Chapter 18

Flashback: I take my arm off Derek's waist and he takes my hand and our fingers intertwine. I'm looking him deeply in the eye fixing to kiss him when I hear someone walking up. I turn around and there is someone I didn't think I would see.

" SHANNON! I scream.

I let go of Derek's hand and run up to her. I engulf her in a hug.

" What are you doing here?" I ask her

" I wanted to watch you dance in person. I got tickets and wanted to surprise you."

" It worked. I am definitely surprised!"

" Good, I have missed you so much." She says

While she is hugging me I remember Derek is behind me. When she lets go of me I walk over to Derek.

" Shannon, this is my dance partner Derek Hough. Derek this is Shannon Lynch."

They shake hands.

" Nice to meet you." Derek says

" You too."

" I would love to stay and talk but we have press to do. Then we have practice for our group dance. Do you want to hang out tomorrow?"

" That sounds good to me. Do you want to go to dinner?"

" Sure. How long are you here for?"

" One week. I already have my flight set for Tuesday morning."

" Okay good, we will have plenty of time to catch up. I will see you tomorrow." I say reaching out and giving her a hug.

" It was nice to meet you Derek." Shannon says

" Yes, nice meeting you." Derek replies

After she leaves I turn towards Derek.

" Are you ready to go now?"

" Yeah" he says while taking my hand and walking towards the press line.

We finally get done with press and then have to go to the studio. I pull into the parking lot and see Derek's car already here. He is sitting in the car and when I pull in he opens the door. I get out of my car and walk over to his. He motions for me to get into the car. I get in the passenger side.

" What do you need?" I ask laughing. I feel like we are spies.

" I wanted to talk to you."

" Okay about what."

" Well with us practicing with the other couples we have to be extra careful. They cant find out we're dating."

" Yeah… umm… about that… Sabrina already knows."

" How did she find out?" Derek asks sitting up a little bit in his seat clearly terrified.

" When I was getting my make up done earlier we were talking about last night and them staying over and what time they left. Then she said that I looked comfortable laying on you and I was like oh you saw that. She said yeah Mark and I both did. She told me that we made a cute couple. I told her that there might be something going on between us but we didn't want anyone to know about it."

" As long as she doesn't say anything to anyone."

" I don't think she will."

" Lets hope not. You know how much the cast would rag us if they found out."

" Yeah it would be pretty bad. Well lets go practice. We are running kind of late." I say pulling on the door handle opening the door.

" Wait" Derek says

I turn back around facing him. We are nose to nose.

" I may not get to do this for a while." He says while putting his hands on both sides of my face. He pulls my face towards his and our lips touch. I love the feeling of his soft lips touching mine. Skin on skin. He deepens the kiss a little bit more and our hands start running up and down each others bodies. We pull apart when we see a car pulling up beside us. We both get out of the car and walk side by side our hands swaying against each others as we walk.

Derek leans down and whispers in my ear " Here we go." Then kisses my head and I look up at him grinning like a idiot.

We walk into the room and Sabrina, Melissa, and Karina are sitting on the steps talking. Apolo, Tony, and Louis are standing in the middle of the floor.

" It's about time you guys got here." Melissa says

" Sorry I had a friend come in to see me and we were late to the press line." I say

" Was it your ex-boyfriend Ryan?" She asks

" No, Ryan and I are done. We have been for a while." I say looking up at Derek and I can tell his is pissed off. Anytime he hears Ryan's name something in him just snaps and he gets angry.

" I thought ya'll we're talking again." Melissa says

" No" I retort hatefully. Maybe she will get the hint I don't want to talk about him. Derek walks over to the cd player and puts it in. I am standing there alone with Melissa. I guess I cant really be upset with her for talking about Ryan. She doesn't know Derek gets mad when he hears Ryan's name. I just hope it didn't make him mad. I walk over to the steps and sit down beside Sabrina and Karina.

" We were just talking about outfits for the dance." Karina says

" Yeah we are thinking maybe doing a football and cheerleading theme. We would be wearing cheer uniforms." Sabrina says

" That sounds fun." I reply

Karina gets up and goes to talk to Derek, Tony, and Louis about the dance.

" Are you alright?" Sabrina asks

" Yeah"

" I heard what Melissa was asking you. And I seen that Derek was right beside you when she asked."

" Yeah I was a little mad at first because Derek gets mad every time he hears Ryan's name. But Melissa doesn't know that and I just don't want Derek to be upset."

" I understand. I'm really excited about this group dance."

" Me too. I hope it's going to be fun."

" I actually love the song."

" I do too. Its so catchy. When you hear it you cant help but sing along."

" Your right I know like every word."

We have been rehearsing most of the night and its already 10:00. Derek is getting a little frustrated trying to choreograph the dance. He doesn't like the song very much. He is making up most of the dance and then our solo part. We are all sitting on the steps talking amongst each other. We're throwing out ideas for tricks.

" We have the perfect theme to do amazing tricks." Sabrina says

" I agree. We could do a real cheerleading stunt." I say

" Let's try that. Apolo and I will be your bases." Tony says

We get up and the others go to practic different things. Apolo, Tony and I are standing in the middle of the floor practicing the stunt. We go up a few times and do it perfectly. Everybody stands around watching us. I go up one more time and I don't really know what happens. My foot kind of slips out of their hands. They drop me and I catch myself on the floor with my hands. Everybody screams and I hear Derek cussing. He comes over to me.

" Are you okay?" he asks helping me stand up.

" Yeah I'm alright."

" I thought you hit your knee on the floor."

" No I caught myself with my hands."

" Why don't we go home. Its getting late and we all have practice tomorrow for our solo dances." Derek says

" When is practice again?" Melissa asks

" We could do it Friday morning. Is that okay with everybody?" Tony says

" That's good." Everybody replies

I wait on almost everyone to leave the room. Everyone is gone except for Sabrina, Derek and I. Sabrina grabs her bags and then comes up to me.

" I will see you Friday." She gives me a hug and walks out the door. Now its just Derek and I.

" How did you think practice went?" I ask him

" It went as expected. I really don't think of the song as a dancing song so its just harder for me to choreograph."

" Yeah I could tell you were getting frustrated while you were talking with Karina, Tony, and Louis."

" Yeah I was. I could tell you were mad when Melissa was talking about Ryan when we first got here. I thought you were fixing to go off."

" I was just a little mad. I can have a pretty bad temper and it takes a lot to get me mad."

" That's why I just walked off. I figured if I did she would just drop it."

" She finally did. I just didn't want you to get mad over her talking about him. I know you don't like him."

" I don't like him because of the way he treated you. You dated him for a while so I understand why she thought he might have came to visit you."

" I was mad at first but then I got to thinking that I shouldn't be. She doesn't know we're dating and that you don't like him. I couldn't really blame her for asking questions."

" I know. I wish we could tell everybody we are dating."

" Me too." I say reaching up and giving him hug. He picks me up and spins me around a few times before he sets me back down.

" Do we have practice tomorrow?"

" Yes, if that's okay."

" Its fine. I was just going to ask what time."

" Do you want to go around 8:30ish?"

" Sounds good. I am going to go its getting kind of late."

" I am too. I will walk you to your car."

" Okay."

We walk out of the studio hand in hand. He leads me to my car and opens the door for me. Since its so late there are no paparazzi outside. Thank goodness because we would definitely be caught. I slide in my seat and cut the car on. Derek is still standing there so roll down the window.

" I have to give you a goodnight kiss." Derek says blushing a little bit

" Good I'm glad you didn't forget."

He leans his head in my car and kisses me. Its soft and sweet but with a lot of passion.

" I will see you tomorrow." he says

" Bye"

I drive out of the parking lot and head home. I get home in about 20 minutes. I check my phone one more time before I put it on the charger and I have a text from Derek.

" I just wanted to text you and tell you goodnight. I'm so glad you're my girlfriend and dance partner. I'm excited that we keep making it through every week. I don't want this season to end. Goodnight and sweet dreams."

I hit reply and say " I'm glad that you asked me to be your girlfriend and that you're my boyfriend. You have made this experience great for me so far and I don't want it to ever end. Goodnight and sweet dreams to you too."

I put my phone on the charger and get into my pajamas. I lay awake thinking about how lucky I am to be dating Derek and to dance with him. He really is changing my life.