Chapter Four: Thrill of the Chase
Meredith sat at Joe's, 4 empty shot glasses sitting in front of her when Alex approached the bar.
"Geez Grey are you trying to kill yourself?" he asked. There was no way someone of her size could hold four shots of tequila and still be sitting there.
"It's not working" she mumbled.
"You're telling me you've downed 4 shots of tequila and are fine?" he questioned sceptically.
"I am by no means a lightweight Alex" she sniggered at him.
"I think I just found myself a new drinking partner" he decided with satisfaction. "What are you doing over here by yourself anyway?" he asked.
"Just felt like getting a drink, Izzie and Cristina are on call and George acts weird around me - its odd" she replied.
"That's because dude likes you" Alex blurted without thinking. He became aware that she hadn't realised when her eyes widened with surprise.
"No, George doesn't like me – he is a friend. One who is just a little weird sometimes. He is George for god's sake" Meredith ranted.
"Whatever" Alex said realising there was no way Meredith was going to see it. "What's with you and Shepherd these days? Heard the nurses gossiping about you as always" he said changing the subject.
"Well the nurses need to mind their own business and actually I don't know work for once. As for Shepherd….we kissed…in the elevator" Meredith admitted sheepishly.
"Why don't you just go out with him already? There is obviously something between ya's" Alex pointed out. He noticed Meredith fiddle with the chain she always wore around her neck.
"It's just…it's complicated. Just drop it ok" she pleaded. "I have to go" she said getting up and exiting the bar…leaving Alex wondering what the hell he had said to get her so worked up.
Meredith stood at the nurses' station filling out a patient's chart when she felt a hot breath on her neck.
"So we're kissing but we're not dating?" Derek murmured against her neck causing soft little vibrations that trickled right through her body.
"I knew that was going to come up" she mumbled moving further up the hall away from the nurses' station, she knew the nurses' thrived on the latest happenings in the hospital and Meredith had become their hot topic of late.
"Don't get me wrong: I like the kissing. I'm all for the kissing. More kissing, I say" he said softly as he leant toward her. His blue eyes glistened and teased Meredith, drawing her in.
"Is it going to happen again?" he asked cockily. "Cause if it is, I need to bring breath mints" he teased. "Put a condom in my wallet" he whispered into her ear causing her to shiver.
"Shut up now!" she snapped walking away from him while he continued to stand there a goofy grin plastered across his face. "Stop chasing me just for the thrill" she called back at him.
"Earth to Meredith" Cristina snapped at Meredith. She had been talking about the amazing heart valve replacement surgery that she had just scrubbed in on with Burke but Meredith wasn't even listening to her.
"Sorry what" Meredith mumbled snapping out of her trance.
"Never mind" Cristina grumbled. "What is up with you anyway?" she asked.
"Nothing, just tired you know late shifts and whatever" she lied. The truth was she couldn't get Derek off her mind and that was a bad thing for many reasons. The most obvious being the fact that he was her boss and she had a past that could affect any relationship and it wasn't one she was ready to bring out in the open.
"Well you could at least listen to people when they are talking to you, out of common decency" Cristina snapped clearly annoyed that Meredith wasn't paying attention to her.
Luckily for Meredith she was saved by her pager but she wasn't sure which deal was better staying and listening to Cristina grumble or answering her page from Derek…especially since she wasn't sure it was even about a patient.
"You paged?" she said approaching Derek in the room she had been paged to. She observed that there wasn't a patient in the room – it was empty besides the two of them standing in there.
"It's not the chase" he blurted out not knowing what else to say to explain the reason for why he had paged her.
"What?" she exclaimed. "You paged me here to tell me that, I'm an intern Derek, I have work to do" she snapped she began walking for the door when she felt his strong hand grab hold of her arm.
She turned around and started hitting him with her hands clenched into small fists. "Let go of me" she cried at him.
"You and me. It is not the thrill of the chase" he said tilting her head so she was now looking at him. "It's not a game. ... it's your tiny ineffectual fists. And your hair."
"My hair?" she questioned confused where he was going with this.
"It smells good. And you're very, very ballsy. It keeps me in line" he admitted.
"I'm still not going out with you" she retorted with a smirk.
"You say that now…" he said as she walked out of the room and out of his sight. He couldn't believe how hard he was falling for a woman he barely knew.