The First Time

6.

Derek held the door open for Meredith to exit before him. He'd showered and changed into jeans and a clean t-shirt and she thought that he looked good enough to eat. But that only made her feel even more self conscious about what she was wearing. She still had on the gym's employee uniform, although she had donned a jacket that she'd worn over it to cover herself up and keep her warm, on the way to work. She pulled it more closely around her as he moved a little closer.

"Where would you like to go?" he asked

Meredith looked at him surprised. She had no idea. Her brain was still trying to come to terms with the fact that she was actually walking beside him. And when he moved slightly closer to her to speak to her and she could actually smell the fresh male scent of him, then, she could actually feel the goose bumps rise and she shivered slightly.

Derek was instantly concerned. "Are you cold?"

She panicked. Scared that if she said yes he may get even closer to her.

"No I'm fine. It's just my legs are a little chilly." She explained.

Derek looked down at her gym shorts and noticed the goose bumps on her glorious legs. He'd never felt envious of a goose bump before but it seemed that this girl kept proving that there was a first time for everything. He wanted to rub his hands up and down her smooth legs and warm them up but he knew it was a bit too soon for anything like that. She really was a puzzle to him. She seemed quite skittish. Almost like a young colt, he thought and smiled to himself at the idea of telling her but instead he just made a suggestion.

"Well how about we just go to the diner around the corner. Then we can get you out of the cold quickly."

Meredith nodded, thinking that the less time that she spent alone with him the better. The diner was always packed with students so she knew that she'd have plenty of people around to distract her ... or him.

GAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA

As they entered, Derek steered her to a booth at the back and after they'd ordered the silence descended on the table.

Meredith was feeling awkward. She knew that she was way out of her depth with this guy. She should never have come.

Derek on the other hand was just enjoying taking in the pleasure of being in her company. He hated girls who seemed to have to fill every quiet minute with noise. He'd swear that some of them could talk about nothing for hours ... and they often did. Whereas Meredith it seemed, only spoke when she had something to say. He liked her more and more by the minute.

"So are you studying here?" Derek finally asked. He'd been enjoying the silence but he needed to know more about her.

Meredith nodded. "Yeah. Biology. I'm hoping to get into the medical school." She replied. "You?" she asked.

"I'm already there. I'm finishing my MD/PhD in Computational Biology." He replied simply.

"Wow. Do you like it?" Meredith asked wanting to know more about him since they obviously had the love of medicine in common.

Derek nodded. "Love it. I never had to make a choice." He shrugged. "It's all I've ever wanted to do." He explained.

Meredith smiled. "You're lucky. I really had no idea for a long time. Even now, I'm not sure if I've chosen the right thing. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love what I'm doing, it's just that I'm not sure if I'm really doing it for me or for my mother. I'm not exactly sure what I'll specialize in when I finish. You seem to know exactly where you're headed."

"Yeah. Seattle." He replied smiling at the thought of her with her head buried in a book studying the same things he had.

"Seattle?" she queried nervously. He was headed back to her home town.