Okay everybody, I know that I am a horrible person for making you wait so long. But I had a little writers block with this one. I don't know much about St. Patrick's Day, but from some of the stuff that you guys told me, I may be able to make this work.
In this one, Chloe is 20 and Derek is 21. They go to the same college but they aren't friends exactly.
Disclaimer: I do not own The Darkest Powers
I felt a breeze blow across my face and I snuggled farther into my blankets, burying my face into the pillow and sighing. The blankets were warm and inviting, wrapping around me as I brought my knees to my chest. I pressed my face into the pillow and inhaled. The rich smell of cinnamon filled my nostrils. I quietly moaned at the pleasant smell and smiled. After another minute drifting in and out of consciousness, the thought hit me. My pillows smelled like vanilla and the window is on the other side of my room. My eyes shot open and I bolted up. I instantly regretted it. The bright light from the window scorched my eyes and my head began to throb. I groaned, cradling my head in my hands. I peaked an eye open, but it only made my headache worse. Turning slowly as to not set off another headache, I faced the wall, my back to the window. What happened?
I looked down at the blankets which covered me. It was not the rich blue comforter which covered my bed. They were a deep green. I reached my hand down and ran my fingers over the fabric. They were softer than mine too. When I moved my hand farther, the blanket fell from where it rested against my chest and I looked down. My eyes widened when I saw that I was only wearing my bra and panties. I quickly grabbed the blanket and held it too me. I tried looking around the room more, but the sunlight was too bright.
Slowly sliding to the edge of the bed, I pulled the blanket around me and gingerly stuck a leg off the bed. The floors were made from wood, so when my foot touched it, it sent a chill through me. Shivering, I pulled the blanket tighter around me and shuffled slowly to the window. Before shutting it, I looked at the ground outside. From the distance to the ground, I guessed I was on the second floor. The ground was covered in snow, packed down by feet. I heard a shout and looked to the left. There were two boys. There were chucking snowballs at each other. I smiled when I saw one get hit point blank in the face and he ran after the first. My smiled quickly faded. Boys? The school might be coed, but the dorms weren't. If there were boys outside the room, it meant I was in a boy's room.
I quickly shut the window and drew the shades in case somebody looked up at the window. Turning around, I looked at the room. To my left was a desk piled high with books. I walked over and leaned down to read the titles. There were a few math books, like statistics and trigonometry. There were other books too, but they were too advanced for me. I tried to find something on the desk to tell me whose room I was in, but I had no luck. I looked over to the closet. Walking over, I turned the knob and looked inside. All the clothes looked like normal guy stuff. Nothing that would stick out. I shut the door and looked at the room again. It was just a normal guy's room. But what am I doing here? I walked over to the bed and sat down. What did I do last night? I thought back to yesterday.
Lying in bed enjoying the last minutes of sleep, I heard a pounding on my door. I groaned and lifted my hands to my face to brush away the hair. I looked over at the clock and gasped. It was 8:45 and I had class in 15 minutes. Rushing out of bed, I got tangled in my sheets and fell to the floor struggling. After a minute, I finally got free and managed to stand up without tripping.
"Chloe!" A voice yelled and pounded on the door again.
"Hold on!" I yelled back, trying to brush my hair while going through my closet. I grabbed a simple t-shirt and jeans. Quickly pulling them on, I went in front of my mirror. I grabbed a hair tie and pulled my hair back into a pony. I didn't have time to do anything else, not that I ever did anything with my hair. Or my clothes for that matter. Rae always complained that I needed to wear something to attract more guys. Before yesterday, though, I had a boyfriend. His name was Peter. We'd been dating for two months. We'd had a date tonight. He was going to take me to a St. Patrick's Day party one of his friends was having. I didn't really understand St. Patrick's Day, but he insisted on going. I thought he was a really nice guy until I talked to one of his friends about the party. He accidently told me that Peter was taking me to the party so that he could get me drunk so that I would finally sleep with him. When I made it clear to his friend that I wasn't going to, he told Peter, who ended out relationship yesterday afternoon during our introduction to literature class.
More pounding on my door brought me back to reality and I quickly grabbed my bag and walked over to the door. I opened it and was met with Liz trying to hurry me to class. Lifting the strap of my bag over my head, I rested it on my shoulder and followed Liz.
"Did you study for the math test?" she asked, sounding worried.
"A little bit," I said. I planned on studying last night, but because of what happened that afternoon, I wasn't in the mood. I wasn't going to tell Liz, though, because I didn't want any more pity from my friends. It's not that I don't appreciate that they are concerned for me and are willing to hate Peter for all of eternity, or in Rae's case, set him on fire, but I don't like being pitied. I never have. And yet everywhere I go, I seem to get pitied somehow.
"I'm going to fail," she said, her breathing quickening.
"Hey," I said. "Breathe. You're going to do fine."
"But I don't understand it," she said.
"You understand it better than I do," I said. "If it makes you feel better, just remember that no matter how bad you do, you're going to do better than me."
She smiled and laughed. "Maybe we should finally admit that we need help."
"Admitting is always the first step in recovery," I said.
"Yeah," she said. "Recovery from this test."
Laughing, I followed her into the class just as the clock hit 9:00.
After lunch, I had one more class before my day was over. Introduction to Literature. I had been dreading it all day. It was the class I had with Peter. Luckily, I wasn't alone. Sitting in my seat, I was listening to Rae talk about the party tonight.
"So Brady finally asked me, but I told him I would meet him there," she said. "I figured that we could get ready at your place and walk over together."
"I'm not sure if I want to go," I said.
"Because of Peter?" she said. "Forget him. He's an ass. Besides, the party in going to be filled with a bunch of single guys. I bet any one of them would be on his hands and knees to get you to dance with him."
"Why do I not believe you?" I said, smiling.
"Cause you have issues," she said.
"Thanks," I said.
"No problem," she said, scanning the room.
"Are you looking for someone?" I asked.
"A guy," she said.
"What guy?" I asked.
"Somebody for you to go to the party with," she said.
"Rae," I protested.
"Don't worry, I won't pick a bad one," she said.
"I don't want a guy," I said. "My last relationship just ended."
"Exactly why you need a guy to forget about Peter with," she said.
"Rae I do –"
"How about him?" she asked, pointing to somebody behind me.
When I turned to look, I almost stopped breathing. She was pointing at Derek Souza. The drop-dead gorgeous guy I'd been drooling over since I met him in my economics class my freshman year. That was two years ago, but I've never said more than ten words to him since. Rae and Liz are always making fun of me for liking him, but I can't help it. It's not like it's his fault for the way his thick black hair falls just over his emerald green eyes. Or how his biceps press against the sleeves of his t-shirt, making them seem bigger. Or how the front of his shirt fits perfectly to show the muscles underneath.
Turning back to Rae, I glared at her. She knew how much I liked him and how much of a coward I was around him.
"What?" she asked innocently.
"No," I said.
"Why not?" she asked.
As I opened my mouth to talk, she quickly cut me off. "He's coming over here."
Looking pointedly at the front of the room, I could see him out of the corner of my eye. He was making his way over. My heart began to race and I had to work to keep my breathing normal. I had a harder time when he sat down in the desk next to me. I could see Rae smirking at me, silently laughing at my cowardice. Ignoring her, I focused on the teacher.
After a while, my attention began to wonder. Looking a few rows down, my heart sank. Peter was sitting next to girl, whispering in her hear. Whatever he said made her laugh. It's not that I really liked him that much, but it hurt that he replaced me so quickly. In my deep thoughts, I missed someone saying me name. Beside me, Rae elbowed me and I dumbly said, "Huh?"
The entire class was looking at me. It was obvious that the teacher had asked me a question, but I had no idea what it was. Staring dumbly at the teacher I didn't know what to say. From beside me, I heard somebody mumble sonnet. I repeated it to the teacher and he nodded, continuing his lecture. Breathing a sigh of relief, I looked over at whoever had said it and remembered who was sitting next to me. Instead of thanking him, I turned back to the front. I was sure that my face was the shade of a very ripe tomato, but I wouldn't look at him.
When class ended, I rushed out of the room with Rae at my heels. We walked in silence until we got to my hallway.
"He likes you," she said, out of nowhere.
"Who?" I asked, confused.
"Derek," she said.
"Of course not," I said.
"You can deny it all you want, but he does," she said, stopping in front of my door.
"Just because I happen to like him doesn't mean he likes me back. I probably never even cross his mind," I said, unlocking my door.
"Whatever you say," she said, walking past me into my room.
I walked in after her and shut the door. Setting my bag down by my desk, I was about to sit down when someone knocked on my door. I walked back over to the door and opened it to reveal Liz for the second time that day. This time, however, she was coming in. as I shut the door; Liz sat next to Rae on the bed. Even though there was room, I took a seat in my desk chair.
"We have three hours until the party," Rae said. "We need to figure out what Chloe is going to wear."
"What?" I asked.
"Why?" Liz asked.
Ignoring me, Rae said, "We have to get every guy at that party lining up to dance with her."
"Because?" Liz said.
"Peter's an ass," Rae said, as if it was common sense.
"Ok," Liz said, accepting the reason.
"Don't I have a say in this?" I asked.
"No," they said together.
They got up and started working. Rae went to the closet and started going through my clothes while Liz started on my hair. Seeing as I had no choice, I just sat and waited.
When 7 o' clock came, we were standing in a group of people waiting to get in the party. According to the people in front of us, the people having the party had a list of people who could get in. I have no idea how that worked out, but apparently it did. I'd seen more than a dozen people turned away already. I tried to get Rae and Liz to turn around, but they wouldn't budge. I knew I wouldn't be on the list because I didn't really know that many people and even though it was one of Peter's friends, I wasn't sure which one it was. Half of his friends hated me for some reason. Some of his friends I had only met once. I wouldn't be surprised if Rae and Liz were on the list. They knew everybody.
When we go the head of the line, a guy was standing there holding the list. Rae and Liz went up and said their names. The guy checked the list and let them through. When I said my name, he looked and it didn't seem like was seeing it. My heart sank. Out of nowhere, a hand came out and pointed to something on the list. Looking up, I saw a blond guy standing next to the list guy. List guy nodded and let me pass. The blond guy smiled at me as I passed. I couldn't help smiling back.
When I got in, I found Rae and Liz standing by the drinks. They each were holding a cup. Walking over, I looked into them and scrunched up my nose. Beer. Being only 20, I had never had more than a sip of beer. My dad was a firm believer in waiting until I was 21 to start drinking. I took his philosophy to heart.
"I'm going to find Brady," Rae said.
"See ya," Liz and I said.
We spent the next half hour talking to each other and laughing. Eventually someone came over and asked her to dance, leaving me by myself. I found a chair and sat down; knowing nobody was going to ask me anyway. Instead, I watched all the couples dancing. Many of them were already drunk and stumbling. Part of me wondered what made this a St. Patrick's Day party. The only difference between this party and every other was the date and an unusual amount of green.
An hour passed and I was still watching everybody. I'd had a few offers to dance, but they were mostly from drunk men. Occasionally Rae or Liz would wander over and talk for awhile before being whisked away by another partner. I was starting to get bored, but I wasn't going to tell Rae or Liz. I didn't want to ruin their fun. I looked over to the corner of the room. Sitting in the corner was Peter and the girl from class. She had short, black hair and an even shorter mini skirt, which Peter's hand was under. As I watched them, I wondered how they didn't choke on each other's tongue. Suddenly feeling worse, my eyes drifted over to the drink table. My eyes settled on a cup. Taking a deep breath, I walked over. I picked up the cup and looked into it. If everybody else can have fun, then so can I. I lifted the cup to my lips and emptied its contents into my mouth, swallowing. Grimacing at the flavor, I set the cup down. Not being used to alcohol, it hit me harder than I expected. The room started spinning and I grabbed the table for support. This is fun? Looking around, everything looked the same. I looked back over at Peter and my anger flared. I grabbed another cup and downed that one too.
After a while, the spinning wasn't the only side effect. Sounds started to blur and my stomach lurched. Groaning, I tried to get over to the wall, but the swaying was too much and I started to fall forward. I felt a strong arm wrap around my waist and I leaned back into somebody's chest, blacking out.
That was the last thing I remembered. But that didn't explain why I was in some guy's room practically naked. Oh God, what if I left with him and then we…? I really hoped not. For all I know, it could have been one of the drunk guys who asked me to dance. Looking around, I searched for my clothes, hoping to leave before he came back. I couldn't find them. I went back to the bed and sat down, bringing my legs underneath me. I wrapped the blanket tighter around me and let my head fall in my lap. I heard somebody on the other side of the door. Probably the guy whose room this was. I heard him put the key in the lock and turn it. My heart began to race as he turned the knob, but I kept my head down. I heard him shut the door and set something down. I heard him walk over to the bed and stop. I waited, but he didn't say anything. I lifted my head and my eyes met with the emerald eyes that had my heart racing for two years. Biting my lip, I said, simply, "Hi."
His lips twitched and he said, "Hi."
He stood up from where we kneeling and walked over to the desk. On it was two bags. He grabbed the first and walked back over to me. He held it out for me. I looked at it for a second before reaching out and grabbing it. Opening it, I looked inside to see my clothes. I looked at him questioning.
"I had them washed," he said.
"Why?" I asked.
"They got wet," he said.
I looked back down at them.
"Um."
I looked back up at him. He pointed to the other bag. "There's food there. And a coffee. I figured you might need it."
"Thank you," I said, still not really comprehending what was going on.
"I've got to work," he said. "You can get dressed and eat. You can stay as long as you like. There's a spare key in the desk if you go out. The bathroom is down the hall to the right. Uh…I think that's all."
"Okay," I said.
Nodding, he walked over to the door. He stopped and turned around. "You didn't have a jacket last night. If you need to use something, just take something from my closet."
With that, he opened the door and left. I sat on the bed for a little longer before getting up and grabbing out my clothes. I quickly dressed and walked over to the desk. Opening the other bag, I reached inside and grabbed the coffee. I wrapped my hands around it and reveled in the warmth. Taking a sip, I sighed. I set it down and grabbed out a box. Inside was a cinnamon bun. I smiled. Cinnamon buns were my favorite.
Once I had finished eating, I decided to leave, not knowing what else to do. Taking Derek up on his offer, I walked over to his closet and grabbed out a jacket. It was too big, but I didn't mind. I zipped it up and pulled the collar tight around my face. Inhaling the smell, it was the same as the pillow. Cinnamon. Walking to the door, I gave one last look at the room and left.
It's been a week since waking up in Derek's bed and I've been avoiding him since. I didn't Rae or Liz about what happened because I still wasn't sure myself. I remembered bits and pieces, but I still don't know how I got to Derek's room that night. I knew I would have to talk to him eventually. I still had his jacket.
That's exactly the reason I'm standing outside his room. I'd been standing there for a good half hour, too afraid to knock. Taking a deep breath, I raised my hands and knocked on the door. I heard shuffling on the other side. A second later, the door opened. I looked up at him.
"Hi," he said.
"Hi," I said back.
After another, something seemed to click, and Derek moved aside, letting me in. walking passed him, I entered. I stopped and turned around to face him. I held out his jacket.
"I brought this back," I said.
"Thanks," he said, reaching out and grabbing it. When he did, he hand grazed mine and my heart lurched. I quickly looked down, trying to hide my blush. He walked around me and set the jacket down on his desk, then turned back to face me. We stood in silence for a few minutes before my curiosity got the better of me.
"Derek?" I asked.
He lifted his head and his eyes met mine. "Huh?"
"The night of the party…how did I get to your room?" I asked.
"You passed out. You were walking from the drink table and you fell. I caught you before you hit the ground and brought you to a chair. You kept coming in and out of consciousness. You…um…you kept asking me about my muscles and how they got so big. Eventually you stayed passed out and I didn't know where your room was, so I brought you to mine."
My face being as red as it has ever been, I asked hesitantly, "So we didn't…?"
"No," he said, but I had a feeling he was holding something back.
"What?" I asked.
"Well…when I got you back to my room, you woke up again and tried to…uh…take off my shirt."
"Oh my God," I said, "I am so sorry."
"It's fine," he said. "I let you have the bed and I slept on the floor."
"Why wasn't I wearing my clothes?" I asked.
"Your friend Peter came over to talk to you and he tripped and his drink hit you. You got all wet and I didn't think you'd want to sleep in wet clothes," he explained.
"Okay," I said, nodding. I was starting to remember a little bit.
"I'm really sorry about making you go out of your way," I said.
"It's fine," he said. "I was getting bored. You were the most interesting thing at the party."
I looked up at his face. His declaration seemed genuine. I smiled and looked back down, biting my lip. "I didn't say anything else, did I? Anything embarrassing?"
"Nothing embarrassing," he said.
Something in his voice made me look up. "But I did say something."
He looked down for a second and then back up at me, taking a step closer. I met his eyes and my heart started racing again. "You may have said…something."
My mouth became dry and I had to work to get the words out. "What did I say?"
He took another step closer until he was directly in front of me. I had to look up to see his face. His lips curled up in a small smile. His raised his hand to my face, his fingers delicately stroking under my eye and down until it reached the corner of my lips. Unconsciously, I leaned into his touch. His voice lowered as he said, "something about drooling over for two years."
He looked up and met my eyes. "I pieced it together."
His eyes flicked to my lips and stayed there. I raised my hand and leaned it against his chest, running my fingers down the muscles I'd thought about for two years. I looked up and he started leaning down. My breathing became ragged as I leaned up toward him. I closed my eyes and could feel his lips brush across mine. My hands tightened around his shirt, trying to pull him closer to me. His lips touched mine again. He applied more pressure, his lips molding around mine. I moaned softly at the sensation. I ran my hands up his chest and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him down to me. I'd waited two years for this, and I wasn't going to let it stop now. Apparently Derek had the same idea because his hands roamed lower until he gripped the back of my thighs and lifted me up, pressing himself closer to me. I tightened my arms and kissed him more forcefully, my head spinning. He carried me over and set me on his desk. I wrapped my legs around him. His arms wrapped around my back and pulled me as close as he could. I felt his tongue on my lips and I opened my mouth. My tongue danced with his. I felt dizzy and my head was spinning.
I broke the kiss and gulped air, Derek doing the same. I looked up and met his eyes. He smiled and leaned his forehead against mine, catching his breath. We stayed like that for a few minutes, neither saying a thing. Eventually one of us had to break the silence.
"Wow," I said.
He let out a laugh. I looked up and saw him smiling. He said, "I've been waiting two years to do that."
Surprised, I asked, "Why didn't you say anything?'
He smiled sheepishly. "It's hard to think straight when you're near."
"I know the feeling," I said.
We stayed quiet for a little longer, each basking in the other's presence. Then a thought hit me.
"Can I keep the jacket?"
He starting laughing and wrapped his arms firmly around me. Looking down at me, he said, "Keep anything you like."
Okay, so again I apologize. And I know this wasn't very St. Patricky, but it was the best I could do. And I know that March is over, but I still plan on doing one for Chloe's birthday. I will also be doing one for Easter and I think you guys will like that one.