Author's Note 1: An oldie, but a goodie. Something that has been missing from this fandom for way too long. Enjoy!
The Seattle rain is pounding against the windows of Emerald City Pub on this warm June evening. Quiet music and the hum of chatter lingers in the air. The lights are dimmed low, setting up a cozy, intimate atmosphere inside the pub. In walks a man, drenched from the rain, wearing a crimson-red shirt and black slacks. His hair is clinging to his face, water droplets running down his cheeks. He wipes his eyes with his hand, letting out a long sigh.
"Hey, back again?" Joe the Bartender laughs as the rain-drenched man makes his way to the bar. He wipes his hand on a cloth, shaking his head. "I guess you just can't get enough of this place, huh? What can I get you tonight?"
"Whiskey." The man places his order with a nod in thanks, turning to observe the room. Not too far away, sitting at a table with three other people, was a woman with shoulder-length blonde hair. She was wearing a little black dress that came just above her knees, and the man's heart clenched as he remembered the woman he left behind in New York. She had a little black dress, almost identical to the one this stranger wore; it always made him weak in the knees .
The woman laughs, presumably at a story shared by one of her friends. Her eyes move towards him for just a quick second, and her smile fades as she continues to look at him. The man considers going to introduce himself when Joe returns with a glass of whiskey. He turns away from the woman wearing that little black dress, taking a large swig of the beverage.
"Hello there," a female voice says a moment later, and he notes there's a faint hint of a Bostonian accent. He puts his glass down and turns to see the woman, the one who was wearing that little black dress. Now that he looked closely, it's the exact one she wore.
"I saw you looking at me, so I thought I'd come over." She smiled, batting her eyelids.
A smile formed on his lips as he took in her features. Her blue eyes were like the clear waters of the Caribbean, the same blue waters he went with her on their brief breaks from work and school. Back then, married life had been enjoyable.
"So," the man cleared his throat, realizing he'd been staring for a bit too long. This woman was waiting for him to say something. "Can I get you anything?"
"I could really go for tequila." She puts down her purse and takes a seat next to him.
"Ah, I'm sorry. Bad breakup?"
"Eh," the woman shrugs, shaking her head. "I'm starting my first day of work tomorrow and I'm super stressed out about it. Can we not do that thing where we talk about our pathetic lives and just see where this takes us? Are you good with that?"
The man nods, knowing exactly what the woman meant. He did not want to talk about her . His first day at the new job would begin in just under twelve hours and, for some reason, he found himself at the bar – again – instead of his hotel room. The hotel room where he would go to bed, wondering about her and him , and about the life and career he'd left behind in New York. It'd be another restless night of wondering when everything went wrong in his marriage.
He knew he was partially to blame for their marriage falling apart, but he wouldn't tell her .
"Joe, tequila for my friend over here."
"Coming right up." Joe the Bartender responds with a nod.
"So," the man begins, turning back to the woman. "If we aren't sharing our sob stories, then what are we going to do?" He wondered if she was expecting something he hadn't planned for.
"Who knows." The woman shrugs. "I mean, we could go back to my house and watch some movies." Her voice takes on a coy, teasing voice.
The man didn't want to watch movies. It'd been two months since he last had sex.
"Or," the woman continues, a wicked smile forming on her pretty face. "We could go back to my house, and have dirty, drunk sex." She finished with a wink.
"Well, as pretty are you are, I don't normally have sex with a woman if I don't know her name." The man half-teased. Whether or not he knew her name, he knew he was having sex tonight.
"Here you go." Joe the Bartender returns with a glass of tequila, which the woman takes and takes a generous swig of the alcoholic beverage. She lets out an excited whoop and a sigh.
"Meredith." She turns to the man, holding her hand out.
"Derek." The man smiled, taking her hand to shake it.
Author's Note 2: So this isn't exactly what happened, but I don't care. I just wanted to get into Derek's head and have some fun.