Hey guys I know this story is a little everywhere at the moement - I do have a plan I promise, I just not sure the entirity of the plan :P
If people could point out any mistakes they see it'd be a great help!
Mostly though please ENJOY::
Chapter Seventeen
Willow’s POV:
“This is your last chance to turn tail and run.” Derek warned me as we stood just outside the door to his house. I gave a quiet laugh.
“How bad could it be?” I asked him, not all that concerned. At first I felt like an intruder at the words ‘family dinner’, but Derek had told me that Noah Liam and Makayla usually stopped by too. It had put my mind to ease to know I wouldn’t be the only guest.
Just the only one who was new.
Derek grimaced. “Famous last words.” He said solemnly.
I grinned at his serious tone. I was just about to answer back when the door to his house swung open, revealing an enthusiastic Julie.
“Willow you made it!” She chirped happily. “Come in, come in! I love the dress by the way.”
I gave her a return smile. “Thank you. I really like your cardigan.” I complimented back as I moved past her into the house, and I heard Derek mumble something along the lines of ‘girls’.
Julie must have heard the same thing because she gave her step-son a disapproving look. “Your cousins are already in the Kitchen. You should go introduce them to Willow.” She suggested, pointing us through to the kitchen.
Derek looked uncomfortable with the idea, but nodded his head grudgingly in agreement. “Sure.” He said, nodding his head at me to follow him. I did so and it wasn’t long until we could hear the quiet buzz of conversation around the corner.
“So how ugly do you think she’s going to be?”
The question was followed by a snort of ungraceful laughter. “I don’t know man. That Makayla chick is pretty hot. Maybe this girl will be too.” A different voice spoke.
“Yeah – but Makayla’s a lesbian.” The first one said confidently.
“Bullshit.” The second one replied.
“Come on. The girl dresses like a ten year old boy.” The first one argued, as if that proved their point.
From next to me I could see Derek’s jaw twitching in annoyance as he stood frozen in the doorway listening to them insult his friend. I gently reached out to touch his arm, silent asking if he was okay.
He stiffly nodded his head. “Not too too late to turn back if you want.” He said sounding as if he fully expected me to do so.
I shook my head. “Not unless you want me to.” I told him firmly.
He gave me a small smile. “Alright here goes nothing.” He said encouragingly, before opening the kitchen door revealing us.
Two people were stood on opposite sides of the kitchen counter, both heads turned to us as Derek opened the door.
“Andy. Brick.” Derek greeted them swiftly nodding at each of them as he said their names. Right to left.
Neither replied to Derek instead both their eyes landed and stayed on me.
“This is Wilma?” Andy spoke, I recognised his voice as the person as the first speaker. It had a nasally quality that grated on the ears.
I didn’t bother giving him my usual friendly smile, and Derek didn’t hold back his glare.
“Willow.” Derek corrected him.
“Huh?” Andy asked.
“My name. It’s Willow.” I spoke up this time.
He gave me a wide smile. “Ah, Willow. A beautiful name, for an even more beautiful girl.” He said raising an eyebrow at me – taking this as an opportunity to invite himself to roll his eyes over my body.
I angled myself behind Derek to stop his staring.
“Andy, back off.” Derek said sternly. “You’re making her uncomfortable.” There was a slight quake in his voice as he spoke up, but his glare held firm.
Brick gave an amused snort and Andy narrowed his eyes at Derek, making my spine tingle with annoyance.
“The dork had a voice.” Andy snorted. “Who would have guessed it?”
“Hey!” I said, irritated by the way he was degrading Derek, and even more irritated at the fact that Derek didn’t look at all surprised - as if it were something he’d grown used to a long time ago.
I wanted to have a go at them, but the fact they were Derek’s cousins and I was a guest here held my tongue firmly in place.
“Hey to you too.” Andy said flirtingly, moving closer to us across the room.
I clenched my jaw tightly. This was usually where one of my two best friends would step in and shoot him down with a quick, and dryly witty one liner – but with neither of them with me.
Standing my ground I crossed my arms tightly over my chest giving him a flat ‘I’m not interested’ look.
Noticing the tension building Derek gave me a small ‘I told you so’ grimace, and the corners of my lips twitched into a tiny ‘I’m sorry I doubted you’ smile of my own.
Our silent exchange didn’t go unnoticed. Andy was frowning confusedly at the pair of us – but before anything more was said Spencer walked aloofly into the kitchen.
His eyebrows rose slightly when he saw the four of us already in there, clearly not having expected us to be in here. His eyes darted around the room, probably taking in the awkward atmosphere all around, before his eyes landed on me questioningly.
“Willow. I didn’t know you were going to be here.” He said ignoring the air of unease – he reminded me of Chrissie in the way he seemed to be able to find himself comfortable in any situation despite everyone else’s discomfort.
I gave him a small smile. “Your mum invited me.”
“Ah…that does sound like her.” He agreed, moving towards the fridge and plucking out a bottle of water from inside. Twisting off the lid he glanced over everyone once again. “Are the rest of the do-” He cut off midsentence. “Your friends, coming over later?” He corrected himself, directing the question at Derek – who looked surprised that his step-brother was even talking to him.
“Later probably.”
Spencer actually didn’t look too interested in Derek’s response even though he had been the one to ask. Instead he gave a small nod of acknowledgement to the two cousins.
Brick and Andy both gave him the same casual chin nod in response.
Why did it not surprise me that these guys got along – even though Derek didn’t seem to receive the same polite treatment?
Whilst they were all distracted making manly head nods at each other Derek turned to me, his eyes darting towards the back door before landing back on me questioningly, asking me if I wanted to use this opportunity to make an escape out back.
My lips tugged into a full-blown grin as I chuckled quietly, following him outside to his house’s garden.
“So on a scale of one to ten, how much do you regret not leaving whilst you had the chance?” Derek quizzed me once we were both outside, and the door had swung closed behind us.
I laughed, tucking my hair behind my ear as I shook my head at him. “It’s not so bad.” I told him with a shrug.
“Oh trust me – this isn’t the end of it just yet.” He said wincingly. “Just wait until they properly start hitting on you.”
“You’re exaggerating.” I laughed off.
“I bet you a Vanilla Shake that they use the line ‘did it hurt when you fell from heaven’ on you.”
“From Shake It Baby?” I asked eagerly. “I’ll take that bet. No one uses that line anymore.”
“My cousins do.” He said confidently.
I cocked my head to the side in disbelief. “You’re kidding.”
He snorted. “I wish. Want to feign an illness and leave?” He asked playfully.
I breathed out a laugh. Was he ever going to stop offering me escape opportunities? “Nope. I’m good. Trust me when I say that is not the worst pick up line that ever been used on me. Not even close.”
“What is the worst?” He asked curiously.
I paused to think about it, and then grimaced. “One time a guy walked up to me and said ‘I put the STD in stud, now all I need it U’.” I confessed. Who the hell flirts with someone by telling them that they have an STD?
How on earth was that meant to be found attractive.
Derek barked out a laugh. “Wow.” He said in disbelief. “Someone really tried that?”
I shrugged. “Drunk people will try anything – the more drunk they get the cruder the pick up lines become.” Though you did get the occasional brazen, fully-sober, guy ready to try a lewd line or two.
We kept the conversation going and I told him more lines people had tired using on me. After I told him one guy tried the line ‘how about you sit on my lap and we’ll talk about the first thing to come up’ on me his eyebrows rose halfway up his forehead.
“And that didn’t work?” He asked pretending to be dumbstruck, making me burst into giggles.
“Strangely enough I managed to contain my desire.” I said sarcastically.
Derek grinned, leaning his head onto the back of the bench we were both now sitting on, to stare up at the sky. “I’m not sure if I should be glad that I’m a guy, and I don’t have to deal with those lame pick up lines, or completely ashamed of my gender for even trying those lines.”
Tearing my eyes away from him I followed his lead, leaning my head back to look up at the clouds above us.
We stayed out there for a while longer, our conversations changing from terrible pick up lines on to our ideas of what would officially make the ‘worst date ever’.
It was becoming more and more obvious to me why I had a crush on Derek the longer we spent talking.
He made it ludicrously easy to like him. He was sweet, kind, funny, cute, smart-
I was broken from my girly daze at the arrival of more guests.
“Derek you out here?” Noah’s familiar voice called out from the back door, breaking both Derek and me out of our thoughts as we turned seeing Noah with Liam stood not far behind him.
Noticing us both his grin widened.
“Nice to see you made it, Willow.” He greeted me; even Liam gave me a brief head-nod (which was a step up from the usual awkward nothingness I received). I gave them both a smile.
“Thanks.” I said.
“You guys should probably come inside. Food’s going to be done soon.” He warned us both. “Should I give you guys a minute to wrap up what ever cute-sy couple-y conversation you were having?”
I felt my cheeks flood with heat and my eyes widen slightly.
I didn’t dare glancing up at Derek in case he was looking back at me – I didn’t want to start stuttering like an idiot.
Derek’s POV:
A red flush ran up my neck as I threw a glare at Noah, not daring to risk a glance at Willow as I tried to control the embarrassed redness rushing to my face.
“Ha. Ha.” I said almost robotically as I rolled my eyes, trying to seem utterly unfazed by his comment. Noticing the too stiff way the words escaped my lips I rushed to change the topic.
“Is Makayla inside?” I asked, noticing she wasn’t with the pair of them as I rose to my feet. The three of them would almost always arrive together.
Instead of decreasing the uncomfortable feeling of the situations my question seemed to have done the opposite as Noah’s cheery smile fell away to be replaced with a grimace.
I felt a cold feeling sink into my stomach, before Noah even got at his next words.
“She said she couldn’t make it. She has a lot of coursework that needs finishing.”
It was a feeble excuse – even I could hear that it was a barely disguised ‘I’m still mad at you’. “Oh.” I said quietly, feeling my stomach twist.
She’d never been so mad at me before that she’d skip the family dinner that my mum hosted every year. It hadn’t even occurred to me that she might not come today. Even though she couldn’t stand my cousins (none of my friends could) she’d always turned up claiming that there was strength in numbers.
Liam was giving me a weak attempt at an empathetic smile. He was probably the one who knew best what a blow this had felt like to me. Him and I had been friends since we were in diapers and we’d made friend’s with Makayla not long after.
Pushing back the numb way my stomach tossed I ran a hand through my hair blowing out a loud breath in a long sigh.
“Right.” I said uncomfortably. “We should go inside.” I changed the subject.
From the corner of my eye I caught Willow with an apologetic frown on her features – and I felt guilty knowing she was probably blaming herself for Makayla not coming.
Forcing Makayla out of my thoughts I turned my head to Willow giving her a smile. “You look nervous.” I whispered to her, pretending to misread her expression whilst keeping my voice low so that Noah and Liam couldn’t hear our conversation. “You can hold my hand if you’re scared.” I teased her gently. “It’s just about recovered from the time we went to the cinema together.”
Her expression lost some of its gloom as she breathed out a laugh.
“Shut up. I didn’t hold on that tight.” She said blushing slightly.
I grinned. “Right.” I said sarcastically. She hadn’t held on that tight in the same way that she was only a little cute.
She knocked her shoulder into my arm making me chuckle, and knock mine back into hers.
She hadn’t been expecting it and stumbled a little, her hand darting out to grip onto my arm to stable herself.
I felt my heartbeat jump to my throat as her hand landed on my arm. Once she had straightened herself her hand fell away and I immediately felt the loss of it. I shook my head trying to shake some sense back into my thoughts.
Willow was just my friend – but she didn’t make that easy.
I was lost inside my own thoughts as we entered the dining room to find Julie busying herself setting up the dinner table for everyone, humming happily to herself as she did so.
“You’re just in time.” She said beaming so brightly that it was slightly unnerving. Even Noah shot me a questioning ‘what made her so happy’ look. I shrugged my shoulders, completely clueless. “Willow, dear, I’ve set you up a spot right next to Derek.” She said happily.
Oh god.
She was wearing her ‘match making’ smile, which I hadn’t seen since the disaster of Christmas 2011 when she had invited over a some family friends with the pure intent of getting me to meet Mel Cook – a girl whose parents’ attended the same church as Julie and also a girl with an obvious crush on a very disinterested Spencer.
Julie had managed to ‘accidently’ knock me into Mel (with what had been a rather forceful push for someone in their forties) making us both tumble under the mistletoe. She’d then rather embarrassingly started up a one-man chant of ‘kiss, kiss, kiss’.
Mortifying didn’t even come close to summing up the memory.
Grimacing I leant closer to Willow. “Those who are about to die salute you.” I whispered.
She gave a short quiet laugh as the rest of my family slowly filled up the seats at the table. “Drama queen.” She teased. “It’s not going to be that bad.”
The poor girl had no idea.
It took less than five minutes for me to win our earlier bet on the cheesy out-dated pick up line when Andy (who was inconveniently placed on Willow’s left side) tried the line on her.
And things had only gone downhill from there.
My mother happily filled the air full of embarrassing stories of me, as a child, and Andy and Brick seemed to have no off switch to all their shameless flirting unless of course they were throwing unsubtle insults at either me or my friends that somehow parents at the table were deaf to.
“So you’re a cheerleader?” Brick asked a little too excitedly after Julie had tried striking up a conversation with Willow about school.
Willow nodded wearily.
“That’s hot.” Andy breathed.
“Uh…” Willow looked a little uncomfortable.
“So you must be quite flexible.” Andy continued.
I was going to be sick, and from Willow’s expression I could tell she felt the same.
Taking in a deep breath and setting aside my social awkwardness, I tried to step in to her defence. “Andy, leave her alone.” My words hadn’t come out as strong as I hoped and they definitely didn’t have the affect they were meant to.
Andy didn’t look at all affected by my words he just chuckled them off.
“What?” He asked innocently. “It was just a question.” He rolled his eyes suggestively over Willow’s body. “One I’d very much like to know the answer to.”
My hands balled into fists at his brass behaviour. From across the table I could even see Spencer throwing cold daggers at our Cousin with his eyes.
“Seriously Andy, leave her alone.” I repeated trying to force the words to come out with more strength. From next to me both Liam and Noah were shooting me half impressed half shocked looks.
I never stood up to my cousins. Usually I let them say whatever crap they wanted and then thanked the lord that I didn’t have to see them again for a good few months at least.
No one said anything as they all waited for Andy’s response.
“Calm down.” He said casually. “I’m just being friendly.”
Overfriendly.
“You were just being a complete ass.” I said sternly.
“Derek! Andrew!” Julie reprimanded the pair of us in an astonished gasp.
I felt my anger grow as Andy’s smirk grew. “Trying to come in for a rescue Derek? Don’t tell me you’ve got a crush on her.” He said tauntingly. “Don’t you think you’re a little out of your depth there cous’?”
I knew he was doing his best to embarrass me, and I couldn’t think of a response.
Truth was I did like Willow a lot more than I should.
Tongue-tied I could only glare at him. It turned out however I didn’t need to speak up – Willow did so in my place looking annoyed.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” She asked, an icy edge to her tone I’d never heard before. I hadn’t even realised she was capable of holding that much anger at a person.
Andy looked surprised by her input – probably because she’d been giving him short answers all night in hopes of driving conversation to a crashing halt.
His surprise was quick to leave as a smile lifted up his lips. “You can’t honestly say you’d ever like a guy like Derek.” He said sounding absolutely certain of himself as he chuckled over the absurdity of the idea.
His laugh was cut short by Willow’s glare.
“And what if I do?” She asked crossing her arms over her chest.
Her words made my own breath stick in my throat as I stared at her wide-eyed. The whole table went silent – staring at Willow. It was Andy who regained his voice first.
“What?” He asked disbelievingly.
“You heard me.” She said her voice perfectly level as she stared him down. “I. Like. Derek. What the hell have you got to say about it?”
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That's it for now folks - not the most interesting chapter of all but I'm so tired right now xxx
Let me know what you guys think! I love you all so much! Thank you for being so patient with me recently!
Lots of Love - Likkleangel x