"I can't believe this." Chloe sighed, rubbing her temples. After a weeklong trip to see her father and his new wife, she returned to find her home flooded. Water dripped from sagging brown spots on the celling and down the walls of her kitchen, making the red floral printed wallpaper peel and fall in chunks to the soaked floor. Magazines and DVDs and numerous odds and ins floated through her living room. Before she could allow herself to cry she turned back to the porch and dialed a number on her cell phone.
"NYC Construction. This is Tess. How may I help you?" a perky girly voice answered on the third ring.
"Tess, its Chloe. Can I talk to him, please?" Chloe ask.
"Chloe! OhMyGosh! When did you get back? He has been crazy stressed all week. How was your trip? Oh sorry I'm babbling. Umm...Hold on, I'll get him." Chloe couldn't help but smile at the girl's energy.
"Chloe? When did you get back? Is everything okay?" a gruff voice asks.
"Derek." She sighed. Just hearing his voice calmed her down.
"Chloe, what's wrong?"
"Well... A lot's wrong actually. My house is flooded. I just got back home like five minutes ago. When I walked in there was water up to my ankles in the hall. The ceilings leaking and I'm afraid to even see the rest of the house." She tried and failed to suppress a sob as she looked around at her home.
"I'm coming over. Are you okay?" He pleaded.
"Yeah. I'm okay." She said wiping her eyes.
"Don't do anything until I get there. Just stay where you are and away from the water."
"Derek, I'm okay. I promise." She assured him.
She heard him cover the phone and tell Tess that he was leaving.
"I'm on my way." He assured her.
Derek's truck pulled in to my drive way about five minutes later.
"Speeding is illegal you know?" I sat on the front porch steps with my head in my hands. He grunted at my comment and I looked up at him. I must have looked pathetic, with mascara running down my face and my pants rolled up to my knees, because his face turned soft.
"Come here." He said reaching his arms out. I jumped up and met him half way, sobbing into his shirt. Derek hadn't really changed much in the last few years, his black hair was still shaggy and his eyes were still the amazing bright green that they've always been. Today he wore a pair of dark jeans and a white tank top (the man kind). He was beautiful.
"I'm so sorry." He whispered into my hair. All I could do was nod.
"You're going to stay with me until we get this fixed." I nodded again.
"Let's go see how bad it is." He said taking my hand and leading me to the house.
Derek decided that I wasn't allowed inside the house. Apparently, I'm accident prone and there might be a risk of electrocution or I could possibly fall and drown in the 6 inches of water in my living room or whatever the excuse was, I was still stuck standing against the door, watching, as he carried loads of books and clothes and pictures out of my house. The sun was setting over top the roofs of the small ritzy suburb that surrounded my house. In mid-August the weather was fairly mild and the cool breeze that blew past felt like a dream.
Two years ago, after we had all went our separate ways Derek had stayed in New York too and moved to a small town not very far from where I lived. He had started working with a construction company and worked his way up. Now he owns it. He was in the process of building a gigantic home on a piece of property near the lake. Simon had moved to Florida and was a business man. He had invested in stocks and bonds and now had more money than he knew what to do with. Occasionally I would get emails of Simon's artwork, mostly drawings of Derek and I. Tori had refused to keep in contact with any of us and the last I heard she was in California. Simon visited every few weeks. But most of the time it was just me and Derek. We spend most of our free time together, hiking, fishing, camping, movie nights and baseball games. Every possible moment that we could be together, as friends, we were. Although, I had realized my feelings for him ran deeper then friendship a long time ago. Derek didn't know and probably never would.
"Chloe? Everything okay?" a deep, husky voice snapped me out of my daydreams. Derek was standing in the middle of my living room with his pants rolled up to his knees and his arms loaded down with my clothes. I couldn't help but laugh.
"Yeah. Sorry, I was thinking." I giggled. He grunted but his top lip rose up in smirk.
"Might not want to do that too much. You could get yourself hurt." He winked as he walked past me. He had to hear how my heartbeat sped up and my breathing hitched, but if he did, he never acknowledged it.