Renaissance

Chapter 5 (updated version)

For a long time, Meredith hated school. Every day she would count the seconds on the clock in the classroom. But now she was so thankful for the place. Or at least she thought she was. It was keeping her mind off of things. From Derek and the constant guilt that's been eating her from the inside out.

Not soon after Meredith fled the club, Cristina and Izzy realised she was gone. They said goodbye and rushed back to their dorms only to see a sleeping Meredith curled up in bed, frowning. Tears dried to her cheeks.

Izzy tried to approach her once or twice to see if she was okay, but Meredith would just give her an excuse and flee the room. Cristina didn't bother with questions. She was sure if she needed someone to talk to, she will come to her.

Now it's been two weeks and the three of them hardly saw each other. If they weren't in class they were studying, if they weren't studying, they were working. Meredith was working in the little café where she got sandwiches on her first day here. Basically, every college student went there, and it was filled all the time. Faces buried in their books.

Thankfully, she hasn't ran into Derek yet. There were times where she saw him in the halls, but she would turn the other way as fast as her legs could take her. She knew Derek saw her and he tried to approach her multiple times but she'd run to her friends or to class.

-----

Derek, thankful for the little piece of information he got from Mark, found out she was working in the little café down the road, he was headed over there to see what he could do to make her wish she never ran after him that night at the party.

Although that sounded silly because he loved that night. Wouldn't trade it in for anything. She made fun of him which should have been a sign but to be honest he didn't care. It was cute. She had this stupid little grin on her face and her eyes sparkled through her glasses as the moonlight lit up her clear skin.

There was no kidding that she was pretty but gorgeous; he wouldn't go that far. It's not like he can see anything else other than her face. She's always wearing these huge pieces of clothing that doesn't even look good. So pretty, maybe but gorgeous was definitely not the word to describe her.

Derek went out of the building as fast as he could and got home to put all his stuff down. He dragged Mark out of the apartment with the promise that he'll do anything he asks him to for a week, which was stupid on his part, but Derek was desperate, so he went with it. They got in the car and drove to the café. It wasn't far, around five minutes with the car.

They went in, Derek immediately spotting Meredith behind the counter. Something was different about her. Her face looked pale and tired. Her hair up in a messy bun like it hasn't been taken care of for weeks. She went around to wait on a table and that's when he saw something he never thought he'd see. She was wearing black jeans and a white blouse. She looked beautiful. He froze in the middle of the building oblivious to the fact that he was staring like a crazy person. Mark had to pat him on the shoulders to bring him back from his trance.

"You, okay?" he asked.

"Hmm? Yeah, fine. Totally fine...," he mumbled under his breath as he slowly sat down to a nearby table. He has no idea what has gotten into him. A minute ago, she was ugly with grey sweats and hoodies. And now she was wearing tight jeans and a blouse that accentuated her body perfectly. But he had to remember that even though she was pretty she was a bitch to deal with.

"Good afternoon I'll be your waitress today, wha-," Meredith looked up from the pad she was holding in her hand and saw two faces she recognised very well. One with a very sorry look on his face and the other with the smuggest smirk ever seen, "What can I get you today," she cleared her throat and wrote something down.