It was the first time that Sally's touch was suffocating to him. The room was dark, it
was well past midnight, and her soft lips grazed down his jaw and neck in a feather
light touch. Consentration and focus were not in the cards for tonight.
It was also a distraction that Nora and George kept interupting them, going to the
front door and checking to see if Casey was pulling in the drive. It was a school night
and her cerfew was 11 on weekdays. In the midst of their argument, she had left
without her purse, leaving her cell phone behind. Derek was given all the freedom he
wanted. They didn't even try giving him rules because he was the biggest rule
breaker around. But Casey...
Derek had a new girlfriend. He shouldn't be pondering over his short lived flame who
was currently out with another guy. Another guy that reminded him of
someone...himself.
Focus, Derek thought as he brought his lips down and kissed Sally with the first
morsel of passion he had shown all night. She sighed into him which caused Derek to
break the kiss and swing his legs around so he was now in a sitting position on the
couch instead of lying down.
Maybe he did need therapy. Why was he always thinking about the girl he wasn't
currently making out with? Sally...Casey...Casey...Sally...and then Sally some more.
Derek hit his forhead with both hands; repeating the motion five times before Sally
broke his rhythm.
"Looks like Casey was telling the truth." At the mention of Casey's name, Derek's
head shot to the side and looked at Sally with intensity.
"Huh?"
"You did skip your meds." She rose from the couch and turned on a nearby lamp.
"So what gives? You've been out of it all night."
"Um, I just have a severe migrain, maybe I'll go take a shower and hit the hay."
Derek needed time alone, time to think, and time to spend by himself to wait on
Casey. Sally didn't take the hint. Instead she sauntered over to him and sat back
down, a arm laid 'round his shoulder. "Maybe you could use some company."
Why do they all do this? Do I seriously come off as a guy that only wants sex? Maybe I
do act like that. Besides...the shower was the last place I had been with Casey. Shit, I
could go for some pizza about now.
It had only been a week and half and the first few days with Sally had been smooth
and calm. She still had a, 'I don't give a damn' attitude which he found endearing,
but it was apparent that she wanted to move their relationship to the next level.
And for the first time since he started making out with girls at twelve, dating at
fourteen, and getting lucky shortly after that, he didn't want to sleep with Sally. He
wanted a real relationship. Someone to hang out; laugh with. He wanted a friend.
Derek thought that was what he had found after a laid back night at Smelly's Nelly on
their first casual date. He still liked her, a lot, but something felt off. He was feeling
fickle once again. He wanted nothing more than to be a good boyfriend, but at this
point even Kendra didn't deserve him.
"Um, I really just want to be alone," Derek said with caution. He had to go about it
gentley. "I havn't been sleeping very much lately. And after school tomorrow, I'm
just going to come home and sleep all day so...maybe I can just see you at work on
Thursday."
The room got silent and then Sally did the one thing he hadn't bargained. "Alright."
"Alright?" He hadn't expected it to be that easy.
"Ya, no problem. We've seen eachother every day since I started at Smelly Nelly's. I
don't think one day apart will kill us," she shrugged. Sally reached down and adorned
her coat before leaning down for one last kiss. "Rest up." And then she was gone.
After that, Derek was reminded on why he liked her. The suffocation had been her
kissing, not her emotional attachment. And at the moment, he really was getting a
migrain so it hadn't been a complete lie.
Derek rose from the couch and turned off the lamp that had been extinguished only
moments before. He headed twards the stairs and stopped on the second step. A
car was pulling in the drive way, it's headlights shining in through the window. He
slowly made his way forward to the door.
Derek knew he should run. Neither of them were in a mood to fight with eachother.
Their argument earlier had been pure reflex and jealousy. He opened the door ajar
and peeked out with his right eye.
Truman was leaning over to the passenger side and he could see that they were
kissing. Their kiss broke suddenly and he could see her throwing her head back in a
laugh...looking happy. She hadn't looked happy in so long.
Resting his head against the opening, Derek could feel a tear slip from his eye. He
liked Sally but was in love with the one girl who no longer wanted him in her life,
regardless of their destiny to spend forever and a day together whether she liked it or
not. But that eternity was the one thing that kept him going, knowing he'd have a life
time to fix what he broke.