Chapter 8

I walk into the gym Friday morning. This past week has been an crazy. Yesterday's practice was great, I learned the whole dance. Derek is planning on us having a short practice today. My parents are flying down tomorrow around noon. I'm ready to see them, it has been too long. I start stretching when I hear Derek coming in the room.

" Hey Shawn"

" Hey Derek"

He walks over to the steps and puts his bags down. He the goes over to the c.d. player and puts the disk in.

" You ready to get started?"

" Yes."

He pulls me in front of him my back to his front. He puts his arms around my waist. His right arm grabs my left, his left grabs my right. We being to dance. It doesn't take us long to finish the dance.

" Lets run it a couple more times. Then we will be done for today."

" Okay"

We do the dance two more times. I walk over to the steps to take off my shoes.

" Hey are you and Mark hanging out tonight?"

" Yeah, I think we are going to a club."

" Okay, he asked me if I wanted to go and I wasn't sure who all was going."

" I think you, me him, and his girlfriend. A couple more people might meet us there, but we are all riding to the club together I think."

" Okay good, I didn't want to be the third wheel."

" I completely understand."

" Do you know what time we are going?"

" Eleven maybe, or sooner."

" Okay." I say letting a little yawn escape my mouth

" Are you tired?" he asks smiling

" Yeah, I think so. I am going to head home and take a nap before tonight."

" Okay, I will see you later."

Derek leans down and gives me a hug.

" Bye" I say walking out of the studio

I walk into my apartment. My head is hurting more today than it has been. It has been pretty good the last couple of days. Maybe some Advil will help. I take the medicine and lay down.

I wake up and check my phone, its 7:30. I slept so long, but I feel so much better. My head is not hurting anymore. I have a missed call from Mark, I call him back.

" Hey Shawn"

" Hey Mark, what are you doing?"

" Laying on the couch watching tv. Are you coming out with us tonight?"

" Yes, what time?"

" 10 maybe 11. Is that okay?"

" Yes, sounds good to me."

" Alright, I will be at your house to pick you up at 9:30. Derek, Tiffany, me and you are going to car pool to the club. Is that okay?"

" That is fine. I will see you then."

" Bye"

I sit and lounge around the house until its 9:00. I get off the couch to go take a shower. I get out of the shower and into my robe. I go to my closet to look for a dress. I have never been the type to wear skimpy things, not even to a club. Tonight I want to wear something classy, but sexy. I want people to see me as a women not a teenager. I am twenty now. I pick out a black sparkly dress. Its classy, yet the right thing to wear to a club. I walk back in the bathroom. I blow dry my hair and curl it. I'm putting my make up on when I hear a knock on my door.

" Coming" I yell

I look through the door hole and see Derek, Mark and Tiffany standing there. Well this is great. I am in my robe with half my make up on and my hair curled. I open the door.

" Hey, you guys are early."

" No, you're late." Mark says

I look at the clock on my wall, it says 9:45.

" Oops, all I got to do is finish my make up and get dressed. Ya'll come on in. Make yourself at home. I will be ready in less than five minutes."

I run into my bathroom and lock the door. Wouldn't want anyone walking in. I finish doing my make up. I am fixing to slip on my dress when I hear pounding on my bathroom door.

" Shawn hurry up please. You have been in their fifteen minutes." Derek says

" Okay, sorry I am almost done."

I slip on a black sparkly dress that ends a little bit above my knees. Perfect for the club, but no trashy. I put on some black heels. I walk out of the bathroom door, and over to the counter and grab my clutch.

" Ya'll ready"

" Finally" Mark says

" Shut up, I cant help it. It takes a women a while to get ready."

" You look very pretty Shawn." Derek says smiling

" Thank you." I say blushing

" Oh, Shawn, this is Tiffany. Tiffany this is Shawn."

" Nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you." I say reaching my hand out to shake hers.

" Same as to you. When you get these two together that's all they talk about is you and dancing." she says smiling

" Oh." I really don't know what to say back. My face starts getting redder. I look up at Derek and Mark, both of their faces are red. I guess they are a little embarrassed too.

" Well on that note, lets go." Mark says

We walk outside to were Mark parked, there are paparazzi everywhere. All I see are flashes, I lose my sighting for a few seconds. Mark grabs Tiffany's hand and leads her to the car. Derek and I are walking side by side. He has one hand up in the air in front if his eyes, and the other on the center of my back. I am holding my clutch in one hand and holding up my other to block all the flashes. We finally reach the car. Mark and Tiffany and already in it. Derek leads me over to the car still having one hand on the center of my back. He opens the door for me and I get in. He walks around the car to sit beside me in the back seat. I guess Mark is driving.

" Well that was rough." Derek says

" I agree, there were so many of them and so many flashes. I lost my eye sight for a few seconds." I say laughing

" Me too" he says smiling

We all get out of the car. Mark and Tiffany immediately start holding hands. Derek and I walk side by side until we reach the club. Derek takes his left arm and places his left hand on the center of my back. I place my right arm around his back as we stop to pose for pictures. I figure we would let go, but we walk like this until we get inside.

" Tiffany and I are going to get some drinks. Do you want anything?" Mark asks

" I'm good, but thanks." I say Derek tells him something but I couldn't catch it. It is way to loud for talking.

" Let's go to the V.I.P." Derek says

" Okay."

We walk over to the secluded place that Mark reserved for us tonight.

" Are you ready to have some fun after a long exhausting week?" Derek asks

" For sure. I wont be drinking though. I will be your designated driver."

" I'm not drinking much anyways. Never been a big drinker and you can have fun without doing it. I want to remember this night anyways." Derek says

" Me too." I say blushing

Tiffany and Mark come back with our drinks.

" Mark lets go dance." Tiffany says

" Okay." Mark replies

" Shawn, do you want to dance?" Derek asks

" Yes."

We walk through the crowd. Derek finds Mark and Tiffany, we stand beside them and start dancing. We dance for what seems like an hour.

" We're going to use the bathroom. We'll be back." he says pointing to Mark

" Okay."

" I'm going to go get a drink." Tiffany says

" Okay."

I am standing there for what seems like eternity. I keep hearing this male voice saying my name. It's not Mark or Derek. I turn around and see the man walking up to me. My heart stops completely. I cannot believe the man standing in front of me. Its none other than Ryan, my ex boyfriend.

" What are you doing here?" I yell

" I came to LA to hopefully see you. And look here, I found you." he says

" I don't want to see you. I thought I made that clear when I threw a remote at you and moved out of our apartment."

" Shawn, I still love you. I always will, you know that."

I turn around to run away and run right into Derek's hard muscular chest. It doesn't take him long to notice I was running away from something.

" Babe, what's wrong?" he asks

When he asks me that I cant keep the tears from rolling. This is not how I seen my night. Crying in the middle of the dance floor and seeing my ex. Before I can answer I hear footsteps behind me and I know its Ryan.

" Shawn, wait….. " he stops talking when he sees me crying and in Derek's arms.

" Ryan go away. I don't want to see you." I say tears still rolling. I get out of Derek's arms to look at Ryan in the eye.

Ryan reaches to touch my arm and Derek grabs his hand.

" I think she told you to leave." Derek says his other hand clenched in a fist. His eyebrows scrunched together.

" Derek calm down, he isn't worth it." I say putting my hand on his chest

" Yeah listen to her. You really don't want to start with me." Ryan says

" Ryan shut up. I would love nothing more than him to stomp you, but he is better than that." I say

" You right. Lets go." Derek says

Derek releases Ryan's hand a takes my hand. We intertwine our fingers and walk over to the reserved seating.

" Are you okay?" Derek asks

" Yes, I will be okay. I think I'm going to call a cab and go home."

" I will go with you."

" You don't have to do that."

" Shawn its no big deal. Lets go tell Mark."

We get up and Derek holds my hand again. We walk up to Mark and his eyes fall to our hands.

" What's going on?" Mark asks

" My ex Ryan showed up."

" Yeah, we are going to take a cab and go home." Derek says

" Nonsense I will take you. We were getting ready to leave anyways. So that douche actually showed up?" Mark asks his eyebrows scrunching up

" Yes" I whisper

" Where is he? I will kick his ass." Mark yells

" Whoa Mark bro chill. I almost did too, but lets just leave. We will most likely see him around." Derek says

Derek leads us out to the door. He hasn't let go of my hand. I am glad though. We walk past all the paparazzi taking thousands of pictures. We finally reach the car. Derek opens the door for me. Then walks over and sits beside me. I turn my head towards the window. Silently tears just start rolling. I guess Derek seen them in the little light we had. He grabs my arm and pulls me closer to him. I turn my head and lay it on his chest. He wraps his arm around my shoulder. We stay like this until we reach my apartment.

" I will walk you in." Derek says

" Okay."

We arrive at my apartment.

" Well we are here." I say

" I would stay, because I want to talk to you, but Mark and Tiffany are waiting."

" I understand. I really need some time to process this all anyways."

Derek leans down and embraces me. I love when he hugs me.

" I will talk to you tomorrow. Let me know if you need anything. I will be right over."

" I will and thank you so much for being here. It means a lot." I say blushing

A/N- hope your liking it so far, and its not boring. -Mallory