Anti-Romantics

Pockets full of Posies

It was their sixth therapy session, well Meredith's fourth. She spotted Derek outside the door kissing his wife goodbye. She wondered how she explained this to her, whatever he wasn't her problem anymore. She jotted surgical notes in her notebook, trying to still hold onto to the high from her day that she knew would still come down. He walked into the room and sat next to her unwilling to give up on her just yet. She scooted slightly away in a childlike manner. To which he responded by scooting only closer to her. She hissed. "Do you mind?" She was now at the edge of her chair. 

"No, not really." He pushed her off the chair gaining stares from strangers.  Meredith, who was wearing a skirt got up abruptly. She sat down in her seat shoving her high heeled shoe into his foot. "Ow!" 

Stubborn versus stubborn, let the biggest idiot win!

"Say uncle." She dug her heel deeper into his shoe. 

"I am not saying.. stop it!" 

She spit in his face now gaining the attention of the room. Now he was embarrassed, wet, and wounded. "Say it!"

"Uncle! Uncle!" 

Meredith had a shit eating grin on her face. Derek was still determined not to let go of the subject. He'd save the antics for when they weren't in front of audience in case she pulled anything funny. She went back to writing in her notebook before he took her pencil and broke it in half immediately failing his mission. "Hey!"

"You started it." He spoke like a naive child. 

"No, you did!" 

"Nuh uh." 

"Yeah huh." She pushed him.

"Did not!" He stood up.

"Did too!" She stood pushing out her chest.

The therapist awkwardly walked into the room. "Grey, Shepherd." The two frantically fixed how they looked to match how highly sophisticated they obviously were. Meredith shoved her elbow into his side before he pushed her back forgetting how slender she was causing her to fall. "Hmph." She wiped herself off before getting up.

"Real mature Doctor Shepherd."  They walked into the room. Meredith shook her hand before sitting on opposite sides of the couch. 

"Nice to see you two especially you Meredith." 

"You too." She avoided eye contact trying to forget the drunken contact she had made with her, which led her to think about the drunken contact she made with Josh which led her to think about her drunken contact with Derek. God she needed to stop drinking.

"Anything specific you two would like to speak about?" 

"Yes." "Not really."

"What came to mind Derek?" 

"She's been hiding something from me and I can tell it bothers her. I keep trying to talk to her about it but, she avoids me. She changed to night shifts so she could avoid me, she stays at her friend Cristina's most days she's off." Yep her high was now gone.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No." She cut her off.

"Why not?"

"Because, it's none of his business."

"But it became his business when you came home inebriated and crying." She explained. "He told me about this last session."

"I don't owe him anything!"

"Don't you? He's your husband. The only way to make a marriage work is honesty." 

"We can talk about anything else, I'm flexible." Now Derek was thinking of Meredith's flexibility, and his mind went to some not so squeaky clean places. Wait, he needed to stay on track.

"While I'm sure you are, I believe you two need to get past this." 

"I'm like really flexible.  We could talk about my wrong doings, come on I got a lot of them." She egged her on

"One of your wrong doings is avoiding something serious."

Meredith gave Derek a nasty look. "Fine." She took a deep breath preparing to explain but what she did shocked everyone. "You know what, I quit." She stood up walking out the room, Derek always being quick to follow. He held onto her arm trying to stop her from proceeding. "Let go of me!"

"Meredith!" Refusing to let go she backhanded slapped him. 

He still followed her out to the parking lot. "Mind your own damn business, I am. You think I want to be at home while I watch you kiss your wife among other things. Do you think I like that I can't tell you what happened? I don't need to be bombarded! You keep looking at me like I'm fragile. You think I'm ever going to want to come to you when you look at me like that?"

"Meredith, you are killing yourself keeping this to yourself. I see it in your eyes."

"Described like a true poet, now I want to kill myself." She got in her jeep. "By the way Josh wants to meet with you tonight, he won't tell me why." She drove away leaving him in the parking lot. He walked back in and saw Shannon. "She doesn't quit, I won't let her."

Meredith called Cristina on the way home explaining to her what just happened. When she arrived at the door she saw two tequila bottles in her hand. "I am done drinking."

"When pigs fly." Her best friend rolled her eyes pouring a glass. She passed it to her which made Meredith immediately went back on her previous statement. "Man those pigs were really looking forward to their wings."

"Derek just keeps looking at me like I'm some beaten puppy. I had one bad night. He just wants me to explain to him what happened and I am not ready, I don't know if I will ever be."

"Why not tell him? He cleaned your smelly vomit out of your clothes."

"It's embarrassing and he's overprotective. He'd beat Josh to a pulp."

"Over a bad blow job?"

"No, it wasn't just that. He basically told me that all I am good for is my body and that any man who disagreed was a liar. I was completely objectified."

"Why stay with him?"

"He loves me, he's easy."

"He's easy?"

"My mom wanted me to get married. I don't know how long she has left and this is the least I can do. He's a gentleman and he's romantic. Except maybe I don't want easy maybe I want complicated. And Derek, he's all sorts of complicated. I don't know."

"Don't just get married for your mom and you better decide soon before one of them gets too attached to who they're with." Only Cristina knew the impending doom. Josh was out ring shopping with Derek.

Josh shook Derek's angry hand. "Look man I know we got off on the wrong foot but she seems very fond of you so can you at least try to like me?"

"Fine." He responded as the two walked into the jewelry shop. Now he had to make a moral decision, fuck this up on purpose and hope she says no or be a good friend and give her a nice ring. Eh, she never really was a ring girl. He was a mastermind.

"Do you think she'd like gold or silver, most of her jewelry is silver but maybe it's because she can't afford gold?" He pondered.

"Maybe." He trailed off. "How are you going to propose?"

"Thinking flashmob or some big gesture. All girls dig that right?"

"Right. You need to get her a big rock, not diamond though. She isn't traditional. Maybe ruby or emerald."

"Really?"

"Yeah, she hates diamonds. Why do you think she doesn't wear earrings?" He sold the act.

At the end of the night they had curated the most nasty looking ring and all he could do was smile. This was his girl and he was going down swinging. He vowed that she would never come home from anyones house that upset again and the number one way to do that? Simple. Get. Him. Out. The. Picture.