"Derek."

"Hm."

"Derek."

"Yeah."

"Derek!" a woman slapped the back of his head hard, and Derek turned sharply at her.

"What the hell was that for?" He barked.

"Because you won't pay attention to me! Get off the damn phone!" She yelled back, walking back to her seat.

He scoffed. "Says the girl who is on her phone twenty four seven. Back off Rae."

He rubbed the back of his neck roughly, eating at his food finally. He wasn't really a big fan of very fancy restaurants; it made him self-conscious to be around all these people. Even when they didn't say anything, he knew they were all silently judging with their eyes. Rae, on the other hand, thoroughly enjoyed the staring. How did she stand it?

'Oh, probably because she's the most self-centered person I've ever met. . .'he thought, chuckling half-heartedly.

He took a hold of his phone again, looking at the thing that has taken his attention for the past two hours. It was a simple text really, nothing extravagant. So why the hell was it making his palms sweat? He hadn't replied to the mysterious girl named Chloe's text yet, but he has typed it 10 times. Should he say 'Hi.'? No. That seemed like he didn't really want to talk to her. Maybe 'Hi!'? To eager. Same if he just said 'Hey!'. I mean he was eager to talk to her, but that's not something he wanted to admit. Out loud anyway. He swore under his breath and finally typed the only thing he could think of, 'Hey'. All he needed to was send it.

'Come on, Derek. It's just a text. You can do this. What's the worst that could happen? Her not texting back?' He stared at the text for another few seconds. 'Yes! That could happen!' he screamed inside his head. He mumbled, shoving French fries in his mouth, going to exit out the message but his finger slipped. Oh, fantastic. Of course it would happen. The text was successfully sent. 'Oh well.' He sighed, tired of having the inner self battle with himself. Hopefully she would text back, she probably would. Unless she's still standing foot deep in the freezing snow with flip flops on, he chuckled at the thought.

"What's so funny?" Rae asked, glaring at him from across the table, wine glass in one hand the other tapping on the table.

"Your face." Derek said, moving his phone over by his glass of water to have more arm room.

"See I'm not going to take offense to that because I definitely know you find me attractive. If you didn't you wouldn't be dating me." She purred.

"Dated."

"Excuse me?"

"We dated. We aren't dating. Why are even at this stupid place? I thought we were supposed to be at Tori's party an hour ago." He glowered at her.

"Whatever the case is, you're still here with me and you're still seeing me. And I don't like Tori that much anyway, she just is very useful to have standing next to you in a bar."

"You sicken me."

"Love you too, babe." She grinned her seduction.

"I'm leaving." He stood up abruptly, throwing down eighty dollars onto the table.

"Derek, stop, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you mad, sit down will you?" she pleaded.

He sat down slowly, taking a large gulp of his water. God, this was stupid. If he wasn't such a gentlemen, he would have left her a long time ago, right after her fourth glass of wine. Or made her pay for dinner. Why couldn't he be rude?

"Look Rae. We did date, and you made it known you were ready to move on. So I don't understand why you're still trying to do any of this."

"Um. In case you forgot, I was the one ready to get married. But you ran away like a dog with a tail tucked in between your legs. You stopped loving me so I didn't see why I didn't deserve getting it from someone else." She tossed back her hair.

"Yeah. Because sleeping with your boyfriends brother is the best solution." He sneered.

She stopped mid sip, looking him in the eye over the rim of the glass. She tilted her head slightly at him and replied with, "Well. He didn't see a problem with it at the time. And we certainty had the same idea. And that was a long time ago, like you said. I don't regret it and I doubt Simon regrets it either. It happened Derek, and honestly it was your fault." She put her glass down and touched his hand softly. "Plus, you know no other girl would even consider being with you other than me."

He bristled.

As much as he wished he could block it out of his head, she was right. He loved his brother, and he couldn't ever stay mad at him. They were to close. But one day, coming from a long day of work Derek walked into his apartment and saw Simons lucky Sperry's sitting by the front door. He didn't think much of it, Simon always forgot at least one thing at his place every time he visited. That was until he saw the two empty plates sat at the table, and it smelled like chicken alfredo, Derek's favorite. He had shook his head, maybe Rae had Liz over. He had sat his briefcase on the couch, loosening his tie. He pretended he didn't see Simons wallet on the coffee table. Or Rae's new fancy black bra thrown into a plant. Derek walked to his bedroom getting ready to change when he heard the noises.

Noises he won't ever be able to forget.

At least he can pat himself on the back for not barging into the room without thinking about the situation first. He wasn't that stupid. He remembered grabbing a posted note and leaving Rae a message on the front door. Derek went to Tori's, it was the was the only place he could think of at the time. He didn't think going to his sister's house would end up being the worst thing he could have done. After he had told her the reason he was there, she grabbed her car keys and ran out the door. God, Tori was scary. He had quickly gone after her, not sure if he closed the door or not, and drove fast behind her. She had ran up the stairs, opened the door, running right into Simon. Rae was standing behind him in nothing but an oversized shirt of Derek's. What a hoe.

Tori shoved herself past Simon, grabbed the cell phone from Rae's hand and threw it out the window. With fire in Rae's eyes, she was quick to say a remark, but Tori beat her to the punch line. Seriously. Tori landed a perfect punch right in the middle of Rae's nose. Simon ran to pull away Tori from her, but she rounded on him next. She screamed; "You stupid idiot!" and bam. One good elbow to the jaw. Derek had to smile at that. Derek had stood there, watching the whole thing play out. He had started laughing, when he probably should have been crying. But Derek doesn't cry. At least in public.

"Derek, seriously I'm going to leave if you keep zoning out like that." Rae's annoying comment took him out of his memory bubble.

"Go ahead, I don't care, witch." He muffled the last word under his breath. She glared at him. Oh well, it's not like he cared if she heard him or not.

"I prefer half-demon half-princess." She flipped her hair again over her shoulder. Again. "But back to what I was saying before you were acting stupid, you know I'll always be here. I'll always be the only one who thinks you are worthy enough to be dated. And I know that I'll always be the only girl you think about, forever and al-"

"That's not true." Derek took a bite of his hamburger, staring at this very interesting stain on the table cloth. Maybe a kid spilt her mom's wine?

"Excuse me? Sure it is. I'm the only girl you have ever even had an interest in." her didn't have to look at her face to know she was smirking.

"Also not true." She was tapping her fingers again.

"Oh really? Please, tell me about this other girl then."

Derek sighed, wondering if he should mention Chloe or not. It would definitely shut her up. He rolled his eyes. "There is a girl. She's really weird, giving people advice in the middle of a snow storm in flip flops. She's really short, and her advice is kind of cliché. But she's got this smile. . . when you see it, it makes you feel kinda warm I guess? I don't really know how to describe it, even though you know what she says is kinda stupid sometimes, you also feel like she knows exactly what she needs to say. She's not even overly beautiful, she the right amount of pretty. She's. . . cute." Derek finished, face slightly warm.

"Are you. . . blushing?" Rae voice was sharp.

He shook his head. "Don't be stupid."

"You are! You never blushed at anything I did for you, you asshole!"

He winced. People's heads were turned, staring at their table now. He covered his slight nervousness and glowered at her. "Calm down, Rae. You're making a scene and acting idiotic."

Her skin was warm, hot even when he reached for her arm. "What's her name." she asked, ripping her hand from his grip.

"None of your business. That girl doesn't deserve anything you and your dumb group of servants will throw at her. She's truly a nice person Rae, oblivious to the world. I won't give even the slightest information about her." Derek crossed his arms, leaning back in the chair.

She was really mad. It wasn't his problem if she didn't know how to move on. Not like he moved on to another girl or anything . . . he just stopped caring about Rae in any kind of romantic way. Plus he didn't really like Chloe did he? He just met her. There was something really alluring about her though.

'Just admit it. You like her stupid.' Derek's little voice in his head chuckled.

He felt his lips tilt up the slightest.

"Stop thinking about her in front of me, jerk."

God, what was he still doing here?

His phone buzzed, and he flipped it over and almost choked on a fry.

One new message from Chloe(:

Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one who saw the message. Rae was really fast, faster than his mind was at the moment. She grabbed his phone and tossed in her very full glass of water, watching it as it glitches slightly. Derek was up quick, grabbing the glass and pouring the water over the table to get his phone.

"Rae! Shit! What was that for?!" he screamed, not caring about the people staring at him at the very moment.

"How dare you! You text some girl you're talking to in front of me? What kind of person are you?"

"That was the first message she ever sent me! You had no right!" he screamed back at her.

"Does It really look like I give a shit? I'm your girlfriend, not that little miss nobody." She fumed.

"YOU AREN'T MY GIRLFRIEND!" he yelled. Seeing her wince a bit, and not liking all the hot stares he took a few deep, seething breathes. "You know what, I'll pay for my half, you can pay for the 50 glasses of wine you had tonight." He left then; slightly glad he left the money from earlier on the table.

Great. Just perfect. Now he had to buy a new phone. All of his contacts would be lost. He didn't bother to remember any of his work numbers, or his stupid grocery list. Now he had to take time off of work to go pay for another stupid four hundred dollar phone. His pictures were gone. Chloe's number was gone. . . He growled in anger and threw the crap phone in the street.

"God damn it!" he yelled.

The only thing that made him feel something other than the bitter coldness, was now gone.

And it was all thanks to that god forsaken woman, who pissed him off every time he talked to her. Once again, she had managed to destroy the little piece of happiness he got.

And he probably wasn't ever going to see Chloe again.

God, his life sucked.