A/N: Hi, everyone sorry for the major hiatus I only now found inspiration to write again. So each chapter has been revamped & edited. I think this new one is an okay transition for what I want to have happen next. Think of this as a big tease ;p or a door to new possibilities

Chapter 10: Ruined Chances and an Abandoned Heart

Derek looks at Mark hopefully.

"Well what'd she say?"

"You don't have a chance."

"What?"

"The woman knew you were trying to ambush her, she stopped me before I could come near two feet of where she sat, wasn't even looking my way and I didn't get to say a word."

"Wow, she hasn't done that in a while."

"At least this time she didn't cause anyone bodily harm," Mark muttered.

Derek laughed recalling how Addison had almost broken Mark's nose once after trying to sneak up on her. But his laughter faded and he knew that they need to talk about this seriously. Mark seemed to agree with the idea as a more serious look graced his face.

"She definitely doesn't want to talk about or to you, that's for sure."

"I'm screwed aren't I," Derek said with a disappointed look on his face.

Mark sighed not sure why he was "helping" Derek in the first place, more than anything in his gut he wanted to ruin his chances, but apparently his better and kinder side was getting the best of him.

"Sit down; I think you left out certain things about what happened with Addison last Friday."

Derek raised an eyebrow but sat with Mark in one of the booths.

"Now you're going to tell me exactly why Addison feels the urge to either have you committed or arrested."

"So how were things with Evan? Did you guys have a great reunion?"

"I thought we agreed not to discuss this. You don't even know what you're talking about."

"Addison this guy has been my friend for years now. I think I know him," Callie says with an empty laugh.

Addison shakes her head at Callie. She couldn't even begin to know. Addison sits on her couch adjacent to Callie.

"You do, but you had no right tricking me into seeing him when you have no idea what went on between the two of us. I didn't want to see him and you don't know enough about him to have decided that for me."

Callie, not understanding what Addison meant, couldn't help but feel annoyed.

"How would you know? You don't get to tell me I don't know one of my closest friends. You haven't even seen him in twenty years, what do you know? Face it, whatever relationship the two of you had has been over for a long time, I was only trying to help. You're always running away from what could be a good thing. All you do is sit around pining for Derek while completely pushing him away. How sick are you?"

Callie spoke with slight disdain in her tone; she was too upset to filter what she said.

"Are you kidding me Derek?"

Derek didn't even respond instead choosing to drink more of his beer.

"If I had known she was that upset with you I wouldn't have even gone up to her. How self-centered are you?"

Still he remained silent.

"I can't deal with this anymore Derek. You and I know it's been going on for maybe a little over four years now. You just don't know her anymore Derek, you don't see the big picture, what she wants, or what she needs."

Derek looks up at his last comment. Mark doesn't want to break their fragile new friendship but in his mind after all that has happened; Addison's heart will always come before Derek's clouded and confused brain.

After Callie had a moment to process, she immediately regretted what she'd said to Addison as she saw her eyes glaze over just the tiniest bit.

"You just don't get it, Callie. I don't even understand it; it's just so confusing to be near him."

Callie didn't know if she was supposed to say anything, she could only sit there awkwardly.

"He abandoned me. He kicked me to the curb like it was nothing. You don't know what it's like to have no choice but to watch your friendship torn apart in front of your eyes. For someone who had claimed to have fallen in love with me, he acted completely the opposite, and I I-I couldn't...deal with it."

This was always how the men in her life affected her; they always left her unable to string words together, sometimes in a good way, but lately in a bad way. Addison didn't know how to explain what happened between her and Adriel in the past, let alone how she felt for him now. If anything, Callie was right about one thing it all happened a long time ago.

When she'd seen him in the past couple of days it was so simple to let everything go and just be close to him. Now though, the glamour of his presence was beginning to fade and she was left with her many thoughts once again.

"It was just so easy for him to not care about me the second I couldn't reciprocate what he was feeling. He was supposed to be the one that knew me, understood me; he was like a second brother. It took me so long to get over it. So much had gone on before then; it was basically the last straw."

She remembered the day she left home for college, Bizzy telling her she would never make it and she'd come running back home. It had been easier for her mother to say that rather than say that she truthfully didn't want her children to leave her alone. She made a choice from then on that the money for her education would come from her own hard work; Captain and Bizzy would have no hold on her future.

"I'd never seen him act so self-centered. It was a waste of a nearly twenty year relationship. What's sad is that all ended up happening again with Derek."

"Addison, I didn't mean to get so annoyed with you before, it's just Evan's story was so different, I wanted to see you both happy."

"It's okay Callie you have every right to want to defend your friendship," Addison laughed slightly, " It's ridiculous really, how similar Derek and Adriel are now that I think about. They are so much alike, arrogant, stubborn, and they both think they can just waltz around like nothing bad ever happened between us."

Addison wiped at her eyes and straightens herself out on the couch.

"So we're okay?"

"Yeah we're okay. I think we just needed to get a few things off our chests, might as well get a good cry out of it. Callie, I need you to understand that I love Adriel but I don't think I could ever have a relationship with him, at least not now and I need someone on my side when he realizes he's not going to get what he wants, because he's going to leave again. He's going to say that everything is all right and that we can try to be friends, but he's going to get bored and he'll leave, he can't help it."

Callie thought of all the times she talked to Evan on the phone. He was always hopping from one place to another, he always got bored. Then she thought about the stories he used to tell her about the fiery girl he fell in love with, the only person he let call him by the first name he usually despised. Addison wasn't a fiery teenage girl anymore, she was a different person and she and Callie both knew that the girl that Adriel Evander was in love with no longer existed. Callie didn't want to see her friend suppress the person she really was in exchange for a relationship with him.

"I just wish it didn't have to be like this," Callie said with a sigh.

"I do too but give it a month. We'll spend all the time we can together to repair as much damage to the relationship we can. And when he gets sick of the rain and daily routine, he'll move on and call us every now and then. At least this time I won't lose him completely. I just regret kissing him I feel like I've been leading him on."

"I'll never know how you deal with it all Addison, you should be given an award or something," Callie said laughing.

"Ha ha," Addison says grinning as she reaches for her phone, "lets order something to eat, I'm hungry and I'd like to avoid any other discussions about the messed up men in my life."