I wanted to crank out an update for this, so, here it is.

As always, thanks for the support.

On I go...


"Thanks again for agreeing to have dinner with me," Derek told Kimberly on Tuesday evening. They were in a cafe they used to go to when they were dating.

Kimberly smiled. "Sure."

"It was great meeting your friends. Did they leave on Sunday?" he asked.

"Yeah. Sunday afternoon. They liked meeting you, too," she told him before taking a sip of her iced tea.

"I know that Jason's still here. You could've invited him to eat with us, too. I mean, I don't wanna disrupt the time you guys are-" Derek was saying.

"You're not. You're really not, Derek. This is fine," she assured him. "Besides, he couldn't have come anyway. He and Lexie are hanging out."

"Oh. Hey, uh, is he and Lexie into each other? I kinda got that impression at the beach," Derek said with a light chuckle.

"You're right on the money," Kimberly said, gripping her fork a little.

"Good for them, then. Lexie's great and Jason seems like a cool guy. Nothing wrong with a fling every now and then," Derek said.

"Nope," she said.

"It's too bad they don't have more time to hang out, though," he said.

"Yeah," she said.

"But, I guess you've gotta make the best of what ya got," he said.

"True," Kimberly said.

"Are you all right?" he asked, lifting his eyebrows.

"I'm fine. Why do you ask?" she asked.

"You sounded a little weird just then," he said.

"I did? The last couple days have been a little exhausting," she said, then, cleared her throat and sat up a little straighter. "How's your food?"

"It's pretty good. Yours?" he asked, deciding to ignore the not-so-clever subject change.

"It's delicious," she said, then, smiled. "Remember the first time we came here?"

"Like it was yesterday," he said. "I couldn't keep my eyes off of you."

"That was the plan," she joked- causing him to laugh.

"I've said it twice already, but, thanks for agreeing to this. I was a little worried you'd think it was a date and that-" he was saying.

"Derek, I trust you. I know you don't have any schemes up your sleeve. You said you'd wait and wouldn't push and I believe that," she said.

"I know," he said with a smile.

"But, it's normal to hope I give you the answer you want soon," she said.

"Definitely. Honestly, I wish I'd gotten it the night I told you how I still felt. But, like you said, I told you I wouldn't push and I meant that," he said.

"You really are a great guy," she said.

"And you're worth waiting for," he said.


Kimberly walked into her and Lexie's apartment an hour later, thinking about Derek and how nice and familiar everything had felt. It would be so easy to just fall back into things, to fall back in love... so, why couldn't she? Was she stopping herself? If so, why? Why would any sane person want to stop themselves from being with someone like Derek? How had she fallen out of love with him in the first place?

'Maybe it's because he's a great guy, but, he's just not to meant to be my great guy,' she thought as she sat down on the sofa.

Should she just call him up and tell him that she felt they were better off as friends? A part of her was very hesitant about that. 'Because I actually do wanna try again or because I'm trying to put off hurting him as long as I possibly can?' she wondered silently. She sighed. It would probably be a good idea not to think about any of this tonight.

Just then, she heard a key in the lock and laughter from outside. The door opened a few seconds later and Lexie walked in- followed by Jason. The two of them were all smiles. It was obvious they'd had a very good time- wherever they'd gone.

"I'll never forget the look on that waiter's face when you ordered that," Jason said, chuckling.

"Hey, I can't help the fact that I can be a weird eater," Lexie said, then, she noticed her roommate on the sofa, grinned and hurried over to her. "Hey, Kim. How'd things go with Derek?"

"It was pretty nice," Kimberly replied as Jason sat down in one of the chairs.

"Did you guys talk about..." Lexie said, lifting her eyebrows.

"Sort of. But, I still haven't told him what I wanted yet," Kimberly said. "And probably never will, at this point."

"Don't do that to yourself, Kim," Jason said. "I'm sure it won't take you too long to make up your mind."

"I'm with Jason," Lexie said.

'No kidding,' Kimberly thought sarcastically, then, blinked. What was with her? Did she have a problem with two of her friends having a thing? No. That didn't even make sense. This stuff with Derek was making her a little crazy, apparently.

"Whatever's meant to happen will happen when the time's right," Lexie said, squeezing Kimberly's shoulder.

"Yeah. Hey, do you guys mind if we not talk about Derek right now?" Kimberly said.

"You got it," Jason and Lexie said at the same time. They looked at each other and laughed.

"Speaking simultaneously. Kim, this is the part where you're supposed to say how adorable we are," Lexie said teasingly. Kimberly forced a smile and Lexie stood. "Nature just dialed my number. Be right back, folks," she said, then, headed for the bathroom.

Jason scratched his chin. "Kim?"

"Hmm?" she said.

"I told Lexie I'd like to stay a couple extra weeks," he said.

Kimberly stared at her friend as news that should've made her jump around in excitement made her feel as though someone was continuously kicking her in the stomach. She grabbed one of the pillows and hugged it to herself. "You would? Wow, that's... you would?"

"Yeah. Is that okay?" he asked.

"Uh, yeah, of course it is, Jase. Why wouldn't that be okay? We get to spend more time together," she said. 'And it'll be such a blast to watch you and my roommate be all over each other for two more weeks. Sounds better than Disney World.' There went the weird thoughts out of nowhere again... .

He smiled. "It's gonna be good getting to know Lexie better."

"Sure," Kimberly said, a slight edge in her voice. 'What? What is it? Chill out, Hart.'

"You all right?" he asked.

"Mm-hmm. I'm just glad you wanna stay a little longer," she said. Lexie returned and Jason smiled at her. 'Is there a light in his eyes? What the- they haven't even known each other that long. I know he likes her, but, come on!' Kimberly thought, then, blinked again. What was her problem? Why was she taking her frustration out on these two- mentally? She needed some sleep. Things always were always a little better in the morning, right?

"I just told Kim about hanging around a couple more weeks," Jason said as Lexie sat on the arm of his chair.

"Good. It's been really fun having you here, so, how crazy would it have been to object to an extended stay?" Lexie said.

"I'm just hoping you guys can stand me," he joked.

"I can stand anybody that enjoys my general weirdness," Lexie said, grinning.

"At least you're a good kind of weird," he said, then, looked at Kimberly- whom was hugging her pillow to her body tightly. The expression on her face was hard to read. Concern filled him. "Kim, are you sure you're okay?"

"Positive. Hey, I'm gonna head on to bed. I'll talk to you two tomorrow," Kimberly said, releasing the pillow and standing.

"Kim, it's still kind of early," Lexie said.

"Yeah, but, I'm a little drained, you know? Night," Kimberly said, then, headed out of the room.


"I'm glad you invited me over. I was bored out of my mind," Derek told Kimberly after she let him into her and Lexie's apartment on Friday evening. "I was about to go nuts."

"No way can that ever happen. I like you sane," she said with a laugh. "I'm glad you didn't have any plans because I needed the company."

"And whose company's more delightful than mine?" he said, then, laughed when she smirked. He looked around after they sat down on the sofa. "What are Jason and Lexie up to?"

"Dinner and a movie," Kimberly said, her tone not as lighthearted as it'd been just seconds ago. "Have you eaten yet?"

"Yeah," he said.

"All right. Well, we could watch some television," she said, grabbing the remote off of the coffee table. "Anything in particular you wanna see?"

"I'm fine with whatever you choose," he said.

"Even if it's a chick flick?" she teased.

"Sure. I like chicks," he joked.

Kimberly laughed, then, stopped abruptly and bit her lower lip. What was she doing? It was always good to see Derek, but, why had she asked him to come over? She sat the remote on the couch and sighed. "I'm sorry, Derek."

"Did I miss something?" he asked, confused.

"Well, I feel like I'm torturing you. We keep spending time together and acting like everything's normal. I don't think it's fair to you because I'm taking my precious time giving you an answer and it's-" she was saying.

He took her hand. "Kim, it's fine- seriously. I love spending time with you. It doesn't matter if you end up telling me that you don't wanna get back together. Sure it'll take some time getting used to, but, I don't think anything could make me wanna stop coming around you."

'Why can't he be a jerk?' she thought with a silent groan.

"I never would've come around you again after telling you how I felt if I thought it'd be torture. It's really not a problem. You'll tell me when you're ready and that's that. Like I told you, you're worth waiting for," he said.

Kimberly smiled at him. When he smiled back, memories of their time together began rushing into her brain. Before she could stop herself, she touched his face. She was now experiencing a lot of different emotions- meaning that common sense had checked out to go jogging or something for the time being. "You've always been good to me," she said softly before leaning in and pressing her lips to his.