Because of You (Because of You 1)

"

How would I know that?" I asked. "I wasn't there, and you certainly didn't share the details."

"How did you find this out?" he asked, frowning.

"Stephanie. Apparently Kayla slipped up in her little game, because she told Stephanie the night before that she was making pie with her grandma for that dinner."

"She lied to me," he reiterated.

"Yes," I said, nodding.

"And I fell for it?" he questioned.

"Hook, line and sinker."

He shook his head. "Stupid bitch."

"I'm going to assume you're referring to Kayla, not me."

He looked down at me, half smiling. "Obviously."

"That's good. I'd hate to have to reprimand you," I said a bit playfully.

He smiled. "And how are you going to reprimand me, half-pint?"

I smiled sweetly and tugged on his shirt, pulling him down the hall toward my bedroom. "Why don't you come find out?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Well, hell, I might misbehave more often," he said, following me inside and shutting the door behind him.

Derek let out a satisfied sigh about an hour later. "That has not happened recently enough," he stated.

I smiled, snuggling closer to him and kissing him on the shoulder. "See, it's nice when you spend time with your girlfriend, isn't it?"

"Very nice," he said, pulling me a little closer and placing a little kiss on my forehead.

I stayed just like that, curled up in his arms, savoring the comfortable feeling of being all cozy and snuggled up to him. When he lightly caressed my arm, I closed my eyes and pressed my face into his chest, wishing we could stay like that forever, knowing that it wasn't possible.

The way our relationship was going, there didn't seem to be a guarantee that we would even be nice to each other the next day, so I was hoarding all the cuddle time I could get.

"I wish we could be like this all the time," I absently told him.

"We can," he responded.

"In my dreams, yes," I said with a slight nod. "In reality… not so much."

"Have you done anymore thinking about college?" he asked.

I grinned up at him. "Smooth subject change, Noble."

"Wasn't it?" he replied with a smile. "I already applied at the community college and took the placement tests. Have you done that yet?"

I nodded. "I placed into the highest English, but I'm going to go back one more time before I'm satisfied with my math score. I took my last math course last year, so I'm a little out of practice."

"I'm good at math; I had more trouble with English. It's amazing that I'm an American born and raised, yet I get barely a B in English and an A in French. How the hell does that happen?"

Smiling, I said, "I guess you were born to be a Frenchman."

"I'm Polish," he stated.