Hey guys! Thanks so much for the reviews! I'm really glad ya'll liked it! Anyway! Here's next chap! Enjoy!
Half an hour later, they'd finally left the apartment, on the way to a restaurant that Mark, of course, picked out. Apparently, he knew the owner, who'd agreed to let him rent out the entire balcony for the evening. Derek wasn't sure how he'd afforded it, but he decided not to question it since Mark seemed to be pleased about it.
"So tell me what you've been doing since I've seen you." Mark squeezed Derek's hand softly as he turned onto the main highway.
Derek let out a soft chuckle as he shook his head, coming to the sad, but nice, realization that he didn't have much of a life outside of Mark and Landon. "Nothing really. Getting ready for the move mostly."
"And how's my favorite roommate?" Mark grinned, in reference to Landon, who somehow always got stuck in between their arguments. He'd only met the guy a handful of times through the years, usually he made a point to leave so they could have the place to themselves when he came, but sometimes Mark showed up unannounced. Plus he was always on Mark's side, even if it was just to piss Derek off. He definitely liked him more than Derek's first roommate, Susan. He couldn't even count how many times she'd made a move on Derek when he was there! He couldn't even imagine how she was when he wasn't there. Needless to say, she was out in less than a month. Mark had actually been there when Landon came for the interview. After Susan, he was determined to pick Derek's next roommate. Obviously, Derek wasn't asking the right questions.
Landon Masterson. At first glance, quite frankly, looked like a 32 year old dumb jock. His hair had been bleached, most likely with Sun In, one too many times, and made his already rather pale skin look close to translucent considering his age. He was at least three inches taller than either Mark or Derek, and was about as wide as an NFL linebacker. When they'd opened the door holding hands, Derek's idea thinking that if they had a problem with it they could leave before the interview even began, he didn't look surprised or disgusted in any way, but he didn't look completely comfortable either. None the less, they invited him in after he extended his hand in the general direction of them, hoping that whoever lived there would shake his hand first. He was right, Derek took his hand and introduced himself before nodding to Mark, and informing him that he lived in Boston. It was obvious to both of them that he seemed relieved considering his face actually got some color in it once they sat down on the couch, releasing their grips on each others hands, after they'd given a short tour of the apartment, mostly emphasizing on the empty bedroom, the joined bathroom, and the kitchen.
"So, Landon" Derek began as he wrote down the name on the notepad on his lap so that he would have it in case it slipped his mind, "What is it that you do for a living?"
"I'm an architect." He answered quickly, and it was easy to see that he was confident in his job. He had a poise to him that let you know he was very much capable of supporting himself. Mark approved already. In fact, he tuned out the rest of the questions Derek asked the guy, mostly because his mind was already formulating plans. It was perfect.
Before Mark even realized, the interview was over, and the other two were standing up, shaking hands. Shaking himself out of his daydream, Mark stood up as well. "Nice to meet you!" He offered his best smile before walking with Derek to the door.
"Well, I'll be in touch in the next few days after I talk to Mark if you can move in. Thank you for your time." Derek smiled politely at him before shutting the door behind him. "I don't like him." Derek stated plainly as he tossed the now crumbled sheet of paper with Landon's information in the trashcan.
"What? Why?" Mark asked, his dreams fading much faster than he expected. "He was by far the best choice we've got so far." He reasoned, trying to figure out what he possibly could have missed that ruined his entire plan that he'd been scheming for atleast a good ten minutes.
"What's it to you? You have a thing for him or something?" Derek tried his best to smile, but failed miserably as jealousy took over. Mark had practically been staring at the guy the entire time. He didn't even seem fazed when the guy had said he had a girlfriend! A girlfriend! He wanted to just hit Mark! He was RIGHT there!
"What? No! Definitely not, D!" Mark shook his head, trying not to laugh at the thought. The guy seemed nice enough, but ew. No. "Jealous much?" Mark chuckled as he took Derek's hands from his hips, and intertwined them with his own.
"I'm not jealous!" Derek pouted, tightening his grasp on Mark's hand anyway.
"And I'm not in love with you." Mark grinned, moving his hands to cup Derek's face. "He'd be a good roommate, babe."
"Fine. But you're getting the number out of the trash." Derek smiled innocently at him before making his way back into the living room, leaving Mark to mumble under his breath about rotten banana peel smudges on the paper.
"Landon is fine. One of these days I'm going to catch you two together, and it's going to so be over between us, mister." Derek laughed, squeezing Mark's hand in the process.
"You know, I'm pretty sure Erin would be upset about that." Mark replied, referencing Landon's girlfriend. Although it wasn't the same girlfriend he'd had when he first moved in, they had been together for awhile.
"You know it worries me that you never actually deny it." He sent him a questioning gaze, but only recieved a laugh in response.
"That's because it's Landon."
"So you ARE having an affair?" Derek gasped in mock shock.
"Guess you'd have to find out sooner or later." Mark shrugged his shoulders, tightening his grasp on Derek's hand.
"Speaking of girlfriends, guess who called me the other day!" Mark already knew who Derek was talking about by the tone in his voice, but he didn't want to think about her tonight. She'd been the one to get hurt, whether she admitted it or not, by them, and Mark didn't like to think about her.
"Mandy?" He asked, hoping that this conversation would be over before it ruined his mood, and over all plan of the evening.
Derek suddenly felt guilty for bringing her up, just as he felt their entire senior year, and the summer afterwards. Derek didn't get up the courage to break up with her until the night she left for college, three days before he did. He didn't even give her a real reason for the breakup, except that he didn't want a girlfriend in college. Wasn't exactly a lie, but wasn't really the truth either. "Sorry." He mumbled, releasing Mark's hand from his grasp and placing his own in his lap.
"She okay?" Mark asked, realizing that the entire night would be ruined if he let Derek crawl into that introvertive shell. He wasn't sure Derek would ever get over the guilt about her. One of the many reasons he was terrified of the box that was sitting in his pocket. He hated being unsure of big decisions, and right then, he couldn't have been any less sure of what he was doing.
"She.. she wants to get together for a drink back in NY." He barely whispered the words, but winced when he saw Mark's grasp tighten on the steering wheel. He really needed to learn how to keep his mouth shut.
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