Under the Night Sky

Chapter 40

"Mer?" Derek probed the handle but the bathroom door was locked. He frowned and pressed his ear against it trying to figure out what his girlfriend was doing. She locked herself inside over an hour ago and was not seen alive since.

"Meredith?" he knocked on the door. "Have you fallen asleep in there?"

"God, Der, stop with the grouch-fest. I'll make it worth your while."

He stopped pacing, his eyebrow lifted curiously. "Does it mean we're staying in...?"

"We can't stay in. it's a goodbye dinner especially for you. You can't be an ungrateful no show."

"Fine then! Let's go already. I want to be back in bed with you in no time!"

"Oh, I get it," she snickered finally walking out of the bathroom. "You want to turn in early before the journey tomorrow."

"Yeah, right, no sleep to-" he trailed off, his eyes immediately becoming glued to her. He gulped heavily, his eyes sweeping her form with hunger. Loosening his collar didn't help as his face felt hot. Also with embarrassment. He was in mid thirties and yet her posing in that flimsy dress was enough to make him hard in an instant. Maybe he was just super sensitive today, more aware of the sparse time they had left.

She was wearing a dress he hadn't seen on her yet, hugging her chest closely and falling in waves to her mid thigh. He almost lost it when she bent down to put on her shoes, her skirt hitching up giving him an enticing view of the back of her thighs.

"Seeing something you like?" she asked, twirling around. "Oh, no need to answer that," she quipped, her eyes roving the tent at the front of his slacks. She moved past him brushing her butt against his crotch suggestively making him groan.

"Careful there," she quipped. "You don't want to ruin another pair of slacks. Again."

"Very funny," he said, tight-lipped.

"I think so," she shrugged lightly ushering him downstairs.

"Look, let's just stay in, I just don't want to waste time on-"

"Stop right there!" she rounded on him, her eyes reduced to a pair of narrow slits. "Everyone wants to see off your ungrateful ass and all you've got to say is 'screw them, it's a waste of time'?"

"It... came out bad," he sighed shaking his head apologetically.

"You think?" she snorted. "You're the one talking about wasting time! Have you finished your speech you've got to present in four days?"

"No, I-"

"I call it hypocrisy."

"I'm not inspired enough!" he answered curtly as they walked out of the house. "I don't even want to be a speaker on this conference!"

"You sound like a five-year-old. Besides, I suggested some ideas, there are plenty of directions you can take from here."

"No, I can't," he answered, disgruntled. "I'm not a copycat.These are your ideas, your input. I can't use it, you could make a trial out of them-"

"You like them so much, you make a trial," she shrugged.

"Now you're raving!"

"I'm serious, Derek," she said calmly. "I will never go back to a lab, to working full time as a surgeon. I won't even think twice of what I scribbled on your article. So yeah, you can use it any way you like."

Derek shook his head and halted in frustration, passing a hand through his hair.

"Derek?" she prompted him. "Can we go now? Or is this another thing you just don't want to do?"