Chapter 2: Does He Really Like Me?

Flashback- 1993

Meredith decided not to go to the party tonight, afraid of what would happen if she did. She never felt one ounce of the feelings that she felt for Derek, for anyone else. It scared her. These feelings weren't new, she always felt them. Derek was her rock after her father's death. Meredith was ready to hide her feelings away for the night, read a magazine, and watch a bit of TV. Lying on her bed, she grabbed her magazine off the table when there was a knock at her bedroom door.

"What?" she groaned.

"Meredith, it's me." Meredith felt her heart stop at the sound of his voice. "Can I come in, please?"

"Give me a minute, please?" Mer asked, jumping out of the bed, pulling out a white dress from her wardrobe, changing. She opened the door, there he stood, looking all sexy in beige shorts and a white button-down shirt. He took her breath away.

"Hey."

"Hey" Mer said, both of them standing awkwardly in silence.

"You look gorgeous Mer, considering you just probably pulled it from your wardrobe" Mer blushed as Derek took a step towards her.

"Can you give me a little more time Der?"

"I can wait a little while longer. It isn't going to kill me." Derek joked with a smile on his face, as Mer headed into her bathroom. Meredith closed the bathroom door behind her, and looked in the mirror, whispering to herself.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" she grabbed her toothbrush, started brushing her teeth, and found some make up in the drawer, before going back out into her bedroom.

"Where are the others, I need to..."

"They're already gone at the party. As soon as I told them, they were gone."

"Why am I not surprised?" she giggled.

"You ready Mer?"

"Yep, as ready as I'm going to be." Derek placed his hand on the small of her back, causing Mer to stop dead in her tracks, feeling the shot of electricity rush up and down her spine, the same sparks she gets every time they touch each other. Derek feels it too, but is afraid to say anything in case it makes her run.

As they walk down the beach, Derek takes Meredith's hand. Her hand feels so right with their fingers intertwined. They fit together like a piece of a puzzle. The first-person Meredith sees is Cristina and she can tell that she is already drunk.

"Baby, you made it!" she said, with a bottle of tequila in her hand. Meredith looked at Derek, both burst out laughing.

"Oh my god, what has she been drinking?"

"She was like this when I came over to your house.'" he said smiling, He lead her over to his friends and introduced her to Addison, Wyatt, and Tom.

Mark as usual was nowhere to be found, no doubt chasing some young blonde. Derek got Meredith a beer and took her over to see his sisters Amy and Olivia, who Meredith had been friends with for years. Again, she hadn't seen them either, she spent some of the night, catching up with Amy and Olivia.

Derek hadn't taken his eyes off her all night. Meredith could hear girls whispering, saying that Derek was only interested because she is Ellis Grey's daughter. Derek is off to medical school in the fall. Meredith could feel herself tear up, thinking he is only interested in her because of who her mother is.

She didn't want to be that girl, the girl who got upset over some guy, some guy that was an ass. She said goodbye to Amy and Olivia and headed over to her friends to tell them that she was heading home. She left her friends there and walked back to her house. She could hear Derek calling her, but she tried to ignore him, she was almost to her house, when he grabbed her arm.

Derek was talking to Addison and Wyatt. Tom was off with some girls. Derek had plenty of girls coming up to him, most with corny pick-up lines. There was only one girl that Derek was interested in. That was the girl talking and giggling with his twin sisters, a certain petite blonde-haired woman that he hadn't taken his eyes off of all night. He found himself unable to look away from her, the way her hair blew in the New England evening breeze, the way that she ran her hand through her hair, and that giggle. He could stand there all-night listening to her giggle. Typically, he hated giggly girls, finding them dull and boring, but with Meredith it was something different. He could hear all the whispering going on around him. He decided to ignore it, everyone would soon get bored talking about him and Meredith, not realizing that people would be talking about them for years to come. He saw her walking over to her friends. Then, heading back to her house. Derek knew it was early for her to go home. He said bye to Addison, before running after Meredith.

"Meredith!" he called out, she didn't stop, didn't turn around, just continued walking down the beach.

"Meredith!" she walked a little quicker. He noticed that they were nearly to her house. If she made it to her house, she would ignore him and he didn't want to be ignored. Derek started running and grabbed her arm.

"Meredith, where are you going?"

"Derek, please let me go?" she pleaded with him, the look of pain in her eyes; he soon let her arm go.

"Meredith, why are you leaving so early?" Meredith looked at him, stunned to why he would care.

"Why do you care?" she spat at him.

"I do care Mer, that's the problem"

"Yeah, you care...after all I am Ellis Grey's daughter!"

"What are you talking about Mer? What on earth has this got to do with your mother?"

"Everyone knows that you want to be a doctor, Derek…

"Mer..."

"Don't Derek!" Meredith tries to walk into the house.

Derek reaches out for her arm, pulls her close to him, and captures her lips in his. Meredith, at first, doesn't respond, shocked, but soon she kisses him back, their tongues exploring each other's mouths. Derek's arm snakes around her waist, pulling her even closer to him, and their worlds stopped. It was just the two of them, they both pulled apart breathlessly. Derek could see that Meredith is ready to run.

"Please Mer, don't run from this?" he pleaded with her. "You can't tell me you didn't feel that!"

"Derek...I can't. I'm sorry" Meredith escaped from his arms, ran into the house, locking the doors behind her. She leaned against the wall in the kitchen and slid down it, burying her face in her hands, not believing that she had just ran from him.

Derek stood outside the house, not believing what just happened. The kiss was amazing. He just wished that he knew what happened to make her run. After one taste of her, he was hooked, and knew that he wouldn't give up. He stood there watching the house for nearly an hour, and finally decided to head back to the party. What he didn't see was Meredith peeking out of her bedroom window, watching him.