I bounced up and down in my seat, waiting for my name to be called so I could get the heck out of the stuffy auditorium.
Why is 'S' so late in the alphabet? I slumped and glowered at the principal, sure she was speaking at half speed.
Simon had already gotten his diploma with the announcement of his full scholarship to the California School of the Arts, which he'd applied for but we hadn't heard about yet. He'd looked like he was going to pass out as he went across the stage to the sound of cheering and two ear-splitting whistles, one of which I was sure belonged to Derek, the other to some girl standing in the back.
"Chloe Saunders."
I practically flew to my feet and went across the stage. It was amazing how everything seemed so loud when I was waiting for my turn and now all I could hear was the pounding of my own heart. It wasn't stage fright, it was just one of those things, a pivotal moment in my life.
I smiled and accepted my diploma, barely registering the voice coming from the auditorium speakers.
"Chloe Saunders has been recognized by the Young Artists Society for her outstanding work on the mini-documentary; An Introduction to My Family."
My jaw dropped as I was handed a framed award on top of the diploma. I finished the walk to the other side of the stage where my awareness pinpointed Derek, giving me that crooked wolf's smile. He turned to point out Simon who had a camera raised and I jumped off the stage. Simon got a picture of me mid-air and Derek's spider-senses making him whip around in time to catch me.
"Do you have any idea how dangero-" He started, putting me down and I just jumped up again, wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing him mid-lecture. "Have to… warn people… before…" He was determined to give me a full safety lecture and I was just as determined to kiss him until I passed out from oxygen deprivation. "… Really dangerous…" He finished weakly when I did stop to breathe, his eyes glazed and struggling to stay focused.
"I love you." I sighed into his shoulder.
He hesitated then wrapped his arms around me, forming my own personal werewolf shield. "Yeah?" He asked into my hair.
There was something in his tone that seemed off. Like he was holding back or hesitating about something. He sounded so young and worried that I vacated my comfy shoulder nuzzling spot to look up at him. I searched his face and found that he WAS hiding something, a subtle shift away when I held his gaze for too long.
"What's up?"
"Nothing." He smiled, pushing that strange shadow of a secret far enough back that I couldn't see it in his eyes anymore. "Come on, this is your day."
He kissed the top of my head and we moved down the to the back of the auditorium to join Kit and Simon. I backed off but was definitely going to pry later. We all snuck out, closing the auditorium doors behind us and made it through the lobby and out the main doors without being caught.
"Special delivery for a 'Madame Director' and a 'Mr. Artiste'." A rich smoky voice made us all jump. I could swear that Simon perked up a little before even turning around. There stood Haven, a grin on her 'basic' face, holding a bunch of roses and a white box. "Hi guys."
I couldn't help it, I rushed over and gave her a hug. "I'm so glad you made it!"
She laughed and handed me the roses. "I heard your award, pretty snazzy stuff and well deserved." She ceremoniously handed the box to Simon. "And for our other graduating senior."
He peeked inside and his face fell. "Cookies." He tried for excitement and failed.
Haven smiled at his reaction and hooked the collar of his shirt, tugging him down to conspiratorially whisper something in his ear. I watched Simon's expression carefully for later when Derek gave me the soundtrack to match the visuals. When she first pulled him down a very faint blush crept into his cheeks, then as she talked a gradual smile graced his mouth. It was a smile I hadn't seen for awhile, not since he'd gone on girl hiatus. The infamous 'Simon Bae panty-dropper' smile—though I was partial to a more wolfy smile myself. The funniest part about it was that he really had no idea how that smile affected the female population at large, assuming they chased him for some genetic bullshit reason that Derek had given him.
"Really?" He asked hopefully.
"You think I would lie about something like that?" Haven put her hands on her hips and gave him a look. "Jeez I'll joke around but I'm not cruel."
He laughed and turned to the rest of us. "Just so we're clear, these are mine. No touchie." The last was directed specifically at Derek.
"No touching. Got it." Derek grinned at his brother's adamant protection of his box of cookies. He turned that grin down on me and my heart flipped. My reaction must have been obvious because he smiled again, this time with a tilt to it and a wicked gleam to his eyes that made me liquefy on the spot. Forget panty-dropping, this was more like panty-incinerating. "I'll just have to keep my hands occupied, touching other things." He bent and said this low against my ear—escalating from panty-incinerating to vaporizing, in fact I think my whole underwear drawer went up in flames—while the others were momentarily squabbling, Simon holding his box of cookies high out of Kit's reach.
"W-what'd she say to him?" I asked to try to get back to safer subjects while I had Derek in a convenient whispering position. "I-I mean… I can guess but, specifically."
My stutter earned me another smile but he left it at that, not having the cruel streak I seemed to get every now and then. "She said, 'Sweetheart you can eat as many of them as you want, they're one hundred percent diabetic friendly." He murmured and I looked up at him in surprise.
"Did she really call him sweetheart?" I asked under my breath.
He nodded and smiled, tilting his head their way again and I followed his gaze.
They were all bantering and teasing and Simon had Haven under his arm, keeping her away from his father who was demanding that she be shared if she could cook. Haven was protesting that she could make big batches of cookies for everyone and Simon squelched that idea, claiming that he needed a personal chef.
It was amazing that a simple pet name made him blush but he could claim ownership and talk about everything from porn magazines to his own charm without batting an eyelash. Derek was the same though, I'd seen him take down an entire squad of Edison group cronies, on more than one occasion, and be completely unconcerned. But if I ran my hand under his shirt, tracing my fingertips along his lower back like this…
Derek shot me a surprised look and looked increasingly more fidgety as I slid my hand around his hip and inched towards—
"Who wants pizza?" He asked loudly to disguise a strangled moan.
Luckily it needed to be said loudly to get the other's attention.
"How about you two go out somewhere nice to eat and we'll celebrate with Apples to Apples when you get home?" Kit suggested cheerfully, already steering Simon and Haven towards the car.
"Apples to what?" I heard Haven ask.
"Huh." I shrugged and turned to Derek who looked oddly pale, glaring after his father. "Derek?" I had to say his name twice before getting his attention, a first since he usually heard a pin drop from two stories up. "Okay spill. What's the deal."
"Is your car in it's usual spot?" He started striding towards the lot before I even really answered.
"Yeah but you seriously don't think that's going to distract me do you?" I had to practically jog to keep pace with him. "Hey. HEY." I grabbed his arm, almost getting dragged off my feet as he kept walking. "DEREK."
"Hmm?" He looked down at me and blinked, seeming to realize only now that I was hanging on to him for dear life. "What?"
I stared at him in disbelief. "SERIOUSLY?"
He sighed and looked around, spotting my car parked a few rows down. "Let's get out of here first."
He didn't give me time to answer, again, before he was already almost to the car and I was running to catch up. This was weird, like seriously worryingly weird. Derek wasn't usually one to ignore me when I was clearly trying to get his attention, in fact he never was. There were very few things that could have made him this distracted. If our roles had been reversed and he was the girl I would have suspected that he was pregnant.
"Where do you want to eat?" He asked, starting up the car.
"I'm not hungry Derek. Tell me what's going on."
"How about we get ice cream then?"
"DEREK." I crossed my arms, tapping my fingers impatiently.
"Okay! I'll tell you, just let's… let's get out of the school parking lot first. I promise I'll tell you." He added the last when he saw that my expression hadn't changed even slightly.
I didn't answer, just turned to face the road, ignoring Derek's sideways glances. It was the longest drive we'd ever been on, it seemed like years later that Derek parked just off a small private beach lining Lake Erie.
Without a word he opened up my door and took my hand, walking down to the water with me.
"Are you going to tell me now?" I asked flatly.
Derek stuffed his hands in his pockets and frowned into the sunset. "Dad wanted me to talk to you about something." He took a small box out of one pocket and slapped it in my hand. "You get the idea."
I looked at the box, then stared at it, then stared some more. It looked deceptively like an engagement ring's box. I opened the little hinged lid and stared even more. Inside was the most dainty ring I'd ever seen. The band was made of yellow and white gold but was so dainty you could barely tell there were two colors. A tiny chip caught the sunlight and glittered.
I sat down hard on the sand.
"Derek. Are you proposing?" I asked with astounding calm.
"I think I just did." He looked down at me. "It's not a marriage thing, I just thought… it seems like it will be easier to introduce you as my fiancé than as my girlfriend."
My heart pounded, there was a constant ringing in my ears and pretty much everything from my hairline down was in uber-tingle mode.
Oh my fucking god. Derek just proposed. I stared even more at the ring. Then got mad. That's the lamest fucking proposal ever!
With a last longing fantasy-filled moment of glittery tingly desire to slip on the beautiful ring, I snapped the box shut.
"Nope." I stood and tossed him the box.
It fell to his feet because his eyes were glued to me, jaw slack. "What."
I walked along the beach, ignoring him and simmering with anger. I felt Derek's power lash out at me like a whip and I stumbled, then spun on my heel and glared.
"Derek Christian Souza if you think that that is how you're going to propose to me you've got another thing coming. That was pathetic. I refuse for that to be the story I'm going to tell our children when they ask how you asked me to marry you." I started walking again and got about a quarter of a step before Derek caught me gently. I growled and got ready to tell him off when he pulled me right off my feet and into a kiss.
When we came up to breathe his voice was guttural with need. "Damnit woman marry me."
"Hell no." I kissed him hard, melting against his muscular body. Yeah, wouldn't mind waking up to that every morning for the rest of my life. The beauty of that was that I knew what a werewolf looked like at over sixty—Jeremy christened spring with us in a swimming hole at Stonehaven and needless to say I felt really super awkward ogling my soul mate's father.
"All right, how do YOU want me to propose?"
"That's not how it works!" I kicked my legs in a futile attempt to get down. "It's supposed to be romantic and surprising and all those fluffy adjectives!"
"You want it to be fluffy?" Derek asked incredulously.
"Well I sure as hell am not settling for 'it's not a marriage thing, I just don't want you to be my girlfriend'!"
"Fine. Marry me."
"No."
"Why?"
"Because you're not doing it right!"
He sighed exasperatedly, pushed a hand through his hair and set me on my feet, then dropped to one knee, keeping hold of one of my hands. "Chloe Saunders-"
"Nope." I jerked my hand free and stomped back towards the car.
"Chloe wait!" He caught me again and I grumbled, getting tired of being short and slow. "WHY?"
"Don't be an idiot Derek, you know why. It's just not right. I promise that you'll get it right one day, just not today. Or tomorrow. Or this month. Or probably this year. Just let it be." I met the green eyes I'd fallen in love with more than a year ago and smiled. "I love you."
"I guess that's the important thing." He returned my smile with one of his infamous quarter-smiles that made me feel like I'd taken fourteen shots of espresso laced with ecstasy. "I love you too little bird."
"Kiss and make up?" I went up on my tip-toes and put one hand on his chest over his heart.
"Only make up?" His smile turned to a grin and I got my make-up kiss, full and passionate and the only kiss I ever wanted.
"You know…" I wrapped my arms around his neck and brought my lips to his ear. "Make up sex is supposed to be the best kind. Maybe we should fight some more."
"Sure. Pick a topic." He said enthusiastically.
I laughed. "So, what do you want to do after some quality time my dear quasi-fiancee?"
"After a LOT of quality time... we should see about getting Simon some quality time with a certain shape-shifter." He kissed my neck. "Then I drown in your scent for the next ten decades."
"Sounds like a plan to me."
Fin.
Last chapter, next story is a really short Simon-Haven story called Safe Haven then Snapshots 3: The End of School; where Chloe gets her masters and Derek gets his PhD's. Tell me what you want to happen IN THE REVIEWS and remember that the wedding is a separate Snapshots so that's the one thing that won't happen. Also I'm planning on going up to an M rating for the next one but please let me know if you don't want that.
In case you were wondering, I decided that Kit's full name is Christian. Therein comes Derek's middle name.
I'll be updating soon!
XOXO
Azure