"No, I know, but I thought they were having dinner tonight, too. I called Kayla last night and she was helping her grandmother make the pie for dessert."
The relief evaporated. "What?" I asked, confused.
"I could be wrong," she offered apologetically, shrugging a little.
I shook my head. "Derek is not that stupid. I refuse to believe I could be dating somebody that stupid."
So I called him during my break, but I got his voice mail.
"Derek, this is Nikki—you know, your girlfriend. Your real one, anyway. I was just calling to see what you're doing. I know you said you worked tonight, but I couldn't remember if you went in at four or six, and... Well, um, I guess I'm gonna go. Call me as soon as you get off, I need to... Just call me, okay? I need to verify something."
I got off work at seven, and I decided to drive slightly out of my way to Burger King just to make sure Derek's car was there.
It wasn't.
So I pulled out my cell phone and dialed Burger King's number.
"Hey, can I talk to Derek?" I asked once the kid finished his greeting.
"He isn't here," the kid said.
"Oh. I thought he worked tonight?"
"He did, but he switched with someone. Said something came up."
"Well, what came up?" I asked.
"I'm really not allowed to... I don't really know, anyway."
Rather than continue to make the kid nervous, I sighed and said, "Thank you, I'll just ask him myself."
By the time Derek called me at 10:30, I was over my shock and moving into new territory. If the son of a bitch lied to me and snuck over to Kayla's, he could have her. I was done. I would not be his idiot.
"Hey," he greeted.
"Hey," I greeted casually, deciding to play it cool. "How was work? Busy?"
He paused briefly, then started to say, "Um, yeah... Actually, since you mention it, I was going to—You were going to study tomorrow anyway, right?"
"No way," I said a little enthusiastically. "My boyfriend only works until four, I only work until three, we should definitely spend some time together."
"I would love to, but actually I have to work. I have to work until four, then I have to work again from six to close, so I was thinking I would just take my homework and do that during my two hour break, and just not even leave."
"Why do you have to work?" I asked, giving him one last chance to come clean. "I thought you were off tomorrow night."
There was another brief pause on his end, then he said, "I was. I switched my hours with Chris. He worked for me tonight, and I work for him tomorrow."
"You didn't work tonight," I reiterated.
"No."
"Why?" I asked.
He sighed. "Don't get pissed."
"That's a great start, Derek."
"I had to go over to Kayla's," he said in a tone that told me he was preparing to fight.