Ah, Chapter 4. Reposting this story is like coming back to an old friend that you haven't seen in a while. So forgive me if I wax nostalgic or something. In answer to a question, yes the cat story is entirely true! As I said, every mention in this story is based off of a real place that I have visited. The cafe that Derek brings Meredith to is a real live place right next to the Vittorio Emmanuelle monument. The terrace of the restaurant looks out on some ruins. Which are usually inhabited by tons of feral cats. The people of Rome love their cats and certain people take on the responsibility of feeding all of them. I think it's wonderful. But back to Chapter 4. Meredith wants to take Derek out to dinner? They're going to travel around together? And so ends what I like to call Day One...
Meredith and Derek are walking down the main thoroughfare of Trastevere, Derek leading Meredith along to his most favorite restaurant within walking distance of their hotel. He still couldn't believe her only conditions were that he take back his hotel room and let HER pay for their dinner. It seems she had been down to American Express as soon as they had opened and now wanted to thank him for his kindness. He could think of better things than paying for dinner. Stop it Derek, stop it. Fiancé, remember? Planning your wedding at this very moment not an hour from here. She's only being nice to you for saving her from a very precarious position yesterday.
He has had to remind himself of that fact a lot today. Which was very disturbing if he let himself think about it. But he wasn't letting himself do that. He was here enjoying a good time with a woman FRIEND and that was it. Not that he hadn't noticed she had worn the dress that he had bought her and that it fit her just the way he thought it would: the low scooped neck-line draws the eye straight down to the gentle swell of her breasts. The wide straps accentuating her firm arms and leading down to her tiny waste, only to flare at the hip and float gently to the knee.
A normal every day dress that went perfectly with a mildly hot Roman summer day of touring the ruins. There weren't many trees in the forum or the coliseum, so a cool outfit was a must. She was probably very glad to have that over the slacks and long-sleeved shirt she had had on yesterday. But as they had gone through the forum, him pointing out tidbits of information from his many tours of the area, her listening attentively, he hadn't counted on the outfit making HIM overly warm.
He remembered one particular moment when they had been standing at the top of the Palatino, the series of palaces located on top of the hill overlooking the forum and the coliseum. They had traversed the long walk leading from the Forum entrance next to the coliseum all the way up to the olive tree covered hill-top. He had led her to the little temple overlook that gave a breath-taking view of the entire surrounding area. It was a beautiful site. Someone had long ago planted a very pleasing formal garden that made it a heady experience to just hang out on the Palantine Hill and peruse the entire ancient city below.
But he hadn't seen any of it. All he could look at was the perfect wonder of joy on her face as she had admired the view. Okay, he lied. What he had really been looking at was a tiny droplet of sweat that had formed on her brow and traveled down plop down on the afore-mentioned gentle swell. Get a grip on yourself, Derek. He had turned around and pretended to be admiring the lush garden scenery, but he knew what he had seen. He was so dead. He had to get this under control. Maybe this traveling around together thing wasn't the best idea ever. Maybe they should just stick to very public areas.
He had had a very hard time remembering afore-mentioned fiancé's name for the rest of the day and particularly now as the cool night air of Trastevere played with the folds of her dress and the low lights of the street lamps put a particular sheen on the shade of her emerald eyes. She still wore the afore-mentioned dress, since they had gotten so caught up in visiting the old city that they hadn't thought to visit a store until well past closing time. They had gone back to the hotel and showered away the griminess of the day, and he had changed into a Roman gentleman's casual nightly attire: kakis, white cotton shirt, and light blazer. He had even moussed up his hair slightly and dabbed on a little cologne for God knows what reason. You always have to look good, right?
"We are so getting a regular guide tomorrow." Meredith quips to Derek as they walk down the main street.
"I am a wonderful guide." He quips back, but then interrupts to remark, "Ah, here we are."
They turn into an open doorway that reveals a dome-ceilinged stone hallway leading back to what he considers one of the best restaurants in Rome. Large iron old-fashioned lamps hang from the hallway and are scattered around the inner walls of the restaurant. The one thing making this restaurant so special being that it is really only a patio set in the middle of other very large buildings. The restaurant is completely open to the night air with a lattice of grape vines growing above the patron's heads and the gingerly placed canvas table umbrellas. Topping it all off is little table candles giving off little sparks of light that are tiny reflections the stars above.
"You called the Curia (the Senate) the place where, I quote, old grey politicians sat on their fat asses to make laws and such." Meredith quotes back at him as they make their way down the dimly lit hallway.
"It's true." He remarks simply, having learned throughout the day that the best way to rile her is to act all pompous and right.
"How about, that's the Tempio de Cesare (Temple of Julius Caesar), the place where they created that famous salad?" She quotes again, biting back her laughter.
"You have to know I was kidding." He responds with a small laugh of his own and a little bit of puppy dog eyes.
"With you sometimes it's hard to tell." She answers him truthfully, but he is prevented from responding by the maitre de walking up to them and asking, "Table for two?" in Italian.
"Yes, please." He answers back in English for Meredith's benefit.
"This way signor and signora." The maitre de says in the formal manner, leading them over to a table set a little ways back in a secluded corner under the eaves. The table set up in front of a small half-oval booth wide enough for two. They can look out onto the entire restaurant but very few can see them.
The maitre de waits for Meredith to sit down before he passes her a menu and Derek slips him a large denomination and a wink for giving them the best and most secluded table in the restaurant. The maitre de doesn't let on that he knows Derek and presents him his menu formally and takes a regal leave.
"I am so the best guide." He says as he uses his menu as an excuse to watch her face unnoticed. "I knew all about how to get around that huge line at the coliseum. And I knew who to talk to to get us access to that closed third level." He remarks smugly as he watches the candle-light undulate across her features.
He is so caught up in the play of the light on her hair that he almost starts when the waiter says right beside him, "Good evening and welcome to the Otello. May I get you started with some antipasti and a nice bottle of our house Cianti?"
Meredith looks over to him for approval, so he agrees with, "Yes, please."
"God, I could eat a horse." She declares very broad-like as she peruses the menu.
"I guess we'll rethink the gelato lunch next time then, won't we?" He teases. She had very vehemently insisted on gelato as their afternoon meal. It had all been worth it though to watch her chow down in ecstasy on a very large chocolate specimen that probably could have felled most men.
"I didn't hear you complaining." She rebuts with a little wiggle of her eyebrows over the opened menus. Him having particularly finished off his coffee flavored gelato in record time also.
He twinkles back at her in silent agreement, but won't give her the satisfaction of saying she's right. He instead looks down at his own menu and comments, "The mussels here are to die for. I once ate an entire serving by myself. I felt like a giant balloon but it was so worth it."
They continue to talk about what they are going to order, Derek deciding on the mussels on a bed of spaghetti set in a light broth sauce, while Meredith goes with the more traditional pizza margharita, or cheese pizza.
"I can't believe you. Coming to the heart of Italia and ordering a cheese pizza." Derek teases gently as the waiter arrives with their wine and antipasti.
"But it's authentic." She counters saucily, but then looks down at the antipasti plate to ask horrified, "Are those squid? That is gross."
"But it's authentic. It's calamari." He quotes back, picking up a few olives off the plate, along with a red peppers. And a squid just to irk her.
"I don't care if it's authentic. They could at least fry it or throw some marinara sauce over it to not make it look so…gross." She says as she stares at the offending objects laid out on the plate in little succulent steamed offerings.
"You should try it, it's good." He says as he pops one of them into his mouth and sighs in happy contentment as the lightly salty meat spreads flavor throughout his entire mouth.
He opens his eyes to see Meredith only staring at him in horrified disgust. He does the only thing that seems proper to do at the time. He picks up one of the offending objects and offers it to her with, "Come on, try it."
She only shakes her head back and forth no and sits back a little from the little slimy object.
"You know you want to." He taunts as he flaunts the thing even more vigorously and pushes it even closer into her face.
She tilts her head back one way to avoid contact with it, so he moves it over to the other side of her face. She moves her head in the other direction, only to promptly break out in fresh laughter at the ridiculousness of the situation. The next thing he knows, the offending object has been entirely tossed aside, and he has taken her face in his hands and is kissing her. She seems shocked at first, but is soon meeting him with the same ferocity. There is no thought of his imminent wedding. There is no thought of the inappropriateness of kissing a complete stranger. The outside world is far away and forgotten. There is only the cushiony feel of the booth against his thigh, the cool night of the air swirling around to play with his hair, and the fiery passion of the woman in his arms.
Oh my, that feels good. Finn certainly doesn't kiss like this. Oh shit, Finn.
Meredith breaks away from the kiss and blurts out, "I have a boyfriend."
Derek looks at her kind of dazed for a moment; his hair messed up from where she had ran her hands through it and his lips slightly swollen. When the words do register though, he looks kind of surprised and chagrined at the same time, and responds dazedly, "I do too."
She must have looked kind of confused, because he suddenly says, "I mean, I have a girlfriend." I…uh…kind of forgot about it for a moment there." He says in apology, but still staring at her lips.
"Me too." She answers simply, as she watches him watch her lips.
Then he kind of snaps out of his reverie and asks accusingly, "How come you didn't tell me?"
"Why didn't you tell me?" She responds a little angrily.
"I…uh…hmm." He hems and haws as he tries to come up with some explanation, but then must realize that there really isn't a good one, so he says instead with sad puppy dog eyes, "We're a sorry pair, aren't we?"
"You're the one that kissed me." Meredith reminds him, not quite willing to take equal blame for the situation they find themselves in.
"You kissed me back." He reminds her too though.
"Well…um…yeah." She rambles, it being her turn to not able to come up with a good excuse, only able to look down at the table cloth in embarrassed silence.
A couple of long seconds go by, so Derek asks, "So why didn't he come along with you?"
"I…um…kind of ditched him at the airport." Meredith admits, pretending to push something around on the table cloth instead of looking at him.
When she doesn't hear any response, she looks up. Derek's face is slack in shock, and he is staring at her in mild horror.
"Don't look at me like that." She tells him, and then tries to justify it with, "I meant it when I told you I was having a bad day yesterday."
"Would this said boyfriend be in possession of your clothes then?" Derek asks with apparent rampant curiosity.
"Yes." She admits grudgingly, picking up her fork to angrily stab one of the afore-mentioned squid.
Derek watches her stab the squid and must ask, "Was it really that bad? What he did to you, that is."
"Yes." Meredith states firmly, and then turns to tell him directly, "He agreed with my mother."
"And this is a bad thing?" He asks in confusion.
"Only worse than taking the last piece of cheesecake or buying sugar free instead of dark chocolate." She responds and then sighs dramatically and lies back against the booth. She takes a long look at Derek and then says, "That doesn't excuse me from kissing another man though."
"I kissed you, remember?" He offers with a small amount of his old twinkleness.
Meredith soaks in the warmth of his smile, but must ask, "So why isn't the girlfriend with you?"
The smile immediately leaves his eyes and it's his turn to lean back on the booth and sigh. "I just…I just needed some time alone." He says as he stares off into the distance.
"Was it worse than eating the last piece of cheesecake?" Meredith asks as she registers the sad look on his face.
"Oh no, she hasn't done anything. It's just that…" He says, but then pauses in thought before he continues with, "She just has all these ideas about the kind of life that she wants us to lead. I just…"
"You're not sure that that's the kind of life that you want." Meredith interjects with total understanding.
He turns and smiles at her gratefully, glad to know that one person in the world understands.
It's Meredith's turn to look off into the distance though when she says, "That's kind of what this trip is all about for me too. Everybody in my life seems to know just what kind of life I should have except me. I know they mean well, but I'd just like to figure it out for myself. You know?"
He smiles back at her in complete understanding, not having to say anything to impart his complete agreement. His smile dies a little though when he comments, "We really are a sad pair."
"Not so sad." She says with a sudden smile to her voice.
He only looks back at her in confusion, so she continues with, "We are two healthy adults on vacation in one of the most beautiful cities in the world."
"True." He agrees with a happy smile.
"And we don't have to figure it all out right this second." She adds, as their present circumstances of being at a very nice restaurant on a cool and starry Roman night starts to make itself known to them again.
"True." He agrees again, smiling even larger at her apparent optimism.
"So I propose a toast." Meredith says as she reaches for her wine glass and holds it in the air in preparation.
Derek picks his own glass off the table and says, "What are we toasting to?"
"A toast to a week of doing whatever strikes our fancy, without other people telling us what to do."
Derek quirks a single eyebrow, so she amends, "As friends."
"Friends it is then." He agrees and they clink their wine glasses in celebration of their new found understanding.
