Because of You (Because of You 1)

There it was.

I couldn't remember which journal it was in, but I knew after my mom found out that Sarah was pregnant –that she had conceived in November, which was after October and September—she had kicked herself so many times, writing that she wished she could just go back to one of those days and warn him. I remember she wrote something like,"It was as if I could somehow, by some strange instinct, sense that she was going to get pregnant, and I didn't listen. I didn't do anything to stop it."

I sat there staring at the journal, trying to figure out if I was onto something, or if I was just making something out of nothing. What if that dream had been warning me, like that feeling had warned my mother? Was Derek going to get Kayla pregnant?

If he was, did I really want to stop him? After all, if I kept my mouth shut and he ended up knocking Kayla up, he would most likely be too busy dealing with that, and he wouldn't care about blackmailing me anymore. That could be my way out.

But, for some reason that I didn't quite understand, I didn't want that to happen to him.

It kind of irritated me, but I decided that I had to tell him. Maybe I was wrong, maybe it was nothing, but if I kept my mouth shut and found out in two months that Kayla was pregnant, I was going to feel responsible.

Damn it.

I picked up my cell phone and dialed Derek's number, trying to figure out how I was going to word what I wanted to say to him. "Oh, hi Derek, it's me. I just wanted to tell you that I had a dream the other day that you got Kayla pregnant, so I just wanted to tell you, whatever you do, don't sleep with her, because you will get her pregnant and be miserable forever."

Yep, that would totally work, I thought sarcastically.

"Hello?" he finally answered.

"Derek, it's me," I said.

"I know, I saw your number on the caller ID. What do you want?"

I frowned. "Grumpy much?"

"Well, you didn't want to listen to me earlier, but now you're calling me?"

I sighed. "Fine, what did you want to say?"

“You didn't hear anything I

said, did you?" he complained.

"No, I'm sorry, I didn't, but I'm listening now."

"I'm changing the terms of our agreement," he stated.

I frowned. "Wait, what? You can’t do that. What do you mean?"

"I know when I gave you my terms I told you I didn't care who else you were sleeping with— and I don't, it's not that, but I don't like sloppy seconds, so I'm changing the terms."

Was he serious? "Derek..."

"I'm serious, Nikki. I want you to break up with Andy."

"No," I replied, not even having to think about it.

"Fine, then I'm going to show him a copy of the tape," he retorted.

"What?" I demanded. "You would not do that!"

"Watch me," he returned.

"Derek, that would be... the cruelest thing you could possibly do. You have no idea how much that would hurt him. You can't do that," I argued.

"Like I care. I know he's the jealous type," he said, sounding pretty confident. "He won't want my sloppy seconds, either."

The gall of him. I was calling to save his life, and he was telling me to break up with my boyfriend or he would break up with him for me. How presumptuous.