Moonstruck ⟡ HS

03

    "No!" Derek exclaims while throwing his arms into the air, as if it would solidify his denial, albeit she didn't believe him. "I didn't touch her, Jo. Out of all people, you think I would cheat on you with Kelley fucking Laken?!"

    "Stop yelling!" She responds, and as he sighs she turns on her heels and begins to pace, tightening her arms across her chest while trying to think clearly. "I just . . . I don't believe you." She mumbles, turned away from him as the words fall from her lips, and as she turns back around she can see the hurt clear in his eyes.

    "Jo, please . . . I'm telling you, I didn't do anything with Kelley—"

    "Everything you've done makes me think otherwise." She cuts in, running her hands through her hair in order to alleviate some of her stress, though it helps nothing but the knots in her tresses. "Just be honest with me, Derek. She's missing, and if her body gets . . . found with your DNA on it—" She can't finish, covering her mouth with her hand as the horrific image is painted in her mind.

    "That's not gonna happen, babe." He says to her softly, reaching to touch her, but she moves away before his skin can mesh with her own. "I didn't cheat on you, I-I can't do that to you, Josephine." He stammers, and while every fiber in her being wants to believe him, something makes her believe otherwise.

    "You need to go." She tells him, watching his face fall, and as she goes to open the door, he stops her with his hand pressed into the glass window. She looks up at him, still holding on to the doorknob, and with their faces inches apart, he leans down, as if he's going to try to kiss her. She dodges his advance, going to push him away, but he only leans in further and lets his lips ghost over her own. "Stop it, Derek, you need to go—"

    "C'mon, Jo . . ." He mumbles with his eyes flickering down towards her lips, "just let me kiss you? I need to show you how much I care about you—"

    "Derek, cut it out." She whines as he gets closer, backing her into the door only before finally mustering up enough strength to push him off of her. He stumbles backwards, nearly falling on his ass, and with a new round of tears accumulating along the roots of her lashes, she feels raw. "Get the fuck out." Is all she can get out as she pulls open the door, widening it for him to leave, and he doesn't say another word, only glaring at her with a scoff and a shake of his head.

When he's finally out of the house, she shuts the door and watches through the glass as Derek walks towards his car and makes his way to the driver's side, though at the same time, Harry walks out of his house across the street and immediately takes notice of Derek's presence. Harry keeps his gaze as intimidating as possible, not making any kind of gesture towards Derek, but walks towards the Mercedes-Benz in his driveway as Derek climbs into his own car.

Once Derek drives away, she steps back from the door and goes to the kitchen, hoping that there was ice cream in the freezer and as soon as she opened the refrigerator, she spotted her favorite carton of ice cream and smiled to herself. She's quick to pull it out, finding a spoon as well, and once she takes a hefty bite with a sniffle, she turns on the television in the living room and plops down on the couch, needing some kind of distraction from her current state of despair.

The phone ringing from her father's office is what tore her out of her ice cream driven daze, causing her to set the carton and spoon on the coffee table before hurrying to answer whoever was calling. She quickly plucked the phone from the receiver and leaned against the wall, twirling the chord between her fingers while starting off with a simple hello.

    "Josie?" It was Alice calling.

    "Yeah, it's me. What's up?"

    "What the hell?! Why did you ditch last period?" Alice quickly asks, changing her tone once knowing it was her, "And I mean, without me? How rude!"