The Luckiest

54

Meredith slammed her car door angrily and stomped up the stairs to Sophie's apartment angrily. Ass. Ass. He was a complete ass. And she shouldn't be here. She shouldn't be bitching to his sister about how much of an ass he was. But if she went to Izzie, she'd get a lecture about defining something, and Cristina wouldn't do anything but bitch about Burke. So Sophie it was.

She couldn't believe him. He had said it so many times, in that voice of his that made him sound broken and fragile, asking what came first, him or the job. And it had always been him, there had never been a time it hadn't been him. And now he had managed to miss a stupid night of drinks with her friends because he hadn't been able to get away from his ever so important job.

She got that he had to cook. She got that the restaurant was important to him. It was important to her too. But he had sworn he had the night off. He had promised he'd be off by the night rush because he had been working the night shift every night for the past three weeks. Which was fine, really, she got it. She got busy jobs. And then he had completely blown her off. Not even a fucking phone call.

And she had blown up at him. She didn't even want to take it back at this point. They had yelled and screamed and completely freaked out on each other. But she wasn't taking it back. She was pissed. If she had pulled that he would pout and be all Dereky and make her feel like she had done something entirely wrong. Which she would have. If she promised him the night off, she made sure she got it.

She banged on Sophie's door, hoping she wasn't busy with Brian. She'd feel like a complete bitch if Sophie were busy with Brian right now. But she had to bitch. She had to bitch about Derek. And the fact that she apparently couldn't let her job be important, but he could put his job first all he wanted. This wasn't the first time he had pulled this. But it was the first time she was this mad.

The door swung open and she was met by Sophie. "Meredith?" Sophie frowned.

"Your brother is an ass and a bastard," Meredith said firmly.

"What did he do now?"

"Were you at the restaurant tonight?" Meredith asked, walking into the apartment.

"No, I had the night off," Sophie shrugged.

"Derek was supposed to have the night off too," Meredith nodded. "He was supposed to have the night off after three weeks of coming back to the trailer even later than me. But no...he stayed all fucking night and didn't even fucking call me."

"Oh that's not good," Sophie frowned.

"No, it's not good. It's not good. He swore he'd have the night off. Even I got the night off. The night off of saving lives. Which, by the way, I did last week too when he came down with that cold or whatever and felt like crap. I took the night off because he did that weird Dereky look and asked what was more important, him or the job. So I took the night off. People could die when I take the night off, Sophie."

"I know that, Meredith," Sophie nodded, going to her fridge and hanging Meredith a beer. "I think you need this."

"Beer is good," Meredith sighed, grabbing the beer. "So I took the night off and he said he'd meet me at Joe's at eight thirty. And my friends are all there and I'm waiting for him and I keep calling his cell phone and does he answer?"

"Of course not. He's a man. And my brother."

"Exactly. He doesn't call. So I'm thinking he got in an accident or something. I'm thinking I should go to the hospital and make sure he's still alive and not dead or dying and not needing brain surgery or something."

"Maybe something happened at work," Sophie suggested.

"No, nothing happened at work," Meredith said. "I went home and he was at the trailer and he was all, 'Where have you been?' Like he was pissed at me or something for not coming back to the trailer until ten-thirty."