A/N : Hey peeps! We meet again! As always, please don't forget to vote & comment if you like the story :) Happy readin!
"Vivian! Stop it," Derek grumbled. He sunk to his knees on the bed and stared at me hard.
Across him, I laughed till my eyes began to water. "Okay. Okay. I'm sorry. I won't ruin it now."
"I don't trust you for a single second."
I continued laughing. It was fun seeing Derek pout because I wouldn't let him take my photo. My photographer boyfriend had only one complaint. That I hadn't allowed him to click a decent photo of me in all this time.
I didn't have a problem with him clicking my photos, I just liked to see him pout and get all puppy dog eyed. He was fun to tease.
"Stay still now," he demanded.
"Ooh, I don't think I can handle such a demanding boyfriend."
I heard the click of Derek's camera. He checked the shot and smiled satisfied.
"Hey," I protested. "I didn't even pose."
"Yeah, you're the worst. Lucky for you, I'm a good photographer."
"Quit bragging and show me what you shot," I said and Derek flopped down next to me. We sat with our backs to the headboard of my bed and legs stretched out in front of us.
I went through all his photos, the ones he clicked yesterday when we were at the beach. They were beautiful, I thought, proud of him. But my face wasn't visible in even one of them. I'd done that intentionally, again, to tease Derek.
So Derek wanted to make up for it by taking photos of me today, and he'd finally succeeded though I was planning to tease him a little while longer.
I looked at my photo next. I was smiling in the shot with my eyes cast down and it was a beautiful candid, mostly because of Derek's photography skills.
"You are good."
"And you are beautiful." He gave me a quick peck on the lips.
I blushed slightly. "Aww, I'm gonna miss us hanging out in my room after fifteen days."
His eyes twinkled. "Does that mean I'm allowed to come here everyday for the next fifteen days?"
"Well, I'm not stopping you. But I don't think that's such a good idea when Eric's home." I wasn't allowed to lock the door when Derek was here and Eric always burst into rooms without knocking.
Derek's face showed panic. "What's that noise outside? Is he coming?"
"Relax." I laughed. "He's at his friend's, the one with the rabbit. And he won't be home for hours..."
"That's a relief!"
I intertwined my legs with his and rested my head on his shoulder. Derek took my hand in his and we sat like that in silence, soaking in the intimacy of it.
I thought about the past few weeks and how they had changed so much in my life.
I had thought that school would be awkward after all the craziness that happened with Brent. Turns out, a lot of people had realized it was a prank and thought Brent deserved it. It was mostly because of Tiffany. She'd made sure people knew what the truth was.
I did apologize to Brent though. He was mad at first, but got over it pretty soon.
"We can always go on that date, right?" he had asked expectantly.
I almost tripped over my own feet. Clearing my throat, I said, "I'd rather not because I don't think my boyfriend would be okay with it."
He nodded his head like he understood my dilemma. Then he told me that he hadn't guessed it was me and therefore recorded the call. Shayna told him about me and asked him to play the recording in front of everyone as a payback prank. I had kinda guessed that it had something to do with Shayna.
Tiffany genuinely felt the worst because I got all the blame for it. She'd apologized to me the next day and it wasn't difficult for me to forgive her. I've known her almost all my life and she was the one who knew me the best. And by telling everyone the truth, she had redeemed herself.
That was enough for me. It was all about getting a second chance. I got a second chance with Derek. And Tiffany and my friendship deserved a second chance too. I told her everything about Derek and me. She couldn't believe all that Shayna had done, how manipulative she'd been.
So these days, Shayna hangs around with a different group of friends. She moved on from us and has a new boyfriend too.
Shayna and I never spoke after that day in the gym, but there was this silent agreement between us that we'd put everything behind us. We said hey sometimes when we crossed each other.
Nate and Tiffany still fight sometimes over trivial things, but Tiffany promised both Nate and me that she'll never test him again, because she completely trusts him. And I believe her.
Suzy's not the bully she used to be, but is still quite arrogant and shows her high handed behavior occasionally.
Olive's still obsessed with taking as many AP classes as possible. She has ten AP and honors classes in senior year.
And Cabe, well we never had an interaction again. He knew that I knew the truth and we never talked again. That chapter was closed long back.
Next week, our whole family will be going to Oregon with Gina. She's going to college there and the rest of us will have a short one week vacation. Derek's coming with me, so we get to spend as much time together as possible before he goes off to CalArts fifteen days later.
I'm glad he'll be in the same state as me and we could meet often as it's a little over an hour drive to his university. But it's still not gonna be like being in the same high school.
I was determined to get in CalArts next year and was seriously contemplating taking up Olive's offer to join ten AP classes to make my resumé look good!
Back to the present, I asked Derek, "So did you talk to your dad?"
"I did."
"What did you decide?"
"I decided to give him another chance. I told him I'll come home to be with him every time I could. Because I also happen to have a girlfriend back home I'll be dying to see."
My heart swelled with love. "No, seriously. You think he means everything he said?"
"I don't know. He said he wants to build our relationship again. And he's been sober for a month now. I don't know if he'll live up to what he promised, but he's trying and I'll take what I got."
I was happy for Derek that his dad was trying to mend their relationship. His dad knew they had problems, but would always sweep them under the rug. After his problem got out in the open, he'd been trying to deal with it, to fix it. And it was working.
I prodded Derek's arm.
"Umhm... what?" he asked.
"Nothing. I like prodding you."
"You know what I like to do to you?" he asked with a mischievous smile.
"I think you'll have to show me."
"Even better." He pressed his lips to mine in a hungry kiss and I responded equally. We quickly had to press pause though because of the 'no closed doors' policy in my house.
"You know, I never thought I'd have a guy like you as my boyfriend," I told him.
"You are anyone's dream girlfriend. Anyone would be lucky to have you in their life. Don't ever think of yourself any less."
I smiled amused. "And you think very highly of yourself. I just meant you're not the type of guy I thought I'd fall in love with."
His shoulders sagged. He pouted again and it was hilarious to look at. "Oh, I don't think that's true." His hand crawled up my back and I instantly knew what he was going to do.
"Hey, I said no tickles." I giggled with his overly sensitive touches. "Okay. I'm just kidding. I didn't really have a type. I thought I did, but I didn't. And if I'd known any better, you would've been my ideal type from the beginning."
He wrapped his arms around me from behind and rested his chin in the crook of my neck. "Do you know how cute you are when you have the clueless look on your face?" His soft breathing made my neck tingle.
"Am I having one now?" I asked.
"No. You were when we first met. I think I fell in love with you right then. I always knew you from Calculus. There was something about you that made me want to get to know you more. I only realized it after I started talking to you."
"Yah. Before that, you were only trying to kill me."
He chuckled. "You're lucky I was attracted to you. Wouldn't want to kill your attraction now, would ya?"
I glared at him. "Ya. That's funny." Thinking about when I first started having feelings for him, I said, "And I started liking you when we went to prom together. That was one of the most eventful days of my life. That was also when we kissed for the first time."
"I'd wanted to kiss you all night. Right since I laid eyes on you when you opened the door to your house. It was a good thing we played that game."
"It was," I agreed. "It was perfect."
I always had trouble expressing my feelings. So I tried to suppress them. But Derek made it so easy for me. I never knew talking to a guy I liked was this easy. I didn't have to put up any walls or a front. I could be myself with him.
Like every girl fantasizing about her own Prince Charming, I too had a fantasy for a guy to love me like crazy. But it was just that - a fantasy. Something far from reality. Something you dream about though you know it's never gonna happen.
Meeting Derek blurred the lines between fantasy and reality in my life and brought me in a world I'll hold on to forever. Life doesn't always turn out to be the way we plan it. Sometimes, it turns out better.
the end
A/N : I want to immensely thank everyone reading this book! Each read, vote & comment I got made me smile a mile wide & encouraged me to continue writing. So this is dedicated to all you wonderful readers ♡ Thank you so much for being with me! Love you all! ♥️♥️♥️♥️