Chapter 39: The Runaway III

Whatever Joe was doing, she was not thinking about that reunion dinner. She was not thinking about how it was the first dinner she would not attend since they began having them. She was not thinking about how Kelly had gone through all this trouble organizing things for Joe to cancel last minute. She was not thinking about how this meant that Alex had won, somehow.

Not thinking about it.

Also not thinking about the immense guilt she felt for not telling Scott about Victoria Argent. What Derek had said made sense, but at the same time, she was a big believer in the truth. Now was a good chance to practice what she preached and instead she hid in her room, avoiding Scott for the time being. Still had a week. Not that she was thinking about it.

Her fingers worked furiously over the keyboard, using the not-thinking-about-it as fuel to get this stupid paper finished to she could move on with her life. By her luck, her next paper would be about the kanima-murders, not that they were any closer to solving them and the full moon was coming up and Scott said that meant the kanima would be at its strongest and Joe had tried to track down the remaining members of the 2006 swim team and-

Okay, stop. Joe took a breath to relax a bit, exchanging the document on her computer with the list of notes on the kanima. Going on what she and Jimmy discovered on the victims' connection with the swim team, she had done some research to find who else could be next. Some of them were already dead, like Camden Lahey who was Isaac's older brother from what she could find out. Died in combat.

If they were lucky, it wasn't the whole swim team and the kanima was done. The legends were unclear on what would happen then. Would the kanima disappear or try and find a new master? She had considered sending the intel to her dad or the Sheriff, but it was circumstantial evidence at best. If they were wrong about the swim team connection, they would divert police forces from where they needed to be. She needed more. Motive, first of all. A suspect would be better.

The doorbell rang downstairs and Joe grudgingly saved her work and got up. Scott was out somewhere, probably with Stiles and hopefully not with Allison, but Aunt Melissa was home and fast asleep on the couch. Or not, Joe thought, when she heard Aunt Melissa's voice come from downstairs.

"Hi?" Aunt Melissa sounded a bit skeptical.

The answer made Joe freeze in the hallway before she reached the stairs. Derek's voice saying: "Hi. Is Joe home?"

"Uhh..." Aunt Mel, bless her heart, hesitated. "You know, I'm not sure. I'll go check." Joe wondered how she could get out of this. Derek had to know she was home, her car was in the driveway and he could probably smell her from miles away. If this was another talk, she would rather not face him in her tie-dye sweatshirt. Aunt Mel never came up the stairs as she expected though. "Hey, do I know you from somewhere? I swear I've seen your face before."

"I don't think we've met officially," Derek said with what sounded like forced politeness. "But I'm Derek Hale."

Aunt Mel's voice was laced with skepticism now. "Derek Hale as in..."

"Fully exonerated Derek Hale," Derek said and Joe rolled her eyes at the awkward conversation she should probably go downstairs to interrupt. "Thanks to Joe and Agent Delgado."

"Right," said Aunt Mel, and by then, Joe had enough and came bounding down the stairs as if she had not been listening in. "Oh, look at that, she is home." Aunt Mel gave Joe a wide-eyed look over her shoulder, as if trying to convey that Joe should give a signal if she needed help.

"Hi, Derek," Joe said with a tight smile and tilted her head to the side to make Aunt Mel leave. Aunt Mel did so, but slowly, obviously trying to overhear the conversation, probably considering calling the cops. Joe took the place in the doorway to face Derek fully, whose expression as usual gave away nothing. "What's up?"

He waited a bit, eyes on something behind Joe, and she turned to see the hint of a purple leg disappear behind the corner.

Joe rolled her eyes and leaned in closer, cursing herself when that filled her brain with Derek-scent. She whispered: "Is she listening?"

"Mhm," Derek confirmed so low Joe barely caught it.

"Okay fine," Joe murmured and then raised her voice unnaturally high. "Thank you for coming, Derek, to fact-check that paper I'm writing come on, let's go on the murders you did not commit!"

She led Derek upstairs, where she knew Aunt Mel wouldn't be able to eavesdrop, and closed the door firmly behind her. Derek in her bedroom looked as out of place as Joe had done in Lydia's. Unfortunately, his eyes fell on two plastic bags tightly knotted in a corner. His jackets, sealed to avoid any leakages of his smell. Not that it mattered now, because he was in here with her, giving it to her straight from the source.

Derek in her bedroom. Giving it to her. Oh boy, Joe, chill out.

"Is that-"

"Yup," Joe said and tried to hide whatever her body was doing by bounding over to the bags and pushing them into his arms. "Here ya go! Stored for safe keeping." That brought her closer to him than she wanted and she nearly fell over her own chair to create some distance between them. Her room wasn't big enough, but at this point, she doubted the high school gym would be big enough. "So, what do I owe the-" pleasure? Nope. Backtrack. Try again. "What do you want?"

Derek put the plastic bags on the floor next to him and sat down on her dresser, his feet still touching the floor. "It's-" He'd inadvertendly put his hand to the side, landing on three unopened boxes of condoms. Eyebrow lifted as he looked at her.

"Uh, those are for you- err, yours," Joe said quickly, realized how that sounded when his eyebrows lifted even further, and tried to backtrack and explain at the same time. "Bought with your money, when Chris Argent broke your car window, remember?"

"You bought-"

"I was trying to pay attention to what you guys were doing!" Joe exclaimed loudly and swooped up to snatch the condoms before stuffing them in a drawer instead. Upon doing so, she realized that one of them was lighter than she had expected. The strawberry flavored one had a distinctly empty sound when she shook it. She dropped it as if burned. "Oh gross. Great news, Derek, you have involuntarily funded Scott's safe sex life. Congrats."

"That's a mental image I could have lived without," Derek commented drily as Joe scurried back to her computer chair. He crossed his arms and Joe hoped they would get off the topic of condoms now. "I know I'm early, but Erica said you might need some extra time because of your hair type, so I hope-"

Joe couldn't help herself, cringing with each question that blurted out. "Early for what? Extra time for what?"

"I called Kelly and let her know we're attending the dinner after all."

"What?" Joe jumped up from the chair, mouth wide open at the sheer audacity of this guy! "You did what?" Again, she winced and tried to rearrange her thoughts. "As if we didn't have a whole-ass conversation last night about how I really don't appreciate being invalidated!"

"That was the focal point of that talk?"

Replaying the conversation, as she had done at least a hundred times after he dropped her off, she folded her arms defensively. "Maybe not, but I know I mentioned it. At least twice."

"If you really don't want to go, then we won't. It just seemed like these dinners were a big deal and you need normal in your life, not just..." He shrugged and leaned back against the wall. Her wall. In her bedroom. Now he looked mildly uncomfortable. "And I had to apologize anyway."

That caught her off guard and she bit in the instant reply of asking why or what for. If anything, she felt she was the one who was supposed to apologize. She worked hard to keep the inflection out of her voice when saying: "Okay."

For some reason, that made him sigh. Hard to say what it meant when he averted his gaze for a split second and swinging it back to her with some kind of newfound resolution. "I'm sorry about what I said last night." Before Joe could point out that he had to be more specific, he elaborated: "You asking questions is not a problem, Joe, I was just frustrated. We both were."

He sounded sincere and that made it worse, somehow. Of course she wanted to answer that with another question: 'Are you sure?', but his sincerity lit a spark of honesty in her too.

"No, but it is a problem," Joe murmured and fell back onto her chair again. She looked everywhere but him, recalling her and Alex' argument. "I already know it is. It's attachment issues or whatever. It's like I have this feeling that if I can just get all the facts, things are going to be okay. My dad..." Realizing she was wringing her hands together, she decisively folded them over her chest instead. "I don't know if I'm just gullible or a magnet for pathological liars, but it's been a pretty clear pattern throughout my life. My dad, Jimmy, Professor Kane..."

"And if you ask enough questions, they'll eventually gonna slip up if they're lying?"

He was definitely reading her mind. She glared at him. "Not everyone can be a walking lie detector."

"I'm not lying to you, Joe."

"You're not exactly oversharing either," she pointed out and noted the furrow in his brows. "I got attachment issues, you got trust issues, together we're," she shrugged, searching for the right words, "really dysfunctional."

"I still prefer that every other thing out of your mouth is a question," Derek's voice was soft, contrasting the scowl on his face,"instead of you overthinking everything you're going to say." He closed his eyes briefly and made a noise in the back of his throat, almost of frustration — he sounded tired. "And I meant what I said about normal. You need a break, Joe. Consider it payback for my car if you want. Ready to leave at six?"

Finally daring to look at him properly, she found him just watching her in turn without any further clues to his thoughts. Still angry as far as she could tell, but his words were anything but. Leaving at six gave her an hour and a half, which should be enough for her hair to air-dry sufficiently before she used the blow dryer. She could not show up to let Kelly see a head full of frizz, that was not acceptable.

Joe grimaced, unwilling to relent so easily, even though she did kind of want to attend. "How do you have Kelly's number?"

"She's listed on the school's website," Derek said with a raised eyebrow. Slight twinkle in his eye though, as if he could detect that hint of jealously and he probably could. They'd only met once, as far as she knew, and Kelly was not the type to run after taken men. Unless Kelly did not think he was taken considering how Joe had said they weren't exclusive. Not that she had said that, she had said they weren't labeling it. No, Alex was obviously the one likely to disregard relationship status, not Kelly. Joe just... just didn't like how Derek only smiled at her friends and not at her.

"That explains why you're wearing a shirt, at least," Joe mumbled without acknowledging any of the rest.

Derek, usually in sweaters or t-shirts, now wore a light gray button-down shirt with the two top buttons undone and sleeves rolled up to just underneath his elbows. The shirt and fitted jeans combo worked wonders. He hadn't shaved, but his stubble looked trimmed and intentional, rather than out of control as had happened once or twice so far. The overall effect was, of course, insanely good looking.

"I don't have anything to wear," Joe said, only meaning she had nothing to wear that could make her look like she belonged next to Derek Hale in a button-down shirt. Okay, and yes, maybe she wanted to be persuaded to maintain some of her dignity.

"Go naked, I won't mind," Derek said, but with a slight edge in his voice, as if he had a headache. He had leaned his head back against the wall too and his eyes were closed, even though he breathed a bit harder than usual. "Just...just wear whatever you want. I can go change."

"No!" she answered way too fast and blushed deeply, glad of his closed eyes. "I, uh, I'll find something. I gotta go shower, so you can just wait here and...do whatever. Make yourself at home."

Increasingly aware of his presence and cringing at her awkwardness, she tried to simultaneously tidy up her room a bit as she grabbed what she needed to make herself presentable. She left Derek behind and headed to the bathroom she shared with Aunt Mel across the hall. Only Scott had his own, because it was conjoined into his room, but with Aunt Mel's working hours and Joe's seclusive habits, it had never been an issue for them to share.

Joe took a deep breath when she emerged back into the hallway, trying to clear her thoughts and imagination of the man currently sitting on a dresser in her bedroom. A man with enhanced senses who could smell attraction.

She should probably go for a cold shower.

Aunt Mel was halfway up the stairs when Joe was on her way into the bathroom. "Everythin- what are you doing?"

Joe, frozen in the hallway with her arms full of toiletries, towel and a clothes change, tried to act innocent. "What'd you mean?"

"Are you taking a shower? Did Derek leave already, I didn't hear the door and I've been..." Aunt Mel trailed off, accurately reading Joe's panicked expression. She pointed at the door. "Is he?"

"Shh," Joe tried to whisper, knowing full and well how futile that was. She nodded her head instead, fervently, hoping Aunt Mel would take the hint. Whatever said out here, Derek would definitely hear.

"And you're?" Aunt Mel pointed to the bathroom. More head nodding. "While he's?"

"Yes, we're going...out," Joe said quietly, hating herself and the blush and the knowing smirk that came upon Aunt Mel's face. "So, just, uh...I'll call if we're gonna be late."

"Stay as long as you want," Aunt Mel said with her hands up in surrender. Joe thought she would melt right through the floor by all this hot blood flooding to her face. "Hey, stay the night-"

"Oh my God!" Joe hissed and tore into the bathroom before Aunt Mel could say anything else. She put the water to freezing before getting in, realized that would not help her achieve frizz-free curls at all, and adjusted the temperature when she deemed herself calm enough. Fingers scrubbing, she tried to not consider how she not only left Derek Hale unattended in her bedroom while she went to take a shower, but Aunt Mel knew about it too.

What was he doing in there? Probably just sitting quietly on the dresser, brooding. Worst case, maybe looking at her bookshelf — oh God, he was gonna find that Kama Sutra comic book she got as a gag gift a few years ago. What if he went through her drawers? Found that Playboy bunny-costume Alex convinced her to buy, but could not convince her to wear to a Halloween-party where Alex wanted to be Hugh Hefner. Joe tried to scrub away the top layer of her skin, hoping to persuade the blood to go back to the rest of her body instead of everything landing in her cheeks. Combined with the condoms, he was going to think she was some sex-crazed freak.

She spent longer than she planned to in the bathroom, not intending to venture back to her bedroom before she was fully done with everything but her outfit. What was she going to wear? He looked so nice! The top from the rave? No, that was too skimpy, they were going to this crafts beer restaurant bar place whatever. A dress? Did she have dresses? Feeling weird to knock on her own door, she did it anyway to give Derek some time to put everything back in case he had been snooping through her stuff. When she opened the door, she realized she had worried unnecessarily. Derek laid on top of her bed, fully asleep.

His long legs hung outside the edge, keeping his shoes off her covers, and he was lying flat on his back, mouth just barely open and hands folded over his perfectly flat stomach. Soft snores, with that slight growling sound. For a second she thought he was pretending, but after watching him for longer than probably okay, she deduced he was definitely asleep.

Well, she had said to make himself at home. Joe was not the only one needing a break, she mused, and tip-toed to her closet to survey the damage. Dresses, dresses... Funeral dress? No. Christmas dress? No. High-necked floral monstrosity she had bought second-hand and never worn? Maybe. It was that kind of dress that was ugly and cool at the same time. Kind of like a muted 70s hippie-pattern, with a fitted waist and a flared sleeves. It could work. Not with sneakers though, she would need high-heeled boots or something. Like the ones she knew Aunt Mel had downstairs.

Having made up her mind, she slipped the dress off the hanger and retreated back into the bathroom to get dressed. Okay, so, she also put on a little more makeup. Just some eyeliner and a second coat of mascara. A little bit of bronzer and a dab of blush. Light lipstick though, no need to get carried away, and filling in her brows, of course. She looked more made-up now than the rave.

Definitely needed tall boots with this dress, though, it was just long enough to reach past her fingertips and when you're used to jeans or pajama pants, it felt like she was exposing herself to the world. Too hot in California for tights, but her legs were at least freshly shaved and she had spent twice the normal amount of time on that. If she nicked herself and he smelled the blood she would just die on the spot.

Five minutes to six, she knocked on her own door again to give Derek time to wake up. No answer, maybe he was more tired than she thought. She went inside to find him lounging on her bed with his arms under his head and his eyes definitely open now, definitely not asleep. Something about Derek splayed out on her bed like that — in a shirt no less — made both her breath stop and knees weaken. When his eyes grew darker as they roamed over her, she contemplated throwing herself out the window to escape the scrutiny.

"Ready?" Derek asked as he sat back up and she nodded, not trusting her voice.

Okay, so, he had definitely taken time to study her. Had she been hoping for a compliment? Yes, but she had no idea why. He was not exactly freehanded with those. Let's face it, the dress was not everyone's cup of tea. Derek never wore anything but neutrals, like, true neutrals and the busy pattern of the dress probably threw him off. And she rarely wore this much makeup, so the change was maybe too obvious for it to be appealing. Joe tried to not let her disappointment show — or smell? — when they went downstairs. She had thought the overall effect was kind of cool, but chastised herself for expecting anything. He was only doing this as a favor to her after all. Had she complimented him? No, so, there you go.

"Aunt Mel, I'm borrowing your boots!" Joe called out in the downstairs hallway, knowing her aunt was definitely somewhere within earshot. Could not remember if her Aunt had ever used them, but they were still in the hallway closet, pristine as ever. She bent over to zip them up; they reached just above her knees and the dark brown complimented her skin tone. Chunky heels, so she would at least be able to walk. Straightening up, she nearly backed straight into Derek who had come down the stairs after her. "The ones from Target!"

"Okay, sure! You guys have fun now! Stay safe and be safe and keep safe!"

Rolling her eyes, because she knew exactly what kind of 'safe' Aunt Mel was referring to, Joe just signalled for Derek to get out. Before getting in the car, she looked to the front, but could not even make out where that evidence of Stiles' inept driving had been. Maybe it really had been just a scratch. Her eyebrows lifted somewhat when Derek tore into the car without further comment — his movements were angry and rushed, so maybe that hour of sleep had not been enough?

The initial excitement of attending the dinner was dying away with every passing minute in the car. Derek's face, that had locked in a firm scowl when they left the house, was not clearing. As if she was forcing him to tag along instead of the other way around. The car ride went in relative silence save from the muted song from his radio. Joe leaned a bit towards the window, but it was still a half moon up there. So it couldn't be the full moon that was getting under Derek's skin, it had to be something else.

While she looked forward to seeing Kelly and the others again, the trepidation of facing Alex was overpowering it all. Not to mention that Maddy would be there too, blissfully unaware of what had happened at the rave. The kiss was one thing, but the fight after had been brutal. Alex had too many credits in psychology and they did not opt for name-calling, but rather went straight to the diagnoses. Fifty words or less, Joe thought, that had been their game. Brutally efficient arguments.

Her bare knee bounced from the car floor, the heels forcing her legs higher up in the seat than normal. Normal. Derek had said she needed some normal in her life, but the problem was that there was no such thing anymore. Besides, the normal stuff was complicated. Give her the vengeful snake monster any day, at least it was straightforward in what it wanted in life, even if that happened to be murder. And, as long as Derek tagged along, there was nothing normal about this either. Nothing normal about her and Derek.

"You okay?" Derek asked, although he sounded disinterested from his side of the car. He leaned against his car window as he drove, his muscles strained under his shirt. Tense.

"Kinda thinking this wasn't such a good idea after all." Joe fiddled with the edge of her dress, to keep it from riding up in the seat. His eyes seemed to follow the movement, to the lower parts of her thigh on full display. It had to be her imagination though because when she glanced up at him, he was fully invested in the dark stretch of road, fingers tightening around the wheel.

Figuring to just get it over with, she swallowed and said: "I didn't tell you everything that happened with Alex..."

Derek's eyes closed tightly and he seemed to bite his teeth together. "Doesn't matter."

"What?"

"I don't care about you and Alex."

"Oh," Joe said quietly and fiddled more with her dress, running her finger over the flower power pattern. That had not been the response she expected.

Derek growled darkly against the window, seemingly muttering to himself. "Are you kidding me..." He straightened up and faced her a bit. "I'm trying to say that I'm not jealous."

That hadn't been the response she was going for either, but it made her cock an eyebrow. "Really? You're not?"

"Why the surprise?"

"Just that," she shrugged to cover for how the comment cut into her already insecure self, "it definitely would have been on the list of characteristics if I was to psychoanalyze you."

"Jealous?"

"Possessive." Joe's mind went back to the rave, of his hands on her hips, just holding her there. Not demanding, not overbearing, just...there. Claiming her as his. Stark contrast to his words just now on how he didn't care. She cleared her throat, desperate to ask, but not bold to do it outright. "Is it the mates-thing? That you know you don't have to worry because you already got me?"

Derek scoffed and seemed to talk without thinking. "Trust me, Joe, there's not a single part of me that comes close to believing that I already got you." Now it was his turn to clear his throat, as if he'd said too much. "It's not the 'mates-thing'. I'm not the jealous type. Besides, I already know that you're not attracted to Alex anymore."

"Yeah, you've mentioned that." She narrowed her eyes at him. Even though she rationally knew he had no reason to be jealous since they technically weren't an item, she also knew she would have been jealous if the roles were reversed. "Really? It doesn't bother you?"

Again his fingers seemed to tighten around the wheel. "No. I could smell the regret on you before you even came into the clinic." The muscles on his neck shifted as he swallowed. "And since I didn't smell her on you at the rave, I guess it happened after I left?"

"Yeah, right after," Joe admitted slowly, albeit a bit suspiciously when he just shrugged as if that concluded the conversation. She was torn between wanting to discuss what happened at the rave. Had she somehow summoned him with her less than prudent thoughts about him? Or should she just let it go to avoid the mortification of learning that's exactly what she did? Did he (correctly) assume that with his abrupt departure, she would have jumped anything that came along because of her current state? That meant he was aware of the state he had put her in. Was he not jealous because he really was not the jealous type or because she was not worth getting jealous over?

Refusing to fall down that rabbit hole, she shifted her focus and her lip curled. "So you can smell regret too? Okay, what else can you smell?"

"It's not just smell," Derek clarified, not looking at her. "That's just the easiest way to explain it. It's a combination of things."

"Really?" Joe knew she sounded disbelieving, because she was. She knew about human behavior and non-verbal cues, but they were generally too nuanced to be picked up on properly. "What can you smell on me? Right now?"

He glanced over at her with a raised eyebrow, uncertainty that turned into assertiveness at her challenge. "Okay, if you're sure. You're nervous and anxious first of all, but also excited. You're worried that your dress is too short-"

Joe let go of her dress immediately.

"-and you're simultaneously checking your hair while trying not to touch it too much. You're a little stressed, and now you're getting angry and embarrassed ecause I'm reading you so accurately and-"

He stopped and Joe prompted a little harsher than intended. "And?"

Derek shook his head. "Nevermind."

"And?"

"Drop it, Joe," he murmured and focused fully on the road in a manner that told her the game was over. She slumped back in her seat, steaming of equal parts anger and embarrassment, hoping that could overpower everything else.

"I'm attracted to you," Joe said to get it over with and Derek's jaw tightened. "That was it, right? You can say it, I know you know. So now you can know that I know that you know." She rolled her eyes and focused on the approaching city lights of Berkeley. "And I'm allowed to be angry about it, you kind of have an unfair advantage."

They drove in silence for a while longer, before Joe could not help herself. "Can I ask you something?"

Derek gave a slow nod, like he was steeling himself.

"Since you're obviously not above biting people left and right," she ignored his deepened scowl, "how come you never offered it to me? Never even brought it up as a possibility. Is it because I'm too old?"

"No. It's because I know you, Joe. If you wanted it, you'd ask for it," Derek replied almost instantly. He focused more on driving now that they cleared the forest road and reached the city limits. "And I won't suggest it either. It's got to be your decision alone, if you ever want to take it."

"Oh, so that I get to decide for myself?"

"Shut up," he said, but Joe noticed the hint of a smile on his lips. "Maybe I just prefer the advantage."

Apparently, Derek knew where they were going and she let him navigate the city streets in peace while she mulled it over. She did not want the bite, she knew that much. Too many uncertainties. Joe liked exact sciences and getting the bite seemed like anything but. She was probably receptive to it, because of her connection to Derek, but had never thought to ask. Did she want to know or did she want to maintain this illusion of a choice regarding the matter? Illusion of a choice — story of her life lately.

The craft brewery and restaurant looked to be fully booked for the night. Joe pulled down the mirror to check her appearance as Derek parked the Camaro expertly on the edge of the parking lot. She still thought she looked nice, but apparently he didn't, at least not enough to actually say it and she again had to suppress that disappointment. Come off it, Delgado, what did you expect? A repeat of what he said at the depot after the rave, which had been an obvious attempt to rile you up? Stop being pathetic.

"Are you gonna be that super nice regular guy all evening?" Joe asked to distract herself, referring to how utterly good of an actor Derek could be when faced with her friends. He gave her a side-eyed look of innocence. "Because if you are, you're paying for my drinks."

Derek opened his door to get out. "I'm paying for your drinks anyway. Hold on." Brows furrowed, Joe unbuckled slowly and watched Derek walk around the car to open her door for her. He gave her his arm and a slight smile, eyes twinkling in the dark night.

"Oh, you're laying it on thick here, buddy," Joe muttered and there was no escaping the blush that came upon her. He definitely did that on purpose. Still, she grabbed his arm to get out of the car in the high-heeled boots without flashing the rest of the parking lot. It took some concentration to not notice how warm and strong he felt. Joe never thought a pair of forearms could look so good, but Derek's absolutely did. She would not mind if he wore shirts more often, especially with the sleeves rolled up like this. Probably too constricting to fight in though. Then he would just have to rip it off beforehand. Oh God, why was she like this?

"Ready?" Derek asked and obviously took some joy in draping his arm around her. Hard to tell if it was from the action itself or her response to it.

She'd almost forgotten they were posing as a couple, as her friends thought she was dating him. It had seemed insignificant until now, she was just used to him being there all the time. To be honest, she kind of welcomed it because it would at least show everyone that she was truly over Alex.

It was partially her own fault — okay, it was totally her own fault — but their whole group of friends from the undergrad-days thought Joe hd been the dumpee and not the dumper. This had led several of them to believe the reason Joe hadn't dated anyone after that was because she was still hung up on Alex. It had in reality been because Aunt Mel forced her into therapy after Joe simultaneously cut off Alex and her dad pretty much in the same night. At least that counted for the first year, where her therapist had advised against entering new relationships, the rest was just because Joe dedicated herself to her academic work and never went out to meet new people.

And now Alex was here with her new girlfriend and Joe was here with her fake boyfriend. Both obviously fully moved on. Did it help knowing for sure she wasn't attracted to Alex anymore? Maybe a little. Did it help that Derek knew she was insanely attracted to him and she had no idea how he felt about her? Nope, not at all.

Joe tried to not let his arm bother her as he steered her towards the restaurant. "Let's just get this over with."

Both inside and out, it looked like any other craft brewery she'd ever visited. There was a carefully cultivated eclectic collection of vintage LP-covers on the wall, large bronze lamps hanging from the ceiling and thick wooden tables with that homemade-look that meant they cost more than Joe's car. As per Kelly's itinerary, there would be drinks and mingling by the bar first and Joe spotted Kelly along with a few of the others already here.

"Hiii!" Kelly, dressed in a sleek pencil skirt and a color-blocked top Joe could never pull of, waved happily as they approached. Derek let Joe go so she could hug Kelly and then accepted a platonic, not-really-touching hug himself. Joe tried not to notice — Kelly was a hugger. She hugged people. All people. Including Derek.

Kelly put a drink in both Joe's and Derek's hands. "Sooo glad you could make it after all! I know you're super busy, Joe, so it really means a lot to all of us! All work and no play, huh? And oh my God, that dress, you're looking good, girl!"

Could always count on Kelly for compliments, but the earnestness made Joe smile openly and she returned the sentiment. After all, Kelly had almost reported her missing from the rave before Joe remembered to text her from the taxi. Kelly was the one in the friend-group who had been single the longest and usually she and Joe could wallow in misery together. Part of Joe wanted to just corner Kelly right away and spill the beans about Alex, but it would ruin the mood and Kelly had worked really hard for this night to work for everyone.

Not sure who was tagging along with who, but with a drink in hand, she and Derek went to greet the others who were already here. Still early, not everyone had gotten there — Alex and Maddy still missing for example. Looked like a lot of people had brought along dates this time however.

Sam and Caleb, the only internal couple after Joe and Alex split, had flown in from Seattle. Nick, who lived in Colorado somewhere, brought his obviously pregnant girlfriend Joe never could remember the name of. Kyle, Boston-native, also had a date, but it became apparent that they were only recently acquainted and the girl only said hello to them shyly. Again, Joe tried to avoid noticing how the girl's gaze flickered up to Derek. He was a good-looking guy, no two ways about it, other people weren't blind to that fact.

Taking a note from Derek's acting abilities, Joe introduced Derek to all of them without using any sort of label to what he was. She then tried to pay attention to the small-talk about where people worked now and the economy and politics and stuff. Normal things that normal people cared about.

"So, how did you guys meet?" Nick's pregnant girlfriend — Catherine? Christina? Catelyn? Some C-name, Joe thought at least — asked with a big smile. She was probably five months on her way and the non-maternal dress laid tight over her rounded belly. It made Joe painfully remember her blunt questions to Derek last night, meant as examples that he had taken seriously and even tried to answer.

"Uh..."

Oh God, Joe had not considered how a new relationship would be a natural part of small-talk. Her mind blanked completely from the question. 'Uh, one night he showed up in the hallway being all lurky, then he saved me from being killed by a deer herd and it kinda went from there' did not seem like a good answer. How did people normally meet each other? A bar? Online dating?

"Joe's cousin was helping me out with a project," Derek swept in when it became clear Joe was not going to answer. He flashed Pregnant Girlfriend (Cordelia? Charisma?) a wide smile. It was so incredibly handsome, no less because it was such a rare occurrence. "Then I made excuses to keep him around until I could work up the nerve to ask Joe out. She turned me down-"

He and Pregnant Girlfriend — it might be Caroline actually — laughed heartily.

"-so this is technically our first date, but I hope to win her over soon enough," Derek finished with a smile on his lips, like he was joking, and squeezed his arm around Joe's waist good-naturedly while Pregnant Girlfriend laughed again. Joe could not even begin to think of reply to that, but luckily she would not have to. "I assume you and Nick — was it? — have made slightly more progress?"

Caroline (possibly Carrie) giggled daintily and put a hand over her protruding stomach. "Yeah, well, with my hormones he's gonna have to win me over all over again too."

More laughing, Joe just barely remembering to follow along. Nick joined in on the conversation when they told them about the trip from Denver ("Her feet swelled so she couldn't wear shoes and I had to run around to get these plastic covers so we didn't risk her getting athlete's foot.") and Joe could only watch in awe with how Derek steered the conversation to avoid more probing questions.

He didn't lie, she realized after listening to him talk, he just told the truth in such a way that it would not reveal anything. And he was really convincing, which of course was a good thing now to avoid Joe the embarrassment of revealing that he was not actually her boyfriend. It just made her worried if she would notice if he pulled the same strategy with her. Would he? Probably not. He never talked to her like he did now — he never talked to Scott or Stiles or anyone else like he did now. It was all an act.

With an excuse to get their glasses refilled, Derek somehow made it natural for them both to move closer to the bar. As he switched out her glass, one she had emptied without realizing, he lowered his voice: "You okay?"

"Can you please stop listening to my heartbeat?" she mumbled and took a sip to cover for the rising blush. His arm was still around her, naturally resting in the crease where her hip flared out.

"Not when it's going a mile a minute," he said and it sounded like an admission. His voice was back to normal, without the false cheerfulness. "You're so tense it's impossible to ignore. You can relax, Joe, I'm not trying to embarrass you."

"No, I'm managing that on my own," Joe sighed and unconsciously leaned against him. "It's been a while since I had to talk to normal people. It's so weird that there's this whole other world that no one knows about and-" She cut off when she saw his jaw tighten, even more obvious from her close proximity to him. He really had a perfect jawline, emphasized by sharp-cut cheekbones. "How are you so good at this?"

"Had to be." He shrugged and gave her that concerned glance again. "Is this about Alex?"

"More about 'Maddy', to be honest. I have this feeling I should tell her and..." She cleared her throat and tried to quench it with the half-finished drink in her hand. Half of her wanted to keep up the pace, but getting too buzzed was probably not the best idea either. "But hey, they're not here yet, so maybe they won't show and I'm getting worked up for nothing."

"If you want, you can just let me handle it," he said nonchalantly and raised an eyebrow in return to her skeptical look. "What?"

"Your handling of things usually involve violence," she pointed out, wondering if it was his scent or the second glass of champagne that made her relax a bit. Or if it was just the thought of him trying to calm her down that did in fact calm her down. "You can't kill my ex-girlfriend, Derek."

Another couple, not part of the Berkeley-crew, came to stand next to them at the bar and Joe saw a brief smirk cross Derek's lips before he leaned in to the side of her head. He whispered: "I've handled you so far without too much violence."

Just the sensation of his hot breath tickling her curls was enough to feel the sparks erupting in her stomach. It was an act, she reminded herself, to make their conversation look natural. His eyes glittered even more when he pulled back, an obvious challenge to her and she smiled despite herself.

"There's been some," she reminded him, but still smiling. Every encounter with him usually involved a fight of some kind. Not between them, except the notable occasion she tried to shoot him and he subsequently paralyzed her. "No dismemberment or carnage tonight, Derek, I mean it."

"Then try to relax before they think I brainwashed you," Derek murmured, glancing over his shoulder at the people next to them. "Stop overthinking everything."

She blinked at him, trying to discern the miniscule expressions on his otherwise stoic face. Was he still guilty for the comment last night? Not that unfathomable as she had been overthinking every word she said since then and it was probably pretty obvious to him. Luckily, or unluckily depending on viewpoint, Kyle and his shy girlfriend also joined them at the bar and they were forced back into the lull of small-talk.

Every time the door to the restaurant opened, Joe glanced over to steel herself for Alex' arrival. Still not here. As more people joined them, however, it seemed like Kelly was the only one without a date.

Or not, Joe thought, as Kelly had spotted someone entering and waved wildly. She brought the stranger over to the group and clung to his arm with a large smile. "Okay, everyone, this is my date for the evening. We've only just met so no scaring him off!" That brought a laugh from most of them. "James, this is everyone. Everyone, this is James!"

Joe felt her drink slip from her hand as she turned around to see Jimmy Carter.

Okay, so, there's been a little break in the supernatural stuff in the latest chapters. Don't worry, it's coming, just gotta get through this reunion dinner first before we're approaching the season finale. Hope no one's getting bored :)

Also hope I managed to keep Derek in character here! He can be suave too, remember, not just sarcastic.

Side-note: Joe doesn't know that Derek uses anger as his anchor to remain in control. The story's so long now that it's hard to keep track of what she knows or not, so thought I would just mention it.

Anyway, thank you for reading and please let me know what you think in a review :) Loved to hear about your childhood crushes by the way! So much fun so thank you for sharing. Happy Saturday to everyone!