Chapter Eight-
Derek and I continued our little arrangement, and other than Kayla and Andy, nobody really seemed to notice anything going on between us.
I didn't know how. Derek wasn’t very discreet, and he had taken to sitting on my desk daily and chatting with me about something or other (but I suspected this was his way of convincing me to do most of his work in that class). I didn't care though. I never met anyone who would actually let me babble on about school assignments the way Derek did, and I thought it was pretty great.
I gathered that Derek must have enjoyed my company in bed as much as I enjoyed his, because it seemed like he was trying to invite himself over all the time, but since he had never again denied me my cuddling when we were done, I hardly minded.
One day he even shocked me, because he was giving me a ride home from school, and instead of turning right out of the school parking lot, he turned left. When I informed him that he had taken me the wrong way, he told me he hadn't, that he was taking me somewhere. I asked where, but he wouldn't tell me. Twenty minutes later we pulled into my favorite bookstore, and for that moment at least, he was one of my favorite people in the universe. I had just been telling him a couple days prior how I wanted to go to the bookstore, but Alex wasn't letting me take the car.
When Derek would do nice things for me, it still made me fairly suspicious. I think that annoyed him, because one day after he randomly took me to a movie –and I badgered him, trying to figure out his motive—he snapped that he couldn't even do anything nice for me without getting tortured about it. I told him it wasn't my fault, that he normally wasn't nice to me, so when he was, I automatically wondered why. He was grumpy for the rest of that ride home, and only got grumpier when I mumbled, "You're moodier than any woman I've ever met."
I was vaguely aware that I had been spending a lot of time with Derek, but I didn't acknowledge it until Stephanie stopped me in the hall one day and asked why I kept blowing her off. She actually thought I was mad at her, which of course I wasn't, I was just so busy with Derek –between his sexual appetite, day trips, and sometimes helping him study or doing a little bit of his homework—not to mention my own school assignments and job, that I really didn't have much time anymore. Of course she didn't really know I was spending so much time with Derek, so I didn't say that to her.
We decided we were going to go out to dinner Friday night for some girl time, which made me happy.
Friday rolled around, and I picked out a pretty outfit, did my hair, and left to meet Steph. She was already there when I got to the restaurant, and she immediately started chattering as we went to our seats. Steph was telling me all about the drama at work, how this one guy wouldn't stop calling her, and how this girl on the volleyball team was dating Steph's ex-boyfriend. I missed her endless chatter.
When she finally got done, she said, "So, what have you been up to? Between our schedules I've barely had a chance to talk to you. I haven't seen you at lunch, either. Is everything okay?"
Derek and I had made a habit of skipping lunch every day that week, as I still didn't want Andy to see us together, and there just so happened to be a Subway down the road, so we had been running down there and grabbing lunch.
"Yeah, everything's fine," I said, trying to figure out how I was going to explain the Derek situation.
"I was talking to Kayla the other day," Steph began, frowning a little. "Did you know she pretty much hates you?"
I nodded. "Yeah, I kind of got that impression when she vandalized my car."
Steph gasped. "That wasn't Kayla! She wouldn't do something like that."
"She did. She admitted it to me," I told her.
"That's crazy! Why would she do that?"
Well, there was my opening. I sighed, glancing down at my hands. "Okay, this is going to sound a little... out there."
"Oh my gosh, you really are dating him, aren't you?" Stephanie said, wide-eyed.
I grimaced. "You've heard?"
"Oh my gosh, Nicole! How could you not tell me that?"
"Well, we aren't actually dating," I defended. "We're just kind of... hanging out."
"I thought you two hated each other," she said, shaking her head in confusion.
"We did... I guess... I don't really know how to explain it, Steph," I said honestly.
"So that's why you broke up with Andy? And that's why Derek broke it off with Kayla?"
"I guess so," I said uncertainly.
"Wow... that's crazy."
"Agreed," I said.
"So... what's that like? According to Kayla he didn't really treat her very well. He was kind of an ass."
That caused me to smile. "He's definitely an ass," I agreed.