready for the BBQ "Why would you think that we would become enemies with Mark and Addison?"

"Isn't that what neighbors usually become?"

He asked finally settling on a dark red t-shirt that went good with his dark jeans... she turned and stood in the doorway frowning at him as she placed her hand on her hip, he felt his eyes darken as they scanned her body wearing a short black dress with cap sleeves that stopped at her knees and hugged her tiny body perfectly, finishing it off simply, yet beautifully as Meredith always did with flip flops and her hair up in a soft pony tail..

"No its not." Meredith frowned...

"How do you know, you've never even had neighbors.. at least not ones that lived long." He smirked.. she widened her eyes and tossed the brush in her hand at him.. he chuckled as he ducked...

"I don't." she stated firmly "But I'm determined to be optimistic.. and what, oh wise one.. are these other things should we be focusing on?"

He grinned at her and flashed her a look as he reached out and grabbed her.. she gasped as he flung her around onto the bed and landed on top of her...

"I could think of one right now." He whispered against her lips... she gasped as she started to give in and let out a moan "Oh wise one... I like it."

"Ha." She retorted as she pushed him off of her and sat up "if we don't hurry we'll be changing it to 'Oh late one'... lets go."

Derek let out a frustrated sigh as he stood up and followed her out of the apartment.. he was never a one track minded guy, never thought of women in dirty ways... until he met her that is. How he was going to get through an evening with her wearing that and not make enemies...

Mark and Addison were very welcoming and warm to the new couple of the building.. Derek took quite well to Mark and they bonded instantly as brothers as Mark took Derek out to the balcony to grill the steaks.. Meredith on the other hand, was trying her best to accept Addison's sweet persona but couldn't help but feel a tad intimidated by the high class woman...

"Your apartment is beautiful Addison."

Meredith gasped for what she was sure the hundredth time.. it was identical to the one they were in but all the designer furniture and professional artwork made it seem like a high class apartment in the middle of Paris...

"Thank you Meredith." She smiled "I know you said you were fine earlier but would you like a glass of wine now?"

"Oh." Meredith replied thinking that about now alcohol would be the best thing for her "Yeah, I mean yes.. that would be nice.. lovely.. Addison."

Addison smiled sensing her nervousness and walked into the kitchen.. Meredith looked around at the pictures on the wall when one caught her eye... it was a picture of the two of them..

Mark dressed in a lavish suit with a top hat on, Addison wearing a white lace and satin dress that Meredith thought for sure the yards and yards of fabric alone cost a fortune... they were standing on a grassy knoll over looking a large lake at dusk with fireworks going off above them.. Meredith felt herself gasp at the breathtaking site...

"Was this your wedding?" she asked... Addison came walking out of the kitchen with two glasses of wine and handed one to her...

"Yes." She smiled happily "I cant believe its been nearly 3 years."

"You look beautiful." Meredith said in astonishment "I never thought weddings were all they were cracked up to be... but it looked like it was quite the event of the century."

"Unfortunately." Addison giggled "I come from a wealthy family.. may father owns about 30 businesses world wide and having a lot of inheritance its quite hard to bring a boy home that daddy approved of.. but Mark took him by surprise.. he made it clear to my father that he didn't want anything to do with his money that he wanted to make his own money and take care of me himself... so my father's last expense on me was literally the wedding of the year."

"Wow." Meredith whispered shaking her head "I cant imagine ever having something like that."

"Well you're right about one thing." Addison smiled "Weddings aren't all they're cracked up to be."

"Oh." Meredith blushed... Addison smiled at her softly as she glanced out the window at Mark...

"All the things that we had that day, all the gold plating, and the thousand dollar favors, and the satin and the lace, and the fireworks... they didn't mean anything... the only thing you care about really is being married to the man you love most..."

"Yeah." Meredith smiled wondering if her and Derek would ever end up like them "I can see how it would be."

"Besides." Addison giggled "It's the wedding night where the real fireworks happen."

Meredith burst into giggles along side of Addison... she really liked Addison, she was sweet and very warm and seemed to really want to get to know Meredith.. which was the problem, Meredith wasn't sure she would want her to get to know her... mainly what she was in the recent past... she wasn't sure she was good enough to be Addison's friend.

Lucky for her the topic of the dinner conversation wasn't how did you two meet.. the word stripper or club wasn't mentioned however she did seem to be holding her breath quite a bit... they stayed until late evening talking and laughing with their new neighbors and Derek seemed to be having quite a good time with Mark as they joked back and forth causing an eye roll between Addison and Meredith a few times..

It was nearly 10 by the time they walked out of the apartment and took a few steps over and into their own door... Derek let out a satisfied sigh thinking that the evening couldn't have gone better... smiling at the plans he'd made with Mark for later that week to hang out.... Meredith stood there as the night soaked in and her uncertainties twisted in her gut..

"We cant be friends with them." She blurted out... he furrowed his brow as he looked over at her...

"What?" he asked...

"Mark and Addison... we cant... we cant be friends with them."

"And why not?" he asked "After all you did to talk me into tonight why are you changing your mind now?"

"Because....they're... they're good people... and so are you... but I... I'm not good enough to be friends with people like them... if they knew about me.. they'd hate me."

"Meredith." He shook his head and chuckled, "Everyone has a past love, so what if yours includes stripping and other things... its not like you're still doing them."

She let out a sigh realizing she'd been overreacting and chewed on her lip slightly before giving him a raised eyebrow...

"Not in public anyways." She smirked... his eyes instantly darkened at the thought of what she said... "But I mean I can just stop that too."

"Right." He said in a husky voice as he walked towards her.. "So I've been the 'oh wise one' all evening and keeping my hands to myself despite the fact that you're wearing a dress that is screaming at me to pluck it off... so I'm changing my name to... 'oh bossy one'."

"Oh bossy one?" she gulped as he stopped in front of her... she could feel the heat of his hot breath beating down on her cheeks flushing them...

"You... bedroom... NOW!"

She gasped as she felt his hand smack firmly against her backside as the excitement of his taking charge caused her to feel rather wet. She recovered her breath and quickly turned on her heels as she skipped to the bedroom on command with him hot on her heels ready to crack his whip...