Strangers in the night

42

Dating sucked. Meredith had forgotten that. Dating really sucked. And dating your boss probably made it a lot worse than it had to be. Dating your best friend really made it suck. Dating your best friend who just happened to be your boss was just a mess. All of this was a mess. Because she wasn't even supposed to be at work, but to get out of the really bad date with Derek, she had something about work. And now here she was.

And she was definitely avoiding her kind of boyfriend thing. Except she was pretty sure that after that awful date he wasn't her anything anymore. Maybe best friend, she hoped he was just her best friend. After that she would just forget that she had ever been in love with him because dating was bad. So awkwardly bad. So so so bad. She really needed to curl up and die.

Their date had been awful. Completely and totally awkward and bad and awful. She was pretty sure she had never been on a date that bad in her life. Actually, she was pretty sure there had never been a date that bad in anybody's life. Except hers now. Because she had gone on a date with her best friend who she had fallen in love with and now she was avoiding him.

"Meredith, what are you doing here?" a far too perky voice came from somewhere behind her.

"Working," she sighed as she signed her name quickly to her post op notes.

"But why?" Izzie frowned.

"Because I'm a doctor," Meredith shrugged. "I have to work. Saving lives...not optional."

"But you're not supposed to be here."

"Yeah I know. Except I have to be."

"Okay...why?"

"Because I lied so I wouldn't have to eat dessert."

"I'm going to need a little more than that."

"I lied to Derek," Meredith sighed. "I lied and told him I had to work so I wouldn't have to eat dessert. So I could pretend like I was having a great time instead of wanting to stab myself in the eye or something. Or do surgery on my ribs. Anyway, I lied. And if he's here this morning and I'm not, then he'll know I lied and then he'll know I wasn't having a great time."

"You...you didn't have a great time?" Izzie frowned.

"It was awful, Izzie. Completely and totally...I'm pretty sure I have to end...things or whatever."

"Oh crap," Izzie sighed. "I knew this was going to happen."

"What?" Meredith looked up quickly. "You...how did you know? We're...we're supposed to be us, Izzie. Us...we don't be awkward. We talk and we're us and everything is good and fun and...it was horrible. Completely...how did you know it was going to be crap? Because it was supposed to be perfect."

"Well...because you wanted it to be perfect," Izzie shrugged. "And you were in pain and probably a little stoned."

"I was not stoned, Izzie," Meredith rolled her eyes. "It's regular Tylenol. Regular Tylenol doesn't get you stoned."

"It could have and that's beside the point," Izzie sighed. "You were way too...stressed about it."

"No," Meredith shook her head. "It was just...we barely talked. At all. We barely said a word to each other. And I used the line on him, Iz. I told him I'd call him and that we should do it again."

"You used that line on Derek? Your Derek?"

"He wasn't...he wasn't my Derek last night," Meredith groaned. "He was...some weird guy in a suit who ate fancy food and...I used that line on him."

"Where did he take you?" Izzie asked.

"Fairmont Olympic Hotel," Meredith sighed. "The Georgian. You know...where Scott had that big dinner with the clients a year and a half ago? The place I hated?"