Matt was waiting for Derek when he arrived back at the dorm after dropping Emily back at her mother's and he was decidedly not happy.
"Hey, man," Derek greeted cheerily, breezing into the room like he was floating on air. He either didn't notice or didn't care that Matt was glowering at him. "Where's Kristy? Shouldn't you be sticking your tongue down her throat?" he teased.
Without waiting for a response, he grabbed his gym bag off the floor and started rummaging through it, tossing dirty socks and practice jerseys on the floor.
"I should be asking you the same question," Matt countered Derek's sunny disposition with a pointed question. "Where's your girlfriend?"
"What?" he asked, looking up sharply, stricken.
Matt shook his head in exasperation. "Let's start with something easier... Where were you?"
"Out, Mom," Derek answered, deliberately emphasizing the sarcastic nickname.
"You could be less of an asshole, you know, considering I covered for you."
That seemed to take the wind out of his sails a little. "With Savannah?" he asked. "Did she come by?"
"After she'd looked all over campus for you when you weren't at the library like you said you'd be," Matt emphasized. "So, where were you?"
"With a friend," Derek said evasively. He looked back into his bag as if it were suddenly the most interesting thing in the world so he didn't have to meet his eyes.
Matt sighed in aggravation. "Meaning Emily...or you would've just said so upfront."
"So what if I was?" He gestured pointedly at him, dirty sock in one hand, flopping about with his gestures.
"So, you have a girlfriend," Matt retorted.
"Emily is just a friend," Derek insisted for the umpteenth time. "I'm allowed to have friends."
"See, that's the problem, man," he said. "Obviously, she's not 'just a friend' or you wouldn't have lied to Savannah. Or to me."
"Look," Derek said with a sigh, "I just don't want everyone reading more into my friendship with Emily than there really is."
Matt just shook his head.
"What?"
"You're kidding yourself. Sooner or later, you'll have to admit to yourself that you're still in love with her."
"You're wrong," Derek insisted.
"Fine," Matt said, throwing his hands up in the air. "Whatever. But stop putting me in the middle of your shit with Savannah. I won't keep lying to Kristy to cover your ass."
JJ wrinkled her nose at whatever was on Emily's plate. "What is that?" she asked warily, settling at the foot of her bed. She'd eaten a lot of unpleasant meals in the name of health and performance, but she wasn't even sure what Emily was eating could be called food.
Emily pushed her food around her plate distastefully before setting the tray on the bedside table. "Mother has me on this crazy restrictive diet trying to keep me at 'competition weight' since I can't train," she bemoaned. "I got frozen yogurt with Derek yesterday and she freaked the fuck out."
"You got frozen yogurt with Derek?" JJ repeated incredulously. She curled her feet up under her, staring at Emily expectantly.
Emily groaned. "Could you not let your imagination wander while I'm complaining?" she whined.
JJ rolled her eyes. "You can't drop a bomb like that and expect me not to detonate it..."
"A friend and I getting frozen yogurt together is not a 'bomb'."
"It is when that friend is handsome, perfect for you, and totally in love with you," she countered.
Emily heaved a sigh. "There are so many things wrong with that, I don't even know where to start."
"You're avoiding..." she sing-songed.
"You're forgetting he has a girlfriend," she echoed her tone.
"Why are you so hellbent on this 'just friends' thing?" JJ asked, starting to get annoyed that Emily refused to just admit that she and Derek would make a good couple.
"Because I have a fiance! And he's insanely jealous, even though he spends his days in close proximity to his scantily clad ex-girlfriend!" she snapped.
For a moment, JJ's mouth hung open slightly. "Wait, what?"
"He used to date Chloe," she mumbled, scowl fixed firmly upon her lips.
JJ's eyebrows arched high on her forehead. "What!?"
"Don't make me say it again," Emily begged.
"Dude..." she lamented, "That's not okay."
"Just to be clear," Emily interjected, "Which part exactly do you object to?"
JJ stared at her like she'd grown a second head. "It really doesn't bother you that this guy has a history of preying on teenage girls?"
"He doesn't prey on anyone – they're relationships."
"I'm pretty sure it counts as predatory when there's like a twenty-five year age difference..." she said.
"Jayje..." she said warningly.
"No, Em, listen! Guys his age don't date teenagers because it's wrong! You know it's wrong or it wouldn't be a big secret."
"JJ, don't..."
She stood suddenly, pacing a little. "I want you to be happy, Em, and right now, you clearly aren't. And I think it's because deep down, you know you shouldn't be with him. He doesn't make you happy – it seems like every time you talk to him, you're fighting and it's making you miserable. Hell, you wouldn't even be in a fucking neck brace right now if it weren't for him! He could cost you the Olympics!"
"You're wrong!" she argued, "I love him!"
"And I believe that," JJ insisted, softer, gentler. "But that's not the same as being happy..."
Emily huffed a breath through her nose, lips clamped firmly together like she was struggling to keep from crying, but her reddening eyes betrayed her. She crossed her arms over her chest to hide the shaking of her hands.
JJ's eyes shone with sympathy and guilt burned in her chest over saying things that, while true, were perhaps a little cruel. She reached out to rest a comforting hand on her shoulder, hoping she wouldn't shun the contact. "Em, you're my best friend... I only want what's best for you," she whispered. "Just... Just think about it."
