Stickiness and the heavy scent of tequila was the first thing Meredith recognized as she rolled out of her slumber. Her body was splayed across her bed and a can of beer that she was sure was the cause of the sticky feeling on her skin made a crunching noise when she squeezed it while yawning. Shower. She needed to rid herself of the repulsive stench that coated her nostrils, and the shower attached to her bedroom was the perfect place to do so.
Only as she stumbled into the bathroom she wasn't met with the inspection-proof area that she was used to, but a pile of clothing; men's clothing.
Just as she was about to make the unwanted visitor aware of her entering, the man that she hoped and prayed wasn't the one she brought home stepped out of her shower and reached for her towel with a devious grin on his face.
"Good-" was the only word he managed to let out before she cut him off with her stampede of questions.
"What are you doing here? Your parents? How did you get in my house?" she interrogated in one breath.
"Meredith, my parents left yesterday morning. After that we went drinking and-"
"Oh no," she shook her head repeatedly and her eyes grew wide at the thought. "Did we have sex?" she asked in a panic.
"If you would stop cutting me off you would hear me tell you that you crashed as soon as you got home," he assured her. "So no. We did not have sex."
Meredith sighed, relieved that even intoxicated she didn't slip up and end the night in bed with the ex that she was determined to stay away from.
"Not yet, anyway." Derek mumbled.
Meredith continued wiping the sleep from her eyes, only to be met with a clear visual of water droplets sliding down a chest that she hadn't seen bare in years. Before she realized her body's disobedience, her eyes were dropping lower, focusing on the towel - her towel - wrapped around his waist. She cleared her throat instantly when he snapped his finger in her face. "Not ever!" she reprimanded. "You didn't answer the question. Why are you in my bathroom?"
"I'm taking a shower. If you want I can hop back in and you could join me?" He placed his left foot in front of his right and took a step closer to her as Meredith kept her distance and walked backwards. Neither could forget the days that started with the two of them in the shower and resulted in them both being late to class.
"Why are you here?" she emphasized, raising her voice at his false oblivion. "In my house!"
"You don't remember?" Derek questioned.
"No, that would be why I asked in the first place," she answered and furrowed her brows when he opened the mirror cabinet above her sink and proceeded to go through it.
"After my parents left you let me stay over, which was a mistake and a complete waste of my time as all I did was watch you clear out your liquor cabinet," he explained. "Then, when you ran out of that you made me drive you to a bar where you spent the rest of the night until I had to drag you home before you got arrested for public intoxication."
"You're joking right?" Meredith asked him worriedly. "I'm such an idiot." She ran her fingers through her hair and paced around the steam-filled bathroom.
"That's something we can both agree on," he joked and Meredith didn't find it amusing.
"That's my towel!" she crossed her arms and brought her pacing to a halt as she stood in front of him demandingly.
"Well I'm using it," he argued and squeezed her toothpaste onto a new toothbrush that he found in her cabinet.
"I need to take a shower," she stated. "When I get out of the shower I'll need something to dry off with. You're using my towel. Do you see the problem here?" she patronized.
"Fine," he grumbled. Meredith wished she hadn't requested anything when he reached for the cotton fabric around his waist and untucked it, tossing it in her face and returning to the sink to finish brushing his teeth.
Her eyes failed her yet again and instantly traveled over his body, taking in his toned chest and making their way down the line of hair that stopped below his waist. "What is wrong with you?" Meredith got ahold of herself and turned her attention back to the side of his face.
"Me? You're the one that came in here begging to see my penis," Derek accused after spitting into the sink.
"You're out of your mind!" Meredith shouted, baffled by his false accusations. "I came in here to take a shower and here you are flaunting your junk all around as if anyone wants to see it."
"If you didn't want to see it you wouldn't have been looking as hard as you were," he replied.
"I wasn't," she shook her head unconvincingly and her teeth biting down on her bottom lip wasn't helping her case.
"It's okay Meredith. Some people move on right after the breakup, and others..."
"I'm not still-" she blurted out and managed to calm herself down before giving him the wrong impression. "It's been six years. I'm over you," she stated frankly.
"Right," he nodded and gave her a look that showed he wasn't believing her.
"You know what, here." Meredith tossed the towel at his chest, "I'll just take a shower before my date." She stormed out of the bathroom and into the kitchen to make the one thing that couldn't let her down. After a few minutes, the ding of her toaster made her light up as she reached into the fridge for a tub of cream cheese.
"You're going on another date?" Derek questioned as he made his appearance in the kitchen fully dressed with damp hair and a look of perplexion on his face.
"Seriously!" Meredith slammed her hands on the counter when he picked up the bagel that she'd been spreading with cream cheese and took an enormous bite, leaving the remnants on the corners of his mouth.
Derek ignored her reaction and continued interrogating her. "With who? It isn't Christian again is it?"
"Christopher. His name is Christopher," she corrected him. "I should be saying 'was' considering he never returned my phone calls after you sabotaged our date."
"I told you I was doing you a favor," Derek murmured with a mouth full of food.
"Chew your food before you speak! You're disgusting," she spat.
"I'm sorry, mother." Derek retorted and began smacking on her bagel with his mouth wide open.
"You're a child," she shook her head, repulsed by his actions.
"You dated me," he pointed out.
"Biggest mistake of my life," Meredith muttered. She settled on a browning banana and hopped onto the counter.
Derek let her comment slide and insisted on asking about her date until she let up. "Where are you and this not Kristoph going? he intentionally butchered his name.
"That's none of your business," Meredith shut him down. "And just in case you were thinking about pulling that little stunt you did the other day, don't bother. It's a little impossible to drive without your car keys," she teased.
"But then who would come to your rescue when the date goes terribly?"
"As long as it's not with you, I'm sure it can't be that bad."
"That's just mean," Derek gasped offendedly.
"It's the truth," she shrugged her shoulders and let her guard down as she wrecked her brain for the missing pieces of the night before. "Did I really say you could stay here?"
"You did. I should've declined. Your air conditioning sucks," he complained. "And your bagels are stale." Before she could say anything he took another bite of the bagel he stole and put the remaining bite in her mouth.
"Good thing it wasn't for you!" she yelled after chewing as Derek strolled into the guest room where he was staying for apparently about a week; if she could handle him that long.
***
Derek spent the remainder of the day giving himself a tour of her apartment. He went through her DVR and relaxed on the couch as he watched some of the movies and shows she had recorded while Meredith was out on her date. He wouldn't let her get away with stealing his keys but he had to admit, the comfort of silence in a room larger than the on-call room he'd been staying in was enjoyable.
"You know, I was hoping I'd come home and my house would be empty and everything from the past twenty-four hours would be some crazily sick dream," Meredith groaned as she lugged her way into the house and shut the door behind her.
"Date went bad? Did they make you pay?" he asked curiously. Derek looked her up and down as she tossed her bag and made her way to the couch.
"No, she was great, it's just...she started talking about kids," she explained and he scooted over enough to allow her to sit down next to him
"Mmh," Derek hummed, "can I date her?"
Meredith turned her neck to glare at him before pulling her legs up to sit crossed. "She doesn't swing your way," she turned him down. "And even if she did, I wouldn't dare do that to her."
"Do what? Give her the best orgasm of her life?"
"No, I would give her the best orgasm of her life. You? You'd worry more about yourself than getting her to finish."
"Are you kidding?" he stuck out his neck and asked her seriously. "So you're telling me all of those nights, the screaming and the panting and the legs shaking, you were faking it?" he sounded hurt. As defeated as Meredith felt, she'd never miss out on an opportunity to mess with him.
"Wouldn't you like to know," she teased. "Ugh!" Meredith turned around with her back facing him and threw her body flat against his lap. "I'm gonna be alone for the rest of my life."
"Maybe if you weren't so controlling and judgemental..." he added but the deadly stare she flashed him pressured Derek into refraining from bugging her.
"I'm serious Derek. Everyone that I went to med school with is already married with kids, or at least has a significant other that they plan on spending the rest of their life with. Meanwhile I'm still here, in my late twenties and the closest thing I have to a spouse is the scrub nurse that I prefer to work with during every operation," she huffed.
Derek's fingers ran through her loose curls and looking down at her on his lap, he noticed the light makeup she'd applied in preparation for her date. He couldn't tell her how he felt; it wasn't fair. But he also couldn't sit there and let her get down on herself without trying to do anything to help her.
"Meredith look," he sat her up and turned her around to face him, taking her hands in his as they both sat crisscross on her velvet couch. "You don't have to compare yourself to your friends from med school. Sure they have families and dogs with the perfect houses and children..."
"How is that supposed to help me?" Meredith cut him off and he shushed her.
"What I'm saying is, for some people that's what they're destined to do. But you're not one of those people. You're a great surgeon and right now the most important thing in your life is saving others, you should never be ashamed about that." Derek swept a lock of hair behind her ear and held his gaze.
"I guess you're right," she reluctantly agreed.
"I know I'm right," he nodded. "And Meredith, if you do ever decide to settle down and get married, whoever that person is...they're..." He wanted to be that person. He wanted to tell her everything and make sure she knew that he never wanted to hurt her, but had to do what was best for her. He wanted her to know that a day didn't go by where he didn't think about her, wondering how she was doing. He wanted to love her, but after everything he'd done he didn't feel he had the right. He rethunk his initial plan to make her swoon and instead put up the wall that initially tore them apart. "I just want them to know how sorry I am that they're gonna be stuck with you forever," he teased and his laughter erupted when she smacked him across the chest.
"You were gonna compliment me," she accused.
"I was not," he lied and did a horrible job at it as she saw right through him.
"Mmhm." Meredith shook her head at his stubbornness and leaned into his chest as his arm wrapped around her shoulders. Before they knew it, and before she had a chance to stop it, they fell asleep on the couch with their bodies entertained while the television was background noise to Derek's snores.