Hello everyone! So here is Chapter 9 and now I'm starting to wind the story down. Maybe a chapter or two left and then the end! Thank you all for reading & reviewing!
Chapter 9

It had been nearly a week since the after prom party incident. Emily had done quite well in avoiding Derek at all costs. She never picked up his phone calls, read his texts, ignored the pebbles being thrown at her window and managed to elude him every time he looked for her at school. Emily saw this as a sign that they just weren't meant to be together and that she really had to move on, so she did.

Emily spent most, if not all, of her time with Ryan. She had grown to really like him and he proved to be the anti-Derek which was exactly what Emily needed.

On the other hand, Derek felt more and more miserable as the week progressed. Emily was not answering his phone calls, ignoring his attempts to window chat with her or even acknowledging his presence at school. He could never get her alone since recently Ryan was permanently attached to her hip.

Derek still had his reputation to uphold. He couldn't let anyone see this side of him. He did his best to keep up appearances no matter how much he hurt inside. If anything, he used all his bottled up anger and frustration out on the hockey rink. He smacked the puck just a little harder and pushed his opponents with a little more aggression.

"D, nice shot. A little more aggressive than usual but nice." Sam had commented on Derek's slap shot.

"Yeah, just felt like hitting it a little harder today." Derek said as he bowed his head down and shuffled the puck with his stick.

"So you coming with us after practice? A bunch of guys on the team wanna go bowling. It's supposed to help us unwind before the big game against Marshall on Friday." Sam asked.

"Uh, I dunno man. I'll see. Feeling a little sick today." Derek grumbled. Their coach finally blew the whistle that indicated practice was over. Derek was the first to skate off the rink and hurry into the boys' locker room. He got dressed, grabbed his bag and left not in the mood to make small talk with anyone.

Derek had taken the side entrance out of the gym to avoid having to talk to anyone. Instead he had bumped right into the person he wanted to talk to most.

Emily was supposed to wait for Ryan, but she didn't want to wait inside the gym for fear that she could run into Derek. She opted to wait at the side of the gym. She knew not many people ever passed by there anyway. She put on her earphones, turned on her iPod and sat on the bench looking out into the field. Suddenly she saw a body out of the side of her eyes and immediately noticed who it was.

Emily rushed to stand up and tried to get away from Derek without having to talk to him. She started walking away when she felt his hand latch onto her wrist.

"Derek, please can you just let go of my wrist." Emily said as she turned her head, refusing to even look at him.

"Not until you hear me out. You left so suddenly you didn't even give me a chance to explain. I've been trying to call you all week." Derek pleaded with her. He wasn't used to being the one groveling.

"Sorry, I gotta go, Ryan's gonna be waiting for me and I don't wanna keep him waiting. Please Derek just let go of my arm." Emily asked one more time.

"Emily will you just listen to me?"

"Fine. Go ahead Derek. What's your big explanation?" Emily asked as she folded her arms across her chest.

"Well, I was drinking a little too much and next thing I know Delia is bringing me upstairs. I told her I couldn't do anything with her but she just started kissing me and then you walked in." Derek knew it sounded like a half-ass explanation, but it was the truth.

"Nice Derek. I almost believed it." Emily said with sarcasm dripping off those last words. "What do you want me to say? 'Oh I believe you and however could I have doubted you?' Derek, you know how much I've liked you for as long as we both can remember, and you, especially you, should know that I would have done anything to be with you but I've realized I was wasting my time." Emily paused looking Derek straight in the eye and she could see she was starting to break him down.

"Enough is enough. You've had all this time to be with me but now that I finally found someone you just couldn't take it." Emily's voice was starting to crack. "Please just stop this, stop whatever you're trying to do. I have Ryan who has liked me for me all on his own. He doesn't deserve to be treated the way I've been treating him by seeing you secretly on the side. Whatever this is, it's over, okay?"

Derek stood there listening to everything Emily was dishing out at him. It hurt, it really did and Derek wasn't used to this. He was usually out of a relationship before it got too serious but his mistake this time was falling hard.

"Goodbye Derek." Emily breathed out as tears started to fall down her face. Derek just wanted to get close to her and wipe away the tears but she left so quickly before he could react.

Emily ran into the bathroom to wipe away those tears. She felt so exhilarated and could hardly believe she finally had the guts to say what was on her mind. She had to admit it hurt. Derek was supposed to be her first love and now he was nothing of importance to her. She took one good look in the mirror and left to go meet up with Ryan.

Derek slowly walked back to his car, cranked up the stereo and made his way home. What had just happened? Derek was still in shock, but he still wasn't one to give up that easily. Emily had seen him as the ladies' man, man's man, man about town kind of guy and he wanted to get rid of that image. He wanted to prove to Emily that he could be a serious guy and quit all this horseplay. He was going to devise a plan that would surely win Emily back. He just knew it.

Emily arrived home later on that day and trudged up the stairs. She felt so exhausted trying to deal with her boy dilemma. She felt a little relieved that she told off Derek, but at the same time she saw the hurt in his eyes and she couldn't believe he just stood there quietly listening.

'No, I don't have to feel bad. It's his fault not mine. I should just stop thinking about this for now.' Emily thought trying to let it go from her mind.

As soon as she got into her room, she heard her phone ring. She picked it up and of course it was Casey.

"Hey Em, how's it going?" Casey mused on the other side of the line.

"Well everything's been a little crazy lately. I actually told Derek off today. I said that I couldn't be some poor little girl waiting around for him to realize what he wants, whatever it is he wants."

"Good for you Em, you don't need something like that to bring you down. Anyways, do you and Ryan have any plans tonight?" Casey inquired.

"Actually, Ryan had some family plants tonight so I'm free. What's up?"

"Wanna come over and watch a movie? Oh wait, sorry how stupid of me. Um, wanna catch a movie at the theater?" Casey said as she caught her mistake.

"Sure Casey sounds great. Do you wanna leave around 7-ish? I think I'm gonna take a little nap before we go." Emily replied as she yawned.

"Yeah, 7 sounds good. I'll see you in front."

"Okay, see you then." They both said bye as they clicked off the phone.

Emily eased herself onto the bed and just lay there staring up at her ceiling. Ryan was really growing on her and he was always so good to her. He would never lie, unlike Derek. Did he really think she would buy that poor excuse of a lie?

'"Oh I was drunk and she totally took advantage of me." Yeah right, Derek was usually the one to take advantage of someone, not that he's done that before. Did Derek honestly believe I would just take that and suddenly forgive him? How stupid does he think I am?'

Emily continued to stare at her ceiling and occasionally towards her window, knowing what was just on the other side. Emily closer her eyes and suddenly the image of Derek kissing that other girl burned itself onto her inner eyelids. She opened her eyes and a couple of tears fell over. Emily didn't like to admit to herself that she was really hurt that that had happened. She really wanted to give Derek the benefit of the doubt, but she just couldn't.

Finally Emily fell asleep. About half an hour later she woke up to hear a light tapping on her door. She wondered what it could be so she got up and made her way to the door. She opened it up to see Marti holding an envelope.

"Hi Emily. Smerek told me to give this to you." Marti said as she handed Emily the envelope. "Okay, bye! Dimmy, let's go play tag now!" Marti screamed out towards Dimmy as she ran from Emily's view.

Emily closed her door and sat on her bed. She hesitated opening the letter unsure of what was inside but her curiosity got the best of her and she finally opened up the letter.

I figured since you weren't answering my calls, reading my texts, or refusing to open up your window and talk to me I'd have Marti send over this mini letter. You, of all people, know I never go out of my way to show how I feel, but I owe it to you to explain what happened. Meet me at Mocha Joe's around 7 and maybe we can straighten everything out. Hope you'll be there.

-Derek

That was Derek alright. Straight to the point and almost void of any serious emotion but Emily knew this was a big thing for him; to actually write down how he felt and show he was kind of hurt. Emily knew she had only just yelled at him today but she felt herself drawn to him once more and wanted to see him later on that night. Wait, what would she tell Casey? Hm, she would make something up.

Derek had just sent over his little letter to Emily. He was a little nervous of what she would say or do. Hell, he was very nervous. Derek knew he was taking a chance in even asking her to meet with him, but he felt a little desperate to get her attention. He started to pace back and forth in his room wondering what exactly was he gonna say to Emily.

Edwin opened up the door to see Derek pacing back and forth.

"Um, Derek. Dad and Nora said its time for dinner. Are you alright? I mean you've been pacing in your room for about an hour. What is up?" Edwin dared to ask his older brother.

"Uh, nothing. Nothing at all. Yeah I'll be down for dinner."

Edwin knew better than to try and ask Derek again what was up. He closed the door behind him only to hear Derek's heavy footsteps make the trail back and forth inside his room.

'"So Emily. Well what I told you before was the complete truth!" Yeah right, she would think that was just another pathetic one-liner. "Emily, you mean a lot to me and I could never lie to you." That sounded like it came out of one of those sappy chick flicks. What the hell am I supposed to say?'

This time it was Casey who knocked on the door and opened up to see Derek pacing, mumbling to himself.

"I always thought you were crazy, but now this justifies it. George wants me to drag you down to dinner already. Hurry up." Casey spat out as she turned around to walk back downstairs when she heard it.

"Casey, I, uh, I would. Um." Derek didn't want to have to resort to this but it was probably his best shot.

"Hm, what was that Derek? I couldn't quite hear you." Casey inquired as she turned to face Derek.

"Casey, I need your help." Derek sighed with defeat as his head fell into his hands.

"Wow, the great Derek Venturi actually needs my help? Help from Klutzilla herself? This is quite interesting. Enlighten me Derek, what kind of help are you referring to?" Casey mused.

"I need help with Emily. I want to apologize for what happened at the party and I want to tell her how much I like her and blah blah. Yeah that stuff." Derek muttered in a quick breath.

"Give me one good reason to help you. I mean it's not like you're always in a rush to help me. What do I get out of this?"

"Well you get that feeling that you've helped someone in need. Don't you live for that stuff?" Derek teased.

"Keep teasing me Derek and I won't help you at all and you can go fend for yourself." Casey retorted.

"Fine, how about I do all your chores for a day."

"Yeah right, for what you did to Emily, do my chores for an entire month."

"A month? That's just plain crazy. You are all on your own." Derek answered back.

"Hm, crazy? It's crazy then to think that you'd do anything to win Emily back. I guess not. Well I better head down to dinner." Casey spun around and was almost out the door when Derek surrendered.

"Fine, fine. Your chores for an entire month. Now can you please help me or what?" Derek hated that feeling of things not going exactly his way.

Emily woke up from her nap and looked over at her clock. The numbers were glowing 6:30. She got up and started to get ready for her girls' night out with Casey.

As soon as she was ready she left her room and called out to her parents, "Mom, Dad! I'm going out to a movie with Casey. I'll be back later."

"Alright honey, be home before midnight." She heard her Mom call out. She stepped onto her front porch and closed the door behind her and saw Casey heading over to the car.

"Hey Casey, so what movie are we watching?" Emily asked as she climbed into the car.

"Um, I'm not sure yet. We'll see when we get there." Casey replied remembering her plan she made with Derek. She wasn't sure why she agreed to it because he did hurt her best friend, but after thinking about it she could tell Emily still wasn't happy. She had a feeling that if things were right between Emily and Derek, everything would just turn out better.

Casey finally stopped in front of Mocha Joe's and Emily looked over to see where they were.

"Uh, Case, this isn't the theater." Emily said as she noticed where they were.

"Yeah, uh. I'm still not sure why I agreed, but Em, I just want to see you happy. If happy for you is being with Derek, then you should be with him. Well, I'll let you guys talk it out. He should be inside already." Casey said. Emily reached over and hugged Casey.

"Thank you Casey. I'll call you in the morning or something okay?"

"Alright. Take care Em." Casey said as Emily got out of the car.

Emily hesitated as she started to walk to the door. She turned around and waved bye to Casey then she opened up the door and headed in.

The lights were dimmed and there were candles placed on the various tables. She looked up and saw Derek standing in the center of the café.

"Hi Emily." Derek said as he stood there. Emily was in so much awe that Derek had done all of this for her. He started to move towards her until he was standing right in front of her.

"Emily, I know that you didn't believe my story, but I was telling the truth. If anything I got drunk so I could forget you were there with Ryan instead of me. Selfish, I know but I can't help it." Derek said as he gave Emily a mini smirk.

Emily had stared Derek straight into the eyes and had this feeling he really was telling the truth. He really cared for her and at this moment she could only think of him.

There was a silence that overcame both of them until Derek spoke up.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

"I, uh. I think its time we stop talking." Emily said as she moved up closer to Derek and caught him in a full blown kiss. He moved his hand to the small of her back and held her as they shared a passionate kiss. Emily brought her arms up to encircle his neck and began to bite on his lower lip. Finally they pulled apart and all they did was smile.

"Hm, well then there should be more of that in the future right?" Derek said as he clasped Emily's hand and led her to one of the tables.

"Well, let me think about it. Don't think you're off the hook that easily. You are going to have to prove to me that you're worth a second chance." Emily smiled coyly. She took a sip of the white chocolate mocha sitting in front of her.

'How cute, he already knows what drink I like.'

"Did you know I was ready to strangle Delia once I opened the door? Then again I was ready to strangle you but I didn't let my anger get the best of me."

"Hm, two girls fighting over me. That would have been heaven." Derek said but not before Emily smacked him in the gut.

"Uh, hello? I thought you were trying to prove that you're worth a second chance, not make me wonder why I shouldn't give you one." Emily said sternly.

Derek poked her side which made her giggle and she turned to face Derek again.

"Let me ask you one question, what changed your mind? I mean I've been right next door along and you're known how I felt. What made you decide to give me a chance?" Emily questioned wanting to know the answer since the day he started to pay attention to her.

"What's that saying? 'You don't know what you got till its gone.' I guess I took you and our friendship for granted. It took me just now to realize how incredible you are." Derek finished.

"Wow, Derek Venturi getting all mushy. You have been watching too many chick flicks." Emily laughed.

"Yeah yeah, make fun of me all you want. Now you're stuck with me and you're going to have to deal with my mushiness. Wanna head out now?" Derek asked as he stood up.

"Alright, it's getting a little late and I should be heading home." Emily got up too and followed Derek out of the café towards his car.

They finally arrived in front of Emily's house and Derek got out to walk her to her front door.

"Thank you for everything. It really means a lot to me that you went out of your way to say sorry. So call me later alright?" Emily said as she looked up into Derek's eyes.

"You're welcome and I definitely will call." Derek said as he bent down to capture Emily in a good night kiss. Derek's tongue danced on Emily's lips and she was more than willing to let him in. She felt those electric shocks shooting up and down her body that only Derek could give her when he kissed her.

"Alright, good night Derek." Emily said one last time before she slipped into her house.

"Good night Emily." Derek responded before turning back and heading to his house.

Emily glided up the stairs and fell onto her bed. Everything felt right now. She had been through all those trials and tribulations to get where she was now and she couldn't feel happier. Derek really cared about her and it had really shown through tonight. Things were finally falling into place.

Of course there was Ryan to deal with. Ryan was such an understanding guy he would be sure to understand that maybe they didn't have the chemistry they thought they had. Emily made it a point to talk to him as soon as she could. She didn't want to lead him on now that she had Derek. It all sounded so selfish of her but she couldn't resist how she felt. Emily turned out the lights and fell asleep almost instantly dreaming of Derek's kiss and that electrifying touch he had on her.


Hope you guys liked it and sorry it took awhile to get out. I was almost out of ideas but I finally pulled something out. Read & review as always :