Untouchable face

26.

This was weird. All of this was so damn weird and Meredith wasn't sure what to think about any of it. She had come over to Aaron's house, they had ordered a pizza and then sat down to watch a movie, which sounded normal. But Aaron, who loved movies and couldn't stop talking during them, hadn't said a word. He hadn't even touched her.

Aaron was usually really touchy, sometimes to the point it annoyed her. He always kissed her hello and he seemed to always be cuddling during movies, which she had always thought guys hated but apparently she had been wrong. But today he wasn't even sitting right next to her. He was sitting on the other side of the couch, staring at the TV as he held a beer loosely in his hand. It just was so...anti-Aaron or something. He seemed completely out of it, and she wondered if maybe one of his patients had gotten sick and died or something. She figured it was the only explanation for the way he was acting. He didn't deal with death nearly as often as she did because most of the time patients were well past the point of dangers when they got to him, but she knew it wasn't unheard of that someone started rehab and still developed an infection. And Aaron loved his job, he loved his patients so that would get to him.

She just didn't get it otherwise. He had insisted that she see Rocky, and she had rolled her eyes a lot, but she had figured it would make him happy. And she did want him to be happy. She might be a terrible person who had feelings for another, taken guy but she really did like Aaron. He was a great guy. He deserved a lot more than she was giving him and she should probably ask what was wrong. She had never done the dating thing before but she was pretty sure this was the point where a girl would ask a boy what was wrong and he really deserved someone to do that. And she did care about him so it made sense.

"Hey," she stretched her legs out and brushed her toes against his thigh. "What's your deal?"

"What?"

"What's your deal?" she reported. "You're...quiet."

"Oh...nothing," he shrugged.

"Nothing," she nodded carefully. "Are all of your patients okay?"

"Yeah, they're good."

"Was your day okay?"

"Yeah it was fine," he nodded.

"Okay," she nodded. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah."

"Hmmmm," she breathed as she reached for the remote and turned off the movie before crawling into his lap.

"Meredith..." he sighed.

"There's something wrong," she kissed his neck as she moved her hands under his t-shirt. "And it's my job to make you feel better."

"No..." he groaned. "Mer..."

"No?" Meredith frowned. "Okay, now you're giving me a complex."

"I'm just...not tonight," he sighed.

"That's fine. But what's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Okay, you don't know this, but I'm like...the expert at avoiding and saying nothing or fine."

"You are?"

"Yes. So usually I'd just leave it alone but you're like...the anti-Aaron right now."

"Yeah."

"Do you want me to leave?"

"No...I...no," he sighed.

"Okay," Meredith sighed as she stood. "Then I'm going to go up to your room and get naked. If you're not up in ten minutes, I'm leaving."