"So you honestly thought you could make it big on the rock and roll scene?" Meredith giggled as she cradled a cup of coffee in her hands.
"Yeah," Derek laughed. "I'll never forget the look on my parents' face when I told them I wasn't going to go to college and instead wanted to go on tour with Mark."
"Who's Mark?" she asked.
"The drummer in our band."
"Who else was in the band?" Meredith giggled.
"Well....we were still working on it."
"It was just the two of you?" she asked.
"I wasn't exactly the most popular kid in school," Derek shrugged. "I was trying to make a name for myself. We could have been like the Clash."
Meredith nearly choked on her coffee. "You though you could be like the Clash?" she asked.
Derek shrugged. "I just think it's a good thing that my dad convinced me to go to college," he said.
"And now you're in med school," Meredith nodded.
Derek raised his eyebrows. "And how might you know that?" he asked.
"Meg may have mentioned something," Meredith said coyly as she sipped her coffee.
"Ahhh," Derek nodded, sipping his own coffee. "Miss Grey, I do believe that you've been prying my niece for information about me."
"I have not," Meredith rolled her eyes. "She's quite the talker. And I'm beginning to think she gets it from the Shepherd side of the family."
Derek smiled softly. "She's a good kid," he nodded.
"She is," Meredith nodded.
"So," Derek said, pushing his empty coffee cup aside and leaning towards her, his eyes boring into hers. "Have you wanted to leave yet?"
Meredith smiled as she set her own cup down. "Not once," she said. "I think I'm getting to know the real Derek Shepherd."
"Hmmm," Derek nodded. "And do you like this so called real Derek Shepherd?" he asked.
"Well, that depends," Meredith shrugged.
"On?"
"On whether he's going to take me out on a real date or not."
Derek raised his eyebrows, not having expected her to be so forward. Apparently there was more to Meredith Grey than he'd originally thought. "Well," he said, the image of his girlfriend flashing through his mind. He had to end it with her before he really started things with Meredith. "How about next Friday?"
"Next Friday," Meredith nodded. "What did you have in mind?"
"Dinner," Derek said softly, leaning into her. "Drinks. Maybe something else, depending on what you're comfortable with."
"Hmmm," Meredith smiled, leaning behind her to pull a piece of paper out of her bag. She scribbled on it for a moment before handing it to him. "Call me," she said. "If I'm interested, maybe I'll say yes."
Derek watched in shock as she stood and slung her bag over her shoulder, smiling coyly at him over her shoulder as she walked out of the coffee shop. That had been completely perfect, the entire afternoon had been amazing, and he couldn't wait to take her out on Friday. He hated that he had to wait so long, but he knew he had to end things with Rose. He quickly swallowed the last of his coffee before he stood, grabbing his jacket off the back of his chair as he moved towards the door, knowing what he had to do.
XXXXX
Meredith sighed as she closed the door to her house, leaning against it and closing her eyes as she relived the entire afternoon in her head. It had been completely amazing, and she was sure that she hadn't ever had such a good time just drinking coffee with another person. Derek had been completely amazing, and she briefly wondered if it was pathetic that she was already hoping that the phone would ring.
"Mer?" Izzie called, coming out from the kitchen. "Where were you?"
Meredith smiled as she pushed herself off the door and slid her coat over her shoulders. "I was drinking coffee," she said."
"You were drinking coffee?" Izzie frowned.
"With Derek," Meredith giggled as she walked into the kitchen.
"With McDreamy?" Izzie asked, following her into the kitchen.
"What about McDreamy?" Lexie asked as she looked up from her textbook as she sat at the kitchen table.
"Mer just went on a date with him," Izzie exclaimed.
"It wasn't a date date," Meredith sighed as she grabbed a water bottle from the fridge. "It was a coffee date."
"A coffee date is a real date," Lexie nodded, slamming her book closed. "Tell us about it, Mer."
"Well, he came to help with the picnic," Meredith said. "And the entire thing was a complete disaster, everything that could possibly have went wrong did. And he went out and bought everything that was missing. And then he brought his guitar because the speakers were broken, and he just played for them. And he really seemed to enjoy it. And after that he asked me if I wanted to go out for coffee, and somehow we ended up spending three and a half hours talking in the coffee shop."
"Is he amazing?" Izzie asked.
"When are you going to see him again?" Lexie questioned.
"Did he kiss you?"
"Oh, I bet he's a good kisser. Is he a good kisser?"
Meredith rolled her eyes. "You know you're both crazy," she said. "And I didn't kiss him. I gave him my number. We'll see if he calls."
Izzie sighed as she flopped back in her chair. "I was hoping that for once you'd have some juicy details for us," she said.
Meredith laughed as she stood and moved towards the door. "Maybe you should get your own love life," she said, over her shoulder. "And I have no obligations to give you any details about mine."
Lexie sighed as she flipped her textbook open again. "She's so lucky," she sighed. "I can't believe she's not going to give us any details about her date with McDreamy. So not fair."
Izzie shrugged as she moved towards her abandoned bowl of brownie batter. "She'll spill eventually," she shrugged. "I just can't believe Meredith is actually falling for someone."
XXXXX
Derek sighed as he stopped outside Rose's house, glancing at it for a moment as he thought about what he was about to do. He knew he had to do it, he absolutely needed to do it so he could have a chance with Meredith. But as much as he knew he had to do this for himself, he hated that he had to hurt Rose. She wasn't a bad person, and he knew that she was a lot more invested in the relationship than he was. Hopefully she would be able to understand why he had to end it, and there wouldn't be any screaming or crying.
"Derek?" Rose asked from behind him. "Hey, I thought you were eating dinner with your family tonight."
"I am," Derek nodded. "I just...I need to talk to you."
"Sure," Rose said, leaning in to kiss his cheek. "Everything okay?"
"Can we just...go inside?" he asked.
"Okay," Rose frowned, moving around him to unlock the door and stepping inside, Derek close behind her. They moved to the living room and she sat down on the couch, watching as Derek paced the room for a moment before finally settling beside her on the couch. "Derek, what's going on?" she asked, reaching out to take his hand.
"Look, this is hard," Derek said softly. "But I don't think us being together is for the best anymore."
Rose sighed as she pulled her hand away from his, leaning into the back of the couch. "I know," she said softly.
"You...what?" Derek frowned. That had not been the reaction he'd been expecting.
"You've been acting weird for a couple weeks now," Rose said. "And honestly, Derek, I remember when we started dating. You told me it was fun, casual. And as much as I hoped that you would have changed your mind, I should have known better."
"So you're not mad?" Derek asked softly.
"Disappointed," Rose said softly. "But I get it."
"I'm sorry," Derek whispered, for lack of anything else to say.
"It's okay," Rose nodded, leaning forward to press her lips against his softly, a quick good bye kiss. "We were always better as friends anyways."
Derek smiled as he squeezed her hand tightly. "Thanks for understanding," he said softly. "I um...I guess I'll just go. And see you around later."
"Bye Derek," Rose said softly and he smiled sadly as he stepped outside, suddenly feeling a little more free.
He now knew that he could date Meredith with a free conscience, without any reservations. And now that he knew she was attracted to him as well, he couldn't help but feel giddy at the thought of going on a date with her.
XXXXX
"Alright, so the last thing you're going to draw in your picture of your favorite season is a plant from that season," Meredith explained to her class as she pointed towards the poster next to the blackboard. "Remember when we made the chart of plants that belong to each season? You can look at that poster to make sure you have the right plant. Now I believe that Rachel is my paper passer this week, so why don't you hand out a piece of white paper to everyone. And remember everyone, this is a combination of art and science, so make sure I call tell what season you draw based on the comparison chart we did of each season yesterday, okay?"
She smiled as she watched her students pull their crayon boxes out of their desks and begin coloring eagerly. She didn't mind as they started talking as they drew, knowing that it was important for them to have social interactions in school. She made her way around the desks in the classroom, watching as each of her students created their own masterpiece of the representation of their favorite season.
"My favorite flower is a rose," Angela reported as she colored a bright red rose in. "Like in Beauty and the Beast. And Sleeping Beauty."
"I used to like roses," Meg nodded. "But my Uncle Derek's stupid girlfriend is named Rose. So now I don't like them anymore, cause she's crazy."
Meredith froze behind Meg's desk, wondering if she had heard right. Her Uncle Derek couldn't have a girlfriend. Not when he'd taken her out for coffee and taken her phone number and promised her another date, a real date.
"Your Uncle Derek's real fun," Angela said.
"I know, he's the best," Meg nodded. "Except when Miss Rose is around, because she always takes up all her attention."
Meredith frowned as she made her way to her desk. She collapsed behind her desk, staring at its surface as she realized that she must have completely misread Derek Shepherd. She'd finally thought that he was a nice guy, but it turned out that he really had been stringing him along as he'd gone home to his girlfriend. She was stupid, completely stupid to think that maybe she would have had a chance at having a real relationship with a man like Derek Shepherd.
XXXXX
Derek stared at the phone in front of him, tapping his fingers against the surface of his desk. He should have been studying, he really should have been studying, but somehow his eyes had landed on Meredith Grey's phone number, and he began to seriously wonder whether it was pathetic to call her and beg her to go out on a date with him.
It had been three days. Three days since their perfect coffee non-date, and three days since he'd ended his relationship with Rose. He knew that he couldn't call on Saturday, even though he'd wanted to call her the second he was single again. Because he didn't want to be single, he just wanted to be with Meredith Grey. And there was a slightly scary voice in the back of his head saying that he wanted to be with Meredith Grey for the rest of his life.
So it wasn't too soon to call. It was now Monday night, and it wasn't too soon to start the rest of his life with the perfect woman he'd somehow found himself falling for.
With a deep breath, he picked up the phone and quickly dialed her number, tapping the fingers of his free hand against the desk again as he waited for someone to answer. "Hello?"
"Hi, I'm looking for Meredith," he said, immediately realizing that it wasn't Meredith who had answered the phone.
"Um...hang on a second," the woman said, and there was some muffled voices in the background as he heard more voices filtering through the muffled sound of the phone. A moment later, the voice returned and asked, "Can I ask who's calling?"
"Derek," he sighed, running a hand through her hair.
There was more muffling, and he sighed, knowing whoever had answered the phone was filtering his messages through to Meredith. "Um she's actually not here," the voice said again. "She's...working."
Derek heard a groan in the background and he frowned slightly. "She's a teacher," he said. "School ended six hours ago."
The person on the other end sighed and he heard the phone being handed over. "I tried, Mer," a faint voice said.
"You're so dead," Meredith's voice hissed, and a moment later her voice came over the phone. "Can I help you?"
"Oh," Derek frowned, wondering what was going on. "I um...I was just calling to say that I had a great time with you on Friday."
"Okay."
There was something wrong with her. He'd really thought that they'd had a connection, but now she was barely giving him anything to go with. "And I was also wondering if you'd want to go out to dinner on Friday night."
"I don't think that's a good idea," Meredith said. "It's not really a good time, Derek, I have to go."
Before he could say anything else, there was a click on the other end of the line and he stared down at the phone in his hand as he wondered what had just happened.
He hung up slowly, still staring at the phone as the door to the apartment opened and Mark walked in. "Hey."
"Hey," Derek replied distractedly.
Mark looked at Derek closely for a moment before he turned to stare at the phone and asked, "Is there a reason we're staring at the phone?"
Derek sighed as he stood and moved towards the kitchen. "She hung up on me," he said.
"Who?" Mark asked.
"Meredith," Derek answered.
"The hot teacher?" Mark asked. "You called her?"
"Yeah, we had coffee the other day and I really thought there was something there," he said. "But she just hung up on me."
"Did she give you her number?" Mark asked.
"Of course she did," Derek said.
"And she said she wanted to see you again?"
"Yes...well, I don't remember exactly, but...why else would she have given me her number?" Derek asked. "I really thought we had a connection, I've never enjoyed having coffee with someone so much."
"Maybe she dug into your past," Mark suggested. "Found some stuff she didn't like."
Derek rolled his eyes. "That's ridiculous," he said. "It's not like I have anything bad to keep from her." He frowned as he stared down at the phone again, wondering why Meredith had suddenly decided he wasn't worth being with.