Stuck Like Glue (Derek Hale Fanfiction Book #2)

Chapter Eighteen: Forbidden

        “Chris?” I heard Dean’s voice sound from over my shoulder, and I turned in surprise, cutting off whatever Alice had been about to say.

“Oh, hey De-Mr. Morgan,” I stuttered, astonished at Dean’s brashness. Despite the fact that we were good friends, Dean and I had an unspoken agreement to act as distant as possible at school, mostly for the sake of his job. People start to get the wrong idea if you call your Psychology teacher by his first name.

“Could I see you in my office, please? We had an appointment to go over your last essay, remember?”

“Oh…right. Um, yeah, sure, let me just grab my stuff.” Slinging my backpack over my shoulder and grabbing my nearly empty tray in one hand, I said a quick goodbye to Alice before turning to regard Derek. A low growl erupted from deep in his chest, and his green eyes were a darker, evergreen color that sent goose bumps down my arms.

“Bye, Derek,” I said quietly at last, before following Dean out of the cafeteria and down the hallway in moderate silence. There were still students and other teachers milling about, and we couldn’t risk being overheard. What could he possibly have to tell me that is so frickin important he had to risk exposure? I wondered as Dean shut the door behind me.

“What’s up? Why’d you have to come get me in the lunchroom like that?” I asked him the moment we had some privacy. Dean’s face looked incredulous, and I shifted uncomfortably.

“Chris, what the hell is going on? You haven’t said a word to me ever since you ran off crying a couple weeks ago! And you said you and Derek are broken up – so why were you just eating lunch with him?” Dean exploded, gesticulating wildly. I flinched, guilt bubbling up in my chest at his accusations. It was all true; I’d been a terrible friend to Dean lately, blowing him off and then ignoring him.

“Look, I’m sorry, I really am. I’ve been a crap friend to you, and you deserve a lot better. But Dean, a lot has happened that you don’t know.”

“So fill me in. What happened while you were gone?”

            And so for the next fifty-two minutes, I proceeded to recount the entire awful tale, from the minute we arrived in Chicago up until just now, when I’d been eating beside Derek. Dean’s reactions varied from shock, outrage, horror, pity, and finally settled on a slightly amusing blend of disbelief and disgust.

“You guys are trying to be…friends?” he finally gasped, flabbergasted. Dean said the word “friends” the way one would normally say “terrorists” – hushed and kind of scared. I rolled my eyes at him, but felt a wave of uncertainty roll through me. Was it a stupid idea to just be friends with Derek? Would I end up getting hurt again, possibly worse than before? But thinking about Derek – his hypnotizing green eyes that reassured me I was safe countless times, his bulging biceps and chiseled chest that shielded me and comforted me, the way he told me he loved me in a voice so soft and vulnerable that I could hardly believe it had come from someone as tough as him – I knew it was worth it. Derek was worth it.

“Yeah, what’s so bad about that?”

“Are you serious, Chris? No couple in the history of the universe has ever been able to pull off the ‘just friends’ crap.”

“Yeah but we’re not just being friends…we’re going to work our way back to where we were before. I just need time, Dean.”

“Time for what? You still love him, don’t you?”

“Of course. But it’s not that simple-“

“What’s not simple? He’s still that Derek. Just because he made one stupid mistake, a mistake that he only did out of love for you, doesn’t mean you don’t still know him better than anybody else.”