There she was. Oh wow, she was beautiful. Derrick smiled to himself, when he saw the way Claire's face just lit up when she laughed. But the thing that wiped Derrick's smile right off his face was the fact that Cam had made her laugh. It should be him. He and Claire were just… They made sense. They clicked. They had chemistry. They were so… right together.

So why weren't they together?

He sighed and went back to taking large bites of his burger. Until, of course, Kemp slapped his back. Again.

"There's Massie, dude."

Unwillingly, Derrick forced his eyes off of the petite blonde girl and looked to the girl beside her.

Wow.

She was beautiful, he couldn't deny it. But she wasn't what he wanted, he wanted Claire. Massie looked like… like bird crap next to her. She didn't have those wide, shiny blue eyes that showed off every emotion so clearly. She didn't have the silky blonde hair that was a few inches longer than her breasts. She didn't have the beautiful pale skin. She was tanned, she was brunette, and… Well, she had the hair length down. But that was all she had.

"I know, she's so hot. And look at those boobs. And her ass was always nice. If you're not going to ask her out, then I will," Kemp interrupted. Ugh, the perverted bastard. If Derrick ever heard him talk about Claire like that, he didn't know what he would do.

"Alright, alright, I'll go now," Derrick murmured. If he could say whatever he wanted, he would tell Kemp he could have Massie. But he couldn't do that. Why? He didn't know, he just felt it would bring bad results, results he didn't want.

He got up slowly. He could take his time, after all. Why wouldn't Massie say yes? He smiled to himself, remembering all the good times they had had. There was some connection, some chemistry. It just wasn't what he and Claire had, the easy love. With Massie, he had to chase her. He liked that. He liked how they began to argue after a few days. It was always the same; they would begin to fight, screaming and yelling, and Massie would take steps closer to him so their noses almost touched. And then he would kiss her, she would kiss back, and then the two would get all hot and bothered.

He liked that.

Even though his eyes burned at the attempt, Derrick kept his eyes focused on Massie. He noticed Claire looking at him in surprise out of the corner of his eye, of course, it was hard to miss. No sadness. No sorrow. No jealousy.

Disappointment flooded his insides with no warning, and he found it hard to keep his balance and not run up to Claire and kiss her with all the passion he had for her.

But he managed.

And finally, he was standing before Massie. She looked up at him curiously, her amber eyes flickering with memories. He could see the confusion in them, he could see the sadness. Her emotions widened her eyes. She looked like a weak, innocent deer. One that knew it was going to get shot by a nearby hunter, but couldn't do anything about it. Fragile. So easily breakable.

He had never seen this side of Massie. No, he'd seen it once, when he had accidentally walked into Cam and Massie having one of their heart-to-hearts. She had been close to tears, but had quickly regained control of herself as soon she saw him standing in the doorway, staring.

Massie was always beautiful when she let her guard down.

"Massie, I see you're back," Derrick said smoothly, aiming a charming smile at her.

She nodded in reply.

"Yep. I saw you and Kemp staring at me, and I'm pretty sure I know why you're here."

Her voice, as always, was calm and collected, confident and casually cool. That was just Massie.

"Could I… Could I talk to you alone?" Derrick tried asking. Unintentionally, his voice came out hopeful, something that caught Massie's attention.

"Sure."

The two were in a faraway hallway, and Derrick found Massie staring at him expectantly with her arms crossed underneath her chest.

"Massie, I want you back in my life, I really do."

"Then you'll find a way to get back in my life and stay there."

"That's what I'm doing now."

"You could start talking to me again, for one," Massie went on, as if he hadn't spoken.

"Massie, I'm asking you to be my girlfriend again."

"We could be friends again," Massie kept on.

In frustration, Derrick gripped her forearms and kissed her.

She pushed him away.

"Derrick! What the fuck are you doing!?"

He looked down in shame. He rarely got rejected, and it was still a blow. Especially after Claire.

One step forward. Two steps back.

"Massie, baby…"

Massie stared long and hard into Derrick's eyes. Those beautiful brown eyes that had fooled her into thinking she actually loved him. How stupid of her, seriously. Comparing her 'feelings' for Derrick to her feelings for Cam…

Wow. She should really say no to him.

But Cam had Claire, Dylan had Josh, Kristen had Chris… Why couldn't she have Derrick? She'd prefer him over anyone else.

"Alright, Derrick. We'll give it one more shot, one second chance."

Derrick grinned so wide, Massie was surprised his face didn't crack. It was genuine. She was touched.

"Massie, you won't regret it, thank you so, so much."

And then he kissed her so passionately, Massie couldn't help but kiss back.

And she did kiss back… The moment Cam walked into the room.

"What's… going on?"

Massie squeezed her eyes shut before turning around and opening them. Please, please, not Cam… Not him.

"Massie and I are back together, dude," Derrick was saying, his lips already off of hers, as if he was ashamed to be caught making out with her as well. "Now the four of us can start hanging out again and stuff."

Yeah. It was definitely Cam. Massie studied his eyes, the window to his soul. She saw nothing. It was blank. Hard, even. Cold, even. What was he doing here…?

"Oh, that's great."

His voice was… polite. He wasn't really happy, and he wasn't hiding it. Oh no. Massie dared to hope he had broken up with Claire and had come down to find her so the two of them could finally be together…

"Then you wouldn't mind going on a double date with me and Claire? For old time's sake."

… Or not.

Not proud of this.
This took waaay too long, sorry guys. I was just caught up in summer. (x
Next chapter will be the double date. :D