Freaks

Chapter Five- Gumballs and Dumbbells

"I understand."

Matthew smiled and nodded. "Good girl." He helped me back into the car. I felt tears begin to pour down my face and he huffed.

"Bridgette clean yourself up! I don't need anyone to think I'm some sicko!"

I nodded as he handed me a tissue. I wiped the last bit of mascara off my eye as we pulled into his gated driveway. I nearly jumped out of the car and didn't take a second look back. I rushed up the stairs to Jackson's room trying to control the tears that had begun to storm down my face once more. I let out a cry as I slammed into someone.

"F*ck!" I heard Derek grunt as he held me from rolling down the stairs. "Gosh, Bridgetre why are you in such a hurry? He's not even here."

"Where did he go?" I cried out hysterically. "H-He needs to be here! I need him—he told me to meet him here at nine and I'm here and i-it's n-nine and he's n-not here—" Derek placed both his hand on my cheeks causing me to stop rambling.

"Bridgette, calm down." He said slowly. I nodded quickly. "You're fine, tell me what happened." I stared at him and shook my head beginning to stop heavily. Derek sighed and pulled me to his chest. "You're okay, breathe."

I breathed in and out softly and pulled away. "Thank you."

"No problem." Derek smiled. "Do you want to tell me what's going on?"

"I-I don't even know where to begin."

"Begin from the beginning." Derek replied opening the door to his bedroom. I rolled my eyes and giggled.

"Well, I was thinking of starting from the end but if you insist-"

"I do insist."

"Then I will begin from the beginning." I sat down on his couch and he walked to the corner of his room and pulled out a cigarette from his drawer.

"Give me a second love." I nodded and looked around at his room. It was very, bland. The walls were painted a dull grey and the rest of the room was black and in pristine condition. It was quite large too.

"Go." He puffed out causing me to cough.

"Put that away!"

He rolled his eyes. "Leave me be."

I furrowed my brows and sighed deciding not to press the topic any further. "Derek I don't think I can tell you."

"Why?" He asked sitting up. He rolled over on his desk chair and set the cigarette to dangle off the very edge of his lips.

And no, it was not a metaphor.

I stared at him and licked my lips. "Your Dad--Matthew, he doesn't want me to."

"Ah," Derek nodded "did the old gum trick eh?"

I looked at him confused. "Wait how do you know?"

"Who'd you think he tested it on?" Derek questioned. "You don't half the crap he's put me through."

"What has he done to you?" I asked softly.

Derek stared up at me and shook his head. "We're not talking about me right now."

I sighed and shook my head. "This is insane--it's like he's an entirely new person every since Rose died."

Derek shook his head. "No, he's the same if not worse. He was just good at sweeping everything under the rug and I guess this time he should have mopped too."

"I think he's going to hurt you Derek. He was talking about offering you money with my Dad but apparently that's not something that will please you and then they began to talk about some methods or something and Derek please tell me he won't do anything to your or Jackson. I mean he can't be that crazy, right?"

"I wish I could tell you no." Derek mumbled blowing out the smoke.

"Derek we need to do something. He can't do this to people--if he did something like that to me, I can't even imagine what he'll do to your or Jackson."

"He won't do sh*t to Jackson. He's got Jackson f*cking whipped. Jackson's the f*cking angel child and I'm the f*ck up." Derek began to raise his voice pushing the chair back harshly into the wall. I stood up and stared at him as he began pace. "I can't believe he tried to poison you! What the hell is wrong with him?"

"Derek stop it--calm down." I began trying to grip his hand.

"No I'm not going to let him hurt an innocent girl all because he needs to keep a few f*cking secrets. We can take it but there is absolutely no need to drag you into this mess. It's not fair!" He roared.

I quickly swung myself onto his back when he was turned for a few seconds. It was a technique to calm someone down when they were angry. It helped compress the nervous system and would allow their body to calm down.

"What the f*ck?" He yelled. "Stop!" He thrashed causing us too fall down onto the bed with me straddling his back. His breathing calmed down and I slid off of his back. "T-Thanks." He mumbled a few seconds later. "Freaky as f*ck but it works."

"I saw it on Grey's Anatomy."

He nodded and stomped of his fallen cigarette on the tile. "You're something else you know. Most girls would've freaked out the second they saw me."

I shook my head. "Why is that?"

"Girls tend to think I'm a freak. The tattoos don't help." He explained. "Especially compared to my brother he golden boy."

"Golden boys are overrated." I sighed. "And who's to say I'm not a freak? In the end if you think about it we're all freaks really. Just in different ways. Some people tend to hide it better than others."

"Are you trying to be deep with me Bridgette?"

"Yes, is it working?"I giggled.

Surprisingly, yeah." He smiled. I blushed and looked down at my hands.

"Well, that's good to know." I licked my lips and turned my head in the opposite direction, trying to hide the red tinge that had begun to heat up my cheeks.