I stepped up to the cash register where Mike was standing, which absolutely killed me, and said, "Uh, can I get the chicken tenders with ranch?"
He nodded. "For here or to go?"
"To go," I replied, thinking I wouldn't stay there if someone offered me a million dollars.
"Well, I guess I should be going, too," Kayla said, retrieving the ultrasound picture from the counter and shoving it into her purse. She tossed a smile at Derek. "I'll see you tomorrow, right?"
At that, I allowed my head to tilt to the side and my eyebrows to shoot up, my chagrin beginning to fade.
Derek didn't speak, but he nodded curtly.
She gave me an annoyingly cute little smile, accompanied by a wrinkle of her nose. "Toodles."
Once she was out the door, I frowned slightly at Derek and said, "She'll see you tomorrow? There's no school tomorrow, why would she see you tomorrow?"
"Her grandparents want to meet me," he stated.
I didn't mean to, but I half laughed. "Her—" I managed to cut myself off, pressing my lips together firmly to keep any unwanted noises from slipping out. When I was confident I could manage a calm, civil tone, I replied, "Her grandparents?"
He nodded.
"You're going to meet her grandparents?" I repeated, trying not to raise my voice. "I thought you had to work tomorrow. When I asked if we could reschedule our date for tomorrow, that's definitely what you told me."
"I only work until 2:30," he told me. "I have enough time to change before dinner."
"Dinner?" I repeated dumbly.
"We're going out to dinner."
I felt the need to clear my throat again, and knowing that no good would come from anything else being said, I nodded, pulling my wallet out and handing Mike a dollar. He already had my food ready, so he handed me the bag and cashed out my order.
"Thank you," I murmured to Mike automatically, forgetting who he was.
"Go ahead, you want to say something," Derek said quietly.
"No," I replied, picking up my bag and shaking my head. "There's definitely nothing I want to say to you right now, because I'm sure if I do, I'll want to take some of it back later."
"Please, I was tried and convicted as soon as you saw Kayla's car in the parking lot," he stated.
"Right, but now you're going to a family dinner with her when you don’t have time to hang out with me, so clearly I had nothing to worry about," I said sarcastically.
"If you thought you did, you're fucking stupid," he stated, giving me one last glare before stalking to the back.
"Obviously!" I called back, even though I doubted he heard me.
Feeling annoyed and a little bit sad, I turned and stormed out of the building.
Chapter Fourteen-
Derek didn't call me when he got home from work, and I was being entirely too stubborn to call him. Actually, I didn't know if I wanted to talk to him anyway.
But the next day when three o'clock rolled around and I still hadn't heard from him, I wasn't quite as pleased. By that time, I started to think it was a better idea to talk to him before Kayla's stupid family dinner, that way when he went we were on good terms.
When I picked up the phone to call him, I changed my mind. If we had a relationship of substance then he shouldn't have to talk to me to remember that he was my boyfriend. I could still hold anything stupid that he did against him—but he wouldn't do anything stupid.
I told myself to put the phone down again, refusing to babysit him. I had to take some stands, and that had to be one of them. It was somewhat understandable that he was mad that I had been suspicious, but since apparently Kayla was up to something and he was stupidly falling right into it, I did have cause for concern. He had to give me that.
Since I knew he was going to be at dinner with Kayla, I figured I should probably busy myself with doing productive things to keep my mind off of it, otherwise I would spend the whole day staring at the clock and waiting for him to get home.