invisible string

year 15

Derek was coming home today. Not that it mattered. They hadn't actually talked for a year. A year in two days. It was his stupid fault that they weren't talking, he was the one who got all in her business. Who was he to tell her what she could or couldn't do? She wasn't one of his sisters, he had not control over what she did. Maybe telling him he wasn't anything to him was harsh but... She shouldn't have said that. He wasn't nothing to her, he was everything to her.

Going a year without talking to him was terrible. During Christmas last year she mainly stayed at home alone, which was the definition of depressing. When Chuck made her go to the Shepherd's, Derek and Meredith barely even looked at each other. Both Chuck and Mrs. Shepherd had asked what had happened but neither of them answered. She thought it would have been easier when he was at school but it wasn't. She found herself reaching for the telephone and half dialing his number almost every day. A year without Derek was like.... She definitely wasn't going to day sunshine, because that would be horrible and cheesy. But a year without Derek definitely fucking sucked.

She thought she was going to see him during the summer, and maybe they would make up but she had no such luck. After some strategic conversation maneuvering, she got Chuck to tell her that he had gotten a summer internship in New York. But he definitely was coming home today. There was no way he was going to miss Christmas with his family, and Chuck couldn't hang out this morning because she had to pick him and Mark up from the airport. So Meredith was sitting on the steps in front of her house. Not because in a few minutes, Derek was supposed to arrive so she could see him for the first time in almost a year. But because she... had nothing better to do.

The car was pulling around the corner. Derek was in it. She was going to be able to see Derek again. Even if it was from a distance, she would see his dark curly hair that was probably a mess from sitting in an airplane for several hours. He was about to pass her, maybe she would be able to see him through the window. She could hear some shouting from inside the car but she couldn't make out the words, then she saw the car abruptly stop right in front of her house. Derek immediately climbed out of the car, ran to her, and wrapped his arms around her

"I don't care if I'm not anything to you, you are so important to me and not being around you hurt an unimaginable amount. I'm not going to do this anymore." He said in one breath, still holding on to her.

"Oh." She breathed. "You're not nothing to me. I was drunk and hungover and I don't know, not me. But you are not nothing to me." She said hugging him back.

"And I'm sorry for trying to control you. You- I'm not saying you should get drunk and sleep with random guys, cause I don't like thinking about that. But I don't have control over what you do." He said.

"I applied to Columbia." She blurted.

"You what!?" He said with a huge grin as he pulled away so he could see her face.

"I was picking colleges and the Columbia pamphlet somehow kept on showing up and I really missed you so I applied. I think I was planning on mildly stalking you if we didn't make up." She said with now red cheeks.

"Oh I probably would have stalked you too." He said with a small grin on his face.

"I never want to spend that long not talking to you ever again." She said as she pulled him back into a hug.

"We never will. I promise." He said hugging her tighter.