"This is probably the most awkward moment in my life," Massie murmured to herself as she stood in front of Derrick Harrington's house. It was three stories high with tall wooden doors and large glass windows. The circular, gravel driveway was empty of cars but there was a basketball hoop attached to the garage's door. Massie found that weird, considering Derrick played soccer and not basketball.
Massie sighed as she walked up the door steps and pressed her index finger lightly against the door bell. After a ding dong, the door was opened by Derrick himself. "Hey," he said a little out of breath.
Massie nodded, "er, hi."
Derrick opened the door a little wider, exposing his foyer to Massie. Down the foyer hall, she could see a dazed Skye Hamilton adjusting her t-shirt. Massie looked back at Derrick, his face was flushed and his eyes quickly avoided Massie's.
"Uh, is this a bad time?" the brunette asked looking down at her shoes.
Derrick shook his head, "no, we need to get this started. Come on in." he opened the door wider and even held out his hand in a come-on-in kind of gesture.
Massie just nodded awkwardly and walked inside Derrick Harrington's lair.
Derrick ran a hand through his hair and walked down the hall where Skye was coming from. "Oh, it's her." she said and looked at Massie.
Subtle, Massie wanted to roll her eyes.
Derrick nodded, "I told you Massie was my partner remember?"
Skye nodded, "yeah, I remember."
Derrick cleared his throat, "Well, come on Massie." he said and started walking down the hall. Massie followed, leaving Skye by herself.
Derrick led Massie into his house's kitchen, where a little girl was coloring on a sheet of paper. Her body was laying horizontally on the floor as she intensely colored her paper.
"Hey, Avery," Derrick said to the girl.
She looked up and smiled, "Hi!" then she looked at Massie, "hello!"
Massie smiled, "Hello there."
Derrick walked over to the refrigerator and grabbed two bottles of iced tea, "so we should get started here." he placed the two bottles on the table where his backpack was laying on. He pulled out a sheet of paper.
Massie looked back down to the little girl, but she disappeared. Massie gasped and even jumped a little. Derrick looked up from his stuff and said, "Avery does that a lot. I'm sure she's in her room now."
Massie just nodded and joined Derrick on the table, "your sister?"
Derrick nodded then paused with a shake of the head, "yeah, well, kinda. She's not really my sister. She's just my cousin, her parents died when she was three. And my parents adopted her five years ago."
Massie had no actual expression on her face. So she simply changed the subject. "oh, well, we should start working. ...and I think that's great that your parents adopted her."
Derrick nodded, "okay sure." he sat himself down and pulled out a notebook. Massie sat across from him and did the same.
"So, whats your favorite food?" Derrick asked her.
"Uh, ...well..." Massie started but then Derrick cut her off, "wait, let me guess, salad?"
Massie rolled her eyes, "no. i'm not a salad girl, more of a Big Mac kind of person."
Derrick nodded then wrote something in his book. "my favorite food is french fries."
Massie made a face, "that's barely a food."
Derrick shrugged, "okay then, I like shrimp."
Massie jotted some notes onto her blank page. After about thirty minutes of 'favorites' and 'dislikes' they finally got into juicy topics.
"So, do you have a boyfriend?" Derrick asked all of a sudden.
Massie looked at him, "huh?"
"You know a boyfriend, a significant other?" Derrick looked at her.
Massie shrugged, "uhh... no."
Derrick nodded, "oh."
Massie looked at him awkwardly, "and you have Skye right?"
Derrick looked at her, with a look Massie couldn't read. It was almost as if he wasn't too thrilled about being with Skye. But he nodded, "yeah, I have Skye."
Massie studied him for a moment and then said, "i know it's none of my business, but how are you and Skye going?"
Derrick looked at her then coughed, "uh..."
"I know, it's none of my business," Massie started, "I'm sorry I even brought it up."
Derrick just shook his head, "no, it's okay." he paused then said, "at first, things were going great, seriously. We were happy, always. But lately since our junior year started... things have been going well, weird."
"How so?" Massie asked.
Derrick shrugged, "I don't know if it's me or her, but lately we've been arguing a lot and getting into fights."
Massie raised her eyebrows, "it didn't look like you were in a fight a while ago." she coughed awkwardly. Derrick just cleared his throat and turned a light shade of red.
"Yeah, well..." he shrugged in indifference.
Massie just nodded, "so do you guys think you'll work it out?"
Derrick shrugged, "I don't know really, with her, I never really know."
Massie nodded, "I guess I can get that."
Derrick looked at her, his face a mix of hurt and embarrassment, Massie wanted to tell him it was going to be okay, but for some reason, she couldn't. She knew what exactly he was going through, with her and her ex-boyfriend, Josh Hotz.
"What about you?" Derrick asked.
Massie met his eyes, "what do you mean?"
"Have you ever been in a relationship?" Derrick asked, making his eyes turn away. After a moment of silence, Derrick said, "I'm sorry, if that's too personal."
Massie wanted to tell him it wasn't. That she desperately needed to tell him or someone what she's been through. For some apparent reason, Massie wanted to tell Derrick the world, but there never seemed to be enough time.
But for now, Massie would remain quiet. She wasn't ready to tell him. But for some reason, Massie really, really wanted to.