"Well hello Dr. Grey," Derek greeted her with an accent that would've made her break down into a frenzy if this were six years ago. As arrogant and obnoxious as he was, Derek had a dorky sense of humor that was one of Meredith's many weaknesses.
"Not talking to you," she ignored him, keeping her eyes glued to her chart.
"And to think I went out of my way to buy you your favorite drink," Derek caught her attention. He held out the cup when she turned to face him skeptically.
"What is this?" she questioned.
"I just told you, your favorite drink," Derek answered. He couldn't quite tell if the look on her face was one of anger or confusion.
"Yesterday you were stealing my coffee, and now you're bringing me one?"
"It's not coffee, I told you. It's your favorite drink," he attempted to hand it to her again. She hesitated before accepting the paper cup and sniffing it suspiciously before bringing it to her lips.
"I haven't had one of these in years, I forgot how good they tasted," Meredith moaned. "Wait, you didn't answer my question. Why are you giving it to me?" she steered the conversation back on track and took another sip of the drink that she had before class everyday of their senior year of college.
"Can't a guy just be nice to the woman he's working with?"
"Competing with," she corrected him. "And even if we weren't, I know you. There isn't a generous bone in your body."
Derek gasped offendely. "You think that little of me?" he accused.
"What do you want?" Meredith confronted.
"I need a favor," he admitted.
"Shocking," she mocked before taking another gulp of her green drink. She didn't realize it until now how greatly she missed them.
"I need you to go to dinner with me."
Meredith choked on her drink. "Are you serious?" she tried and failed to hold back her laughter as she gulped the remainder of the latte in her mouth.
"My parents are coming into town tonight and they still think that we're together."
Meredith's eyes widened, "you haven't told them? It's been six years!"
"I know that Meredith, do you think that I would forget how long it's been since we broke up?" he asked with a hint of bitterness that she didn't understand. He was the one that cheated on her, he didn't have a right to feel anything besides guilt for the pain that he caused. She decided keeping things civil with him was her best option - being in a crappy mood because of her ex-boyfriend wouldn't make a good first impression on her date.
"Why should I do you any favors?" she contemplated.
"Think of it as catching up with old friends. My parents love you," he reminded her.
"They do, don't they?" Meredith boasted as she remembered the long night spent listening to Derek's parents tell her embarrassing stories about his childhood.
"Come on," he begged. "You owe me."
"I owe you?" Meredith was taken back by his accusation. "And what could I possibly have done that deserves compensation?"
"Remember that time I left my lunch in your car and you decided to drive it across town to my physics lecture to drop it off because you didn't want me to go hungry? You embarrassed the hell out of me! Every senior in the class called me sweetie pie until I graduated." Derek crossed his arms.
"I didn't want you to be hungry?"
"I would have sufficed," he grunted.
"Well, since you can't seem to get over the past I guess it's safe to say I won't be attending this family reunion," Meredith shrugged her shoulders and acted disinterested.
"No no," he pleaded. "Meredith, I'll do anything. I'll give you what you've been dying to have since the day I got here," he smirked mischievously, referring to something that was best not discussed in the middle of the hospital hallways.
"What, you gone?" she teased.
"Ha, funny," Derek rolled his eyes. "I'm serious, I'll do whatever you want. I just can't let my parents know that we aren't together anymore. You know how judgmental they are. You were one of the best things I've ever had and them seeing us together might make up for me ghosting them for seven years."
"Say that again," Meredith blushed.
"Say what? They're judgemental?" he answered confusedly.
"No not that, the other thing," she bit her bottom lip in efforts to refrain from smiling.
"You were one of the best things I've ever had?" Derek nodded his head and understood the weight behind his words when her cheeks turned crimson and she chewed the inside of her mouth. There were things that he felt about her back then that he never had the guts to admit. There was no use in bringing it up now and hurting her anymore than he already had. "Are you coming or not?" he asked impatiently.
"I'll think about it," she bluffed.
"Meredith! I need your help. I would never ask you for anything, you know that. This is important to me," he pleaded desperately and stopped himself when he realized what she was trying to do. "Oh...you were gonna,"
"I was going to say yes, yes." Meredith shook her head and didn't make an effort to suppress her laughter.
"You're evil," he shook his head. "I'll pick you up tonight?"
"Mmhm," Meredith turned the opposite direction and ran into one of her colleagues. "Vic!" she greeted the woman with dark skin and tight curls.
"Meredith, are you excited for today?"
"Surprisingly yes. If things go terrible I'm blaming you," Meredith teased and gave her a friendly nod when her pager went off.
Derek listened to the two surgeons conversate and realized what they were going on about. She told him that she was seeing someone, today in fact. But he didn't think that she was being serious. He figured she was just trying to make him jealous. The Meredith that he knew wouldn't get that excited over a date with a man she hardly knew. He didn't know what, but he needed to do something.
"I don't think we've met, I'm Dr. Shepherd." Derek jogged up to the woman and extended an arm to introduce himself.
Meredith somehow managed to clock out a decent hour that allowed her to get home, shower, and make sure she looked nice enough to hopefully earn a second date. After Derek she hadn't really gotten around to the whole rebounding thing; It wasn't for her. But she was growing up and things were changing. Most of her friends from college were already getting married and having children and she felt like she was falling behind.
From the first fifteen minutes of their lunch Meredith was able to infer that Christopher was a nice guy. He complimented her lilac button-up and brushed his hand against hers a few times 'accidentally' when reaching for the menu.
"Do you know what you wanna order?" she asked him. They were seated outdoors on the patio of a sushi restaurant. Meredith watched as waiters carried large trays of raw fish to other diners before meeting Christopher's eyes to see a look of confusion on his face.
"Is that your...do you know him?" he asked and pointed behind her.
When Meredith turned to see who was talking about she wished she hadn't.
"Derek? What are you doing here?" she strived to keep her composure and not flip out the second she saw him.
"I'm sorry," Derek forced a strained smile at Meredith's date and rested his hand on her back. "We have to go, my parents are waiting on us I- I didn't expect them to get here this early."
"Seriously?" Meredith questioned.
"I wish I wasn't, can't keep the Shepherds waiting. They're busy people," Derek scooted her chair out from the table and helped her rise to her feet.
"Christopher I am so, so sorry. If you want to reschedule, I'm...here." Meredith placed a $100 bill on the table and Derek guided her towards his car with his hand on her lower back.
Meredith slammed his car door and plopped down in the passenger seat.
"I'm going to kill you dead," she grunted without glancing over at the devious look on his face.
"I'm pretty sure that's the only way to kill someone," he mocked. "Put your seatbelt on," Derek reached over and tugged at the belt, pulling it over her body and fastening it before pulling out of the driveway.
"I don't need you to do that," Meredith leaned back against his seat and prayed that over the span of six years he'd become a better driver because as much as she wanted to get away from, dying in a car accident wasn't how she intended to do so
"Do what? Save you from that monstrosity of a date? You should be thanking me," Derek repeatedly turned his attention away from the road to look at her.
"Thanking you? You just ruined any chances I had at a second date with him."
"Like I said, you're welcome. There was something off about that guy, I can't put my finger on it," Derek removed one hand from the steering wheel and rested it on the center arm console, subtly brushing his fingers against hers every so often.
"You should try putting your finger on the steering wheel so that we don't crash!" Meredith yanked his hand from the console and guided it towards the wheel, causing Derek to shift and the entire car to drift to the left.
"Meredith!" Derek stammered as he regained control of the wheel.
"I don't know how you passed your driver's test," she murmured. "Oh wait, you didn't. But who needs to pass a test that ensures the safety of others when you have wealthy parents that are happy to take care of it for you."
Derek huffed exasperatedly and tightened his grip on the steering wheel, not wanting to cause any more problems between the two of them until his parents were long gone.
"Where are we meeting them anyway?" Meredith searched through his glove department for a stick of gum.
"Good question," Derek chimed. "What's your address?"
"My address Derek you said that they were-" she held her breath and clenched her jaw out of frustration when she came to the realization. "You said they were already waiting for us?"
"Did I?" he pretended to be oblivious.
"Yeah," she spoke through shut teeth.
"Oh, well...I lied." Derek shrugged nonchalantly and kept his eyes on the road for the first time since they'd been in the car.
"I cannot believe you," Meredith shook her head. It was going to be a long night.