Derek

Sunday, January 12

5:11 PM

Three cups of chicken broth, I reminded myself for the umpteenth time as I poured the liquid into the pot that already contained vegetables. I had made this soup more times than I could count, but never with such a riveted audience.

Derek sat at the table a few feet away, his emerald eyes fixated on my back. They never wandered or clouded over. It was as if I was the most fascinating thing he had ever seen in his life.

It was distracting, to say the least.

I gathered up sliced chicken breast and turned tossing them to him with a smile. He caught them with a quick snap of his fingers and tossed them in his mouth. His eyes didn't move. That having failed, I searched my mind for a new distraction.

He didn't give me one. His eyes caught mine and he slowly stood up and stalked over to me, backing me up until my butt met the counter and his arms pinned me in. "D-Derek?" I stuttered, flushing as his fingers crept towards my ass. With one quick move he lifted me so I was sitting on the counter with him between my legs.

"You aren't busy, are you?" he teased, turning off the stove.

"I guess not," I replied shakily.

He grinned and leaned down to capture my lips with his own.

"That's disgusting," Tori's voice barely registered through my Derek- induced fog. If Derek hear her at all his only reaction was kissing me deeper. "No, seriously," had Tori's voice moved closer? "You are right above the food." The sink turned on. "I will spray you," she warned.

Derek finally turned to her with a growl, pulling his lips from my own. "What do you want?"

"I want food that won't give me mono." Tori snapped. "So you two take a walk and do whatever it is that you two do and let me make contagion free food." Damien had, as always, shadowed her into the room, and leaned against the wall, face unreadable, eyes on Tori.

Derek glanced at the food, and then at me and then he shrugged. "Okay," he said gruffly, reaching around his back to make sure that my feet were firmly fastened around his waist.

When he saw that they were, he stood up and carried me out of the room. I peered around his head to wave at Tori, who winked at me before she turned to the food in disgust.

"Lets take a walk." I suggested, and Derek headed for the front door, snagging warm jackets on is way.

The door slammed behind us, startling a few birds from their nests, as I pulled on my coat as best I could. "I said walk, Derek." I gently prodded his back, reminding him to let me down.

"I am walking," was his only gruff reply.

"I'm not!" I pointed out with exasperation as we approached the tree line.

He waited to reply until we could no longer see the house. "Waste of time." He said, adjusting me so my back was flat against a thick tree.

Oh. I liked this side of Derek.

His lips met mine then, and I completely forgot that walk was sometimes something other than a clever excuse for this.

His knee slid between my thighs, supporting me so his hands could wander, one hooking around my leg to pull me closer to his body and the other clutching the back of my neck, deepening the kiss. My hands tangled in his hair.

Suddenly he tensed, "Someone's coming," he muttered against my lips as he reluctantly let me slip down his body until my feet reached the ground.

I sighed and finished adjusting my clothing just as Simon came into view. "Hey, guys!" he said, pretending not to notice what we had been doing. "Tori says its time for dinner."

For a while, after our failed date, Derek and I had tried to be subtle and respectful about our burgeoning relationship around him, but now that he seemed to be head over heals for the new girl, Charlotte, we felt less bad about being together around Simon.

So we followed him back to the house hand in hand.

To all of our surprise, we had found that Tori could cook. The house was filled with an enticing aroma, it seemed that she had changed my simple chicken soup to a more sophisticated roasted chicken.

Either way, my mouth watered.

We all ate together around the kitchen table, Tori, Simon and Kit leading most of the conversation about tests next week and having to go into town to get art supplies or clothes. "I shall purchase your garments." Damien cut it arrogantly when Tori expressed her desire to go shopping.

Her eyes flashed with annoyance, until her acquisitiveness caught up to her. "Ok," she replied with a shrug.

"Absolutely not!" Kit snapped.

And then I stopped paying attention, because Derek had placed his hand just above my knee under the table.

He had taken an entire chicken for himself and all that was left on his plate was a pile of bones and a few smears of the broth. "Are you finished?" he rumbled, "You still need to do that algebra homework."

I made a face, but grabbed my plate and followed him to the sink to wash it. "I hate math." I muttered, but he heard me and shot me a stern glance.

"Only because you never pay attention."

Before long the others joined us in the living room to work on homework. Tori slumped down on the couch next to us, laptop in her lap to write a history paper she had blown off. Damien, as always, was close behind, breathing down her neck, reading over her shoulder.

It was incredible to me that Tori allowed it, although Damien was persistent and oozed dominance, much like Derek. I supposed even the strongest personalities must give up eventually, but even so, I was starting to think that she liked it.

"That's wrong," he said, jerking his head toward something she had written. I had long since begun tuning Derek out, who was rambling on about the beauty of trigonometry. I much preferred to listen to Tori and Damien squabble.

"It is not!" she protested loudly, tossing her short black hair. "See? Its right here in my notes!" she shoved a notebook under his nose.

"Doesn't make it true." He replied deadpan.

"Yes, it does, you douche!"

"I was there."

"Liar!" she chucked a book at him, which he ducked. The book continued to fly until it hit Simon in the face as he turned the corner with Charlotte.

"See what you've done now?" Tori growled at Damien.

I snorted softly.

"Chloe, are you even paying attention?" Derek said, irritation leaking into his voice.

"Y-ye-yes?" I stuttered, eyes wide and innocent.

"Pay attention!" he turned back to the book, "If you solve for the X value before you find the tangent…" I didn't hear the rest; instead I was dissecting the room, figuring out the blocking as if this were a movie set. There were Simon and Charlotte, heads bent together over biology (how… fitting). On the other side we had Tori, who was biting her lip and staring at Damien, (I would place them at opposite sides of the couch to fix the spacing). And Derek would be at the center, what lights would I need to truly highlight his eyes? He would be-

His lips settled over mine, immediately dragging me back to the present. "If you aren't going to pay attention," he said, his green eyes steady on my face.

I blinked and looked around. The room was empty, the lights were low. "Where are the others?"

Derek looked at me strangely, "They said goodnight a while ago, Chloe." I looked at the clock in disbelief. "How is it already eleven? That clock must be wrong!"

Derek looked concerned, "Are you feeling alright?"

I forced a smile and pulled out of his arms to walk to the cabinet under the TV. "Of course I am." I said, "Which one?" I held up his two favorite DVD's.

He eyed me for a moment, deciding if he was going to let me get away with lying to him. "That one," he jerked his head to my left hand.

I put the movie on and returned to the couch to curl back into his arms as the beginning credits rolled.

Half way through the movie I glanced at Derek to gauge his reaction to my favorite part and found him sleeping. I smiled and snuggled deeper into his chest. He huffed and pulled me closer as I closed me eyes.