Chapter 3: He's leaving home

I was late. Of course I was. He was going to leave before I saw him. Why did this always happen to me? Oh my God, can these cars move any slower?! I still have five minutes to get there. I sped up, and somehow got safe and sound to the airport... Maybe breaking one or two rules... Okay more like breaking every single one...

I ran as fast as I could to get to the "departure" part of the airport. And I was completely out of breath when I saw him, very comfortable, and not even close to hurrying, sitting at a cafe next to the gates.

"Derek!" I screamed as I ran towards him. "What the hell are you doing here?! Have you even checked in? Do you realize how late it is?" He laughed. What the fuck?

He put his hands on my shoulders, keeping me in place. "Relax, my plane doesn't leave until 5:30" He chuckled and I frowned.

"But you said at 4..."

"And it's 4:30 already..." He smiled "Meredith, you are at least half an hour late everywhere you go, I knew I would never see you if I'd told you my flight was at 5:30. And this way we can even sit and have some coffee" He tilted his head and gave me his dreamiest smile. Ugh I hate him. I rolled my eyes.

I arched my eyebrows and crossed my arms against my chest. "That's just completely untrue. And do you know how hard it was for me to get here? I am so offended right now!"

"I'll pay you back buying you a brownie." I laughed.

"Food fixes everything." He put an arm around me and we sat at the first empty table we found.

He leaned back on his chair and looked at me carefully "So, how have you been Mer?"

"I've been... Good. You know how med school goes. So... Yeah." He was reading me. I felt it. He did this thing with his eyes where I just knew he was seeing all through me. It was kinda creepy, but it saved me a lot of explaining... I saw the waitress coming up.

"Hi guys, are you ready to order?" She smiled and winked at Derek. What the hell? Does she not see me sitting right here? I made a disgusted face, and of course Mr. Know-it-all here caught me in the act, so he was trying his best not to laugh because he knows my tiny fists weren't so tiny when hitting him in the face.

"Yeah, I'll have an espresso, and let me guess... She'll have a mocha with extra shot of espresso... Oh, and a brownie" I nodded smiling. He could make me forget about anything anytime.

"That's right" I said to the waitress nodding. She looked disappointed when Derek didn't pay any attention to her and kept his eyes on me. "Thank you." She sighed and left. When she was far enough away I finally spoke again. "Somebody has a crush on you..."

He laughed. "Can you blame her?" I rolled my eyes at him "It's hard not to fall for this..." He pointed himself.

I giggled. And he suddenly appeared to feel so warm inside. I know he has a thing for my giggle. I, on the other hand, think it's vomit. "You know, you could easily be mistaken for gay with all that hair..."

"Mean." He squeezed his eyes. "And wrong! And you love the hair!" He said crossing his arms over his chest and pouting like a baby.

I laughed "I'm kidding... We all love the hair." I bit my lip. "But between you and me," I leaned in towards him "she really loves the hair" I whispered eyeing the waitress, who was actually eyeing us.

He smiled. "I'm flattered... But you know, it's not like I'm gonna act on it" I smiled knowingly. "Plus, I'm seeing someone" he said quickly. My heart stopped.

"You're... You're seeing someone?" I swallowed and just in that moment the waitress came with our order. And he took advantage of the situation, of course.

"Thank you." He said as she gave each of us our coffees, and quickly left. "She's weird" he said laughing. I was staring at my coffee. He was seeing someone.

"Who is she?" I said quietly, trying to appear normal.

"Her name's Addison Montgomery. I met her in Columbia" he said while sipping his coffee.

"Columbia was months ago, Derek. Have you been dating her since then?"

"It was nothing serious, that's why I didn't tell you. But then we got into the same program, we decided to give it a try."

"Oh, that's good." I faked a smile. Pointlessly, I knew he would know I was faking it.

"Mer..." He put his hand on mine. "You know if you'd just..."

I took my hand away and interrupted him quickly. "Don't. You know I can't. I'm happy for you, Der." I gave him a small smile and he sighed. "You deserve to be with someone who makes you happy" I made a small pause. "Well... I should go..." I stood up, grabbing my bag.

"But... You didn't even finish your coffee."

"I know... I just... Remembered I had this thing with Cristina. You know, plans..." God I suck at lying. He let out a deep breath.

"Okay, then. He stood up right in front of me. I'm gonna miss you..." He smiled nostalgically. "But you'll come to visit during your time off, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. I will. Well... Bye, Derek" I bit my lip and he threw his arms around me tightly. I rested my head on his chest and he held me like I was the most precious thing in the entire world. We stayed like that for what felt like a decade, but what really were maybe a couple of long seconds. He kissed my forehead and then we parted ways. I gave him the last reassuring smile before I started walking away. And I felt like I was breaking in a million pieces.