It's been a week since Rae destroyed Derek's cell phone.
A week of constant minor problems showing up left and right.
He attempted to get a new phone but was denied due to unpaid phone bills and shockingly bad credit. Eventually, he found another company willing to help provide a cellphone but he would need to pay for minutes. Extra money for unlimited minutes wasn't exactly in the cards right now. The bus driver he came accustomed to suddenly quit and the new one shows up thirty minutes to an hour late every day. The job he already loathed started to nick-pick all of his recent drawings, they stated his work was not modern enough for today's world. What did that even mean?
To top it off, he hasn't been able to reach out to Chloe.
Normally this wouldn't bother him, but recently every night he dreams of her.
Some nights it's only her laughter. Others are filled with the scent of oranges and mint; he remembered the faint smell of this combination coming from her hair when she knelt to get his phone from the snow. His favorite one, however, is when he gets to see her - all of her.
To admire her blonde whisps of hair. Her delicate pink lips were soft and supple. Her taunting smile. And his favorite thing, her memorizing blue ocean eyes. The way her lips move when she calls out his name.
'Derek!' she yells out enthusiastically.
'Derek. . .' she says somberly.
'Derek.' she whispers softly.
No matter the tone all he can do is stare at her.
Whenever Derek reaches out to grab her hand, she begins to fade away. Once she completely disappears, he wakes up sweaty and gasping.
Tonight was no different.
The old-fashioned time clock on his dresser read two AM. It's becoming repetitive at this point. Work, family, dreams, and staring at the ceiling for three hours afterward. Derek sighed in frustration. He threw his single pillow across the room; it hit his window and two of the blinds spread apart. The moonlight shone threw the hole and the room became silent.
Silence was becoming the most comfortable noise.
Between the intrusive thought of throwing himself out the window and watching the clock continue to count, he realized he was fully awake this time.
"Great," he said out loud.
He sat up from bed and rubbed his face with both hands. Maybe going for a jog would be the best thing for him right now. It was either that or the window option at this point. He threw on his running sweats, the first sweater he could grab from the ever-growing laundry pile in the corner, and the only pair of shoes he had that could tough out the brutal Chicago snow. With his wallet secured in his pocket, he locked the door and headed for the stairwell of his building.
No snow fell from the sky tonight. The birds were not singing and the wind was not present. He couldn't help but scoft at the accuracy.
Derek jogged past the twenty-four-hour pizza joint with his gaze set ahead of him. He made a point of not making eye contact with anyone looking his way. He was already aware of how crazy he must look, going for a run this early in the morning. If he was being completely honest, he didn't care for any kind of human interaction right now. Most people who would attempt to start a conversation between twelve AM to four AM were usually strange anyway.
It was at times like this that Derek started to wonder where things really went wrong for him.
Should he have gone to school out of state?
Would his life be different if he didn't hang out with Simon so much?
Was it when his Dad left to travel the world without saying goodbye?
Or has everything always been so empty and he just never truly accepted it?
He was once again reminded why he had clung to Rae so long. Even though she was wild and dramatic, she truly taught him how to be more carefree, to live in the moment, and to enjoy the little things. She did not care how others perceived her, and she would always tell him to do the same.
Derek looked up to the sky which had now become cloudy.
Should he have just married Rae like she wanted?
He grunted and let out a breath.
No.
They had many nights of happiness, yes, but the distrust and deceiving nature could not be ignored. The dismissal of his feelings which he rarely voiced could not be tolerated. Her attitude and unwillingness to compromise was too much to handle. And the betryal of sleeping with his brother hurt too much.
In the middle of this thought, Derek realized he needed to stop to breathe. He brought no water and forgot his shitty phone at home.
A bus stop bench was visible a few feet away, he continued onward till he made it to it.
Once seated, he took a look at where he had traveled to. He noticed the familiar bus sign that stood next to the bench and the tiny abandoned one-story home not far away. Derek sucked in the air. He had taken himself back to the place where he met Chloe for the first time. His heart started to beat a few bumps faster.
It was silly to think she would be there now at this hour. It had to be close to three in the morning or maybe a bit after. After scanning the area, a black smudge stood out in the white snow. Being unable to control his curiosity he investigated the spot. When inspecting it further it was easy to see it was a popped collar of what might be a jacket.
A black jacket.
Please don't let it be his.
He knelt down and lifted the item out of the snow; he brushed it off to get a better look. Lord behold, it was the jacket he lent to Chloe. But why?
Why was it here?
Did she take it off once he left?
Even if she did, why leave it?
Horrible thoughts began to flash in his head. She was so tiny, she could have been kidnapped. The thought of her screaming for help and being dragged away made him sick. Maybe she left it by accident when her bus arrived, she wasn't wearing a jacket to begin with and could have taken it off at some point. He couldn't fathom how someone could stand the cold for that long though. Or maybe worse, perhaps she didn't think much of him at all and threw it to the ground to forget their encounter.
Derek scrunched the jacket in between in hands tightly.
He hoped she was alright. He hoped none of these were right.
Had he imagined their moment?
"Derek?"
He stood up abruptly and turned around. Standing behind the bench and looking at him was Chloe; head tilted to the side with her hands on her hips.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
Without thinking he began to walk towards her. He felt furious but relieved all at the same time when he saw her face. He wanted to ask her so badly why she would leave his jacket outside in the snow. But the desire of wanting to embrace her outshone that thought. Even if it was ridiculous, this small girl had one thing he couldn't ignore. Hope.
He quickly closed the distance between them and looked down at her. Her head was tilted up to look back at him; a strand of hair blew across her face. How strange. There had been no wind tonight. A moment or two passed, to him time seemed to stand still. The eyes that visited him every night were right here in front of him, wide and beautiful.
Derek lifted his arms and wrapped them around her; he bent down to bury his face in her hair.
His steady beating heart had tripled in speed.
"Derek. . ." she breathed shallowly.
Oh, how he loved how she said his name.
"Could you let go, please?" her voice trembled.
His eyes opened abruptly.
Oh no.
What was he doing?