Hey, so this is for the august 13 fic exchange and this is for the lovely Clara aka alies du neige. It can get a little weird at times but here it is.
prompts: "you've taken pride in becoming nothing", salt stains, ugly ducklings, & smudged crimson lipstick.
pairings: Claire/derrick
Claire was always that sweet little innocent girl that never did anything wrong. Derrick was the guy every girl wanted. How the two ended up together is a mystery to everyone. All we know is one day after a crazy Valentines Day party, those two were walking down main street, holding hands, and buying matching couple Build-a-Bears. After that they were posting couple selfies on Instagram and kissing every time they saw each other. They soon became Westchester's 'golden couple'.
After graduation, they both went out to California for college. Derrick got a sports scholarship for UCLA and Claire was going for acting. They had saved up money for an apartment and owned one about fifteen minutes away from the school. It was paradise for the couple. They loved going out all night and had date nights every nights. They had long walks on the beach and romantic dinners at the fanciest restaurants in LA. Derrick taught Claire how to surf and Claire dragged Derrick to all the famous sights that LA has to offer. Everything was great, and then, it got better.
One day after class, the couple were hanging out in their apartment. The couple were snuggling on the couch, watching Grown Ups for about the fiftieth time. Grown Ups was one of Derrick's favorite movies. They were laughing at the hilarious jokes in the movie when the door bell rang.
"I'll get it," Claire says, getting up from her spot on the couch. She walks over to the door to the small, yet cozy, apartment. She stands on the top of her toes and glanced through the peep hole. She unlocked the door and opened it, seeing the mail man in front of her.
"Package for Derrick Harrington," he says, handing Claire the package. She grabs it from the man and looks it over.
"Thanks," Claire says, signing Derrick's signature on the paper and the man leaves with a nod. Claire closes the door walks back into the living room, putting the package on the coffee table. Derrick looks up at her with question in his eyes.
"Package for you," Claire says, sitting back down in the couch and focusing her attention to Roxanne Feder skipping a rock right into her son's balls. Derrick's attention goes from the movie to the package. He picks it up and looks at it with curiosity. He opens the box, ripping the tape off. He rummaged through the packing peanuts, finding a Los Angeles Galaxy uniform. He looks on the back and finds his name.
"What is this?" he asks himself, looking through the box for something else, a note or letter explaining the jersey. After hunting for a while, he finds a crisp yellow envelope. He looks at it before tearing it open. He reads the white stationary carefully, a grin appearing on his face after reading it over and over again just to make sure he isn't dreaming.
"Claire, Claire, look!" Derrick practically shouts, pausing the movie and making Claire turn to him.
"What?" Claire asks, wanting to know the cause of her boyfriends excitement. Derrick shoved the letter in Claire's face. Claire grabbed it and read it over, a smile growing as she read.
"OH my god, LA Galaxy wants you on the team! Derrick, this is amazing!" Claire exclaims, jumping on her boyfriend.
"I know. Gosh, image it. We could be rich!" Derrick says as he hugs his girl. That day changed the two's lives. Derrick's dreams became a reality. He dropped out of school and played for the team. He was great. Everyone loved him. All the teams wanted him and all the girls swooned over him. Derrick only had the hots for one girl, Claire. All the other girls were ugly ducklings to him.
Claire was his number one fan. She went to every game and always cheered him on. She stayed at UCLA. She majored in acting and was minoring in teaching. Everything was perfect. But once your life is perfect, it can only go down hill from there. And trust me, they went down a big hill.
It was the championship game and Galaxy was winning 6-3. It was the beginning of the third quarter. Derrick was playing goal and was doing great. Almost nothing got past him. The center on the other team was charging at him and Derrick was getting ready to block the incoming shot. The center's foot collided with the ball and it went flying toward Derrick. He jumped and grabbed the ball. blocking the shot. Then, it went bad.
Derrick landed the wrong way. His leg twisted under him. It snapped. Coach's and teammates rushed at him. Claire shot up in her seat and ran down to the field. Derrick tried to hide his pain, not wanting Claire to see him like that. It didn't work.
He was rushed to the hospital where the doctors put him in surgery. Claire cried the whole time. She had never been more worried in her life. Luckily, Derrick didn't die. The bad thing, he'll never get to play soccer again. He'll have to go through years of therapy. He'll never walk the same, always have a limp. His career was over just as it began.
Claire was a great sport, she dropped out of college so she could take of him. He needed to stay off the leg for a month so Claire became his home nurse. She always made sure his pillow was fluffed and that his cup was always full. She gave him so much. She started to work more, getting a job at Starbucks.
Derrick didn't mind the leg injury. Because of his heroic move, the team won the game. Everyone said Derrick was a hero. Derrick loved that, loved that everyone looked up to him and thought he was amazing. He loved being in the spotlight.
But you know, no one ever stays in the spotlight for too long. After about a month or so, people stopped talking about Derrick and his action. People moved on to other news. This wasn't good. Money was tight, after all the surgeries and physical therapy the bills were piling up. They were pulling through, but only because people felt bad and were sending the couple money.
Then, the money stopped. People got bored and didn't care any more. That was bad, very bad. The couple was close to broke and with only one of them working, things didn't look too great. Claire was worried, very worried. She was sure they would loose the apartment and be homeless. Derrick didn't think the same. He thought that people would send more money. He laughed when Claire got nervous. He would always say, "Claire, don't worry, people always help hero's in need".
3 months later, things still weren't looking up. Derrick still wasn't working, claiming that hero's don't need to work and that he need time for his leg to heal. The money from Claire's job wasn't helping much and she was worked she would have to take loans from the bank. Everyday Claire would get more mad at Derrick and his hero act. The day the owner of the apartment building told her she was late for rent, she snapped.
Claire walked into the apartment, clearly pissed. She slammed her purse on the table and walked over to Derrick, who was sitting on the couch watching Modern Family. She waved the note in front of his face.
"Look at this, someone forgot to pay the rent,'" she said, her angry evident in her voice. Derrick shrugged his shoulders, clearly not worried about the missing payment.
"Claire bear, don't worry. They'll give a couple extra days to pay. They wouldn't kick out a hero," Derrick said, looking past Claire and back at the screen. Claire usually would ignore him and walk over to the kitchen to work out the problem, but she was done.
"No Derrick, they won't! We have been late for a while and in a week, this apartment will be empty. God Derrick, why can't you understand that we need money!" Claire shouted, turning the TV off.
"Claire, we don't need money. We have plenty in the bank from all my fans," Derrick says, clearly not fazed.
"No Derrick, we don't! We don't have any money, the bank account is almost empty. All our money is gone and my one job isn't cutting it. Get up and get a job," Claire shouted again, glaring daggers at her boyfriend.
"Baby, hero's don't need jobs," Derrick said.
"God, Derrick, you don't get it! YOU AREN'T A HERO! God, all you did was stop a ball. It's not much. We need money and we need it now. Unless you get out there and get a job, then you can leave," Claire said, grabbing her purse.
"Where are you going?" Derrick asked.
"To my new job, since I'm not some lazy jerk and I know how to work," Claire shouted, slamming the door. Derrick sighed, knowing that he had made his girl pretty pissed. Maybe he had been a little narcissistic. OK, a lot narcissistic. God, he was an idiot. He had to make things right. He had to go and get a job. He had to make things right. To start, he had to find Claire and apologize.
Where was she? She said she had a new job. What job? Derrick began to rummage through papers on the table, hoping to find a clue to where his girl had gone. He found piles of bills and checks, but no clue as to where his wife had gone. He was about ready to give up, when he heard a beep. He turned to the kitchen counter and saw Claire's phone.
He ran over and grabbed the phone, finding a text from someone named Byron. He opened the text and read it, not liking what he was reading.
Tonight will be great. You'll make any guy swoon. Can't wait to see you work. See you soon
Derrick went though all the messages from this Byron and found the address for Claire's new job. 58 Winchester Street. He quickly ran to the door, stumbling from his bad leg. He grabbed his cane from the basket by the door and quickly ran outside. He tried to flag down a cab, but with no luck. He took off running, knowing that he had to save Claire from this new job.
He quickly arrived at his destination, The Lovely Ladies Club. Derrick opened the door and walked in, immediately smelling the booze. He looked around. disgusted at the sight of the men betting on the ladies and cheering them on. It made him sick. He sat at the bar, hoping to catch sight of Claire. He couldn't spot the gorgeous blonde, making him worry.
Suddenly, he heard a door open towards the back, a man emerging with a a blonde girl who had smudged crimson lipstick all around her mouth. He quickly recognized her as Claire. The man looked like the dirty guy he is, salt stains on his boots. Derrick's face turned grim when the man led her to the stage with a pole in the middle.
Claire looked nervous, not too happy with her costume of a cute police officer. She felt so vulnerable. She shakily stood on the stage, looking at Byron. He nodded, telling her to start. She grabbed the pole, trying to loosen up.
Derrick hated seeing Claire like that. He hated the look of fear on her face and just wanted to run up there and give her a huge kiss. That's exactly what he did. He jumped up there and grabbed her, giving her a kiss. She was shocked at first, but kissed back after a second. They both broke from the kiss, smiling at each.
"I'm sorry I got so mad," Claire said.
"No, you were right. I was being a total jerk face. I need to get a job and I'll start looking tomorrow," Derrick said.
"So, you aren't mad at me?" Claire asked and Derrick just shook his head.
"Not one bit. I could never get mad at my Claire bear. Besides, every hero needs a lover," Derrick said, pulling Claire in for another kiss.
So, I hope that didn't suck too bad. I hope you liked it. I'll try to update my other stories soon, but I'm going on Vacation tomorrow. So, review and tell me what you think. Kisses.