Love The Way You Lie

2: BEYOND NICE

It was the best decision you have ever made until now.

Naomi is your best friend.

She is your rock through all of this...

When you meet Derek he's already living in a house called 'The Brownstone' overlooking Central Park. You thought you were rich but maybe Derek's even richer? You don't really ask. Maybe he's not even richer; he just spends his money on really nice houses.

You meet him somewhere at school while you are studying because it's your first week of medical school and you don't want to get behind.

He was with another man you'll probably know later but you don't at the time.

He shakes your hand, and you shake his.

Derek is charming. He's very charismatic. He's insanely good-looking.

His hair is dreamy and his eyes are even dreamier. His smile makes him seem like the sun.

He asks you out right then and there on a date.

You say 'yes' right away.

You never look back.

Your first date with Derek you went out to a fancy restaurant and he paid for everything.

You could afford it, too, but you don't, because you like being treated like you are a girl.

He pulls out your chair for you, he hangs up your coat. He orders a single-malt scotch (it's his favorite, he tells you this, and you never forget it.)

You're not exclusive yet, because that would be insane.

But you still turn down Sam Bennett anyway on the first day of classes because Naomi Bennett likes him and she is your best friend.

So Sam dates Naomi and you date Derek Shepherd.

You go on a few double-dates with them.

It's actually really nice.

It was, in the beginning, it was beyond nice. It was phenomenal.

The four of you become five of you when Derek introduces you all to his childhood best friend, Mark Sloan.

Mark is almost like the anti-Derek.

You almost don't understand how they are friends.

Derek is gentle compared to Mark, you think, think again.

Derek would never hurt you, compared to Mark, you think, think again.

Derek would never hurt you the way you would later hurt him, you think... Think again...

Derek adores ferry-boats so you spend an entire day riding them.

He says he wants to wear a ferry-boat scrub cap when he becomes a surgeon.

You ask him if he already knows what kind he wants to be.

He says "neuro," without an ounce of self-doubt.

You wish you could be that confident and assertive.

Derek always raises his hand in class and he usually gets the answer right. So do you, you get the answer right. But you write it down in your notebook instead.

You and Naomi study together a lot, and sometimes Sam and Derek and Mark join you, too.

You like it. Five seems like a good number for a friend group, you think.