So I haven't updated this story in over 2 years and I feel awful about it. But now I've kind of got that kick for writing back and I have an idea of where this is going, finally! Hope you guys enjoy and please remember to review and tell me what you think! xx


It had been almost a week since I last spoke to Liam. Typically we'd talk on the phone every day so his lack of communication had me worried. He was more than pissed that I'd be sharing an apartment with another guy, so I had a feeling it had something to do with that.

I sighed and reached over to my phone that was on the tallboy beside my bed and dialed the familiar number that was Liam's and he picked up on the fourth ring.

"Hey stranger." I chimed. "Long time no speak."

"Are you really going to pretend like nothing's wrong, Chloe?" He spat down the phone.

My heart dropped. "Why are you acting like this?"

"Because it's disgusting that you'd ditch me for a man you don't even know." He hissed.

"Well I'm sorry that I wanted some financial security." I replied sarcastically. "Maybe if you held a steady job then I'd have been open to getting a place with you." I snapped.

Radio silence.

"Liam?" I prodded.

"Either you ditch tall, dark and gruesome or we're done. I could have any woman I want and you just seem to want to throw what we have away for some greasy haired, socially awkward freak."

"He might be socially awkward, but at least he isn't a jerk. I'll drop by your house later today to get my things." I retorted. As I moved my thumb to end the call, I could hear the beginning of his protests, but I didn't care. I was sick of the way he spoke to me and I was done with it.

I hopped out of bed, searching through my dresser for a change of clothes. Grabbing a pair of shorts and a singlet, I opened my door to see Derek with his hand raised, as if he was about to knock.

I didn't see much of Derek. He worked a standard nine-to-five job but didn't usually come home until ten o'clock at night. On the weekends he'd come and go, but spent most of his time sat at the kitchen table going over some of his work documents. We didn't talk much at all. I chalked it down to us both being introverts.

"What?" I unintentionally snapped.

Derek raised an eyebrow. "I heard you yelling and slamming things around. You okay?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "You were evesdropping?" I asked incredulously.

He rolled his eyes. "It's hard not to when somebody's having a screaming match over the phone." He paused. "By the way, I'm not that socially awkward."

My eyes widened. "I-I-I-" I started, but Derek cut me off my raising his hand at me.

"It's fine, Chloe." He rumbled. "Just wanted to make sure things are okay." He said as he turned on his heel, heading back towards the kitchen.

My thoughts went back to my phone call with Liam. "D-Derek, wait." He turned to face me. "I-I kind of broke it off with Liam and I need to go over to his to get my things. He kind of has a temper and I was wondering if you'd be able to just come with me to keep an eye out?" I asked tentatively, not fully expecting him to agree.

He looked from me to the table where a pile of his work sat, and then back to me. "It's totally cool if you have work to do." I added.

Derek shook his head. "I could stand to get out the apartment. Are you ready to go?"

"I'll just shower quickly before we head off." I ducked around him and into the bathroom where I showered and dried my hair. If I were to put any make-up on it would just melt straight off my face considering the current weather so my time to get ready was cut in half.

We walked down to the parking garage together and Derek shook his head when I suggested that I would drive. "I have a hard time believing that your car's air conditioner will kick in by the time we get there." He motioned me over towards a sleek black Lexus as he unlocked it with the press of a button.

"A Lexus, huh? How many kidneys did you have to harvest and sell to score one of these?" I joked.

"Can't say there's any organ harvesting in the legal field."

"Legal field?"

"I'm a lawyer."

"Impressive." I paused. "So if you're a lawyer, why are you living in such a small apartment? Shouldn't you have a huge house?"

Derek scrunched his nose up at the thought. "I don't need that much space for just myself. Also too much upkeep."

I thought about it, and it made sense. As far as I could tell, he didn't have a girlfriend so to live in a big house on his own would be silly.

"So do you travel for work a lot?" I asked.

"A little bit." He replied. "Any more questions? Are you going to ask for my social security number?"

"Guess not." I mumbled before we lapsed into silence that was broken when Derek pressed some buttons on the stereo and music filled the car.

"Arcade Fire." I smiled at the familiar song, Half Light. "Good taste."

Derek didn't reply. He continued driving, every now and then asking where I should turn and before we knew it, we were outside Liam's house. Well... Liam's parents' house. At the age of twenty six, Liam still hadn't made it out of his parents' home and into the real world.

"You need me to come in?" He asked.

"That'd be good."

We walked up to the front door and I pressed the doorbell. We waited for a minute before Liam opened the door, his neutral expression falling to a scowl when he saw Derek standing beside me.

"Seriously, Chloe? We have a fight and you've already jumped straight into the arms of him?"

"We didn't have a fight, Liam. We broke up. Let me get my things." I said, pushing past him.

As I began to climb the stairs with Derek following, Liam piped up. "Nope, you can stay down here." He demanded.

Derek looked at me and raised his eyebrow. When I gave him a nod to imply that everything was okay, he backed off. Liam followed me up to his bedroom.

"You don't have to do this, Chloe." He said. "We can start a life together if you just ditch the loser."

"Well apparently I do have to do this, Liam." I spat. "Not sure why it matters. You could have any woman you wanted, right? Guess I won't be stopping you any more."

"You never stopped me in the first place." My head snapped up to find a smirk creeping up on his face.

"You're disgusting." I spat as I gathered my things into a box. "It shouldn't surprise me, really. You were always looking other girls up and down."

I grabbed the box and flew down the stairs away from him.

"Say hi to Kari for me." Liam said as he bit his lip and raised his eyebrows.

I dropped the box. Spinning around on my heel, I swung my open hand full force into the jerk's face.

Derek rushed over when he saw things escalate and grabbed the box of my belongings. With his palm on the small of my back, he ushered me out as I yelled explatives at my ex boyfriend who had recovered from the blow to his face.

My flatmate basically threw me into his car along with my belongings and drove away, tyres screeching. "What the hell was that?!" He demanded to know.

He continued to ask all these questions that weren't quite registering while I scrolled through my contacts and pressed the 'call' button.

Three rings before the other person picked up. "Hey, Chloe. What's going on?"

"Liam and I broke up." I admitted.

"Oh, Chloe. I'm so sorry. I thought you guys were going to be together forever."

"He said some things... he mentioned that you and him..." I trailed off. Dead silence in response. "Kari?" I prodded.

"Chloe... I... We were drunk. I'm so sorry."

"Yeah, well I've been drunk plenty of times, Kari, and I've never bonked my best friend's boyfriend." I spat into the phone.

"Chloe, please-"

"No, fuck you, Kari." My voice raised. "You don't get to grovel. Don't ever fucking call me again, you piece of trash!" By the time I finished, I was yelling down the phone. I hung up on her and let out a cross between a sob and a howl.

"Chloe, are you-" Derek started. I cut him off.

"Don't. I just want to go home."

The rest of the ride home alternated between me crawling up in a ball in the passenger seat of Derek's car and sobbing, and fits of rage. It was obvious that Derek had no idea what to do with a hysterical girl but I'm not really sure if I actually wanted him to do anything.

When we got back home, Derek carried my box of things while I trudged up to my room and crawled back into bed.

How was it that I could lose the two most important people to me in just one day? Why was life so cruel?

I spent hours drifting between sleeping and sobbing when a knock on my bedroom door put me on high alert.

"What?" I asked meekly.

Derek opened the door a crack and took a look at me before swinging it all the way open and stepping inside.

"I... I don't really know how to deal with an emotional woman, but I've finished my work for the weekend and I was wondering if you'd want to order in some Chinese and watch a movie. Y-you don't have to of course, but I thought it might just get your mind off things."

I thought about it. "Can we get Indian instead?"

His lips twitched upwards. "Sure."

"And no romance flicks?"

"That was a given." He gave a slight smile. "I'll go get the takeaway menu. I'll meet you in the living room."

When Derek closed the door behind him, I quickly escaped to the bathroom to clean myself up. It was quite a sight. My eyes and nose were red and puffy as a result of all of that crying. I took the opportunity to splash some cold water on my face to hopefully reduce the appearance of the train wreck that I was.

I traded in my denim shorts for sweats and met Derek in the living room where he was studying the menu.

"So, I've settled on beef vindaloo, chicken korma and naan bread. What do you like?" He asked me.

"Butter chicken sounds good."

We settled down in front of the TV with our takeaway while watching A Nightmare on Elm Street. I could tell that it wasn't Derek's movie of choice with the way he fidgeted every time any gore was shown, but he never once prostested.

Derek said that he had no idea how to calm a hysterical girl, but he did a damn good job of trying.

It wasn't perfect, but after a long day, I was finally content.