Chapter 1

Addison's POV

"Addie, you need to learn to take your advice." Amelia wriggled her eyebrows at me as she changed the channel on the TV. Her eyes gazed at me with a challenge, and I stifled a groan. I knew that look well. As well I should, as I was the one who had taught it to her.

"What advice is that?" I said as I casually picked up the popcorn from the table and sat back as I waited for her to say the words I was dreading to hear.

"You need to have a one-night stand with Derek." She grinned at me and I groaned. "Don't groan at me, Addison Montgomery." She grabbed some popcorn and sat back.

"Careful how you're eating," I said in a proper voice. "We don't want butter on the couch." I laughed as she made a face at me. "Also, I'm not going to have a one-night stand with your brother." I looked at the TV screen as my heart raced. I'm not going to lie; I've thought about sleeping with the Derek Christopher Shepherd for years. But he's never seen me as anything more than his little sister's best friend. And even then, I don't think he paid much attention to me. Well, technically that's not true. There was one night that he saw me as more than 'Addison, his sister's best friend'. There was one night when he saw me as a woman, but I'm not going to talk about that.

"I didn't think I would have a one-night stand either, but I did, and look at me now." Amelia muted the TV and looked at me. I watched as she fluffed her long black hair and twirled a loose wave around her finger. "Who would have thought Link and I would be—"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," I said, cutting her off. I wasn't in the mood to hear about how wonderful her relationship was with Link, her boyfriend. Atticus Lincoln was handsome, sexy, rich, and supposedly good in bed and with his tongue. I'd been hearing about Link for the last few months, and I just didn't get how one man could be so perfect. I was so happy for Amelia; she was my best friend in the world, after all, but if I was honest, I was a bit envious as well. I wanted a guy who would sweep me off of my feet and fall head-over-heels in love with me. I wanted a guy who would look at me like I was the only woman on Earth. Right now, I got the guys who looked at me like I was a piece of steak or like I was some sort of free entertainment.

"Am I being annoying?" Amelia frowned as she gazed at me, her eyes crinkling in concern that she was acting like that friend whom we all love to hate. That friend who finds her man falls in love and can't stop going on and on about it. I didn't mind her going on about it normally. I just didn't want her to talk about her love life in the same breath as Derek's name. Not when he was someone I'd been craving for years.

"No, Amy." I smiled widely, though inside I was grumbling that yes, she was being annoying. No one wanted to hear about their best friend's perfect lover every day.

"What are you smiling about?" Amelia's eyes narrowed, and she moved closer to me. "Is there something you're not telling me, Addie?"

"Maybe." I grinned and started laughing as she sat there staring at me with a perplexed expression. I started to feel guilty when Amelia's face started to look worried. I knew then that she was starting to feel bad and most probably overthinking everything. That was Amelia's biggest failing and one of the reasons that I loved her. She was way too sensitive. She took on every emotion, and she was always super worried and anxious if she thought she was causing pain to anyone. "I'm just joking, Amy." I leaned forward to squeeze her arm. "I'm happy for you and Link. You deserved it."

"I know." She smiled and then sighed. "But I want you to be as happy as I am."

"I'll meet someone soon. I mean, we can be even, if I meet a nice guy."

"Link says he doesn't want me to go to any nightclubs with you anymore." She bit her lower lip, and I stared at her.

"I know that you aren't allowing Link to dictate what you do and don't do, right?" I frowned. How dare he bans her from going to nightclubs with me like I was some sort of bad influence?

"Of course not." She giggled. "We just can't announce it to him."

"You're not going to lie to him, are you?" I made a face. If she lied and he found out, he would hate me.

"No, of course not. I'm just not going to volunteer where we're going."

"Really?" I looked at her face carefully and then I saw the glint in her eyes. "You're such a liar, Amelia. You're going to tell Link, and then you're going to have him tell Derek, and it's going to be all World War III up in the club and we're going to be banned for life."

"Just call him, Addie," she groaned, "Please."

"No." I shook my head and stood up. "I'm going to get some ice cream. Do you want anything?"

"No." She jumped up as well. "Why won't you call him? You're just being silly. Explain to him that you didn't want to kiss Mark."

"I'm not calling him." My face reddened as I remembered the look in Derek's eyes when I kissed his brother a couple of months ago. He'd looked shocked, and I'd felt my stomach drop as our eyes met. It was just my luck. I hadn't even wanted to kiss Mark, but I'd let him kiss me, just so I could see if there was a spark. I wanted to explain to Derek that it had been a mistake, but I was too ashamed to tell him anything. Especially given our history together.

"Babe," Amelia's sighed and pursed her lips.

"Don't 'babe' me, Amelia." I rolled my eyes at her, starting to feel frustrated. "You wouldn't have called, either."

"Maybe not." She shook her head at me, and we both paused and looked down at her pocket as her phone rang.

"Get it." I walked away from her. "Your obnoxious Prince Charming is waiting for you."

"He's not obnoxious," she protested as she pulled her phone out of her pocket. And then she giggled. "Well, maybe he's slightly obnoxious," she admitted and then answered the phone.

"Hello," she said softly in her 'I'm a princess, come and save me' voice, and I hurried down the corridor and into my bedroom.

I grabbed my laptop, jumped onto my bed, and pulled up Facebook. I typed 'Derek Shepherd' quickly in search and my heart froze as unfamiliar photos popped onto the screen. Had Derek unfriended me? I swallowed hard, my heart beating fast as I refreshed the page.

"Oh my God," I groaned as I realized I'd typed in 'Deek' instead of 'Derek'. I quickly backspaced and deleted and changed it to the correct spelling. I felt a huge rush of relief escape me as Derek's familiar photo crossed my screen. I clicked on his photos to see if he had any new pictures and my heart stopped again when I noticed called Meredith Grey had left a comment that said, "Can't wait to see you this weekend."

I clicked on her name, but her profile was private and I couldn't see anything else.
Who the hell was Meredith Grey? Was she, his girlfriend? Did he love her? Ugh! My head was spinning with questions as my stomach churned. I quickly went to Google and typed her name in and looked to see if I could find anything else about her online. That was what I hated and loved about the internet. It was so easy to stalk— I mean, "research"— people.

"Addie, what are you doing?" Amelia walked into my room with two different tops in her hands.

"Research," I mumbled as I looked up at her, debating whether or not I should ask her if she knew who this Meredith girl was.

"Research for what?" Amy plopped down onto my bed, and I tried to adjust my laptop so that she couldn't see it. It was one thing to be a stalker, but it was another thing to be caught stalking. Especially when it involves your best friend's brother.

"Work," I lied and avoided her thoughtful gaze.

"What do you have to research for work?" she questioned; her voice doubtful. There wasn't much that I did in the office, let alone had to do from home.

"What are you, an FBI agent?" I snapped, feeling peeved that she was questioning me.

"Okay, so what has Derek been up to recently?" She laughed and I looked up at her. "I'm not dumb, Addie. I obviously can guess that your research is about my big bro. You've never had to do research for work before. Not that you've mentioned to me, anyway."

I handed my laptop over to Amelia. "Do you know who Meredith Grey is, by any chance?"

"Meredith who?" she asked in a confused voice.

"I'm guessing that's a no." I sighed. "Do you know if Derek is dating anyone?"

"Not that he's told me." She frowned. "Why? Does it say he's in a relationship on Facebook?"

"Not exactly." I shook my head. "But this whore Meredith is commenting on his wall."

"What? A prostitute?" Amelia's eyes widened and she looked down at the computer to see what I was talking about. "How do you know she's a working girl?"

"Oh," I said meekly, feeling bad for calling my unknown nemesis and enemy whore. "I don't know if she's a whore, Amy." I rolled my eyes at her.

"What?" She looked up at me. "You're confusing me. Is my brother dating a whore or not?"

"Oh my gosh, Amelia," I groaned. "I was looking at Derek's profile on Facebook and some girl called Meredith Grey commented on his wall saying she can't wait to see him this weekend, and I called her a whore because I'm jealous and I want to see him this weekend," I explained feebly. "And if you didn't have your head in the clouds, you would have understood what I was talking about."

"Oh, I get it." She giggled. "She's not a whore, like she's hooking up for money, but she's a whore in that she's a ho because she's after your man."

"I prefer my explanation." I giggled. "Yours makes me sound like a psycho. I can't call her a ho because she's after my man. After all, he's not my man."

"Addie," she groaned, "you're super confusing me."

"You're super confusing me." I made a face. "Now do you know her or not?"
"I've never heard of her before in my life," Amelia said and handed me back the laptop. "Do you want me to call Derek and see what's up?"

"I don't know. Do you think that will be obvious?" I asked her as I gazed down at Derek's profile again. "Oh shit," I groaned out loud as I gave Meredith's comment a like. "I just liked her post on his wall. What should I do?"

"Unlike it quickly," Amelia said as she shook her head. "And then like a different post, so if Derek gets notifications, he will see you have a like somewhere."

"Ugh, he's going to know I was Facebook-stalking him." I sighed. "I'm such a loser."

"Addie, it's fine." She jumped off of the bed. "I'm sure he won't think anything of it."

"You think so?"

"I know so. Guys don't analyze Facebook likes and comments as we do." She smiled at me encouragingly. "He most probably won't even notice that you liked anything."

"Yeah, I guess so." I nodded hesitantly, my heart racing in fear. Amelia was talking as if she knew what she was talking about, and she most probably thought she knew everything about men now that she was dating Link, but I knew that she didn't know that much. I mean, she hadn't been dating Link for very long, and I was the one who had given her all her dating advice up until she started dating him. So essentially, Amelia was giving me the advice I would have given her, and in all honesty, I had no idea what I'd been talking about when I was the one giving advice.