Daaaannngg, I didn't realize how big of a turn out this would be! You guys are all great. Weeelllll, here's another chapter, and since you guys gave me more reviews than what I asked for, you guys get another chapter for free! Aren't I such a nice person?
Chapter 4:
CPOV
I opened my eyes slowly, and looked around to see the basic setup of a hospital room. Then I saw Derek. I smiled, unable to hide my happiness.
"Derek?"
He let out a big breath, and smiled. "How are you feeling hon.?"
My heart stuttered. Then I did a mental check up. My feet were sore, and I had a pain in the side of my head. But nothing that I couldn't manage.
"I'm fine. How long have I been here?"
"About three days," he said. He shook his head. "You gave me quite a scare."
I loved the feeling of my hand in his. It reminded me of a dog's paw. "So, what have you been up to?" I asked, wanting to hear him.
"Eh, just living out in the countryside. Got lonely, though, so I decided to move back to the city." He gave me a look. "You?"
I thought about that. He had been lonely, which must mean that he and his girlfriend broke up.
"I've been directing some indie films," I said. "No biggie."
"What else?" he asked, and I could tell what he was hinting at.
"Nothing. Other than directing, I don't really have a life."
I saw something in his eyes, and I really hoped it was good. "How's it going with all of the ghosts?"
I scrunched my nose. "Well, there are so many of them. They all expect me to talk to them, help them out, whatever. I just try to avoid it as much as I can. Have you Changed fully yet?"
He nodded. "Yup. I can almost control when it happens, too."
I smiled. "I've missed you so much. Where did you want to move to?"
He shrugged. "Where do you live?"
"In a little town, west of Albany. Where are you going to stay?"
He shrugged again..
"Well, if they ever let me out, you can stay with me."
Our eyes locked, and my heart started to pound. He began to lean in, ever so slowly. I could tell by the look on his face what he wanted. It was absolutely fine by me. It was all I could do to not rip the IV's out of my arm and show him that I wanted him as he wanted me. Derek whispered my name and...
"Miss Saunders." The doctor walked right in, and Derek snapped back to his chair, all desire gone from his face. My own heart was still pounding. "How are you feeling today?"
"Better," I said with a smile.
"Well, if all goes well, we should be able to release you today." He turned to Derek. "And you are?"
"I'm a good friend," he said, his hold on my hand still firm. "I also brought her in."
He nodded. "Well, I'm Dr. Dillamond. I'm just going to check your head, here..." he said, and began to unwrap my bandage. I winced slightly, but Derek noticed. He rubbed circles on my hand soothingly.
"Well, it looks like you're healing nicely. You're a very lucky girl."
I smiled as I looked at Derek. "I know I am."
I was released later than afternoon. I had to take antibiotics and couldn't drive, work, that sort of thing. I was just happy that I was getting out of that situation without any dire consequences.
Derek drove me back to my house. We stopped at my car to pick up my clothes. He said that he was going to call a mechanic after we got to my house.
When we drove to the apartment, he grabbed both of my suitcases in one hand, and then kept a steady hand on my back as we went up on the elevator. I wished that he couldn't hear my heart, though I was sure any normal human could hear it pounding so loudly.
When we got to my apartment, I opened the door and sat on the tan couch. I got comfortable as Derek put the suitcases down.
"Nice place you got," he said, nodding.
"Thanks," I said, patting the couch besides me. "You hungry?"
He smiled. "Always."
I called my favorite pizza place, ordering two large meat lovers pizza and one large veggie pizza, a side of wings, and two liters of Coke. Then I put the television on a music video channel.
We kind of just looked at each other for a minute; the silence wasn't awkward by any means. My heart was ecstatic that I had found him once again; this time I wasn't going to lose him.
"So, uh, what are you going to do once you get a place here?" I asked.
He shrugged. "Whatever becomes available. I don't really care about the job."
"So you don't want to become a math professor or anything like that? I'm sure that colleges are always looking for geniuses to teach."
He shook his head. "I wouldn't call myself that, exactly."
I became confused. "Why not? You must be figuring out more digits to pi by now. I still can't do the math that you used to do, back when we were teenagers."
"Well, maybe in math. But in life," he leaned back against the couch, eyes locked onto mine. "I've been pretty stupid."
I disagreed. I was sure that no matter the case, Derek would always be the smartest one.
"So, have you been keeping up with Tori and Rae?" he asked.
I nodded. "Rae has once again fallen madly in love with someone at her office. And Tori is getting married. She lives in California now, on Laguna Beach. She wants everyone to come. Can you believe that she wants me to be her maid-of-honor?" I laughed slightly, though I was still honored to be chosen.
"Hmm. Maybe we should all go," he said, with an absent mind.
"Really? You'd do that? Last time I knew you guys weren't talking."
He shrugged. "Times change."
I looked down at the carpet. "And other times, you're stuck in the past," I mumbled quietly. Unfortunately, I wasn't used to having super werewolf hearing. Just when Derek was going to ask about that, the doorbell rang.
I got up to answer it, but Derek got up instead.
"You need to stay resting," he said as he headed towards the door.
He paid the pizza man, and brought everything to the little coffee table. I told him where the plates and cups were, we were digging in.
It was so nice to see him eat. I know that sounds so weird. But apparently his never ending need for food hadn't changed since I knew him, and it felt amazing to see something from the past again. I sort of wanted to know about Simon; I hadn't received an email from him in a while. But I knew that if I brought that up, Derek would take it the wrong way, thinking that I still had a thing for his brother. Wasn't he ever wrong.
"So Chloe," Derek asked, wiping his face with a napkin. "Simon said something. What was his name?"
Umm...what exactly was he talking about? "I beg your pardon?"
"You know. You're boyfriend, or ex-boyfriend, or whatever. What was his name?"
A boyfriend?! ME?! I started choking on my pizza. "Derek, I haven't had a boyfriend."
He raised an eyebrow, clearly confused. "You mean after all this time you still haven't-"
"No," I said harshly. "I haven't. But what about your girlfriend?"
"What?" "You know. I forgot what her name was." Lie. "Victoria, or something like that." It was actually Veronica Lynn. "What ever happened with her?"
He still had an eyebrow raised. "Chloe, I haven't had a girlfriend."
"But Simon said-"
"Well apparently Simon says a lot of things, now doesn't he?" Derek said. I could see his nostrils flaring slightly. "You haven't had a boyfriend, and I haven't had a girlfriend. All cleared up, I guess."
"Simon lied? Why would he do that?"
I could see a bright pink spread over his face. Was he actually blushing?!
"So, um, you, you like this music?" he asked, pointing to the TV.
I nodded. My favorite hard rock band was on. "One of my favorites."
We stayed on easier topics for the rest of the night.
