Dusk&Summer

18.

She hadn't come. He hadn't really expected her to come, but after waiting for her all morning, a small part of him was pissed she hadn't come. Derek knew she would probably do this. Meredith freaked out. Meredith rambled. Meredith had avoiding down to an art. But a small part of him had hoped that she had felt it too. That she had felt the incredible warmth that had passed through his body.

He had never felt that before. He had had some good kisses in his life, he had some great kisses but nothing had felt like that. Their lips had barely brushes, just a light kiss, maybe not even enough to qualify as a kiss. But for one second everything had felt better than it had moments before. He had been holding her, he loved nothing more than holding her but kissing her was better.

There was something about her lips. They were soft, they were warm, and somehow they made everything right. He had spent the entire day before trying to figure out why a twenty-year-old girl he had known his entire life could make him feel like that. She hadn't come down from her room, hadn't even come down for any meals, and he had spent all day wondering if maybe she hadn't felt it.

He wanted to talk to her. Which was insane, wanting to talk to her had to be insane or something. She probably hadn't felt anything close to how he was feeling and if he said something about it she would just shut up and it would make for a very awkward summer. But he needed to talk to her. He needed to find out if he was alone in how good that kiss had felt.

So he had woken up that morning and gotten a blanket and two cups of coffee and had just stared at the sun rise. It hadn't made him feel anything all morning. Anger. A lot of anger. He wasn't sure what else to feel. Because she was avoiding him, and he needed her. He needed to wrap his arms around her and hold her close, and maybe try that kiss again.

He got that she was avoiding him. He hadn't even found it all that shocking. Except it didn't make it feel any better. That kiss had been everything. He hadn't expected it to be. He had had the idea of kissing her in his head for days now but he hadn't expected it to be that much to him. He had expected something simple. But it wasn't what he had gotten and now he just wanted to talk to her.

"Hey, grab some Twinkies, Soph's obsessed with them," Brian called over his shoulder as he threw a box of Lucky Charms into the cart.

"Someone's being protective," Derek laughed slightly.

"Of my balls," Brian shrugged. "She threatened castration if I didn't bring any home."

"At least it's you she threatens now."

"She likes chocolate pudding too right?"

"Yeah," Mark nodded. "She threaten you with that one too?"

"No," Brian rolled his eyes. "Just thought I'd grab her some."

"Oh of course," Derek smirked.

"Man, I'm just watching out for my girl."

"Your girl?" Derek asked his friend. "Something different I should know about?"

"She's my girl," Brian shrugged. "She doesn't know it, but she's mine."

"She doesn't know?"

"We haven't really talked about it."

"Why not?"

"Just haven't," Brian shook his head, reaching for a box of Poptarts. "God, did we eat shit like this in college?"

"You...you guys ate that shit in college," Derek sighed.

"She has this Ramen thing too. I don't remember living off of Ramen."

"We definitely had ramen," Mark laughed. "When Shep was too busy studying to cook for us."