Because of You (Because of You 1)

I caught up with Derek in our first class, and he came over and sat on my desk like old times.

"Hey," he greeted.

"Hi," I said a bit breathlessly, sitting down and digging my books out of my bag. "We have a test today, don't we?" I asked, yanking my notebook out to review real quick.

"Were you up all night studying?" he asked, lightly tilting my chin up so he could get a better look at my eyes.

"No, actually I barely studied at all. Why?"

"You look tired," he said.

"Couldn't sleep," I said vaguely, opening my notebook.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

I shook my head, but I didn't look up at him. "No."

"Are you lying to me?" he asked, his eyes twinkling a little.

I shook my head. "No, it's nothing. I got in a little bit of a... debate with Alex, then I had bad dreams all night, so... sleeping just didn't happen."

"What are you and Alex fighting about?"

I shook my head. "Just... stupid stuff. I tried to call you last night," I told him, looking up at him.

"Yeah, sorry, I got your voice mail this morning. My phone was off."

"Oh," I said, nodding a little, hoping he would tell me why without prompting.

He didn't. He just said, "So, other than fight with your dad, what did you do last night?"

"Watched a really bad horror movie, ate popcorn... nothing too eventful. And you? What were you doing?" I asked lightly.

"I was just han

ging out with some friends after work. Nothing too eventful."

He was hanging out with friends? That was why he couldn't answer the phone to me? I felt a little bit stingy that hearing that annoyed me, that I felt like he should have spent that time with me. Of course he should still hang out with his friends. After all, I didn't own him; he didn't have to spend every free moment with me.

Still, would it have killed him to answer his phone?

Over the next couple of days, I didn't really see Derek at all. I got to see him in class and at lunch, but that was it. He was working seven days that week, which I only learned when I finally got up the nerve to say something to him Thursday about not seeing him.

Friday night when I was at work Stephanie asked me if I wanted to come to a party afterward. I told her I was going to attempt to call my boyfriend when he got off work, because I was in need of some attention. She gave me a funny look and said, "I thought he had that thing with Kayla today."

My blood froze. "What thing with Kayla?"

"I don't know, maybe I'm wrong," she said apprehensively. "He would have told you. I thought she said it was today."

"What was today?" I asked more sharply than I intended.

Stephanie seemed to be a little nervous. "You should ask him, I don't want to..."

"Steph," I said, giving her a pointed look.

"It was nothing, really," she said. "I just thought... I mean... You know how Kayla's family is. I thought he was going to her grandma's house tonight."

I felt instant relief, and even half smiled. "Oh, no, he met the grandparents last weekend."