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Disclaimer: All characters belong to Kelley Armstrong
Chloe's P.O.V
Chapter 2
Chloe's P.O.V.
"Will you shut up?" Derek's deep voice rumbled through the door, distracting me from my homework as his voice slithered under my door.
I froze, momentarily paralyzed by his tone of voice before scrambling for the TV remote. Jamming my finger on the mute button, I glanced around my room. I was being quiet; the TV was barely audible for me, let alone Derek, whose bedroom was across the hall.
Hearing the pounding again I sighed, he wasn't talking to me, however, that wasn't much of a surprise. In the week since I've moved in, Derek hadn't spoken a word to me, almost blatantly refusing to acknowledge my existence except for the occasional 'Move' whenever I was standing in his way. Either way, the silence was perfectly fine with me.
I tried to ignore Derek if at all possible, I even went as far as memorizing his schedule in the apartment to avoid running into him. He was already so organized, he seemed like the type of strict guy who did everything the exact same way every day, at the exact same time. He showered everyday at promptly 6:30 in the morning, waking me up with the sound of rushing water, however this morning I didn't wake up early, I must have slept through it. He would leave the apartment by 7 after eating breakfast, the smell of bacon wafting into my room each morning. He would return around 5 each afternoon, immediately entering his room for thirty minutes before leaving to go jogging or something. Later he would come home, eat dinner in his room at 8 and not make a sound before 11, when he would lock the apartment and then fall asleep. Figuring this out, I was able to evade him like the plague, rarely seeing him.
More thumping. I frowned; I couldn't hear anything particularly loud except from Derek's banging. Standing up curiously, I paced to my bedroom door, but not before bumping my hip against my bedside table. Clutching my aching hip I gripped the handle, swinging the door open slightly with a small groan of protest from the hinges.
"Tori, I'm trying to study. Keep it down," Derek growled, his handsome face twisted with annoyance. Afraid he would see me, I closed my door, leaving only a crack open for me to see through it with my eye.
Hearing a groan and a shuffle, Tori's bedroom door swung open, revealing an infuriated Tori. Placing one hand on her hips her eyes narrowed at her brother. "I'm on the phone." For added effect she waved her other hand, which held her cellphone, around wildly, as if to prove her point.
"I'm studying." Derek grumbled simply, however, his tone displayed just how important it was. "Call Liz back later."
"You can still study for midterms! I was barely making any noise." Tori's voice was shrill, carrying down the hallway.
"No I can't."
"I wasn't even being loud. Was I, Chloe?" Tori face turned on me so quickly I nearly fell backwards. She knew I was spying on them. Heart thumping wildly, I opened the door.
"Uh, w-what?" I stuttered, hoping the casualness of my voice made it seem like I was minding my own business.
"Was I being too loud, Chloe?" Tori asked staring directly at me. Opening my mouth Derek shot me a passive look, completely drained of his previous expression of anger.
"I-I couldn't hear y-you at a-all." I stuttered, removing my gaze from Derek and back to Tori.
"Thank you." Tori's face was smug as she looked at Derek, raising an eyebrow as if to provoke him. "Deal with it or go somewhere else and study."
Derek's jaw worked, jutting out angrily, but he swallowed his insults and instead turned to his room, but not before glancing at me seriously. I gulped and seconds later he stormed out of his room, book bag slung over his shoulder. Brushing past me, Tori called out to him.
"I would send you to Simon's, but since he and Liz live together now I wouldn't want you to loose your temper with her too."
Derek continued walking to the door, opening it quickly he disappeared behind a closed door. I swallowed and glanced at Tori, but she was already back on the phone, closing her bedroom door.
"Sorry Liz. Derek's such a douche."
…
"You want to call it a night?" Nate asked me as we exited the movie theater and ventured into the freezing winter air.
Spending the rest of the day in my room doing homework, I decided to catch a movie with Nate before Derek got home, hoping to recount my new lifestyle with him. The redhead had been my closest friend since high school, as both of us found our passion in the movie industry, preferably behind the beloved camera. Our friendship really blossomed last year, as he was the only friend I had in high school who decided to attend NYU, the same university that I went to.
"Not really," I mumbled under my breath, wrapping my jacket tighter around my waist, clinging to any remaining warmth in the brisk January air.
Hearing that, Nate glanced at me, "Coffee?"
I wrinkled my nose, looking up at him. "At ten thirty at night?"
Nate shrugged and let out a sigh, his breath visible in the frigid night. "Bar?"
I nearly laughed, I didn't have a fake I.D., unlike Nate, and no bouncer in the city was about to let in a nineteen-year-old girl who looked like she was approximately fifteen. "Any other suggestions?"
"I would say my place, but Peter's got his girlfriend over..." Nate trailed off.
"And you don't need a sock on the door to take a hint." I finished for him throwing him a small smile.
"Anyway," Nate cleared his throat as we continued walking to nowhere in particular. "Why don't I see your new apartment?"
"Can't I show it to you when no one's there?" I asked with a tired sigh.
"What?" Nate's face reddened, blue eyes flashing towards mine with a newfound alertness as he searched my face.
Brow furrowing, I responded to his question. "Yeah, you wouldn't want to meet my roommates."
"Oh," Nate's face relaxed, but looked slightly disappointed in the dim lights of the street. "I'm sure they're fine."
I shook my head. "Tori's… well, she's not as bad as Derek."
"Derek? You're sharing with a guy?" Nate's head snapped towards mine so quickly I was sure he was going to get whiplash.
"It was the best place I could find on such short notice." I said warily to Nate as he looked at me angrily.
"Great, you moved in with a thirty year old pervert." Nate moaned, rubbing his eyes with his balled up fists.
"He's our age, Nate!"
"Like that makes it any better," Groaned Nate. "He probably just wants to get in your pants."
Narrowing my eyes at my best friend, I snapped. "I really don't think he's interested in that, Nate. He hasn't spoken to me all week, much less looked at me. You need to stop overreacting. I'm nineteen, I can take care of myself well enough."
I let out a frustrated tuft of air, blowing a section of strawberry blonde hair out of my face.
Nate opened his mouth again, but shut it, thinking otherwise. "Sorry, I'm just looking out for you, you know?"
I nodded with a small sigh, accepting his apology, although the earlier outburst was out of his placid character, "It's okay, I-I don't know why I was defending him, really."
Nate ran his hand through his ginger hair and glanced down at me for a moment before opening his mouth, "Still want to go somewhere?"
"A-actually I just remembered I have psychology tomorrow morning and I haven't finished the homework yet," I lied and sent him a sympathetic look. "I'm so sorry about that, Nate."
"No, no that's alright." A twinge of guilt stabbed my heart with the lie I told, but I wasn't really in the mood to hang out with Nate after he treated me like a child.
"Okay. I'll see you, Nate." I muttered with a halfhearted smile and gave him a brief hug before disappearing towards my shared apartment.
Unlocking the front door a shrill voice shrieked from the kitchen. "Who is it?"
"Chloe." I called back, already placing my jacket on the rack and my beaten pair of shoes by the front door.
I heard a sigh of relief sound from the kitchen. "Chloe, can you please help me for a second?"
I frowned but walked towards her, ready to help with the needed task. "Sure, what'd you need?"
"The smoothie maker thing isn't working, can you fix it?" Tori asked, wiping her short, deep brown hair out of her pretty pale face.
"The blender?" I asked, already moving forwards and taking it into my own small palms. "I don't know if I can fix this."
"Well, Derek's showering or something, so I can't ask him, not that I would after the way he acted today." Tori said, placing one hand on her hip as she peered over my shoulder to inspect what I was doing with the blender.
"I thought he showered in the mornings." I mumbled mainly to myself, wondering if I got his schedule wrong, however, I couldn't hear the water running at the moment, so he must have already finished.
Tori sent me a disgusted, suspicious look, clearly overhearing me. "You know when my brother showers?"
My cheeks flushed, realizing how my previous statement must have sounded to Tori. "N-no! Of c-course not! He just wakes me u-up in the mornings when he-he's sh-showering-,"
Thankfully, I was interrupted by the sound of the blender roaring to life. I nearly flew backwards, hoping Tori would forget about what I just said. Quickly, I reached for a glass in the cupboard so I could fill it up with water and relieve my dry throat.
Gulping down the cool refreshment, I glanced at Tori, already pouring the purple drink of the smoothie into her own glass. "What's that made of?" I asked, seemingly curious, but really just appreciative that the previous conversation ended.
Tori turned around and looked at me, taking a swig of the drink. "It's delicious, my protein powder, mixed berries, and apples."
"Sounds good." I mumbled absentmindedly, hoping to control my flushed face. I took a quick step forward, making it look like I was really interested in her drink, but as I took a leap forward, Tori was trying to move out of my way. Jamming my foot into the cabinet, I went tumbling into her, causing the drink to pour all over me, the cold, thick substance stuck to my chest.
Sucking in a gasp as the freezing smoothie made contact with my skin Tori nearly laughed, but she managed to contain it, searching for some paper towels. "Are you okay?"
"Y-yeah. N-no blood, no foul, right?" I said through clenched teeth, already making a beeline for the bathroom, yanking my stained shirt off, leaving me clad in just my now-purple bra covering my upper body.
Yanking the bathroom door open, I toppled in, eyes focused on my shirt as I slammed into a wall. Of wet flesh.
Snapping my head upwards, ignoring the stinging of the collision, I gaped at Derek, before jumping a yard away from him.
"I-I," I stammered, trying not to stare at the perfectly sculpted chest, glistening with water droplets. "My sh-shirt!"
Realizing I had dropped my shirt when I ran into Derek, I bent down to the tile floor to retrieve it, before realizing I was giving him perfect access to my cleavage. Quickly snatching my shirt up form the ground I met Derek's, surprisingly not questioning gaze.
"I'm almost done." Derek said amusingly, which was probably the longest sentence he had ever uttered to me since I moved in. I let out a hysterical nervous giggle, completely embarrassing myself even more, my face turning even redder than imaginable.
Derek swiftly grabbing his dark tee, gently tugging it over his torso as I watched his stomach muscles contract, making my heart beat faster. I made myself glance away, biting my lip.
Mere seconds later Derek brushed past me, his dazzling green eyes catching mine before flickering to my shirt clenched in my fist and trudged swiftly out the door.
As soon as I heard his bedroom door click shut with the sound of a lock, I collapsed onto the floor, groaning and banging my hand against my palm.
For once, I wondered if Derek had a girlfriend, and for a second, I was slightly jealous if he did.
How was that?
So I brought Nate in, I don't really know where that's going, but whatever.
Don't forget to favorite, follow, and review!
Thanks, Bridget