You Are In Love

Chapter 9

When Derek had asked Meredith to the 'hospital prom,' she had been surprised. It made sense for them to go together. It was another stupid mandatory event, so if they had to go, they might as well go together. But Meredith wasn't expecting a formal invite. He had asked with a grin on his face, 'will you go to prom with me?' and she said yes. So now she was trying and failing to tie the strap around her formal dress in the intern locker room where they had agreed to meet.

"Oh thank god you're here. Can you tie my dress?" She asked as Derek walked in. He nodded and walked behind her to swiftly tie together the two strings.

"I got you something." He said quietly.

"What?" Meredith turned to him with a confused look on her face.

"Um a present." He held out a long black box.

"Why?" Meredith asked,

"Oh um-" He scratched the back of his neck. "It's an early Christmas present- I thought you might like to have it now."

"Oh- okay thank you." She responded as she grabbed the box and began to open it. She smiled at the necklace. It was a light gold chain with a glass blood drop pendent. "It's kind of creepy." She grinned.

"Yea- that's sorta what I was going for. It's pretty too, right?" He asked.

"It's gorgeous. Can you help me put it on?" She asked as she turned around and handed him the box. He carefully, took the necklace and laid it around her neck, then he connected the clasp and moved her hair over it. "How does it look?" Meredith turned around and asked.

"Great." Derek responded quietly.

"Great." Meredith echoed. "Um- should we- I already pissed off Bailey last week so I really need to be at the party on time."

"Yea- of course." Derek said. The pair walked out of the locker room and went towards the main lobby where the party was taking place. "Would you like something to drink?"

"Sure, um- Chardonnay if they have one?" Meredith answered.

Derek went to the bar and ordered two glasses of the white wine. After a few minutes he returned to the rest of the party to look for Meredith. He scanned the room, then finally saw her on the dance floor. Her hands resting on a man's should and his resting on her waist, all while the light reflected on the chain around her neck.

Derek ran his fingers through his hair, unsure what to do. Or even why this bothered him. Meredith could dance with whoever she wanted to. Not that he thought this would be a problem, Meredith tended to hate everyone, and yet here he was. Holding two wine glasses, waiting for the man she was dancing with to remove his hands from her waist. After a minute or two, he finally shook his head, set the glasses down at an empty table and approached the two.

Derek politely tapped on the mans should, sucked in a breath, and asked, "May I cut in?"

The man began to furrow his brow but before he got the chance to respond, Meredith chimed in "Yes." Then almost forcefully pushed the man off of her. She looped her arms around Derek's neck and sighed, "Thank god."

"Thank god?" Derek asked, pulling her close to him as they swayed to the music.

"The douche walked up to me and started going on about being the board members son, saying that if he wanted to get anyone here fired, a simple phone call to his father later they'd be gone. Then he asked me dance. He basically threatened my job if I didn't fucking dance with him, ass." Meredith sighed, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Oh." Derek responded.

"And he smelled funky." She added.

"That had to be- unpleasant." Derek agreed. The pair continued to dance. Even after the song ended, they never pulled apart. 

After several songs had came and gone, Meredith said, "We've been dancing for a while."

"We have." Derek agreed.

"I like dancing" Meredith replied.

"I think we are good at it." Derek said.

"I agree." Meredith responded.

"More dancing, I say." Derek went on.

"We should find more times to dance." Meredith said.

"Okay." Derek said through a small smile on his face.

"Okay." Meredith echoed.