Chapter 14

Derek grabbed his phone from his locker, seeing a new text from Meredith, asking him again what time he got off of work. Derek quickly responded:

I just finished actually, do you want to go to dinner?

Perfect timing lol. We got our project done, so we went over to the bar by the apartment. Meet me here?

Absolutely. I'll be there in about twenty minutes.

Ok, see you soon

Love you, Derek responded before shutting his phone. He left the hospital with a smile on his face, glad to be out of the hospital at a decent hour. He had been pulling a few late shifts recently, and with Meredith busy with classes and labs, they had barely spent any time together over the past three weeks. He was ecstatic that it was Thursday; he had the day off tomorrow, and Meredith got out of class at ten thirty and didn't have to work at the hospital, so they would be able to spend the afternoon together. He figured they could spend some time wedding planning; all they had so far was a general season, and if they wanted to get married next year, they would have to start planning things like the location, number of guests, an actual date, and Derek's personal favorite: the honeymoon.

He got to his favorite bar about a half hour later, arriving a little late because it was such a nice night that Derek had decided to walk rather than take the subway. He opened the door, heading to the bar while simultaneously looking for Meredith. He didn't see her anywhere, so he decided to order a drink.

"Single malt scotch," he said to the bartender. Right then he heard a very familiar laugh and looked towards the back of the bar. There she was, playing darts with three people. She was laughing with a blonde girl, and Derek decided to just sit back and watch her for a little while.

And then he saw something that made his stomach churn.

The other two people with Meredith were boys; one had red hair while the other had light brown hair. The four of them appeared a little tipsy, but it was no excuse for the way that they were behaving. The boy with the brown hair had finished throwing his last dart, and Meredith stood up, signaling it was her turn. The guy handed the darts to Meredith, and slapped her ass as she took her position. She hit three bull's-eyes right in a row, which was an accomplishment considering she was tipsy. She high fived her other two friends, but the brown haired boy pulled her into a hug, his hands roaming down her back. Derek saw red; she didn't even try to move his hands away or anything. When she pulled away, she handed the blonde the darts, but remained standing. The annoying guy stood uncomfortably close to Meredith, and Derek could tell he was going to make a move. When the jerk began to place his hand on the small of Meredith's back, he decided he had seen enough.

He marched towards the back, clearing his throat. Meredith and the guy both turned around, the guy curious of who he was, Meredith delighted to see him.

"Derek!" she shouted, launching herself into his arms, clearly more tipsy than Derek realized. He held on to her tight to keep her from falling, but ignored her attempt to kiss him, instead keeping his eyes locked on the guy who had been flirting with Meredith, now looking as if he was sizing Derek up.

"Guys, this is Derek, my fiancé. Der, these are my friends," Meredith said after she kissed him on the cheek. "That's Sadie, and that's her lab partner Jack, and this," Meredith pointed to the brown haired boy, "is Steve. He's my lab partner. And he was really helpful with the project, so hopefully we'll do well."

"That's nice," Derek said curtly, still glaring at Steve, who was, much to Derek's annoyance, glaring back at him, as if it were Derek who was stealing his fiancé. "Come on Meredith, we're going home." He held her firmly by the waist and turned her around.

"Why?" Meredith asked, confused. "I thought we were going out to dinner."

"Yeah, well now we aren't," Derek snapped, pulling her away from the table.

"Fine," Meredith sighed, turning to her friends quickly. "Bye guys, I'll see you tomorrow!"

Her friends said their goodbyes as Derek stalked out of the bar. Their walk home was short, but silent. Derek was fuming, both at Steve and at Meredith. That was her lab partner, the one that hit on her a few weeks ago. Meredith promised she told him she was engaged, plus she was wearing a ring, and he was still hitting on her; he was such a scumbag. And Meredith, he couldn't even wrap his mind around the fact that she let Steve touch her like that, drunk or otherwise. He snuck a glance at Meredith, who was looking up at him, her face a mixture of confusion and hurt. When their eyes met, she offered him a smile, which Derek ignored, facing forward again.

When they finally closed the door to their apartment, Derek collapsed on the couch, his head in his hands, unsure as to what to do or say to Meredith. Meredith stood in front of him, arms crossed over her chest as she looked down at him, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Derek, what's wrong with you?" Meredith started. "We haven't spent any time together in days, and I got excited to go out to dinner with you and actually see you and talk to you, and you just come storming into the bar, barely acknowledge me, and act like I've done something wrong. What the hell is your problem?"

"Seriously?" Derek practically shouted. "What's my problem? Are you kidding me Meredith? Your damn lab partner, Steve or whatever, he was all over you! He kept touching you and flirting with you, I was standing at the bar watching you. And you did absolutely nothing about it, you let him touch you and treat you as if you were his girlfriend."

"What are you talking about Derek?" Meredith yelled back. "Steve is like that with everyone! He's always touchy. If Sadie had hit three bull's-eyes in a row, he would have hugged her."

"Yeah, well I didn't see him smack her ass right before it was her turn," Derek snapped.

"That didn't mean anything," Meredith rolled her eyes.

"That's sexual harassment!" Derek exclaimed. "You would hate it if I did that to anyone but you. Please, you even hate it when I do that to you. Do you like him Meredith, because if you're unhappy or you're cheating on me, just tell me, because this is just ridiculous."

"Are you freaking kidding me? Did you actually just accuse me of cheating on you? I would never do that and you know it! I spend every free moment we have with you, not out with my friends. And if I was cheating on you, I wouldn't have bothered to tell you when Steve was hitting on me. He and I are friends Derek; he knows that I'm happily engaged and that I love you. But I'm not going to put up with you being ridiculously jealous because there are other guys on the planet besides you!" With that, Meredith stomped into their bedroom, slamming the door behind her.