FAKE.
FAKE boyfriend, but since I’m not talking to him, I can’t tell him that.
This room is painted such an ugly color…I mean, really ugly.
“Britt, come on.”
Does he always have to use those three words in the same sentence?
“I’m sorry. I obviously shouldn’t have—uh…” He clears his throat some. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
I roll my eyes, obviously.
Why can’t he just leave me alone?
Is that too much to ask?
“Your time’s up,” Miss Winnows announces in her usual sugary voice, “both of you.”
Eager to leave, I get up and brush past Derek as I leave the classroom.
Please don’t follow me, please don’t—
“Britt!” he calls after me.
Darn it.
Just ignore him. Keep walking.
“Hey,” he says, grasping my arm. “I said I was sorry.”
He’s right…what am I doing?
Getting upset over something so stupid?
It doesn’t even make sense! He was just messing around.
I don’t need to be a prude.
“You’re right.” I nod. “You did…we’re good.”
He just stares at me and I awkwardly look around, and then at my grasped arm—and then at him.
He quickly lets go and clears his throat some. “So, uh…do you wanna hang out?”
“My parents don’t know about you,” I point out. “Remember? My mom won’t let me go out with you if she doesn’t know you.”
“Well,” he drawls, “we’ve technically been going out already.”
Shoot, he’s right.
Chapter 12: More than Friends
——————————————————
“I’m starting to think this wasn’t a good idea,” I admit as I pace back and forth on my front porch. “Maybe we should just forget it.”
“Britt,” Derek sighs, “we’re already here.”
I bite the tip of my thumbnail. He’s got a point.
We are here, but—
“What are you doing?”
I look at him in confusion.
What is he talking about?
I’m pacing…isn’t it obvious?
He motions to my hand. “With your thumb?”
“Oh.” I quickly let my hand drop. “Habit…anyway, let’s go over this again.”
I take in a deep breath and then exhale just as loudly. “What’s your name?”
He gives me a mischievous look. “What’s yours?”
I immediately facepalm. “Derek, I’m serious!”
“All right, all right.” He laughs some. “Try again.”
“Fine.” I purse my lips. “What’s your name?”
“I’m Derek Connors.” He takes my hand and kisses the back of it. “And it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Then I faint of embarrassment right there on the front porch.
Okay, so maybe not physically…but definitely mentally.
And I’m sure my cheeks—forget that, my face...is a million different shades of red.
“Well?” He wiggles his eyebrows. “How was that?”
“That was—” I pull my hand away with a scowl. “That was not part of the script.”
“I improvised.” He shrugs. “Chicks like that kind of stuff.”
“My mom’s not a chick, Derek,” I hiss, feeling somewhat annoyed. “You’re supposed to make a good impression!”
“I will,” he assures me with a smug grin. “You’ll see.”
The next thing I know, he’s reaching past me and then he presses the doorbell before I can stop him.
“What are—”
He puts a finger to my lips. “Shh.”
With wide eyes, I just nod...too overcome with shock to speak.
His finger drops. “Good.”
Thank God.
Another awkward moment for yours truly: Brittanyyyyy Graysonnnnn!
The door opens and I hold my breath.
“Brittany, what are you—” Mom stops when she sees Derek. “And who is this?”
Derek nudges me some, but I just stare frozen at my mom.
Why. Did. I. Agree. To. This?
He clears his throat some and extends his hand to her. “I’m Derek Connors, Brittany’s friend.”
She gives me a curious look and I mutely nod, causing her to turn her attention back to Derek and shake his hand.
“Well, Derek…it seems that my daughter’s at a lack for words.” She smiles. “I’m Mrs. Grayson.”
He totally ignores what I said like, not even two minutes ago, and kisses the top of her hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Grayson.”
My mom—MY MOM!—giggles—GIGGLES!
And on top of that, her cheeks are actually flushed.
What the heck? Unbelievable, if only Dad was here.
Mom doesn’t hesitate in opening the door and stepping aside. “Come in, come in!”
And Derek doesn’t waste any time in accepting her invitation and walking right in.
What just happened?
“Brittany!”
I look at Mom, who’s now motioning for me to come in.
I then sigh as I walk in and she rushes to close the door before turning to Derek.
“Derek, you’re just in time…I made banana nut muffins and they’re almost done cooling.”
“A personal fav of mine.” He gives her a charming smile. “It’s like you knew I was coming.”
Her face lights up even more if that’s possible. “I’m so glad!” She then looks at me. “Brittany, will you go check if they’re cooled?”
I point to myself. “Me?”
She widens her eyes at me then nods toward the kitchen.
With a loud sigh, I drop my backpack on the floor before trudging to the kitchen.
If I would’ve known that she was going to get an “insta-crush” on Derek, I wouldn’t have brought him home.
I shove a finger into one of the muffins—yes, it’s a weird way of seeing if they’re cooled or not, but it works and they are cooled.
So, I get the milk out of the fridge and pour myself a glass.
“Brittany?” Mom calls from the living room. “Are they cooled?”
“Yes!” I exclaim before taking my muffin and milk to the nook table and sitting down.
I then start to bite into my delicious muffin when—
“Brittany!”
I look up to see Mom glaring at me in disapproval. “You should’ve let Derek pick which muffin he wanted first!”
What happened to my heartbreaker mom that was throwing darts at Blake’s picture the other day?
“I, uh—I touched this one,” I reply lamely. “So I figured I should eat it…don’t want to spread germs.”
Derek shrugs. “I wouldn’t have minded.”
Well, that’s gross.
Mom waves me, or the idea (I really don’t know) off. “I’ll get you the perfect muffin, Derek.”
Derek proceeds to sit in the chair next to me. “Thanks, Mrs. G.”
He flashes me a nice, big smile which I return with a nice, big scowl.
Then (of course) he has to pout and look hurt.
I roll my eyes. There’s no way I’m falling for that again.
“Here you go, Derek,” Mom says, setting a plate down in front of him with the biggest muffin I’ve ever seen my mom make.
Why is he getting special treatment?
“Thanks, Mrs. G.” He smiles. “It looks amazing.”
I break off a piece of my muffin and shove it in my mouth.
How quickly did his pout disappear and how quickly did my mom’s grin grow…unbelievable.
“Mmm,” Derek groans. “This is amazing.”
What a flippin’ kiss up!
Mom blushes. “Oh, you’re too sweet, and so polite.” She turns to me and throws her thumb up. “I like this guy!”
Joy.
Derek half-smirks/half-smiles at me with: “I-told-you-so” written all over his face.
I proceed to shove another piece of muffin into my mouth.
“So,” Mom drawls as she sits across from Derek. “How long have you been friends with Brittany, Derek?”
Derek glances at me, but I just ignore him and drink my milk.
He is the one with all the brilliant ideas after all…
He clears his throat some. “Well, we’ve known each other since freshman year, but…”
My eyes widen at that—but?
But what?
What’s he doing?
There’s no but!
“We’re a little more than friends.”
I don’t even bother to keep looking at him.
I turn all attention to my mother who looks like she’s trying to process what he just said.
That’s it.
I’m over—done for.
I shut my eyes, preparing myself for the worst.
Three…two…
“More than friends?” Mom asks, as if trying to clarify. “Is that what you said?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Derek replies oh-so-coolly.
I can just picture him nodding in confidence.
“Well then, congratulations!”
My eyes snap open.
Did she just congratulate us?
“I’m glad Brittany’s found someone,” Mom continues. “I never liked her other boyfriend.”
I stare at her in complete shock. What the heck is she talking about?
She loved Blake…and now he’s the ‘other boyfriend’?
Shouldn’t she be scolding me for finding someone so quickly?
Telling me that this is a bad idea?
Like gee—I don’t know—my MOM?
“Uh…” Derek shifts uncomfortably in his chair. “Thank you, Mrs. Grayson.”
He glances at me and I give him an: “I-don’t-know” look.
Because I don’t know, it’s as if someone brainwashed my mom.
“Well...” Derek stands up. “I should probably get going.”
“Aw.” Mom pouts with a tilt of her head. “So soon?”
“Yeah.” He nods. “I have some stuff I need to take care of. But thanks for the muffin.”
Mom gives him a bright smile. “Anytime!” She then looks at me. “Brittany, why don’t you walk Derek out? I’ll clear everything up.”
I want to protest in every language, but I just nod and stand up before following Derek to the front door.
“Goodbye,” I say in a dry tone, opening the door for him. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He gives me a weird look, but walks out. “I’ll call you later today.”
I roll my eyes. “I figured as much.”
I don’t know why, but he grins and then gives me a small wave before walking to his truck with his hands in his pockets.
“He’s definitely especially different,” I mutter as I close the door.
“Brittany!” Mom calls in a singsong voice from the kitchen.
I sigh and walk back into the kitchen where she’s sitting at the nook table with her arms crossed. “You’ve got some explaining to do.”
And that’s the Mom I know.
I awkwardly clear my throat some. “What do I need to explain?”
She gives me an unimpressed look. “You know very well what I want you to explain.”
Well, here goes nothing…
I let out a deep breath as I sit across from her. “Derek is more than a friend.”
“I’m aware of that.” She nods. “I want to know how that happened.”
I’m starting to wish she was drooling over him again…
“Well, um…” I fumble with my fingers. “He asked me to date him, to be his girlfriend.”
“Just like that?” she asks, looking unconvinced. “And you agreed?”
I nod. “Yep…”
And trust me, I’ve been regretting it.
She shakes her head some. “Brittany, I—” She stops as if realizing something. “Brittany, isn’t Blake’s best friend’s name Derek?”
“Is it?” I fake a cough. “That’s so weird! I mean, totally—”
“Oh, Brittany…” She shakes her head. “What have you gotten yourself into?”
More than you know…
“Nothing really,” I mumble as I trace a circle on the table with my finger.
“Dating your boyfriend’s best friend never ends well,” Mom says in a solemn voice. “I’ve done it once and the only good thing that came out of it was your dad.”
My eyes widen. “Dad was the best friend?”
“Heck no.” She practically snorts. “He was the rival.”
“Dad?” My eyes widen even more. “The rival?”
What the—
“Oh yeah,” she says as if it’s no big deal. “Your dad was the bad boy on campus.”
My mouth drops. “No. Way.”
“Way!” she exclaims in a shrill, over-girly voice.
I stare at her with my eyebrows raised.
“What?” Her shoulders drop. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Mom, don’t ever do that again,” I tell her with a stern look. “Please…I’m begging you.”
“Aw!” She pouts, her shoulders dropping. “Why not?”
She then proceeds to cross her arms. “I can act like the kids these days.”
I facepalm. “Mom, no one does that. The girls only do that in the movies.”
“Well then,” she scoffs, “I’m starting a new trend.”
I sigh. “Mom, just—” I stop, it’s probably better if we don’t continue this conversation. “Hey, why don’t we play a game or something?”
She never passes up a chance to “destroy” me in any type of game.
Never.
She grins. “You’re on.” She jumps out of her chair and practically runs out of the kitchen. “Come on, slowpoke!”
Success.
——————
After a few rounds of checkers, I couldn’t take it anymore…she’s too competitive.
So now I’m in my room being nostalgic while she cooks dinner.
I know I probably should get rid of all the pictures of Blake and do like the girls do in all of the movies and either burn them, tear them up to smithereens, or throw darts at them like Mom does—but I can’t.
I feel terrible that I let Mom convince me to throw darts at his basketball picture.
It was such a good picture!
Honestly though, all his pictures are good.
I can’t help but sigh. It’s so not fair.
My phone buzzes and surprise, surprise—it’s Derek.
I “accept” the call and bring the phone to my ear. “Hello?”
“Hey, guess who?”
I roll my eyes at that. “Caller ID, Derek.”
“Killjoy,” he groans, “you could play along…my sisters do.”
“Sisters?” I question in surprise. “I didn’t know that you had sisters.”
Well, I don’t really know much of anything about him.
“I have two,” he replies in a nonchalant tone, “Faith and Madison, older and younger.”
“Huh…” I flop back on my bed. “So you’re the middle kid—unless you’ve got a brother too that you also haven’t mentioned.”
He laughs some. “Nah, just sisters…by the way, how’d you like to meet them tomorrow?”
Meet his sisters? Tomorrow?
“I’ll have to get my parents’ permission first.”
“That’s fine,” he drawls, “speaking of which….does your mom love me or what?”
I can just hear the smug grin in his voice.
“Actually…” I trail off, “she says that dating your boyfriend’s best friend never ends well.”
“Well, he’s your ex-boyfriend,” he corrects me for the umpteenth time, “so no worries.”
“Yeah.” I hold back a sigh. “Ex—boyfriend…”
/>
I hate saying that.
It doesn’t feel right and I—
“I was thinking,” he interrupts my thoughts, “and you should probably get rid of those pictures that you have of Blake.”
I immediately still. “How do you know—”
“I’ve seen the inside of your locker, Britt.”
“Oh.”
How embarrassing…
Crap, how many other people have seen the inside of my locker?
“Don’t worry,” he assures me. “I’m sure there are only a handful of people who’ve seen it.”
I feel my cheeks heating up. “How comforting…”
“So that won’t be a problem, right?”
I glance around my room, it’s a huge problem.
It’s as if Blake took over.
And I know Derek probably only means for me to take down the locker pictures, but my bedroom ones should come down too.
I bite my lip and close my eyes. “No.”
“All right, good,” he replies in approval. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Okay, b—”
He hangs up before I can even finish. Of course.
I end the call then toss my phone aside before standing up, and I let out a deep breath. “I can do this.”
I walk over to my dresser and pick up the frame that has the picture of Blake and me from Fourth of July, and then reluctantly take the picture out.
“One down…”
And a lot to go.
One by one, I slowly take all the pictures that have Blake in them out of their frames, and I mean all.
Once I’m done, I have a small stack of at least ten pictures—but I don’t have the heart to get rid of them, so I don’t.
I grab a random box from my closet and neatly put the pictures in that…then after putting its lid on, I put the box in one of my desk drawers.
“There…done.”
Chapter 13: A Minor Detail
——————————————————
“Britt-Brat...”
“Mmm,” I mumble into my pillow.
“Britt-Bratttttt…”
“Zach, go away.” My eyes snap open in realization and I sit up. “Zach! You’re here!”
He grins, a mischievous look shining in his hazel eyes. “Yeah, short stuff.”
I stick my tongue out at him, but pull him into a hug. “I wasn’t expecting you home this early.”
“Well I left at like five thirty,” he says, pulling away. “You do know it’s like nine o’clock, right?”
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