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I've been gone for five months, I know, I know, I'm the worst! And this chapter is so short, but I've been working on it for months and I just can't quite get it just right. This is mainly just a filler chapter that I'm not too happy with. But I'm really trying to push myself to continue with this story and trust me, this next chapter is going to be much better and it will make up for everything. So please, bear with me just a little longer before the story gets better. Okay?

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Disclaimer: All characters belong to Kelley Armstrong

CHAPTER 11

Chloe's P.O.V.

"Hey," a distant voice murmured.

I jumped up in a second, a shriek ready at my lips and fist clamped as if I was ready for a fight. My heart raced, wondering whether or not I had enough time to grab the Mace sitting on my dresser and spray my attacker right in the eyes. Was Derek home? Was I all alone? If I died would Mrs. Talbot next door hear my screams and come running? Quickly I turned around, my petite height ideal for kicking someone in the crotch.

"D-damn it, D-Derek," I stammered once I matched the voice with the face. However, that did nothing to ease my rapid heartbeat. "You're not allowed to do that anymore!"

"Sorry," Derek grunted with a hint of a smile.

"Sorry's just not gonna cut it today. You know the rules."

A groan arose in his throat, bubbling like lava before escaping his lips coupled with a heavy sigh. His shoulders slumped as he walked to the coffee table and reached into his pocket, snatching a black wallet from its depths.

"You know I really don't appreciate this, right?"

"I know," I grinned, my heartbeat slowly returning to its normal pace.

A roll of the eyes and his fist clutched two crisp dollar bills, sending me a look as if to say 'happy?'.

"Not quite," I started. "You gave me a bit of a scare there. I thought you were a burglar or something."

"A burglar who says hey?" Derek questioned, raising his dark brows.

I rolled my eyes, "You know what I mean." I brushed some strands that had fallen loose from my ponytail away, "Cough it up, Souza."

Fishing out three new bills, he shoved the money into the mason jar, mumbling an incoherent 'whatever' before stocking closer to me.

About two weeks ago our window had cracked after I, very clumsily, smacked the TV remote into it while trying to break my headfirst trip into the wall. A concussion was avoided, but that came with a price: an angry Derek and a broken window. But Derek must have been feeling incredibly generous when he didn't demand that I pay for it all myself, something I'm sure he would have pressed three months ago. Instead, we decided to set up a jar, kind of like the swearing jar but replace the curse words with Derek sneaking up on me and my setting off the fire alarm every time I used the microwave.

But that's been about it in terms of interactions between Derek and I since the coffee house occasion nearly three weeks ago. I think Derek realized that might have crossed the line in the friend and roommate handbook, because I was fairly certain that's not what's supposed to happen. But truth be told, I missed talking to him, even if I was the one doing all the talking.

I know, this whole situation is bad. Terrible. Awful. Horrible. Unfortunate, and trust me, I have more synonyms. And I've tried, god I've tried to stop feeling like this, but it's just one step back two steps forward. But, maybe this whole distance thing is beneficial to some extent. Lately, it's been a little better when we're both avoiding each other, which basically means we've both locked ourselves in our rooms since school ended.

I fell quiet as Derek silently slinked closer towards me, the only sound in the whole apartment the hum from the air conditioner. I had no idea where to look, so I settled for focusing my attention to the window, trailing my finger against the split of the glass.

"Th-that's a pretty big crack, huh?" I stammered, wanting to slam my head against that very window for the stupid comment.

"Hmm, oh yeah," Derek breathed, both of us avoiding all forms of eye contact with one another, Derek looking at the black screen of the TV.

I think that I'm going to," I motioned towards my room, making a hasty step in the direction.

Suddenly a hand fell on my forearm, gently pulling me back to face Derek. I glanced at the arm and within a second it dropped from and arm and made it's way behind his neck and cleared his throat.

"You know I said hey for a reason, right?" Derek grumbled, still rubbing the back of his neck.

"R-right," I stammered, unsure where to look exactly. "What's up?"

"Well, Tori and Ash are having their house warming dinner tonight," Derek began, finally dropping his arm to his side stiffly. "We're invited."

"Oh," I breathed. "Tonight? Isn't that kind of last minute?"

"Have you met my sister?" Derek asked sarcastically, rolling his green eyes.

I smiled, glancing down at the ground for a second before looking up, "Okay, then. What time does it start?"

"Six."

I nodded, "Okay, we'll leave at five forty-five?"

"Fine," Derek bit his lip, looking anywhere else. "And we're supposed to bring some food."

"Okay, that's not a big deal," I said, confused as to why Derek was acting like that.

"I know that," Derek growled. "But it's supposed to be home-made."

"Home-made?"

Derek nodded, "I told her no, but you know Tori. Always get whatever she wants." He murmured, running his long fingers through his hair. "But we should just pick something up instead."

I glanced at the clock on the wall, reading 3:36. "We can probably make something, right? We have enough time."

Derek sent me a look, telling me I must be crazy, "I'm heading to the store now to grab something," He said, jamming his thumb over his shoulder to point at the door.

"Wait, hold on," I grabbed his arm as he tried to leave. This time the roles were reversed. He stopped, returning his gaze to my fingers which lingered on his skin. My cheeks flushed and I immediately dropped my hand.

"I-I mean w-we can make s-something. After all, she as-asked us to." I stammered, making sure looking at his face was not an option as I inspected the kitchen counter.

"Now you're giving into her demands?" Derek raised his eyebrows, causing me to grin.

"Shut up," I tried to say without a laugh. "Help me find a recipe."

"Whatever," he said, rolling his eyes as he followed me into the kitchen regardless.

...

"Got it!" I exclaimed triumphantly, clutching a folded piece of paper over my head in success.

Derek glanced up from the table as he went through the recipe box. "Huh?"

"In my very hands," I said with a grin plastered across my face,"I have the best pound cake recipe you've ever seen, mister."

Derek rolled his eyes, "Fantastic," he remarked sarcastically, to which I promptly ignored, "Do we have all the ingredients?"

"Yup," I said, turning around and walking towards the kitchen to get out the sugar and flour. "My mom's secret recipe."

My smile faltered as I remembered my mom, something I hadn't done in a long time. I stopped in my tracks, hoping to clear my mind of the memories that were flooding my head, causing pools of tears to form in my eyes. No, not now. Memories of my mom were not something I need to be thinking about right now.

I could feel Derek's eyes on my back as I stood very still in the middle of the kitchen. I could almost envision the furrowed eyebrows working tightly and his frowning face as he tried to assess the situation in front of him.

"Uh, are you okay?" Derek began, unsure how to proceed with the questioning.

I nodded, clearing my throat before answering, "Y-yeah, just wondering if we have enough butter."

I knew he didn't believe me, but his mouth remained shut as I continued gathering all the needed ingredients. For once, I appreciated his silence, it no longer felt awkward and uncertain rather than comfortable and necessary. I just needed to breathe, that's all. To not think about my mother, to not think about my unsteady feelings towards my roommate, all I needed to do was just concentrate on making this goddamn cake for Tori.

The quiet that filled the room seemed strangely like the silence before the storm, the hum of the radiator ever growing in tension as I waited in anticipation for some other noise to sound from the room. I knew he was looking at me, I could just feel the tracing of wary eyes on my back. Knowing he was looking at me, I self consciously walked towards the pantry, ready to retrieve the items that were scribbled on the list. Firstly, flour was a necessity, unfortunately for me, it was pretty high up on the shelves. Well, no, it really wasn't, but for me it was pretty unreachable.

Stifling a groan, I stood up on my tip toes, fingers clawing for the packet that was just sitting before my eyes but resisting capture. Inhaling deeply, I stepped slightly closer to the shelf, as my fingers grazed against the container before firmly latching onto the edges. In success, my right hand grasped at the flour, as my left hand reached up to guide the packet down as gracefully as possible. A smirk crossed my face as I inched the flour down.

I glanced at Derek, a triumphant grin glued to my face, in return he graced me with his quarter smile. His eyes were lighter than a minute before and the exchange of the silent smiles sent my heart fluttering and stomach churning. I felt as if I was in high school and the popular boy had just talked to me. I shouldn't be this giddy about him, I just shouldn't. I turned around and shook my head, not wanting to get drawn back into the roller coaster that was my feelings for Derek Souza. The motion however sent the open flour package tumbling out of my grasp, landing with a thud on the floor.

Great. Just great. One simple smile from him and disaster pursues. That damn Derek.

I glanced down at the mess I made on the wooden floor, the flour like snow coating every inch of the ground and trailing on my pants. Suppressing a groan, I patted down my thighs, attempting to rid of the excess flour without much success. I didn't want to look at Derek, as I was already sure that my face was beat red and completely unflattering. So, I kept my eyes glued to the mess, shaking my legs as I watched some flour drift to the floor.

I reached for the broom and the dustbin, trying to finally clean up my mess when I heard Derek's chair move backwards as he stood up.

"Do you need more flour?" Derek asked, humor dancing in his green eyes as he stared at me.

My blush deepened, "Sh-shut up," I murmured jokingly. "We have some more in the cupboard."

"I'll get it," Derek smirked, moving past me to get to the shelf.

I rolled my eyes, trying to force the grin off my face as I kept sweeping up the mess. Picking up the empty package, I dumped it and the dirty flour into the trash before turning to look at Derek who had already laid out all the needed ingredients on the counter. I took a step closer, my arms leaning against the granite countertops.

Derek's head tilted to the side slightly before he looked at me, "Your hair's white."

I drew my eyebrows together, puzzled, "What?"

"You have flour in your hair," Derek said gruffly, glancing in the opposite direction before returning his gaze to me.

"Oh," I mumbled, combing my fingers through my hair to try to get the flour out. "Is it gone?" I asked once I felt I did a sufficient job.

Derek shook his head, "Almost."

Suddenly feeling extremely confident and out of my own skin I took a deep breath, "C-can you h-help me?" I silently cursed myself for the shaky stutter.

Derek stared at me for a second, and I could tell he was inwardly debating with himself. I felt like such an idiot, what was I thinking? He knew what I was doing. I knew what I was doing. Instantly regretting it, I opened my mouth to take back the foolish request just as Derek leaned a millimeter closer.

My breath hitched ever so slightly as he drew his hand through my hair, fingers gently wiping away the powder that had settled into my golden hair. I felt as if I couldn't breathe, and I was sure he could hear my heart pounding so hard in my chest that he was worried that I was going into cardiac arrest. I glanced up at him, his fingers slightly knotted in my curls. His eyes were different than they normally were, softer around the edges and he seemed a little less grumpy. I felt as if we had just crossed another barrier, one that was dangerously inching into uncharted territory. I stared at him, my stomach in my throat as I leaned into his touch. His eyes never broke eye contact with mine and I felt like a part of me was drowning while the other part of me was flying. My eyes fluttered, as I desperately tried to keep them open, resisting the urge to just melt into him.

Derek eyes finally broke contact with mine, only to trail to my lips for a millisecond before jumping back to my eyes. Another barrier came crashing down. I felt warm, shallow breaths hit my cheek before suddenly it was all over.

Derek pushed himself away, moving his head so I could not see his face. I felt all the blood go rushing into my face as I took a hasty step backwards into the counter. Neither of us talked for what felt like eternity, a million thoughts rushing through my brain but not one sticking.

Derek moved his arm to the back of his neck, rubbing it furiously. His eyes darted around the entire room before settling on me for a split second. He looked away quickly and took long, steady strides to the front door.

"I'll go pick something up," He tossed over his shoulder, already halfway out the door.

I just nodded.

So, this chapter was a lot shorter than I had hoped when I was planning it out. I'm deciding to split it up into two or three parts to make me a little less stressed about it. I know that this chapter is pretty crappy but this are going to be better after this. I promise you guys I'm going to be updating this story within the next three weeks, which is better than I've been before. I'm just really really sorry for how late and needed this update is. I hope you guys are still reading this story.

I just want to thank the readers of this story, the views I get really inspire me to continue writing this story, so thank you so much for reading and your heart warming reviews, I read every single one. If anyone has any suggestions or predictions about future chapters I would love to hear them in the reviews or you can private message me anytime you want.

Thanks again for reading this story!

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Thanks, Bridget